The U.S. Senate has passed a historic budget bill, allocating funding of $369 billion towards clean energy projects that aim to decarbonize the nation's economy. Although the "Inflation Reduction Act" differs from previous climate bills, lacking specific emissions reduction mandates, it represents a massive step forward.
“This bill will really turbocharge that transition to clean energy – it will transform markets where already solar PV, wind and batteries are in many cases cheaper than incumbent fossil fuels,” Anand Gopal, executive director of policy at Energy Innovation, told The Guardian. “This is a dramatically large climate bill, the biggest in US history if it passes. It doesn’t mean the US won’t need to do more to achieve its emissions goals but it will make a meaningful difference.”
The funding covers a broad spectrum of clean energy technologies, providing support for traditional and emerging renewables. “You’ll have a lot of mutually beneficial impacts,” said Gopal. “This should change the way the US is viewed on the global stage and will encourage better pledges from other large emitters such as China and India. Increasingly I’m more optimistic that keeping the temperature rise under 2C (3.6F) is more reachable. 1.5C is a stretch goal at this point.”
Building new transmission infrastructure, deploying batteries, and implementing emerging technologies are essential but complex tasks that this legislation will help achieve. It's worth noting, however, that the funding provided is not enough to combat climate change altogether. Nonetheless, it is certainly a step in the right direction and will pave the way forward in climate legislations.
Source: Milman, Oliver. The Guardian. "Climate bill could slash US emissions by 40% after historic Senate vote". https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/05/us-climate-bill-slash-emissions-analysis-biden. 07/08/22. [Date accessed: 08/08/22].
Edited by: Adhitya Balachander
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