Statement on Climate Action with Omnibus Bill Passage

Washington, D.C. — Shortly before midnight, as part of the COVID-19 relief package and 2021 omnibus spending bill, Congress passed a significant energy bill which was also “one of the biggest victories for U.S. climate action in a decade.” The package phases out some of the most potent climate change pollutants and includes investments in solar and wind energy and storage capacity, extensions for key renewable energy tax credits, and funds updates to the electric grid.

“We may just have a shot of staving off the worst consequences of the climate crisis if Congress is willing to continue acting on what the moment and the science demands,” said Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power. “This push from Senators Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski is a strong down payment on President-elect Biden’s vision to build back better but we’ll need Congress to keep up this level of ambition. We must invest even further in our clean energy economy if we’re going to put millions of people back to work in good-paying union jobs and protect our planet for future generations.”

At the start of 2020, clean energy jobs employed nearly 3.4 million workers in the U.S., three times as many workers as employed by the fossil fuel industry, yet the clean energy economy has lost 446,144 jobs during the pandemic, hurting it four times harder than the fossil fuel industry. 

The U.S. has the opportunity to create millions more new jobs and help us build back better if we continue to make bold investments in green infrastructure, technologies like manufacturing clean electric cars, and generating clean, American-made energy.