The United States has made substantial progress towards a low-carbon economy over the past several years. Low-carbon technologies have become more efficient and affordable, and U.S. clean energy investment and deployment grew to new heights, creating millions of jobs. Whether this continues will depend on how the government responds to the COVID-19 crisis.
This paper draws on the latest research to assess the progress that has been made and outlines the multiple reasons why decarbonisation can benefit the U.S. economy, communities, and ecosystems, especially in today’s economic reality. It aims to present robust, systematic evidence of the socio-economic benefits of decarbonisation to reduce unfounded fears, unlock more climate policy support, and enable the mainstreaming of climate policy into other areas, such as economic development, infrastructure, finance, and energy.