Obama awards $2.3B in clean energy credits
WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Barack Obama unveiled a $2.3 billion tax credit to promote clean energy technology and boost job creation in the hard-hit manufacturing sector, the White House said.
It said in a statement the credit, from funds earmarked under an emergency $787 billion stimulus package Obama signed in February 2009, would create 17,000 new U.S. jobs and would be matched by an additional $5 billion in private capital.
High unemployment is one Obama's most pressing domestic challenges and a monthly payroll report released earlier served a reminder that labor market conditions are still grim. U.S. unemployment remained stuck at 10 percent in December, while businesses unexpectedly shed 85,000 jobs.
"The Recovery Act awards I am announcing will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security," Obama said.
Related News
Global CO2 emissions 'flatlined' in 2019, says IEA
LONDON - Despite widespread expectations of another increase, global energy-related CO2 emissions stopped growing in 2019, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) data released today. After two years of growth, global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatonnes in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9%.
This was primarily due to declining emissions from electricity generation in advanced economies, thanks to the expanding role of renewable sources (mainly wind and solar), fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power generation, the Paris-based organisation says in the report.
"We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019…
