A major shift in climate policy is coming. All eyes are on the Inflation Reduction Act, but changes at the agency level may be more impactful. That is unless the IRA was repealed.
The IRA was passed narrowly under a Budget Resolution that circumvented the filibuster.
The House has attempted 23 times to repeal it fueling the idea it wonโt survive.
Spoiler alert: It wonโt be. It also wonโt go unscathed.
Todayโs post concisely summarizes the data that supports that position. Beyond the project, investment, and employment data, there are myriad reasons why a full repeal is as likely as Kamala Harris getting the Democratic nomination in 2028.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ผ๐ป–๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ
Much has been written about the 18 Republican Congresspeople who sent a letter to House Speaker Johnson in support of the IRA. But the letter didnโt support the status quo, except probably for projects in their respective districts.
The letter reportedly asked that the clean energy tax credits be maintained, but criticized the IRA as a whole. The authors expressed concern that eliminating the tax credits could result in a โworst-case scenarioโ that puts at risk billions of already spent dollars.
Note that only half of the 18 were from Republican states. Two lost their seats (both in NY), one retired but was replaced by another Republican (Utah), and four races remain undecided. This isnโt going to be a factor.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐:
- IRA funds have fueled solar panel factories, electric vehicle plants, battery production facilities, and hydrogen hubs. But the majority of projects have not broken ground. For those that have, supporting investments were based on expected IRA funds. A repeal would put all uncompleted projects โ the majority of announced projects โ in jeopardy.
- The IRA has quadrupled solar panel capacity to over 30GW from around 8GW in 2021. However, note that these solar panel factories remain heavily reliant on imported solar cells and wafers.
- China – not one of Trumpโs favorite countries, although I think he is secretly in love with its strongarm leader – dominates the global cleantech space. Changes to the IRA will only help solidify Chinaโs lead and increase our dependence upon them.
- Clean energy jobs have been growing about twice as fast as overall U.S. employment. A recent survey of 900 clean energy business owners conducted by BW Research Partnership for several clean energy organizations suggests that aย repeal of the IRA would be a major blow. Half the businesses responding said they would lose revenue, about one-fifth would face staff cuts, and 11% said they would cease operations.
#inflationreductionact #climateaction #climatechnageisreal #climatepolicy #netzero #trumpwon
