NRDC Analysis: Georgia to See 3,000+ Jobs from Build Back Better Act
ATLANTA, GA — A new NRDC analysis shows that the Build Back Better Act, as it currently stands, has the potential to significantly accelerate clean energy investment, economic activity, and job growth in Georgia. The Senate’s passage of the Build Back Better Act would bring these climate and economic benefits to states across the country.
“The Build Back Better Act has the potential to significantly accelerate this investment, economic activity, and job growth in Georgia,” said Luis Martinez, Director of Southeast Energy for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Already, clean energy is the biggest job creator in our country’s energy sector, employing almost three times as many workers as the fossil fuel industry. The Build Back Better Act offers tax incentives to boost the renewable energy industry, especially in low-income communities, and support a just transition for communities that have relied on fossil fuel revenue and jobs in the past.”
Projected benefits of the Build Back Better Act in Georgia include:
- New low- and no-carbon capacity built: 2,000 – 2,700 MW, enough to power 265,000 to 636,000 homes.
- Percentage of in-state generation coming from low- or carbon-free resources: 48 – 52 percent. Currently, in-state generation from carbon-free resources is 34 percent.
- Additional direct jobs, like those to manufacture, build, and service clean/low-carbon resources (annual average for 2022-2030): 3,000 – 6,900.
Access the full NRDC BBB jobs analysis for Georgia here: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/clean-electricity-bbb-ga-fs.pdf
Background
The House-passed Build Back Better Act contains more than $150 billion in clean electricity tax incentives as well as more than $25 billion for clean energy loans, grants, research, procurement, and other essential programs. Tax incentives are critical to driving clean energy deployment and reducing the cost of renewables and other clean energy resources.
The tax incentives included in the legislation are flexible and accessible to support all types of developers (small and large, for-profit and not-for-profit) who will usher in the fastest—and most sustained—build-out of renewables in the country’s history. The incorporation of labor standards such as prevailing wage and domestic content requirements on clean energy credits will help increase American manufacturing and ensure that the jobs created are good jobs.
71,111 people worked in Georgia’s clean energy sector in 2020, according to the Clean Jobs America 2021 report from E2. This includes 8,934 in renewable energy, 51,123 in energy efficiency, and 6,858 in clean vehicles. The clean energy sector in Georgia grew 9.9 percent between 2018 and 2020, and the Build Back Better bill could accelerate that growth in the coming years.
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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.