USGBC Bemoans New Law's Rollback of Environmental Incentives

This opinion piece was published July 2, just a day before this new legislation was passed and then signed into law. 

By Deisy Verdinez, U.S. Green Building Council

The budget reconciliation currently moving through Congress is the wrong direction for our country. It enacts policies that are largely out of step with American views and would thwart a stable and robust economy. The bill will impede American innovation, undercut economic growth, and slow the U.S. transition to reliable, affordable and sustainable forms of energy.

If it becomes law, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the building industry must step in to continue catalyzing investment in high-performance buildings.

At a time when energy costs are increasing, clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits help lower energy costs, make housing more affordable, and protect good American jobs. The legislation moving through Congress revokes decades-old, commonsense policies that earned bipartisan support because of their direct contribution to American competitiveness and prosperity.

This dramatic reversal will punish businesses and organizations that have planned and made investments based on faith in the stability of the federal tax code and will slow progress towards an affordable, reliable, and resilient energy future. A record $1 trillion in public and private sector investments is now at risk.

History will show that polices in this bill undermine a stable and resilient energy grid that promotes U.S. competitiveness. While electricity demand is projected to increase 78% by 2050, this reconciliation bill pulls the rug out from under some of our best solutions to address growing demand quickly and affordably. Eliminating these provisions jeopardizes planned projects, harms the economy, and threatens working-class jobs, including an estimated 1.75 million construction jobs.

“USGBC remains steadfast in supporting the building industry's adoption of best-in-class practices and technologies that maximize savings, performance, resilience and value,” said Peter Templeton, president and CEO, USGBC. “Green building has always been driven by market demand and innovation for higher performance and efficiency. While federal policy has helped more businesses, homeowners, and communities realize these benefits and savings, that leadership now falls to the private sector and state and local governments to ensure our built environment meets future needs and challenges.”

This is an important inflection point for our movement.

Despite this outcome, USGBC is doubling down on our work to engage the green building community and broader industry to catalyze and support transformative action. To inform these efforts, we will convene listening sessions with members and partner organizations to understand needs and opportunities. We are working on the next generation of policies that will support market demand and provide Americans with relief from an expected rise in electricity prices.

We also launched the Local Green Building Policy Accelerator, which provides policy technical assistance, resources and peer-to-peer networking for local governments to develop or update green building policy. And we are expanding our efforts on financial institution incentives and insurance solutions, along with developing practical resources for the private sector to help tap into them.

We appreciate the members of Congress who introduced amendments to the bill to soften the rollbacks to commonsense energy incentives and those who voiced their support for these measures. USGBC has always engaged elected officials in a bipartisan manner and will continue to work with lawmakers who champion a comprehensive approach to energy security that makes our country more competitive and resilient.

We are grateful to all the members, partners and stakeholders across the country who joined us to participate in the democratic process, reaching out to their members of Congress in recent months. Every meeting, phone call and email sent to support the industry’s efforts to keep the incentives in place served to educate officials and create a base to build on.

This outcome does not deter our mission to transform how we build and operate our buildings to positively impact people, businesses, the environment and quality of life across our country. We will continue to lead the growing green building movement in advocating for smart, forward-looking policy, and we urge you to join us in that effort.

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