By Carlos Claussell, Climate, Community Benefits & Social Impact Manager at World Wildlife Fund
States like Pennsylvania are tapping into the tremendous opportunity to revitalize industrial regions and build a thriving low-carbon economy by investing in industrial decarbonization.
The Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions in Pennsylvania (RISE PA) is an exciting grant opportunity for industry to implement decarbonization projects at industrial facilities, reducing industrial sector emissions while delivering benefits to local communities across the state.
This $396 million grant program serves as a prime example of how industrial decarbonization does far more than lower emissions and air pollution. It can be a catalyst for states to unlock the transition to a thriving economy.
Industry is the highest-emitting sector in Pennsylvania, accounting for over 30% of the state’s total GHG emissions. This grant program is intended to not only reduce industrial emissions, but also help industries lower operating costs, create up to 6,000 jobs, and increase Pennsylvania’s manufacturing competitiveness.
RISE PA Invests $267 Million to Reduce Industrial Emissions and Deliver Benefits to Local Communities
Pennsylvania is investing $267 million in 31 manufacturing projects across the state to reduce industrial sector emissions. These projects will reduce more than 1.3 million metric tons of climate pollution within the first year and save more than $3.1 million in annual energy costs.
Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) Members Mars, Nestlé, and Savencia Cheese USA were among the companies awarded. Savencia received the second highest award with $45 million to implement energy efficiency measures; install anaerobic digesters and industrial heat pump systems; electrify refrigerated trailers and upgrade its truck fleet to EV trucks. Nestlé received the fourth highest award with $31 million to install anaerobic digesters and heat recovery systems. Mars received nearly $500,000 through the small-scale award track to construct a new cooling tunnel that will use chilled water directly from its existing high-efficiency centrifugal chiller. These projects will help ensure that industrial systems are protecting local communities and the environment. The grant also requires all awardees to provide prevailing wages to workers and enact apprenticeship programs.
Multi-Million Dollars for Community Benefits and Fair Labor
RISE PA prioritizes community impact and workforce development, with strong incentives for companies investing in low-income and disadvantaged communities to host industrial operations. The grant offers three bonuses: (1) an emissions reduction bonus for projects going over the 20% emissions reduction threshold, (2) a community benefits bonus, and (3) a fair labor bonus. Securing all three bonuses means awardees can cover up to 60% of total project costs for medium and large-scale projects through this grant.
Community & Workforce Benefits are Key to Decarbonizing Industrial Sectors in Pennsylvania
Most industrial operations in the U.S. are in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Incentivizing industry to decarbonize for the sake of emissions reductions is not enough, especially when it can also lower operating and maintenance costs, create jobs, improve health outcomes, and strengthen local economies in manufacturing regions.
Savencia provides a stellar example of why investing in communities and workers is essential to project planning, enhancing investment outcomes, and securing long-term business feasibility. Savencia’s project will reduce on-site factory emissions by up to 60% and launch community partnerships to build resilient supply chains and workforce readiness. Through a community partnership with a local school, Savencia is building a workforce development pipeline for recent graduates. Another partnership with the local conservation trust and small-scale dairy farmers allows Savencia to invest in agricultural resilience, strengthening its local supply chains.
Savencia’s example points to a larger trend of corporates that recognize how a successful industrial transition comes when we invest in the workforce and the communities that underpin industrial production. RTC supported Savencia in developing a community benefits plan as part of the RISE PA grant application and continues to support other companies committed to integrating community and workforce solutions within industrial thermal decarbonization projects.
The RISE PA grant program has announced a second round with up to $52 million dollars available for medium and large-scale projects, with applications due Friday, July 31. Industrial decarbonization projects that may qualify include industrial electrification, energy efficiency, process emissions reduction, low-carbon fuels, on-site renewable energy, CCUS, or fugitive emissions reduction.
A State Roadmap for Industrial Competitiveness
Successfully scaling industrial decarbonization requires delivering clear value for industry, workers, and communities alike. Pennsylvania can leverage this transformational grant to build a roadmap for state-led industrial decarbonization, helping educate in-state decision-makers and stakeholders in other states on how community-positive industrial decarbonization incentives are creating tangible economic opportunities in the communities that need them the most.
RTC is excited to see how this first round of projects can provide lessons for states on how to promote economic development through industrial decarbonization, as well as how building a cleaner industrial sector makes them more competitive, creating good paying jobs, strengthening local supply chains, and investing in local communities to build a thriving future that works for everyone.
