Green Economy Investments Bring 300 Percent More Jobs, Reports Find
Two new reports on the impacts of moving to a low-carbon economy show putting money toward energy efficiency, building retrofits and renewable energy projects can create 1.7 million new jobs, significantly more than the same investment in fossil fuel industries.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Two new reports on the impacts of moving to a low-carbon economy show putting money toward energy efficiency, building retrofits and renewable energy projects can create 1.7 million new jobs, significantly more than the same investment in fossil fuel industries.
The reports were released today in tandem by four groups: Green for All, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) worked together on the "Green Prosperity" study, while PERI also worked with the Center for American Progress on the "Economic Benefits" report.
Together, the reports show the economic, environmental and social impacts of investing about $150 billion per year in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies; that number includes funding from the federal stimulus package signed into law in February as well as the proposals in the Waxman-Markey climate bill that is currently making its way through Congress.
"[I]nvesting in clean energy for $1 million will generate 16.7 jobs; correspondingly, investing in fossil fuels generates about 5.3 jobs," explained Robert Pollin, the co-director of PERI and the lead author of both studies, in a press conference this morning. "When you net the two things out, you're going to get about 12 incremental jobs per million in spending by investing in clean energy."
