New Federal Grants Could Slash U.S. Climate Emissions by Nearly 1 Billion Metric Tons Through 2050

The Biden administration on Monday announced that it’s awarding $4.3 billion in federal grants to projects in 30 states aimed at boosting clean energy development and other efforts to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

The grants are among the largest cash subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that dedicated nearly $400 billion toward climate action and the clean energy transition. The timing of the grants ensures that this part of President Joe Biden’s environmental legacy will remain intact even if Democrats fail to retain control of the White House or Senate after November’s election.

The grants will fund 25 projects, including efforts to electrify farming equipment in Minnesota, expand public transit in Texas and deploy new electric vehicle charging stations along the Interstate-95 corridor in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to announce another $300 million in climate-related grants for Tribes and territories later this summer.

The EPA estimates that the projects will reduce the nation’s climate pollution by nearly 1 billion metric tons through 2050. That’s roughly the same as slashing 25 years’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions from 5 million homes, the agency said in its press release.

“These awards will supercharge American climate progress across sectors—from reaching 100 percent clean electricity to slashing super-pollutants like methane to harnessing the power of nature across our farms and forests in the fight against climate change,” White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said in a statement. “This is a big deal.”

Biden pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to cut U.S. emissions in half by 2030, an ambitious goal that energy experts say the nation is not on track to achieve. During a press briefing Friday afternoon, Zaidi told reporters the new pool of money would help get the nation back on track. According to numbers Zaidi provided, the grants could ultimately bring down nationwide emissions by roughly 13 percent from 2005 emissions, the baseline year for the U.S. climate pledge.

Projects Vary State to State, City to City

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the 25 grant recipients represented the “cream of the crop” from more than 300 applicants, who proposed programs that would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but would create jobs and otherwise benefit their communities economically.

“We know that governors and mayors know their communities better than the federal government ever could,” Regan told reporters on Friday. “So we relied on their abilities to construct an application that would get the maximum greenhouse gas pollution reduction. But also, we wanted to be sure that we saw the diversity across various industries, whether it be transportation, building, agriculture, the power sector, electricity, gas.”

Pennsylvania, a key battleground state for Democrats in November, received among the highest amounts from the grants. The state will get more than $396 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing, electrify and improve energy efficiency in buildings, reduce landfill waste, develop carbon capture technologies and build out more battery storage.

Minnesota, too, will receive funding to improve building energy efficiency and accelerate the electrification of various industries and sectors. The state also plans to use the nearly $200 million it was awarded to restore and protect important carbon sinks, using new “climate-smart agriculture” technologies and restoring degraded peatlands.

Similarly, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will use their combined $450 million to install energy efficient heat pumps in buildings. Other states, such as Illinois and Michigan, will use their funding predominantly to build new wind and solar farms and install more battery storage. Illinois received more than $430 million and Michigan received nearly $130 million for those efforts. 

North Carolina will oversee a $420 million grant awarded to a coalition of conservation groups, including the Nature Conservancy, to preserve, enhance or restore more than 200,000 acres of the state’s coast, forests and farmland, as well as other conservation efforts in South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

It wasn’t only states that received grant money. Much of the funding went to county and city governments, as well as community organizations and nonprofits.

A regional agency representing several southern California counties received nearly $500 million, making it the largest recipient of Monday’s announced grants. That agency plans to use its funding to help electrify business fleets in the state and reduce pollution in disadvantaged communities.

“Tackling the climate crisis looks different in every community, from Colorado to Connecticut to Lincoln, Nebraska.”

Two Ohio cities, Cleveland and Painesville, plan to use their nearly $130 million to retire a century-old coal plant and install new solar power and battery storage systems. And in Texas, the city of Austin will use its $48 million grant to improve public transit, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities, in an effort to reduce reliance on driving. Austin claims the second-highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of any major U.S. city, with more than half related to transportation. 

“Tackling the climate crisis looks different in every community, from Colorado to Connecticut to Lincoln, Nebraska,” John Podesta, senior White House adviser for clean energy innovation and implementation, said Friday. “More bike lanes and public transit—this may be the best way for one city to reduce emissions, and making a local steel plant more energy efficient might be the best path for another.”

Funding Will Help Protect Biden’s Climate Legacy

The grants were announced amid a tumultuous month in Washington. In a surprise Sunday announcement, Biden said he would no longer run for re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.

By announcing the grants now, the Biden administration is at least partially insulating them from being reversed should former President Donald Trump win in November, since the money will already be in the hands of local and state governments. Trump has pledged to undo much of the Biden administration’s climate program if he is re-elected.

Podesta said the EPA’s climate pollution reduction grants “put state and local governments in the driver’s seat so that as a nation, we can accelerate our progress toward President Biden’s climate goals.”

Regan was similarly cautious yet optimistic.

“We can’t speak too far into the future because none of us can predict the future,” he said. “What we can talk about is what’s happening in the present.” The money, he said, would be allocated by fall and “we know that these recipients are ready to receive these dollars. And we’ll be off to the races immediately.”

Dylan Baddour, Kiley Bense, Lisa Sorg, Aman Azhar, Dan Gearino and Liza Gross contributed to this report.

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