Clean Energy Jobs from the Biden Inflation Reduction Act and Support for Clean Energy in G20 Nations

The Biden Administration’s two-year-old Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has produced over 300,000 new jobs, according to analysis by the group Climate Power.

 But there’s more. From the BLUEGREEN Alliance:

“…the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds that the more than 100 climate, energy, and environmental investments in the Inflation Reduction Act will create more than 9 million good jobs over the next decade—an average of nearly 1 million jobs each year.”

And lest you think this is all pork and rewards to Democrats, by one analysis most clean-energy projects and jobs have gone to states and districts that vote Republican!

According to Climate Power and E2 (“E2, a group of business leaders that advocate for environmental policies”):

“152 clean-energy projects have been announced across 92 Republican-held districts, creating 96,216 jobs.”

And of course, all of the Republican legislators in those districts, including those that are against the IRA, are giving credit to Joe Biden, right?

A survey of people from 18 G20 countries commissioned by Earth4All and the Global Commons Alliance found that 71% of people believe major action is needed immediately to reduce carbon emissions.

“This rises to 91% of Mexicans, 83% of South Africans and 81% of Brazilians surveyed. This belief is lowest – but still over half of respondents – in Saudi Arabia (52%), Japan (53%), the United States (62%) and Italy (62%).”

The majority wanted higher carbon taxes, progressive taxation on income and higher taxes for large companies. In 17 G20 countries, 68% agreed that the “economy should prioritise the health and wellbeing of people and nature.

“Support for a wealth tax on wealthy people is highest in Indonesia (86%), Turkey (78%), the UK (77%) and India (74%). Support is lowest in Saudi Arabia (54%), and Argentina (54%), but still over half the respondents surveyed. In the United States, France and Germany around two in three of those surveyed support a wealth tax on wealthy people (67%, 67% and 68% respectively).”

Of course, this is clearly fair. Both historically and currently those with higher incomes have contributed and continue to contribute the most by far to producing the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.