Green Stimulus

Before the pandemic, Pennsylvania faced a fossil-fuel-dependent economy, failing infrastructure, deep inequality, and a worsening climate crisis. COVID-19 intensified these problems but also created an opportunity for bold green recovery investments in clean energy and nature-based jobs.

PennFuture’s Green Stimulus and Recovery Platform for Pennsylvania aims to achieve four overarching goals:

Safely and equitably restart the economy in a way that protects human health from both the pandemic as well as pollution.
Avoid state budget cuts that will harm economic recovery and set back our nature-based businesses.
Target recovery investments that put Pennsylvanians back to work rebuilding our natural infrastructure.
Support Pennsylvania’s homegrown sustainable industries, like clean energy, that have long-term growth trajectories.

The policy agenda is estimated to require $2.83 billion in annual investments for the duration of the crisis and recovery, preserving or creating as many as 389,000 jobs.

	Total Investment	Jobs Preserved or Created
Preserve Nature-Based Small Businesses
Support Nature-Based Tourism Businesses	$130 million	250,000
Support Small Farmers and Food Producers	$340 million	102,000
Green Jobs Program
Conservation and Economic Recovery Corps	$905 million	15,000 (minimum)
Legacy Drilling and Mining Pollution	$673 million	8,480
Shovel-Ready Energy Efficiency Projects	$397 million	7,940
Shovel-Ready Clean Water Infrastructure	$385 million	5,775
TOTAL, Jobs and Stimulus Proposals	$2.83 billion	389,195

The agenda includes policy recommendations that require executive action and/or legislative actions, as well as proposals for new programs and investments in existing efforts. It provides a broad set of solutions that strengthen the Commonwealth’s sustainable industries, while leveraging their growth and dynamism as a cornerstone for recovery.

Download the full report
Download the executive summary
Download the checklist of policy recommendations

The report rejects the austerity measures the Commonwealth has used in the past during times of crisis, including deep budget cuts to nature-based agencies, drawing down dedicated revenue for conservation, and providing significant subsidies for fossil fuel companies.

Instead, this agenda takes a more positive vision for the Commonwealth and the role our policymakers can take in creating a better future for our constituents. Individual policy sections can be quickly read in the following leave-behinds:

Preserve Pennsylvania’s Nature-Based Small Businesses from Collapse (Download)
Create a Pennsylvania Conservation and Economic Recovery Corps (Download)
Create Jobs by Addressing Legacy Drilling and Mining Pollution (Download)
Deploy Shovel-Ready Energy Efficiency Projects to Modernize Our Homes and Businesses (Download)
Modernize Clean Water Infrastructure (Download)
Advance Economic Recovery by Doubling Down on Pennsylvania’s Clean Energy Industries (Download)

While this report aims to help address the pandemic-fueled economic crisis in Pennsylvania, it is also an evergreen model for how state policymakers can diversify and modernize its economy. Stuck in the same boom-and-bust cycle for over a century, Pennsylvania needs to implement green stimulus and recovery policies that provide long-term, sustainable growth for its workers, families, and residents. It would also provide significant co-benefits: less air, climate, and water pollution that makes our Commonwealth sick.

For more information on PennFuture's Green Stimulus plan, be sure to check out these stories from media outlets across Pennsylvania that have provided coverage:

In addition, read various testimonies given in Philadelphia and Harrisburg regarding our green stimulus and recovery work: