In the two years since Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), billions of dollars have been allocated to help states fight climate change, promote clean energy, and reduce economic inequality.
But new reports give the Fears that the positive effects do not reach the people who need them most.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit scientific advocacy group, analyzed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) investments in California to see how much of the money has gone to historically underserved areas. The benefits so far fall short of original goals, the investigation found.
The researchers used two different environmental justice screening tools, one from the federal government and one from the state of California, to determine which communities most needed the BIL funds. Their study found that “only 9.4 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively, of the $779.29 million examined went to communities classified and prioritized as ‘disadvantaged.'”
Communities that suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change and economic turmoil — such as low-income, Indigenous, rural and Black communities, and places with environmental justice issues — are special targets for infrastructure funding. President Biden’s Justice40 initiative aims to direct “40 percent of the total benefits of investments in climate, clean energy, infrastructure and other areas” to these communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed Law by President Biden in 2022, is an economic plan consisting of grants, rebates, loans and other spending aimed at economic growth as well as investments in clean energy and climate resilience. The bipartisan infrastructure bill works next to the Inflation Reduction Act to build the physical infrastructure necessary to achieve IRA funding goals.
With three years of funding left for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the report calls for a “unified Justice40 tracking system” that would keep records of states’ decisions about where IRA funds go to “ensure equitable federal spending.”
The report also calls for a clearer definition of what constitutes “benefits.” The actual measures of success may actually be higher than those found in the report, the Union of Concerned Scientists said, but without more precise metrics of spending data, it is not realistic to understand the true impact of the money on disadvantaged communities.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities also emphasizes the role of federal states in providing funds to target communities, urging state governments to “not leave funds lying idle” and to take stronger administrative measures to “get the money where it is most needed.”
There is still time for two federal funding bills to come to fruition. With an improved national database of where the money is going, a more consistent understanding of what constitutes a community in need, and more accountability from state and federal agencies reporting their data, the UCS report says, “BIL infrastructure investments can realize the transformative potential of Justice40.”
Supporting disadvantaged communities is central to effective investments in climate change, says the UCS report, which reiterates that focusing on the goals of the Justice40 initiative is central to the success of the entire project.
“History shows that public investments risk not adapting optimally to climate change if equity and justice are not at their core,” the report says.
“Achieving the Justice40 targets for BIL spending is critical to our collective ability to adapt to climate change.”
