Red states receive the lion’s share of Biden’s climate change funding

President Biden’s first term will be remembered for many things, but perhaps none more than infrastructure spending.

In his first three years, Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act for a combined spending of just over $2.2 trillion.

Although these bills cover much of legacy infrastructure—including transportation, energy grids, broadband technology, watersheds, and coastlines—collectively, they represent the largest financial pledge for climate change in America’s history.

On the two-year anniversary, Creditnews looked at how Biden’s climate change spending has been distributed across America—tallying up 3,000+ projects that have been awarded funding so far.

According to Creditnews research’s analysis of the White House data, Republican-leaning states (red states) received the majority of green energy funding when compared to Democratic-leaning states (blue states).

That’s despite the fact that 82% of Republicans oppose Biden’s climate policies and say that they are dragging the country in the wrong direction, according to the latest surveys.

“Two years after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law, thousands of government contracts have been awarded. And while we cannot conclude that competitive contracts are awarded along partisan lines, it’s interesting to note that Republican-leaning states have seen the lion’s share of environmental funding to date. This is true when we analyze funding for clean energy and power, electric vehicles, and environmental remediation. The irony is that Republican-leaning states have traditionally been the most vocal critics of green energy and climate change initiatives.” —Sam Bourgi, senior analyst at Creditnews

Key takeaways

• 58.7% of Biden’s climate change-related funding has been allocated to red states, compared to 37.5% to blue states and 3.8% to swing states;
• Red states received a substantially higher proportion of funding in all green infrastructure categories—including renewable energy, electric vehicles, and environmental remediation;
• Ironically, 82% of Republicans oppose President Biden’s green initiatives compared to 76% of Democrats who say they’re taking the country in the right direction.

Climate funding breakdown by partisan lines

According to Creditnews research, $60.6 billion in funding has already been awarded for climate change-related projects as of November 29, 2023.

Of that, 58.7%, or $35.6 billion, has been allocated to red states. Meanwhile, 37.5%, or $22.7 billion, has gone to blue states, and 3.8% ($2.3 billion) to swing states.

The Biden administration’s green spending falls into three main categories:

• Clean energy and power
• Electric vehicles, buses, and ferries
• Environmental remediation

Here’s how these categories break down by partisan states:

Another category, resilience, some of which includes infrastructure that protects against climate threats, also has a larger skew toward red states at 58.6% vs 37.3% to blue states and 4% to swing states.

The great American divide

Despite claims to the contrary, the majority of Americans support initiatives that address climate change.

According to the most recent Pew Survey available, 74% of American adults support their country’s participation in international climate change initiatives like the Paris Accord.

Meanwhile, 67% said alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and hydrogen should be prioritized over fossil fuels.

But when it comes to the Biden administration's green agenda and its policies to tackle climate change, there’s a great divide along partisan lines.

For example, 76% of Democrats think the Biden Administration’s climate policies are heading in the right direction. In contrast, 82% of Republicans say Biden’s climate policies are dragging the country down¹.

Among respondents, more extreme political beliefs on both sides are associated with even stronger positions for or against Biden's climate policies

For example, 90% of conservative Republicans think Biden’s climate policies are taking the country in the wrong direction. Across the aisle, 81% of the most liberal respondents were likelier to say Biden’s policies are taking the country in the right direction.

However, on specific climate change-related policies, the divide is somewhat of a mixed bag.

Among Republicans, 73% were against phasing out gas-powered vehicles. And more than half (58%) said increasing fossil fuel production should be a top priority.

Interestingly, two-thirds support business tax credits to incentivize the development of carbon capture technology that’s generally considered better for the environment.

At the same time, 94% of Democrats support the U.S.’s participation in global climate change efforts, and 90% say renewable energy sources should be prioritized over fossil fuels.

Four in five said the transition to renewable energy would enhance air and water quality. But even among Democrats, roughly half 51% are against phasing out fossil fuels entirely.

Methodology

Infrastructure funding: Data on infrastructure funding includes private and public contracts announced or awarded as of Nov. 29, 2023, obtained from WhiteHouse.gov.

Climate change funding: Creditnews’s analysis of climate funding included the climate, energy, and environment category, as well as the clean energy and power, electric vehicles, buses, ferries, and environmental remediation subcategories.

Other subcategories also had climate funding initiatives but were omitted from the analysis because they included other non-climate-focused spending.

Sources

• ¹ Pew Research Centers. Climate survey of 10,329 U.S. adults conducted between May 30 to June 4, 2023.

• WhiteHouse.gov. Announced and awarded infrastructure funding for private and public sector (as of November 29th) from Biden's historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.