Welcome back. The U.S. ushered in a new era in its climate policy, offering incentives and subsidies to reduce carbon emissions and speed up the country’s addition of renewable-energy projects.
A spending bill that will direct roughly $369 billion toward climate programs will head to President Biden's desk next week, after having passed both the House and Senate.
The Inflation Reduction Act also includes tax incentives targeted at wind, solar and battery developments that will boost the proportion of clean energy in power grids.
Homeowners get subsidies to upgrade homes with more energy-efficient products. Consumers get a $7,500 tax credit for buying electric vehicles, although with conditions that could make it hard to qualify.
However, the companion legislation to speed the approval process for energy infrastructure projects, both clean energy and fossil fuel, is facing political headwinds, including from Republicans who are skeptical of assurances it will help the fossil-fuel industry and don’t like how it was tied to the tax-and-climate bill passed by Senate Democrats.
That could hinder the impact of the climate bill, which is projected to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 31% to 44% below 2005 levels in 2030 in the U.S., compared with 24% to 35% under current policy, according to Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.
Below: Roadblocks to the renewable-energy mission and a detailed look at the clean-energy plan.
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