Renewable Energy Goals Will Define Future of Housing Policy

The Biden-Harris Administration have released a new U.S. National Blueprint for decarbonizing transportation to attain their goal of cutting all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 for transportation. 

The blueprint, which was jointly developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Energy, and the Enviromental Protection Agency. This is another continued effort by the administration to address changing climates, and continue alternative energy independence. 

Representing the agency, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the blueprint is the first deliverable milestone of a memorandum signed by the individual agencies last year. Following the blueprint will be more detailed decarbonization action plans—and how that relates to the future of housing— can be acted upon by all levels of government. 

“The people HUD serves deserve clean, affordable transportation options,” said U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge. “HUD is proud to join our federal partners at Energy, DOT, and EPA to ensure that clean transportation investments are made equitably and include communities and households that have been most harmed by environmental injustice. We look forward to working together to better align transportation, housing, and community development investments in these and other communities across the country.” 

The transportation sector—which includes all modes of travel through land, air, and sea to move people and goods—accounts for a third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions, negatively affecting the health and well-being of millions of Americans, particularly those in disadvantaged communities. Transportation costs are the second largest annual household expense in our country and for the poorest Americans, the financial burden of transportation is disproportionately and unsustainably high. 

A well-planned transition to a decarbonized transportation system can address these and other inequities and provide equitable, affordable, and accessible options for moving people and goods. Further developing and deploying clean-energy technologies such as electric vehicles and hydrogen and sustainable fuels, while also building out the supporting infrastructure for clean transportation, will create good-paying jobs in all segments of the transportation sector while strengthening America’s energy independence.