From Climate Reality Project: Chicago Metro Chapter
The largest single climate bill in American history is now law. And while we may not have gotten everything we want or need, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 remains a great achievement and should change the trajectory of our industrial policy away from fossil fuels.
Multiple analyses find the law will put us on the path to cutting emissions by around 40% by 2030 and create at least 1.5 million jobs by one estimate.
The law also for the first time defines carbon dioxide as a type of air pollution covered by the Clean Air Act, which helps to counter the impact of the Supreme Court decision last term that limits the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases.
While we are painfully aware that some concessions had to be made to the fossil fuel industry to get this bill over the finish line, let’s celebrate some of these highlights.
- Rebates up to $8,000 to help low-income families replace dirty gas boilers and furnaces with energy efficient heat pumps. Plus incentives for a heat pump water heater, electric stove, electric clothes dryer and plenty more to electrify a home.
- Tax credits to help drivers switch to clean electric vehicles with up to $7,500 for new vehicles and $4,000 for used vehicles
- Homeowners can also receive a credit of 30% to install solar panels through 2032.
- The bill invests $60 billion in electrification, clean energy and other health and sustainability measures in frontline communities living by power plants, ports, highways and other sources of industrial pollution.
Read more from the White House, Climate Reality, 350Chicago and from former Vice President Al Gore. Illinois impacts here.
