As Congress contemplates how to provide economic relief and create desperately needed employment opportunities for millions of Americans suffering as a result of the economic havoc resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers have the opportunity to ensure that we build back better, in ways that create millions of well- paying jobs and advances a low-carbon economy. These objectives can and do go hand in hand. In fact, we know that smart climate action is not only good for but essential to economic growth.
Modernizing America’s electric grid infrastructure presents a unique opportunity to not only upgrade decades-old infrastructure systems but also to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the near term and generate sustained, economy-wide benefits over the long term. Transmission investment ranging between $12 billion and $16 billion annually through 2030 could stimulate $30 billion to $40 billion in annual economic activity and create 150,000 to 200,000 full-time jobs each year. To that end, this policy brief recommends that Congress fund the required investment in grid modernization to put people to work and enable an efficient, reliable, and resilient clean electricity pipeline from generation to consumer.