Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States

The report uses the IMPLAN input-output framework to estimate the employment impacts of four federal climate policy scenarios in the United States by 2035. It finds that decarbonization scenarios—ranging from extended tax credits to a full net-zero path—would create more net jobs than a reference scenario, with the net-zero scenario potentially adding 2.3 million net jobs. The analysis highlights that job growth would be concentrated in building and electricity construction, while noting that some regions and subsectors would face job losses, necessitating targeted investments and domestic content regulations to ensure an equitable transition. Additionally, the report argues that implementing family-sustaining wage requirements for underpaid energy workers would generate significant economy-wide benefits.

• The report evaluates four mitigation scenarios based on their ability to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions relative to 2005 levels by 2050: a reference scenario (RS), an extended tax credit (ETC) scenario (50% reduction), an advanced tax credit (ATC) scenario (63% reduction), and a net-zero (NZ) scenario (100% reduction).
• By 2035, all decarbonization scenarios are projected to create more jobs than the reference scenario, provided that new investments do not displace other economic investments and wage increases do not lead to employment drops. Specifically, the ETC scenario would add 0.4 million net jobs, the ATC scenario 0.9 million, and the net-zero scenario 2.3 million.
• Job growth resulting from these policies would be primarily concentrated in the construction sectors for electricity and buildings. However, because some regions and subsectors would experience job losses, the report emphasizes the need for geographically targeted policies and domestic content regulations to prevent sectoral losses and ensure equity.
• Implementing family-sustaining wage requirements for underpaid workers within the energy economy would produce economy-wide benefits that offset a significant portion of the costs associated with those wage increases.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States. https://www.wri.org/research/federal-policy-building-blocks-support-just-prosperous-new-climate-economy-united-states

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/federal-policy-building-blocks-support-just-prosperous-new-climate-economy-united-states.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States |url=https://www.wri.org/research/federal-policy-building-blocks-support-just-prosperous-new-climate-economy-united-states |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendfederal, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/federal-policy-building-blocks-support-just-prosperous-new-climate-economy-united-states}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }