Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure

The policy memo outlines a framework for federal infrastructure investments in the United States, emphasizing the need to modernize the electric grid, accelerate offshore wind and battery storage, and implement 'climate-ready' design standards. It advocates for targeting investments toward underserved communities and displaced fossil fuel workers to ensure an equitable transition to a low-carbon economy.

• The United States faces significant economic risks from deteriorating infrastructure, with an estimated cost of $3.9 trillion by 2025 if upgrades are not made.
• To decarbonize the electricity sector, the US should expand its high-voltage transmission system, accelerate battery storage deployment, and develop offshore wind resources; the latter could satisfy 7 percent of US electricity consumption and support 160,000 jobs if only 4 percent of resources are developed.
• Proactive investment in risk reduction is highly cost-effective, with every dollar spent upfront potentially saving six dollars in future disaster costs.
• Federal infrastructure should adopt 'climate-ready' standards, such as building at least two feet above the 100-year flood level (three feet for critical infrastructure) to account for rising sea levels and intensifying rainstorms.
• Infrastructure policy must address social inequities by targeting workforce training and investments toward people of color, low-income communities, and displaced fossil fuel workers.

APA

Gomberg, S., & Udvardy, S. (2019). Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/03/climate-resilient-infrastructure-fact-sheet.pdf

Chicago

Gomberg, Sam, and Shana Udvardy. Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2019. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/03/climate-resilient-infrastructure-fact-sheet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gomberg |first1=Sam |last2=Udvardy |first2=Shana |title=Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=March 2019 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/03/climate-resilient-infrastructure-fact-sheet.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gomberg2019building, author = {Gomberg, Sam and Udvardy, Shana}, title = {{Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/03/climate-resilient-infrastructure-fact-sheet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }