How Biden’s infrastructure plan would help Pennsylvania
President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to talk about something I’ve dedicated my life to doing: Helping companies build a better, cleaner, more sustainable economy.
When my partner and I founded our Lehigh Valley-based sustainable business consultancy in 2008, it was a struggle convincing eastern Pennsylvania business executives that sustainability investments can boost profits and position companies for longterm growth.
Around the same time, inflows into so-called environmental and social governance funds — i.e., investments that try to profit by doing right by people and the planet — barely crossed the $1 billion mark in the United States. Last year, globally, total assets in sustainable funds reached nearly $1.7 trillion.
But what about people in the Lehigh Valley who just want a decent job in a growing industry so they can put food on the dinner table?
That’s what President Biden will be talking about in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, when he is expected to announce new details for his Build Back Better plan, including a major infrastructure package he will send to Congress.
It couldn’t come at a more important time. The fact is, while we’re beginning to reap the economic benefits of clean energy and operating our businesses more sustainably, we’re just getting started in Pennsylvania.
According to the national, nonpartisan
business group E2, at the end of 2019 there were nearly 94,000 clean energy jobs in Pennsylvania. Pre-COVID-19, these jobs were increasing at a roughly 5% annual growth rate, a reflection of all those environmental and social governance fund inflows hitting the local labor market.
When the pandemic ground business activity to a halt, the industry was ravaged. Within a few brutal months last year, Philadelphia lost 13,000 clean energy jobs, Lehigh County more than 1,000. A friend in the solar business in Bucks County told me she went from managing a growing team of rooftop solar installers to helping employees fill out unemployment forms.
Fortunately, some of these jobs are
starting to come back. And with President Biden’s plans, we have the chance to get eastern Pennsylvania’s economy and clean energy workforce back on track in a way that is more just and more enduring.
But we can’t do it without the support of Congress, including our region’s congressional representatives — Republican and Democratic members of the House, as well as Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey.
Like other Pennsylvanians who care about both our economy and our environment, I urge them to work with the White House to bolster federal investments in clean energy and infrastructure — including electricity grid modernization and clean vehicle charging networks that are badly needed in our state.
Here’s what else our representatives in Washington can do to get Pennsylvanians back to work building a cleaner, better economy: First, Congress should fund a National Clean Energy Accelerator. To recover from COVID-19 and mitigate the economic threat of climate change, federal investments are critical. But on their own, they are insufficient.
With a National Clean Energy Accelerator, Congress can provide upfront capital to small businesses for clean energy projects, and then leverage those public funds with private capital.
An innovative financing tool like this helps Pennsylvania businesses secure financial products that meet the unique needs of clean energy projects. By expanding the pool of financed businesses, it can also help clean energy break through into rural, low-income and communities of color that for too long have been overlooked and underserved by the industry.
Second, Congress must support and fund clean energy worker training. Before the pandemic, nine out of 10 construction employers involved in the energy efficiency sector struggled to find enough skilled workers. This must change.
Congress should fund clean energy training programs at America’s high schools and community colleges, especially in communities of color and in Pennsylvania communities that for generations have relied on a fossil fuels sector which, due to market forces beyond the control of its workers, is in decline.
With the median hourly wage of clean energy jobs overall 25% higher than the national median wage, clean energy jobs are good jobs that can support families and offer the prospect of long-term career growth.
The COVID-19 recovery has presented our lawmakers with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to chart a new course toward more just, sustainable and durable economic growth for southeast Pennsylvania.
President Biden and our members of Congress must seize this opportunity now.