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Emissions and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act

Journal Article · · Science

If goals set under the Paris Agreement are met, the world may hold warming well below 2 degrees C (1); however, parties are not on track to deliver these commitments (2), increasing focus on policy implementation to close the gap between ambition and action. Recently, the US government passed its most prominent piece of climate legislation to date - the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) - designed to invest in a wide range of programs that, among other provisions, incentivize clean energy and carbon management, encourage electrification and efficiency measures, reduce methane emissions, promote domestic supply chains, and address environmental justice concerns (3). IRA's scope and complexity make modeling important to understand impacts on emissions and energy systems. We leverage results from nine independent, state-of-the-art models to examine potential implications of key IRA provisions, showing economy-wide emissions reductions between 43 and 48% below 2005 levels by 2035.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Policy (OP)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1996400
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-6A20-84645; MainId:85418; UUID:3e5a4560-74c8-48db-9513-675d21e014da; MainAdminID:70281
Journal Information:
Science, Vol. 380, Issue 6652
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (3)

Realization of Paris Agreement pledges may limit warming just below 2 °C journal April 2022
Actions for reducing US emissions at least 50% by 2030 journal May 2022
Comprehensive evidence implies a higher social cost of CO2 journal September 2022