Transportation for America releases new report: “Fueling the Crisis” on infrastructure law’s climate impact

Transportation for America today released Fueling the Crisis: Climate Consequences of the 2021 Infrastructure Bill, a new report uncovering the alarming climate impact of the transportation projects funded by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Using artificial intelligence to analyze 64,000 projects, Transportation for America finds that 42 percent of IIJA funding has been awarded to projects that will increase emissions, including highway expansions and road widening.

While the White House hailed the IIJA as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address climate change, the report’s findings suggest that the first three years of the IIJA could result in an additional 77 million metric tonnes of CO2e emissions over what would have occurred without these investments. Even accounting for the adoption of electric vehicles, this is equivalent to the emissions produced by running 20 coal-fired power plants for a year.

“Congress and the Biden administration promised major changes from the IIJA, but instead, the bipartisan law funneled more money into the same programs that created the same results: more emissions, more traffic, and more roads and bridges in need of repair,” said Beth Osborne, Director of Transportation for America. “Until we stop doing the same things and expecting different results, American taxpayers will continue to pay for a transportation system that fails to meet their needs and leads to worse climate outcomes.”

The IIJA included historic funding for transit and $200 billion for competitive grant programs, and states have broad flexibility to fund projects that would reduce emissions or continue to fund the status quo. However, with roughly half of the IIJA awards spent, our analysis finds that 32 out of 50 states are using IIJA funding for projects that will increase emissions due to outsized investment in highway building, resulting in more driving and traffic.

The report ranks states and counties by spending on emissions-increasing projects, finding that urban areas drive the lion’s share of emissions compared to rural areas. The states with the worst emissions-emitting spending include 1.) Texas, 2.) Florida, 3.) North Carolina, 4.) Ohio, 5.) Pennsylvania, 6.) California, 7.) South Carolina, 8.) Arizona, 9.) Kentucky, 10.) Tennessee.

Unless these patterns change, the cumulative federal investments made during the IIJA could result in nearly 190 million metric tonnes of additional emissions from added driving by 2040—the equivalent of emissions from 500 natural gas-fired power plants or nearly 50 coal-fired power plants running for a year. With the IIJA set to expire in 2026 and the next transportation reauthorization facing a funding crisis, this report calls for a shift in priorities at USDOT and in Congress.