Inflation Reduction Act will address climate change

The Inflation Reduction Act offers billions to address climate change. Some activists call it "transformative."

More clean energy, less dirty energy, new penalties for methane leaks, and billions of dollars for communities with the most climate-related needs are some of the provisions that have environmentalists celebrating what they see as a huge step for U.S. climate action.

Sunday, Democrats in the Senate passed the "Inflation Reduction Act," which is a big bill that includes hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change.

The package calls for a lot of money to be spent to deal with the climate crisis, as well as to expand health care coverage and cut the deficit.

Along with tax credits to encourage the use of electric cars and clean energy, the bill aims to increase the production of renewable energy and pay for the development of technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air.

The original goals of the Biden administration for the climate part of the Build Back Better Act have been greatly scaled back. However, experts say that if the bill is passed, it would be the largest investment in U.S. history to fight global warming and would reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

Dan Lashof is the U.S. director of the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research group based in Washington. He called the bill "transformative" and said it was the result of decades of work to get meaningful climate legislation passed.

"It's hard to say enough about how important this was for the Senate," he told reporters on Monday.

Here are five ways that the Inflation Reduction Act could help fight climate change, from cutting emissions to helping the U.S. economy move away from fossil fuels.

It includes a lot of money for clean energy.

The bill would give tax breaks for electric cars and clean energy totaling $369 billion over 10 years. Lashof said this would make clean energy the most cost-effective choice for Americans.

"If you look at the incentives for electric cars, making electricity from wind, solar, and clean hydrogen, and getting rid of carbon, it really sets up an economic framework that makes clean energy the best option," he said.

The tax credits are meant to help businesses and consumers switch to renewable energy systems. They offer incentives for electric appliances, heat pumps, and other home energy-saving technologies.

People could also get tax credits of $7,500 for buying a new electric car and $4,000 for buying a used electric car.

Lashof said that the rules would help people lower their energy costs and, over time, help "transform" the country's whole energy system.

It would help us reach our climate goals.

Experts on the climate say that the bill could cut U.S. emissions by about 40% below what they were in 2005 by 2030. This would be a big step toward stopping the worst effects of global warming.

President Joe Biden wanted to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by the end of the decade.

A preliminary estimate by the Rhodium Group, an independent research and data firm that keeps track of such goals, found that Biden's goal could be reached with the Inflation Reduction Act and other measures at the federal, state, and local levels.

The report said, "If Congress passes this package, more action from executive agencies and subnational actors can help the US reach its goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030."

Biden's goals to reduce emissions are part of the larger goals of the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius to limit irreversible effects on ecosystems and human health.

"It couldn't have come soon enough," said Manish Bapna, president and chief executive officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

"This law makes it possible for the country to reach its goals for fighting climate pollution, even as millions of people suffer through another summer of extreme weather disasters."

Its goal is to stop the release of methane.

People are calling the bill a historic breakthrough, but it does have some changes that came about after tough negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Senate Democrats agreed to add new oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.

Still, the bill would put in place a fee that would punish companies that drill for oil and gas and release too much methane.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that gets into the air when coal, oil, and natural gas are mined and moved.

In places with little oxygen, microbes can also give off methane.

The U.N. Environment Program says that methane emissions are to blame for about 30% of global warming since the beginning of industrialization.

It emphasises environmental justice

The climate bill sets aside $60 billion for environmental justice projects in poor areas that are hit harder by climate change than others.

This includes $3 billion in grants to promote clean and accessible transportation and $1 billion for clean buses, garbage trucks, and other heavy-duty vehicles.

Christina DeConcini, who is in charge of government affairs at the World Resource Institute, said that the rules would help communities on the front lines deal with air pollution and other important public health issues.

She said, "Of course, it's not enough, but it's good that there's a start."

The bill also includes money for rural areas and places whose economies are based on fossil fuels to help them switch to clean energy.

It sends a very important message to other countries.

Experts agreed that if the Inflation Reduction Act is put into place, it would send a strong message to the rest of the world that the U.S. is serious about doing its part to fight climate change.

The measure would not only help the country catch up to places like the European Union, which have taken strong steps to protect the environment, but it could also get other countries to act.

In about four months, world leaders will meet in Egypt for the U.N. Climate Change Conference to speed up efforts to reduce emissions, make changes, and negotiate money.

Nisha Krishnan, an expert on climate resilience at the World Resources Institute, said that the climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act could help send a message that the U.S. is ready to step up before the meeting.

Krishnan said that the bill would make it easier for the U.S. to persuade these countries to not only keep the promises they've already made but also to set higher goals.