A massive climate and tax bill signed by US President Joe Biden on August 16th will result in a significant influx of cash for several US agencies. The Inflation Reduction Act pledges US$369 billion in climate investments over the next 10 years, while acknowledging that more work is needed to counter global warming.
Scientists estimate that the legislation would cut US greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. The United States, which has historically pumped the largest share of greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere, is on board with addressing climate change.
Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, says Donald Trump's actions return the US to a position of leadership. It creates a global climate for action.
Michael Pahle is an energy researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The actions of other nations are taken into account when setting the climate agenda.
If the United States hadn't raised the bar with this legislation, many countries would have been able to ease off their commitments. Large emitters are decisive in setting the standards.
$50 million for climate research grants is one of the things the inflation reduction act allocates for.
Research into eco-friendly jet fuel is funded through a competitive grant programme. It gives $60 billion in grants and tax credits for clean-energy investments and projects to clean up pollution in disadvantaged communities.
The biggest chunk of money from the legislation goes to clean energy, with $128 billion in tax credits over the next decade for businesses shifting to greener power sources. Today's renewable-energy market has a percentage of that. The bill is large on energy.
More than $60 billion will go to US manufacturing of clean-energy technologies, including solar panels and electric vehicles, and billions more will be included in tax credits for decarbonization, clean-vehicle purchases and household-level efficiency improvements.
Scientists say the United States needs to do more. The global temperature will rise above 1.5 C even if all nations hit their climate targets, according to a climate scientist.
He says that low- and lower-middle-income countries would be the most affected. South Asia, particularly India, is already in a hot spot, with a threefold rise in extreme rains, 50% increase in cyclones from the Arabian Sea and rising heatwaves in the recent decades.
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The United States needs to take responsibility for its historical emissions and help to deliver the climate finance promised to poorer nations according to a climate policy expert. The rich nations promised to give $100 billion a year to the poor until 2025. There needs to be a jump in progress on the global stage.
Researchers say that poorer nations would benefit from this huge US investment. Shayak Sengupta is an energy policy researcher at the Observer Research Foundation America which is a Washington DC-based affiliate of an Indian think tank. If we design the policy incentives correctly, we can create know-how and goods that can flow between the US and other countries.
The next international climate summit, to be held in Egypt in November, is unclear as to whether the legislation will build goodwill among lower income nations. Some countries may see this bill as the bare minimum for the US.
Pahle says that the United States is where the European Union was a decade ago. The data from the University of Oxford's Global Recovery Observatory shows that green investments by the United States since 2020 lag behind those of France, Italy and South Korea.
Mann says that the inflation reduction act isn't perfect. Critics should take the win and encourage people to vote in the upcoming elections, he says. The US Senate and House of Representatives will be up for grabs. If there is a large majority of climate-forward legislators in Congress after the elections, we can pass legislation with more stringent measures to combat climate change.
The article was published on August 16th, 2022.
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