Chair Castor Hails Passage of Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act

WASHINGTON (September 24, 2020) - Chair Kathy Castor of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released the following statement on Thursday, after the House of Representatives passed the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (H.R. 4447): 
  
"Today's bipartisan legislative package addresses more than 50 recommendations in the Climate Crisis Action Plan we released this summer, including energy innovation and technology transfer, building efficiency, clean electricity and transportation, industrial decarbonization, environmental justice, workforce development and labor protections, and scientific integrity," said Chair Castor. "This legislation will ensure America’s continued leadership in clean and renewable energy innovation, create good-paying jobs modernizing our energy infrastructure, and accelerate our emissions reductions on a path to reach net-zero by no later than 2050."

Background:

• The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (H.R. 4447) makes long-overdue reforms to U.S. energy policy and authorizes major investments in the transition to a low-carbon future. It includes programs to develop and deploy renewable and distributed energy resources; improve the efficiency of our homes and businesses; electrify our transportation sector; modernize the grid and enhance its resiliency; prioritize the needs of environmental justice communities; reduce carbon pollution from industrial and traditional sources; and much more. (Source: Energy & Commerce Committee)
• H.R. 4447 also includes a phasedown of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a highly potent greenhouse gas that has significant near-term impacts on the climate. Implementing this HFC phasedown would help avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius in warming by the end of the century, while creating 33,000 new American manufacturing jobs. It is also the first energy package to include an Environmental Justice title and incorporate environmental justice throughout its other provisions.
• This summer, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Democrats released the majority staff report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. This report provides a roadmap for Congress—a Climate Crisis Action Plan—to build a prosperous, clean energy economy that values workers, advances environmental justice, and is prepared to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.