Pennsylvania is proving that cutting carbon emissions can spur economic growth. The statewide grant program, RISE PA, which offers grants to help heavy industry cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency, is creating new jobs while strengthening the competitiveness of the Commonwealth’s existing businesses by reducing their exposure to costly global energy shocks.
Traditionally, investing capital in decarbonization is seen as risky for private businesses—even if they want to reduce their emissions—as most decarbonization efforts today are project-based and can carry high upfront costs. RISE PA helps de-risk this needed investment for companies and positions Pennsylvania businesses to become first movers, allowing them to better compete in global markets with increasingly strict import controls on the carbon content of their products.
According to a new analysis by the Ohio River Valley Institute, the first round of funding awarded through RISE PA:
- Created or supported an estimated 1,741 job-years.[1] This means that, on average, every $156,000 of RISE PA funding awarded supports roughly one Pennsylvania job, a cost-effective rate of return well below that of many traditional economic development programs, which can require upwards of $1 million to support a single job-year.” We estimate that every direct job supported by RISE PA grantees supports an additional 1.98 indirect and induced jobs in the broader economy.
- Supported over $700 million in additional estimated industry output across the state.
Most estimated direct effects involve employment growth in construction trades, power generation, and manufacturing. However, real estate services, as well as retail and food establishments, such as full-service restaurants, also benefit from the spending of new income. This suggests that RISE PA’s impact can ripple through local economies to other businesses, supporting broad job growth.
RISE PA grants and the associated economic activity will generate over $15 million in local tax revenues, $3.34 million in county tax revenues across the state, and $24.43 million in state tax revenue. The bulk of this tax revenue is estimated to be generated by sales taxes and property taxes.
With the first round of medium- and large-track awards alone, the Commonwealth estimates RISE PA projects will save Pennsylvania businesses more than $3.1 million in annual energy costs and reduce more than 1.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) within their first year of implementation. Additionally, Round 1 projects for the small track are expected to save companies another $500,000 in energy costs and cut more than 5,055 metric tons of CO2e.
Why invest in decarbonization?
Through RISE PA, Pennsylvania is becoming a national leader in industrial decarbonization by proving that cutting industrial emissions isn’t just good for the climate; it’s good for the economy. These investments help protect and grow good jobs and strengthen local businesses, while keeping our communities’ air and water clean and healthy.
Pennsylvania was awarded $396 million in 2024 through the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to create and implement the RISE PA program. As a flagship, first-in-the-country program, RISE PA offers grants for small-, medium-, and large-scale decarbonization projects to reduce greenhouse gas and co-pollutant emissions at industrial facilities. Because there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to decarbonization, projects may reduce emissions using a number of methods, including: electrification, efficiency improvements, low-carbon fuel switching, on-site renewable energy, carbon capture and storage technologies, and reducing fugitive emissions from natural gas, oil, and coal systems.
The economic and environmental potential of these investments for Pennsylvania is enormous; the industrial sector is the highest-emitting sector in the state, accounting for more than 30% of Pennsylvania’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
RISE PA funds help support investment in a variety of energy-efficiency upgrades, which are especially critical as geopolitical disruptions and fossil-fuel volatility continue to increase energy costs for manufacturers. This lowers both risk and costs in the long run for Pennsylvania businesses by investing in their resiliency.
At a recent convening of RISE PA Round 1 grantees in late June, representatives from several awarded companies said they would not have been able to take on these projects were it not for the funding the Commonwealth provided through RISE PA.
Recently, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office also highlighted one of the Round 1 RISE PA awardees, Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater, PA, which received a $10,646,316 grant to “replace eight natural gas fired dehydrators—used to process and dispose of egg waste generated during vaccine production—with a new paddle dryer and regenerative thermal oxidizer, modernizing the facility’s operations with cleaner energy equipment and reducing natural gas use by approximately 65 percent.” This has national benefits as well: Sanofi manufactures roughly 42% of all influenza vaccines administered in the US annually.
By replacing the natural gas-fired hydrators with a new, more energy-efficient dryer and oxidizer, Mercer County-based Sanofi will reduce 516 metric tons of CO2e within the new equipment’s first year of operation. The project also will create about 40 new jobs, including unionized construction jobs, according to a press release.
Decarbonization as an economic engine for Pennsylvania
RISE PA is more than just a program to reduce industrial emissions – it’s a cost-effective way to create high-quality jobs, and support workers.
The program is not only designed to create new jobs, but it works to ensure that the jobs being created are good jobs for Pennsylvania workers that pay family-sustaining wages.
Through the program’s apprenticeship requirements—which require no less than 15% of the total labor hours to be performed by apprentices—RISE PA ensures that funds invested today go toward training tomorrow’s workforce.
Along with prevailing wage requirements[2] under the program, RISE PA projects can receive an additional 10% in funding if they meet additional labor requirements, including committing to employing local workers, negotiating project labor agreements for construction activity, and allowing union organizers onsite. Projects are further eligible for an additional 10% of funding for submitting an approved Community Benefit Plan that safeguards local resident input and articulates the benefits of the project to communities.
RISE PA should be a permanent program in PA
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is currently accepting applications for the second round of medium- and large-track awards, with about $54 million left to fund these projects. (The application window will close Friday, July 31, 2026 at 4:59 pm EST.)
The small-scale track will have several more funding rounds, with the current application cycle set to close August 17, 2026.
Our findings show that RISE PA has been a successful model for growing jobs while reducing emissions. And while there is still a great deal of opportunity, the original federal funding awarded under the IRA has almost run out. Previous analysis conducted for the Ohio River Valley Institute found that fully decarbonizing Pennsylvania’s industrial sector would require $34.6 billion in unsubsidized implementation expenditures across all subsectors by 2050. While this is a massive investment, our analysis shows that it would also result in significant economic and social benefit. Projected savings through avoided GHG emissions alone—to say nothing of more jobs—could reach $14 billion annually by 2050, compared to the business-as-usual scenario.
Going forward, Pennsylvania should look to secure a permanent funding source for RISE PA, which would provide the stability manufacturers need to plan, invest, and grow—without leaving communities behind. It would help ensure that Pennsylvania continues to be a place where industry thrives, where workers can build a future, and where economic growth goes hand-in-hand with clean air and strong neighborhoods.
[1] These estimates were generated by IMPLAN, a commercially available input-output modeling software. Data on the RISE PA grant funding was compiled by economic sector, based on project descriptions. We assume a general 25-75 split between worker earnings and intermediate capital expenditure, given that most grants are given to more labor-intensive activities, such as installing new machinery or infrastructure. For more information, contact ORVI Senior Economist Dr. Nick Messenger. nick@ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org
[2] Minimum wage rates for the Pennsylvania construction industry as determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Federal and state labor departments determine the rate by looking at the wages paid to the majority of similarly employed workers in a specific local geographic area.