Biden gives states billions of dollars for electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and other green technologies

With the U.S. facing the prospect of four more years of former President Donald Trump rolling back environmental protections at the federal level, the Biden administration is putting billions of dollars of climate funding into the hands of local governments.

The Biden administration announced $4.3 billion in funding today for locally-led climate projects in the US. The money will fund 25 different initiatives led by state, local and tribal governments, as well as coalitions of local governments working to transition to cleaner energy and reduce greenhouse gas pollution. The money can be used to deploy a wide range of clean energy technologies – from solar and wind farms to electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps.

In all, the projects are expected to reduce about 971 million metric tons of planet-warming CO2 emissions by 2050. That’s like erasing climate pollution from about 5 million American homes each year during the same period. , according to the Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA).

States and cities can play a crucial role in helping the US meet the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, especially if Trump returns to office pushing an even more fervent deregulatory agenda than during his first term as president. The Supreme Court, which Trump previously packed with conservative appointees, has restricted the ability of federal agencies to craft sweeping pollution regulations in recent landmark rulings.

“I am proud to announce that, thanks to our partnership with the Biden administration, Pennsylvania has received $396 million in federal funding to begin a new initiative called INCREASE AP”, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said in a Press release today. “This investment will help us reduce toxic air pollution, create thousands of jobs, invest in our energy sector and continue Pennsylvania’s legacy of energy leadership.”

It’s one of the largest federal subsidies Pennsylvania has ever received, according to Shapiro. Will finance a variety of different ways to decarbonize industrial facilitiesthe states largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. This could include electrifying buildings, replacing equipment that burns fossil fuels with electrical appliances such as heat pumps, installing technologies to capture CO2 emissions on site or turning to renewable energy. Today, Pennsylvania is the country second largest gas producer and a key state for the presidential elections. EPA Administrator Michael Regan traveled to Pennsylvania today to announce the recipients of the Pittsburgh grant.

The 25 different applications receiving funding cover projects in 30 states. They include efforts to reduce pollution from transportation, the power grid, agriculture, waste, buildings and industry. For example, a project with almost US$250 million in funding aims to build EV charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles traveling along I-95 in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland. Southern Alaska coastal communities, however, will receive more than US$38.6 million replace oil heating systems with more efficient electric heat pumps.

Funding comes from the Reducing Inflation Act, the largest U.S. investment in climate and clean energy to date. It is also tied to the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, a commitment to ensure that at least 40 percent of the benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.

The announcement comes a day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, highlighting climate risks in a tumultuous election cycle. Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro is supposedly a potential candidate to run alongside Harris as vice president.

Although the US continues to be the largest oil It is gas producer, the Biden administration promised reduce U.S. carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030 as part of the Paris climate agreement. Trump said he will try to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement a second time if he is re-elected president. During his last term, bipartisan coalitions of cities, States, and other local groups was formed to try to keep the U.S. moving toward its climate goals despite backsliding from the Trump administration.