Highway to (Climate) Hell
The false promises of infrastructure spending.
In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was celebrated as a landmark effort to modernize America’s infrastructure while addressing the urgent realities of climate change. With its sweeping promises of investment in clean energy, public transit, and resilience, it seemed like the bipartisan solution to our crumbling roads and warming planet.
But the truth beneath the green rhetoric is far more disturbing. While the IIJA has garnered praise for its climate-conscious initiatives, its core focus — massive spending on highway expansions — directly undermines its environmental goals. Rather than reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the projects it funds will increase them, deepening America’s dependence on fossil fuels and exacerbating the very crisis it claims to address.
Despite the promises, the IIJA stands as a glaring contradiction — a greenwashed bill that will accelerate climate breakdown rather than mitigate it.
The Empty Promises of Green Investment
The public messaging around the IIJA paints an optimistic picture. It highlights billions of dollars allocated to critical climate initiatives, such as modernizing public transit, expanding electric vehicle (EV)…
