Senate Democrats delivered a victory for President Joe Biden's climate change effort, passing legislation that will devote hundreds of billions of dollars to clean energy sources and accelerate the United States' transition away from fossil fuels. The Inflation Reduction Act would hasten US emission cuts and set the country on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The bill includes $369 billion in climate and energy provisions that will change how Americans get energy and shape the country's climate and industrial policies for decades. Its climate measures include billions of dollars to expand wind and solar power production, bring electric vehicles within more Americans' financial reach, and provide $1.5 billion to oil companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and penalise them for failing to do so. It would also aid in the development of technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration, hydrogen, and small nuclear reactors. The new and expanded tax credits for low-carbon technologies would also be available for a decade, providing certainty to clean energy developers who have previously experienced incentive lapses. The bill is expected to be debated in the House of Representatives later this week.
