Public Ownership Must Govern Public Goods: Democratizing Climate Infrastructure
By Catherine Fraser, Celina Scott-Buechler, Anika Dandekar, and Grace Adcox
The Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act mark a shift in the nation's approach to combating climate change. These recent legislative strides demonstrate the bipartisan potential of green industrial policy that prioritizes investments in climate-relevant infrastructure. However, there’s growing concern about these bills’ emphasis on private sector involvement — the likely outcome being further concentration of power and wealth in the private sector. Critics argue that this focus could replicate existing inequities and fail to address the systemic changes needed to tackle the climate crisis effectively. The private sector's profit-driven motives may not always align with urgent environmental and social imperatives, raising concerns about the sustainability and inclusivity of the solutions provided under these legislative frameworks. This critique is anchored in history, which has seen a trend of privatization in the U.S., escalating since the 1980s. Privatization has led to the prioritization of profit over public welfare, often at the expense of environmental sustainability and social equity.
Despite a decades-long trend toward privatization, most Americans interact with publicly owned infrastructure every day through public water systems, lands, utilities, or waste infrastructure. In fact, public water systems provide drinking water to about 90% of Americans. Public ownership can take many forms, giving citizens a direct say in day-to-day decisions through elected representatives, ownership stakes, and other means. At their best, public ownership models can effectively embed democratic governance over public goods, like water, a stable climate, energy, and more.
New polling conducted by Data for Progress reveals that 76% percent of voters would approve of a new clean energy or infrastructure project being developed in their area if it were publicly owned. This includes strong majorities of Democrats (86%), Independents (75%), and Republicans (65%). What’s more, when asked about the future of infrastructure development projects in their community, a majority (69%) of voters agree with a statement saying that projects should be mostly publicly owned going forward, giving communities a meaningful say and stake in projects that may affect them. In contrast, just 22% of voters agree with the statement that says projects should largely be privately owned moving forward.
Despite the shortcomings of some existing publicly owned entities, we argue that public ownership still offers the best avenue for achieving climate justice. This report highlights the opportunities and challenges to broaden and strengthen public ownership in the U.S. through four examples of public governance structures: solar cooperatives; municipally owned infrastructure, like public utilities; rural electric cooperatives; and Tribal ownership structures.