The Digital Climate Alliance Applauds Enactment of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 2021
THE DIGITAL CLIMATE ALLIANCE APPLAUDS ENACTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT
Digitalization Spurs Intelligent Infrastructure to Advance Sustainability and Spur Economic Growth
Washington, DC — Developing more connected, intelligent infrastructure systems will play a crucial role in the U.S.’s ability to foster a sustainable society and spur long- term economic growth. The Digital Climate Alliance applauds Congress and the Biden Administration for working together to pass and enact the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which makes necessary investments in our nation’s infrastructure and spurs digitalization.
Specifically, the Alliance welcomes the mandate for the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) to improve the carbon transparency of the grid. The enhanced data collection provisions empower EIA to develop a publicly available dashboard that includes greenhouse gas emissions data of every megawatt hour of electricity generated. The EIA will also harmonize the data it collects with data from the Environmental Protection Agency and other Federal agencies. Further, with this new level of emissions data, the EIA will provide consistent, timely, and accessible information detailing each kilowatt’s climate impact. This will enable a vast array of climate-aware project and purchasing decisions for individuals and businesses. For example, companies can shift large computing tasks to different times and between different data centers to use electricity when and where carbon-free energy is most plentiful.
Additionally, the Digital Climate Alliance advocated for the provision directing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a Digital Climate Solutions Report. The report will catalogue the myriad opportunities digital tools and platforms can be utilized to accelerate decarbonization and promote increased transparency through standardization of voluntary and regulatory climate disclosure protocols.
Moving forward, the Alliance looks forward to engaging with the DOE to highlight the digital climate solutions our members are already implementing and explore additional opportunities to further digitalization for decarbonization.