Building Back Better:
Investing in a Resilient Recovery for Washington State

In this webinar, we discussed the newly released report, Building Back Better: Investing in a Resilient Recovery for Washington State. The report analyzes the potential jobs and community health benefits created by a sample portfolio of investments in Washington State.

We find that investing in clean transportation, forest conservation and ecosystem restoration, clean energy, water and energy efficiency, low carbon agriculture, and sustainable industry supports over ten jobs per million dollars invested. By comparison, the state’s ten largest industries support 4.3 jobs per million dollars invested.

Additionally, we find that every million dollars invested in these programs accrues $2.4 million in clean air and climate benefits.

These findings can help state policymakers design an economic recovery plan in response to the COVID-19 crisis that maximizes both job creation and the long-term health of Washington communities.