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The CCA Jobs & Economic Benefits Report from Greenline Insights is a deep analysis of the projected impact Washington state’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) will have on our state’s economy, and it shows the CCA has the potential to create over 45,000 jobs and generate $9.1 billion in economic output over 8 years, all benefits that will be lost if the CCA is repealed due to actions by the Legislature or voters. With leveraged federal, local, and private-sector funding, the economic output could rise to $51 billion. For every dollar invested by the state, Greenline Insights projects up to $13 in economic growth.
Jonah Kurman-Faber of Greenline Insights presented the key findings of this report in a powerful webinar, which you may watch here:
The published report is full of fascinating insights that illustrate how powerful the Cap-and-Invest Climate Commitment Act will be in building Washington state’s economy, and Jonah summarizes the findings succinctly in this webinar presentation. But beyond that, Jonah adds bonus insights during the Q&A session, including that even beyond the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic impact driven by the CCA, climate damage mitigation – which is not accounted for in this analysis – would more than double the value of CCA investments for the state.
Jonah also shared that Massachusetts – where Greenline is headquartered – just announced a state fund to help communities there access federal funds through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the CHIPS & Science Act (CHIPS). Governor Maura Healey insists that she is “committed to competing aggressively to win more federal investments in Massachusetts. We know that every federal dollar we pull in is vital to repairing our bridges and roads, improving transportation infrastructure in all parts of the state, leading the clean energy revolution, and supporting our workforce at every step”.
Washington state just announced a similar program, FundHubWA, a new portal that offers an easy-to-use way to apply for state and federal funding opportunities. FundHubWA is supported with funding from the CCA.
And Washington’s CCA helps position our state to win a disproportionate share of federal funding as we compete with Massachusetts and the other states.