WASHINGTON — It’s a pivotal moment for President Joe Biden’s climate agenda as he reaches the halfway point in his first term, with his administration planning to impose major climate policies touching everything from the cars Americans drive to the electricity they use.
Biden campaigned on promises to combat climate change, accelerate renewable fuels and decarbonize the nation’s power grids by 2035. As president, he’s pledged the U.S. will at least halve its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade. The sweeping climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act is set to massively help the U.S. reach that goal, policy analysts say, but success also depends on a host of other policies to force emission cuts and spur efficiency.
With the IRA’s enactment, action now shifts from Congress to federal agencies. Scores of new measures are needed to implement the law’s climate provisions, but officials are also racing to finalize separate, long-planned regulations around issues as disparate as emissions from power plants, vehicle pollution and business disclosures of climate risks.
