The Economic Benefits of the New Climate Economy in Rural America

This research paper analyzes the potential rural economic impacts of federal investments in the new climate economy, focusing on clean energy, fossil fuel site remediation, reforestation, and wildfire risk reduction.

• An annual federal investment of $55 billion nationwide over five years would result in nearly $15 billion flowing to rural counties annually. This investment is estimated to support nearly 260,000 rural jobs per year (totaling 1.3 million job-years) and generate $21.7 billion in annual overall value added to rural economies, which includes $12.9 billion in rural employee compensation and $1.6 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenue.
• The analysis indicates that every $1 million invested in the new climate economy pathways would create 17.5 jobs and $1.5 million in value added within rural economies.
• Economically disadvantaged rural areas would be direct beneficiaries of these federal investments, accounting for 45 percent of all jobs created in rural counties.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). The Economic Benefits of the New Climate Economy in Rural America. https://www.wri.org/research/benefits-federal-investment-rural-america

Chicago

World Resources Institute. The Economic Benefits of the New Climate Economy in Rural America. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/benefits-federal-investment-rural-america.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=The Economic Benefits of the New Climate Economy in Rural America |url=https://www.wri.org/research/benefits-federal-investment-rural-america |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendeconomic, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{The Economic Benefits of the New Climate Economy in Rural America}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/benefits-federal-investment-rural-america}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }