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Defend key Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) buildings tax incentives

The IRA created a powerful suite of federal tax incentives encouraging the real estate community to invest in energy efficiency and clean energy over the next decade. With a new administration and unified control of Congress, valuable tax incentives are now at risk of repeal. It is critical that the green building community speak out in support of these tax incentives.

Get involved

1. Email Congress
   We’ve made it easy to send an email to members of Congress. Access the to send to your members of Congress urging them to protect buildings-related tax incentives. While you can send the email as it is, we encourage you to customize it, starting with information about yourself and what you do.
2. Join our sign-on letter
   Invite your company or organization to join our building industry sign-on letter to Congressional leadership opposing any effort to repeal the buildings-related provisions in the IRA. This letter is for companies or organizations, not individuals. .
3. Meet with Congressional staff
   If you would like to get more engaged and join a phone call or meeting with legislative staffers for your members of Congress, contact us at publicpolicies@usgbc.org. This is an important step if you have a Republican representative or senator who might support these incentives.

View a that can be shared with policymakers. View talking points and a summary of key IRA green building tax priorities.

Talking points

If you plan to speak directly with your members of Congress or their staff, please consider the following points. These key themes have proven effective and resonant with policymakers.

• All politics is local: Members of Congress need to hear from constituents that these federal tax incentives are stimulating economic activity in their states and districts. Talk to them about what you are seeing or expect to see in buildings projects in the local community. How do you see these incentives spurring economic activity? Are there projects planned or already underway that are anticipating using these incentives that would be disrupted if they are repealed?
• It’s about the workers: The group most hurt by the repeal of these incentives would be workers in the building trades—insulation installers, HVAC contractors, engineers, electricians, architects, factory workers and others. Job losses would be significant as homeowners, building owners, manufacturers, builders and real estate developers pull back on building renovations, new product lines, and new construction projects that otherwise would have seen tax benefits from these incentives.
• Lower energy bills for seniors and other households: These programs will make U.S. households, including seniors, safer in extreme heat. Energy efficiency cost reductions will help seniors manage fixed incomes, making energy bills more affordable with reduced consumption.
• Repeal = economic turmoil: In addition to job losses, eliminating these incentives would create economic chaos for the large and small businesses in the building sector that have adjusted product lines, hired employees, and otherwise changed their business plans to take advantage of these tax incentives. There are currently thousands of projects, perhaps tens of thousands, underway that have been planned around these incentives. Eliminating the incentives now would pull the rug out from under those builders, contractors, manufacturers, homeowners and others who have simply acted rationally and planned around incentives that have been in law for more than two years.
• This stuff is not new: These tax incentives have been in place for years, some for two decades or more, and have long had strong bipartisan support because they are consistent with traditional U.S. energy policy aimed at encouraging domestic energy technologies to strengthen U.S. energy security and economic stability. Repealing them would represent a tax increase on U.S. households, business owners and industries that have long had these incentives available to make energy improvements to their buildings.
• We can own the energy transition, or let other nations take it: Whether we like it or not, the global clean energy transition is well underway, and it is a massive, multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. It is also a geopolitically sensitive sector that is critical for U.S. national security. Other countries, notably China, are moving aggressively to position their companies to control market share and influence in the sector. Without leadership and policy support, the U.S. will lose ground and be in a weaker position to shape and benefit from one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world.
• The costs of inaction are far greater: The alarming escalation of disasters, from floods and extreme heat to wildfires and hurricanes, is a preview of what we are leaving our children and grandchildren if we don’t deploy solutions to address our changing climate. These disasters are already destroying communities across America and costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars per year. We have cost-effective solutions to begin reversing course. If we fail to put them to work, we will leave future generations with massive challenges and costs.

ËÄÉ«AV priorities in the Inflation Reduction Act

There are many provisions in the IRA that we support, below is a summary of the specific buildings-related incentives that are at risk and that we aim to protect.

• 45L New Energy Efficient Homes Credit: Tax credit for homebuilders encouraging construction of more energy efficient new homes, with $2,500 for building ENERGY STAR homes and $5,000 for building Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Homes. The credit was originally created under the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005 and has long had strong bipartisan support, including from homebuilders.
• 179D Tax Deduction for Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings: Tax deduction of up to $5.65 per square foot taken by building owners for commercial building energy efficiency improvements in new construction or renovation projects, such as improved HVAC systems and building envelopes. The deduction was originally created under the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005 and made permanent via the appropriations process in 2020, during the last Trump administration.
• 48/48E Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit: Tax credit, typically 30% on investment, for companies, including building owners, making clean energy investments such as rooftop solar, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and energy storage. Varying iterations of the clean energy ITC have been in effect for decades, with broad bipartisan support.
• 30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit: Tax credit, typically 30% on investment, for property owners installing alternative vehicle infrastructure in rural or low-income census tracts. Eligible projects include fueling/charging equipment for biofuels, electric, hydrogen, natural gas and propane. It was originally created in the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005.
• 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit: Tax credit of up to $3,200 for homeowners making energy efficiency improvements to their homes such as improving insulation, duct sealing, windows or heating and cooling equipment. The credit was originally created in the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005 and has long had broad bipartisan support.