Project 2025 Would Impact Every Aspect of Our Lives
If Trump and Vance got their way, Project 2025 extremists would dismantle clean energy programs, jeopardizing global climate and economic leadership under the Paris Climate Agreement. So, bid farewell to the manufacturing renaissance that is growing the middle class and giving us clean cars, healthier and safer homes, and more clean energy on the grid.
They would reverse clean air and water laws our movement fought hard for, like the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants and California’s vehicle emissions waiver. And they would drastically cut funding and eliminate crucial offices that keep our country running and communities safe, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Domestic Climate Policy, Office of Energy Efficiency, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Project 2025 would hit on every aspect of Americans’ lives, visible and invisible, by dismantling agencies designed to protect our rights and undermining the policies they advance. We owe much of our progress so far to agencies, like EPA, and their dedicated staff, who work to inform the public, protect our health, and hold polluters accountable. So, it is bleak, yet unsurprising, that a Project 2025 future translates to higher rates of cancer and asthma, more expensive utility bills, less pollution regulation, fewer experts driving smart policy decisions, and weaker democratic institutions.
And when you think about who will be harmed most by these alarming policies, it will inevitably be low-income communities and communities of color. Culling critical air and water pollution standards is a direct attack on all of us, but it will disproportionately impact those who already face the greatest burdens and are far too often exploited by corporations and polluters.
Let’s Build On, Not Bury, the Booming Clean Energy Economy
Ultimately, Project 2025’s primary victim is the American people. It takes a sword to the heart of what’s working best in our country and what we could benefit from in the future. We see this clearly in Energy Innovation’s jobs, GDP, and health projections.
Since the IRA passed, investment in clean energy manufacturing has quadrupled (PDF), and clean energy investment has accounted for more than half of the total U.S. private investment growth. Under Trump’s Project 2025, we would tank these booming industries, leading to U.S. GDP plummeting $320 billion per year by 2030 and $150 billion per year by 2050, the loss of 1.7 million jobs in 2030, and 260,000 lost jobs in 2050.
Doubling down on a path of fossil fuels will mean more expensive and polluting forms of electricity and transportation, resulting in a projected increase of 771,000 asthma attacks and 25,300 early deaths by 2050 and an additional $32 billion and $30 billion in household energy costs in 2030 and 2050, respectively. These numbers are so large that they border on difficult to comprehend, and yet, it’s a future all Americans would suffer from if Trump makes his way into office.
Fortunately, we have a choice in how we write our history. And come November, we can vote for a future that works for everyone.
We Can Still Build a Better, Healthier Future
Energy Innovation’s data not only charts two future trajectories; it underscores the progress our movement has made. It shows us our actionable, ambitious climate policies are working: The IRA, IIJA, and CHIPS Act have markedly improved our economy, creating over 334,000 clean energy jobs, more than $372 billion in new private investment, saved Americans $1 billion and counting in electric vehicle costs, and crucially, put our 2030 and 2050 climate targets within reach.
