COMPANIES have announced more than 100,000 clean-energy jobs in the United States between last August, when President Joe Biden’s landmark climate bill became law, and January, a study released on Monday (Feb 6) by non-profit advocacy group Climate Power found. 

The group monitored press clippings and company announcements to estimate private-sector jobs across a range of industries that aim to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions – including electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, wind and solar energy and home-energy efficiency.

The group said its figure was likely a low estimate because it relied on public reports.

It identified more than 90 new clean-energy projects in 31 states that have been announced since Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, representing nearly US$90 billion in new investments. 

Most of these projects are in seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Georgia has attracted the most investment so far, the group found, with roughly US$15 billion of projects in the pipeline that are expected to produce 17,000 jobs. Clean-energy projects in the state include a US$2.5 billion solar-panel factory and new battery plants outside Atlanta to supply Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles.

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“The economic boom is starting, and it’s starting because of clean energy and the investments made in the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Lori Lodes, Climate Power’s chief executive and co-founder.

She started the group in 2020 with John Podesta, who had served in the Obama and Clinton administrations. Last September, he left the board of Climate Power to join the Biden White House, where he now oversees implementation of the climate package.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to reduce emissions to below 40 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030, provides billions of dollars in tax credits and other incentives to develop green industries.

Prior to the bill’s passage, labour group BlueGreen Alliance and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst estimated that the law would create more than nine million jobs over a 10-year period.

Climate Power’s Lode said that, given how rare it is for the US to adopt legislation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s scope, “it is important that we actually tell the story about the impact of the law, and how it’s going to benefit people’s lives”. 

She added: “That is how we make the law durable.”

The group will continue to track new clean-energy project announcements. BLOOMBERG