States can still build from Biden’s wins on clean energy and jobs
Last week, President Trump unleashed another attack on climate progress, issuing an executive order aimed at blocking state-level climate policies. This comes after a barrage of actions intended to dismantle federal environmental legislation, boost fossil fuel production, and generally undo the work of the Biden Administration. At the same time, Trump has been pushing a reckless and chaotic tariff agenda that is more likely to hurt American workers than help them.
We do not yet know which of these policies will stand, and many of Trump’s actions are already being challenged in court. In the meantime, states can still continue to act in ways that preserve and advance President Biden’s most important accomplishment: a set of policies aimed at growing jobs in strategic clean energy sectors across the U.S. while supporting fair wages and equal access to employment.
These policies offer a blueprint for state leaders to continue addressing our nation’s most acute challenges while making real improvements in people’s lives. In doing so, they offer a focal point for a political project that can build a broad base of support among working-class Americans.
Genuine threats to America: climate change and inequality
Trump would have us believe that the biggest threats to our country are immigrants, beneficiaries of DEI initiatives, trans people, and his political opponents. His actions targeting these groups are not only dangerous for real people and damaging to core tenets of our democracy, they are also a distraction from two of the most pressing collective crises we face: climate change and economic inequality.
The urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions grows each year. As we continue to fall short of the reductions needed, the impacts of climate change are intensifying; the devastating fires in Los Angeles in January are only the most recent example. Trump’s actions thus far — initiating U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, blocking federal funding of clean energy deployment, and re-prioritizing fossil fuel production — show his disregard for the climate crisis and actively undermine our progress.
An equally acute crisis is the long-term growth in inequality and erosion of living standards in the U.S. Neoliberal economic policies enacted since the 1980s — under Republican and Democratic administrations — have enriched the wealthiest, weakened unions, facilitated off-shoring of manufacturing jobs, and constrained wage growth. At the same time, we have failed to build a robust social safety net or contain the cost of living, contributing to additional crises like homelessness and deaths of despair. As a result, working-class Americans face accumulating challenges and limited opportunities, leading to growing frustration with government and politics.
Biden’s clean energy jobs policy roadmap
Sen. Bernie Sanders and others have attributed Democrats’ losses in November to the party’s long-term abandonment of working-class Americans. It is fair to say that Democrats have neglected the interests of working people, with an important exception: the Biden Administration’s actions on energy and the economy marked a clear departure from prior Democratic administrations by prioritizing climate change and inequality, and addressing them as interrelated challenges.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and related policies — collectively referred to as the Investing in America agenda — unleashed unprecedented progress toward building a clean energy economy in the U.S. while prioritizing the growth of quality blue-collar jobs. As Trump seeks to dismantle Biden’s core initiatives, the Investing in America agenda offers a valuable list of priorities for states and Democratic policymakers:
1. Accelerate domestic clean energy production and manufacturing supply chains.
Investing in America programs included hundreds of billions of dollars in grants, loans, and tax incentives to support new renewable energy generation and distribution projects and advance electrification in key sectors like transportation. Biden’s policies also incentivized onshoring production for clean energy supply chains, creating a resurgence in manufacturing projects and job growth across the U.S.
2. Prioritize investments in communities with the greatest needs.
Investing in America programs deliberately prioritized investments, loans, and tax credits for new projects in areas with the greatest needs for job creation: those with an economic dependency on fossil fuel industries (“Energy Communities”) and those marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution (“Justice40 Communities”).
3. Include strong labor standards for construction jobs.
Construction projects supported by Investing in America included strong labor standards, such as requirements for Project Labor Agreements and prevailing wage rates, and the use of registered apprenticeship programs. These policies ensured baseline job quality and training standards for workers and offered a level playing field for unionized construction firms.
4. Incentivize labor and community engagement for new projects.
The Department of Energy pioneered innovative approaches for worker and community engagement in Investing in America projects. The agency required that program applicants submit Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) demonstrating commitments to quality jobs, community and labor engagement, equity, and Justice40. CBPs help ensure accountability for the impacts of new development, support unions’ ability to organize new workers, and foster local support for projects.
A political agenda for the working class
Jobs and climate action are often presented as competing priorities, but the Biden Administration showed us how we can tackle both challenges simultaneously, and in doing so, enhance our ability to effectively address each one. Inaction on climate change will exacerbate inequality and undermine economic stability; at the same time, a lack of commitment to growing quality jobs will hinder our climate progress.
Workers are facing serious consequences from job loss in the fossil fuel industry, which are compounded by an increasing cost of living. Our research at the UC Berkeley Labor Center documents the challenges faced by laid-off oil refinery workers, many of whom struggled to find new jobs and took a significant pay cut when they did.
Fossil fuel workers and frontline communities want to see a plan for an energy transition that doesn’t require them to shoulder the biggest costs of the transition. A policy agenda that makes clean energy more affordable while growing quality, blue-collar jobs — in particular in regions that are currently dependent on fossil fuels — is an agenda that can unite diverse working-class communities around shared priorities and reduce opposition to climate action.
The full effects of the Investing in America programs are just beginning to unfold, and Trump’s actions are already undermining their impact. As the Democratic Party searches for answers and a path forward following its defeat in November, it should look to Biden’s groundbreaking wins on clean energy and quality jobs. Now is the time to double down on these strategies, not retreat. Investing in America policies can serve as a guide for state policymakers to continue building a more resilient economy despite federal setbacks, and as a foundation for rebuilding a political project that champions working-class Americans.