Biden-Harris Administration Continues Driving Climate Investments to Reduce Emissions, Lower Home Energy Costs
As part of this historic Investing in America agenda, today the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new climate investments that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in clean energy manufacturing, and lower home energy costs for families and businesses.
These domestic climate announcements come ahead of President Biden’s historic trip to the Amazon to engage with local and Indigenous leaders and other stakeholders working to preserve and protect this critical ecosystem. He will also travel to Lima, Peru, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he will continue to highlight the economic opportunities afforded by accelerating climate action at home and abroad.
These investments come on the heels of the 29th U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the Administration continued to rally other countries to accelerate their climate ambition in this decisive decade and announced new initiatives to galvanize global efforts to keep a resilient, 1.5°C future within reach.
Today’s investments in climate and clean energy include:
Funding to improve energy efficiency, reduce climate pollution, and lower overall energy use. Today, the U.S. Department of Energy is announcing nearly $18 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to 61 local and territorial governments to fund a wide range of energy efficiency and decarbonization projects. Through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, communities across the country are investing in projects and programs that save energy, reduce climate pollution, and advance local energy goals. This is the tenth tranche of formula awards granted to EECBG Program eligible entities. Grantees will develop net-zero building roadmaps, bolster recycling programs, launch residential energy efficiency rebate programs in disadvantaged communities, expand bike lanes and pedestrian walkways, update street and building lighting with LED technology, purchase electric vehicles and install charging infrastructure for municipal fleets, and more. Since the first awards were announced in October 2023, 294 communities have benefited from the program.
Investments in clean energy for American farms and rural small businesses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture today is announcing more than $256 million from the Inflation Reduction Act that will support more than 1,100 clean energy projects in 40 states. These projects – funding through the Rural Energy for America Program – will lower costs, expand access to clean energy and strengthen American farms and small businesses. This funding will enable agricultural producers and rural small business owners to expand their use of wind, solar, geothermal and small hydropower energy and make energy efficiency improvements. These innovations help them increase their income, grow their businesses and address climate change while lowering energy costs for American families. Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA has invested more than $2.7 billion through REAP in 9,901 renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. Almost 7,000 of these projects were funded by over $1 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Funding to help states utilize cleaner construction materials for transportation projects. The U.S. Department of Transportation today is announcing $1.2 billion to states under the Low Carbon Transportation Materials Discretionary Grant Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The program will help lower carbon emissions by empowering states, Tribes, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and other agencies to use construction materials that create less pollution, including asphalt, glass, steel, and concrete, for infrastructure projects. By supporting demand for these cleaner, made-in-America construction materials to be incorporated into infrastructure projects, the program will be a vehicle to move our nation to more sustainable construction practices. The program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative and is consistent with Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability.