Climate advocates reacted with surprise and delight to Joe Manchin’s decision to back a sweeping bill to combat the climate crisis, with analysts predicting the legislation will bring the US close to its target of slashing planet-heating emissions. This can only be described as potentially spectacularly good news.
Over the past year, the West Virginia senator, who has made millions from his ownership of a coal-trading company, had been relentlessly thwarting Joe Biden’s efforts to pass meaningful climate legislation – only to suddenly and unexpectedly reveal this week his support for a $369bn package to support renewable energy.
The move shocked many of Manchin’s Democrat colleagues, who despaired after months of seemingly fruitless negotiations with the lawmaker. Manchin holds a crucial vote in an evenly divided Senate.
“Holy shit,” tweeted Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota. “Stunned, but in a good way.”
Should the bill pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by Biden, it will be the biggest and arguably first piece of climate legislation ever enacted by the US. The world’s largest historical carbon polluter has repeatedly failed to act on the climate crisis due to staunch Republican opposition (remember Donald Trump?) and the machinations of the horribly powerful fossil fuel lobby.
The climate spending, part of a broader bill called the Inflation Reduction Act, “has the potential to be a historic turning point” said Al Gore, the former vice-president.
“It represents the single largest investment in climate solutions and environmental justice in US history. Decades of tireless work by climate advocates across the country led to this moment.”
The bulk of the bill includes hefty tax credits to unleash clean energy projects such as wind and solar as well as a rebate of up to $7,500 for Americans who want to buy new electric vehicles. There is $9bn to retrofit houses to make them more energy efficient, tax credits for heat pumps and rooftop solar and a $27bn “clean energy technology accelerator” to help deploy new renewable technology.
A further $60bn would go towards environmental justice projects and there is a new program to reduce leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas drilling.
“This will be, by far, the biggest climate action in human history,” said Brian Schatz, a Democratic senator from Hawaii. "This is enormous progress. Let’s get it done.”
The authors of the bill predict it will cut US emissions by 40 percent by 2030, based on 2005 levels, a claim guardedly backed by independent experts.