Inflation Reduction Act: Congress passes the ball to us
The Senate Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act with incentives to encourage targeted actions by people and businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the Senate effectively passed the ball back to us. The next step is for people who support the Inflation Reduction Act to catch the pass and commit to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
On Sunday, August 7, Democrats in the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act along partisan lines and the bill now moves to the House to see if Democrats in the House can follow suit and put the bill on President Biden’s desk. The bill provides incentives for companies to invest and build out low emissions technologies and incentives for people to take targeted actions like buying electric vehicles and making our homes more energy efficient. The bill does not create any limitations on greenhouse gas emissions and does not create any true market for shifts to lower carbon goods and services like a carbon tax would. James Temple & Casey Crownhart write in the MIT Technology Review that “the bill as written will achieve steep emissions reductions, but the lack of clear requirements does leave more up to chance, as it’s hard to predict how consumers and businesses will respond to the variety of incentives.”
Climate advocates asked for legislation to reduce emissions, and Congress is acting. Now the remaining question becomes - really the question remains - how will you and I react. It’s time for Americans who support this bill, who are concerned about climate change, to align our emissions with these concerns.
The Rhodium Group has modeled the expected emissions reductions from the Inflation Reduction Act, and the new bill is expected to shift our emissions down another 10% beyond the reductions from policies already in place.
Rhodium Group analysis of US emissions in 2030 under the Inflation Reduction Act
It is often claimed that the bill will reduce our emissions by 40%, but 30% of that reduction is attributed to policies already in place. The Rhodium Group analysis points out that there is a broader swing between low emissions and high emissions scenarios that depend on how people (you and I) and the businesses we work for and buy from will respond to the incentives, the prices of fuels, and the state of our economy.
Nothing in the Inflation Reduction Act is going to make you purchase an electric car or truck when you buy your next automobile. There are so many reasons to do this already - from the ease of maintenance, the longer life expectancy of an electric motor compared to an internal combustion engine, or the convenience of charging your car at home and never again stopping at a gas station during your local travel. There are a wide range of hybrid and electric vehicles to choose from. And reducing our emissions does not require that we pay more for our transportation when considering the cost of the vehicles over the life of the car or truck.
Only 3.4% of new cars and trucks were fully electric, and hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles together accounted for only 11% of new car sales in 2021. This is a significant disconnect from polling indicating that over half of Americans support the Inflation Reduction Act and over half of Americans are concerned or alarmed about climate change. In the 2021, Yale reported that 33% of Americans were alarmed about climate change. If a third of the people buying new cars avoided buying a traditional internal combustion engine, the US market for cars and trucks would shift extremely fast. We could have made that decision years ago, as there have been a variety of electric and efficient hybrid vehicles on the market for over a decade and the choices for electric vehicles have expanded and have improved their range.
Nothing in the Inflation Reduction Act is going to require anything of you - maybe that’s one reason it can pass Congress. Anyone waiting for Congress to tell them to eat less meat or take one less airplane ride across the country is living in a pretend world. Congress will never manage your choices at that level; we have to make those decisions ourselves.
This is not about “doing without” or “living with less”. Electric vehicles are a pleasure to drive. Energy efficiency can save money. I can plan my next vacation within an 8 hour drive of my home and spend the money I save by not flying on a better place to stay, better meals, or maybe a unique destination activity. I can reframe my desire to want to visit a regional destination instead of flying across the country or to a different continent for that week of vacation. Congress will never tell me where to vacation, or how to get there. These will remain choices I make. The same goes for how I heat the water for my shower, what mower I buy, and what I eat.
So, for those people who support the Inflation Reduction Act, please catch the ball and accept responsibility for your emissions. When we commit to taking the personal actions to reduce your emissions - at home, in our groups, and in our advocacy - we leverage the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, we create the markets for low emissions goods and services, and we live in a manner consistent with our values.