As one of the most important metals for modern life, aluminum is all around us. From our bridges and high-rise buildings to our smartphones and kitchen appliances, this highly durable, lightweight, and conductive material is essential. It’s also a key ingredient for achieving our climate, jobs, and national security goals. As a primary component of solar panels, power lines, electric vehicles (EVs), and other clean technologies, aluminum is a building block of our clean energy solutions.1 At the same time, producing aluminum requires a tremendous amount of energy, and globally, the sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As the world produces increasing amounts of this material for the clean energy economy, we must simultaneously decrease the emissions from its production in order to achieve global climate targets.

 The Oregon State Senate today approved a transformative “Buy America” bill (HB 3332), which will retool the state’s procurement practices and greater align state buying power with current robust federal domestic standards.

It’s important that regulators, policymakers, and advocates coordinate standards, policies, investments, and infrastructure projects that engage and benefit all people—from the manufacturing workers who build the vehicles of the future, to the people who drive them, to the communities they drive through. Strong heavy-duty vehicle standards—accompanied by policies to rebuild manufacturing, protect and create good family supporting jobs, and revitalize communities—are critical to achieving these aims.

The Inflation Reduction Act extended and strengthened tax credits for investment in and production of a range of clean energy technologies. The law included a “direct pay” option for which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today released new guidance. The guidance will help public and tax-exempt entities—public schools, nonprofit hospitals, and tribal, local, and state governments—to recoup a significant portion of a clean energy project’s cost as a cash payment from the IRS.

Researchers at Dartmouth and Princeton released a report on the estimated impacts the Inflation Reduction Act will have on the U.S. wind and solar industry.

Researchers at Dartmouth and Princeton released a BlueGreen Alliance-funded report on the estimated impacts the Inflation Reduction Act will have on the U.S. wind and solar industry, including changes in wind and solar manufacturing, labor standards for clean energy workers, job creation, and demand for materials.

Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued guidance that will shape the first portion of $10 billion in funding for clean manufacturing under Section 48C of the federal tax code, also known as the Advanced Energy Project Credit. The Inflation Reduction Act revived and extended this section of the tax code to invest in the establishment and expansion of manufacturing facilities that produce clean energy technologies and reduce industrial emissions. Following the Treasury announcement, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement by Vice President of Manufacturing and Industrial Policy Ben Beachy.

Clean technology manufacturing is having a moment. In order to address climate change, we are going to need to produce a lot more solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, building efficiency products, electric vehicles, batteries, and other clean energy goods. Since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, manufacturers have already announced more than $200 billion in private investment for solar, wind, energy storage, and electric vehicle projects in the U.S. The 48C tax credit is particularly well suited to build U.S. manufacturing capacity in specific segments of clean energy supply chains where we face the biggest gaps—gaps that are reflected in our new supply chain analysis.

In a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the BlueGreen Alliance said investing in infrastructure isn’t just about repairing roads and bridges, it should also focus on protecting communities by restoring natural defenses.

The BlueGreen Alliance today celebrated the the Buy Clean Buy Fair Minnesota Act becoming law. The components of the bill were included two omnibus bills signed by Gov. Tim Walz.

Gov. Tim Walz today signed a new law funding the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority to provide financing and leverage private investment for clean energy, building retrofits, and other projects around the state. The law includes vital standards to ensure the jobs created by this “green bank” will be good-paying, safe, union jobs, such as preference for projects that utilize Project Labor Agreements, which are collective bargaining agreements between building trade unions and contractors.

A new law funding the Minnesota’s State Competitiveness Fund was signed today by Gov. Tim Walz. The action unlocks billions of dollars in federal funding and provides resources for local and tribal governments, schools, businesses, and other entities to pursue federal grants for energy and infrastructure investments through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.