The White House and scientists say US emissions must be cut in half this decade to avert disastrous global heating & other sources will need to be cobbled together to reach this point.
Historic US climate legislation passed by Congress in the summer, coupled with an acknowledgment at the UN Cop27 talks in Egypt that developing countries suffering the worst climate impacts deserve new financial support from rich nations such as the US, offered some optimism during a year otherwise punctuated by disasters that point to an ominous climatic future for the world.
The climate crisis inflicted painful wounds to the US in 2022, but the year also brought hope that the country is finally prepared to confront disastrous global heating while also facing a tentative reckoning over its outsized role in causing it.
“This legislation is the biggest step forward on climate ever,” US president said in August, before adding for good measure: “Ever.” After 18 months of seemingly fruitless negotiations, the US president got his cathartic moment when the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed Congress and the US joined most of the developed world in having legislation that deals with the biggest threat of our era.
The sweeping IRA will funnel more than $370bn over the next decade to advance clean energy projects, encourage people to buy electric cars, and wrest the initiative on renewables manufacturing and technology away from China.
The IRA was stripped of most of its “sticks” to force down pollution, thanks to the coal-tinged influence of Senator Joe Manchin, and is instead an assortment of “carrots” to encourage companies to go green. But, in all, analysts expect the bill will help slash US emissions by about 40% by 2030, based on 2005 levels.
This still won’t be enough. The White House and scientists say US emissions must be cut in half this decade to avert disastrous global heating, and additional laws and regulatory action on pollution from cars, trucks, industry and other sources will need to be cobbled together to reach this point.
But the summer breakthrough provided proof that the US was not a lost cause on climate and that the long-delayed task of scaling down planet-heating emissions was now within reach.
Originally published at The Guardian