Impacts of the Reimagine Appalachia and Clean Energy Transition Programs for Pennsylvania—Summary

The ReImagine Appalachia Blueprint creates 243,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Impact of the ReImagine Appalachia and Clean Energy Transition Program study proposes a recovery program for Pennsylvania that is capable of exerting an effective counterforce against the state’s ongoing recession in the short run while also building a durable foundation for an economically viable and ecologically sustainable longer-term recovery (Pollin et al. in Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 2021). We have truly limited time to take decisive action around climate change. A clean energy investment project will enable Pennsylvania to achieve climate stabilization goals to reduce CO2 emissions by 45% as of 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These two goals can be accomplished in Pennsylvania through large-scale investments to raise energy efficiency standards dramatically in the state and equally dramatically to expand the supply of clean renewable energy supplies, primarily including solar, wind, low-emissions bioenergy, geothermal and small-scale hydro power. As an average over 2021–2030, a clean energy investment program scaled at about $23 billion per year will generate roughly 162,000 jobs per year in Pennsylvania. Additional investment programs are recommended in the areas of public infrastructure, manufacturing, land restoration and agriculture. Specific investment areas include manufacturing R&D, broadband development, regenerative agriculture, and plugging orphaned oil and gas wells. We have scaled this overall set of investments at $8.2 billion per year over 2021–2030, equal to about one percent of Pennsylvania’s 2019 GDP. This program would generate about 81,000 jobs per year in the state. Pulled together into a cohesive program, the Reimagine Appalachia Blueprint and the Clean Energy Transition Plan could provide good jobs for 243,000 Pennsylvanians every year for the next 10 years.