In announcing the new agreement, Schumer asserted that the legislation “puts the United States on a path to cutting emissions by about 40% by 2030.” And experts agree that the bill could be a game changer in cutting the nation’s emissions in the coming years, helping to limit warming and extreme weather events in the coming years. next decade.
What’s on the bill?
In a word, billions. The bill includes hundreds of billions of grants, loans, federal procurement, and tax credits for research and development, deployment, and production in clean energy, transportation, and other sectors like agriculture. Karma.
“This is the switchable clean energy and climate rescue package we have been waiting for.” Leah Stokesan environmental policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has advised Democrats on climate law, said in an interview.
A major spending focus in the bill is on clean energy deployment: there are about $30 billion in new tax credits to build wind, solar and other clean energy projects, as well. as extensions to existing credits. There are also $60 billion in incentives for domestic production of everything from batteries and solar panels to heat pumps.
The proposed subsidy increase could help some industrial and fossil fuel plants add climate-prevention devices, increasing the potential role of so-called carbon capture and storage. .
The bill includes $27 billion for research and development in clean technology, as well as $2 billion specifically for research at national laboratories.
Other areas will also be supported for climate efforts. About $20 billion is earmarked to help cut emissions from agriculture and nearly $5 billion to fund conservation and forest restoration projects.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, climate and energy program director at Third Way, said it was an ambitious and politically pragmatic bill designed to boost US manufacturing, providing support where jobs are shifting and building the infrastructure needed to transition to cleaner, modern energy systems.
