The Inflation Reduction Act does not solve climate change
Kilon 22, writer and a contributing editor at Jewish Currents (“Not Quite a Green New Deal,” Jewish Currents, https://jewishcurrents.org/not-quite-a-green-new-deal)//BB
ALEX KAUFMAN: It’s extremely exciting that there will be any large-scale investment enacted through reconciliation. As a starting point in federal climate policy, the IRA is huge. According to an analysis by the consultancy Rhodium Group, which does emissions modeling, the IRA will have a significant effect on the trajectory of US emissions over the next decade. But the scope of this bill is far from matching the severity of the climate problem. The initial Build Back Better [BBB] bill that the Biden administration put forward was already a serious compromise from what a lot of progressives were looking for. The second, pared-down version of that bill was an even further compromise, and the IRA is a compromise from there. It represents a fraction of the $10 trillion that researchers agree rapid decarbonization would require. It includes many incentives for the fossil fuel industry that have debatable impacts. So the bill definitely pushes us in the right direction, but with important caveats.