Center for American Progress

Should the U.S. Offer Tax Credits to Promote Renewable Energy?
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Should the U.S. Offer Tax Credits to Promote Renewable Energy?

Christy Goldfuss argues that in the fight against climate change, renewable energy tax credits are a crucial tool, albeit not the only one.

If we are to head off a severely worsening climate crisis, we must drive emissions reductions while creating good jobs in every community. Clean-energy tax incentives are one of the most important and powerful tools for deploying proven technologies, and are a vital plank of President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

Tax incentives for the clean-energy industry, when provided at full value over a sufficiently long time horizon, are a remarkably effective way to cut carbon emissions and mitigate future warming. Over the past two decades, solar and wind tax incentives have expired and been temporarily extended over a dozen times. This seesaw has undermined the ability of wind and solar deployment to scale at the rate we need it to.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Wall Street Journal. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Christy Goldfuss

Former Senior Vice President, Energy and Environment Policy

Alex Brill