Scientists: US Climate Law Likely to Reduce Warming
2022-08-19
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1American President Joe Biden has signed into law a major bill on climate change and healthcare.
2The new law includes $375 billion in spending to help clean energy efforts over the next 10 years.
3The spending is much smaller than first proposed.
4But Biden and his Democratic Party lawmakers said the law "would represent the single biggest climate investment in U.S. history, by far."
5They said the investment would put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030.
6For some Americans, that means a tax credit of $4,000 to buy a used electric vehicle and up to $7,500 for a new one.
7The credit is good for electric vehicles that are manufactured in the U.S. or have parts made in the country.
8There are also tax breaks for renewable energy investments in wind and solar.
9For businesses, the law includes $60 billion for a clean energy manufacturing tax credit and $30 billion for a production tax credit for wind and solar.
10It is designed to support the industries that help the country move away from fossil fuels.
11The law also gives tax credits for nuclear power and carbon capture technology that oil companies have invested millions of dollars to develop.
12It would set a new fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas drilling while permitting more exploration for oil and gas on federal lands and waters.
13Western states including Arizona, Nevada and Colorado would receive $4 billion to deal with extremely dry weather conditions and conservation efforts in the Colorado River.
14Nearly 40 million Americans depend on the river for drinking water.
15The group Climate Action Tracker measures government climate action against the Paris climate agreement.
16It says the United States still is not doing enough to help the world stay within another few tenths of a degree of warming.
17It rates the new spending as "insufficient."
18Bill Hare is the director of Climate Analytics which puts out the tracker.
19"This is the biggest thing to happen to the U.S. on climate policy," he said.
20"When you think back over the last decades, you know, not wanting to be impolite, there's a lot of talk, but not much action."
21This is action, he said.
22Not as much as Europe, and Americans still release two times as much heat-trapping gases per person as Europeans, Hare added.
23The U.S. has also released more heat-trapping gas into the air than any other nation.
24Before the U.S. climate law, Climate Action Tracker calculated that the world would warm up 3 to 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.
25The U.S. actions, if followed by other countries, would lead to only 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of warming.
26That would still fall short of the international goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.
27And the world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since the mid-19th century.
28Hare said officials from Chile and a few Southeast Asian countries, which he would not name, told him this summer that they were waiting for the U.S. before setting their own "policies and targets."
29And China, in Hare's words, "won't say this out loud, but I think [they] will see the U.S. move as something they need to match."
30Scientists at the Climate Action Tracker calculated that without any other new climate policies, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 will shrink to 26 to 42 percent below 2005 levels.
31Other researchers and scientists agreed with the Climate Action Tracker estimates.
32"The contributions from the U.S. to greenhouse gas emissions are huge," said Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi.
33"So reducing that is definitely going to have a global impact."
34Samantha Gross is the director of climate and energy at the Brookings Institution.
35She called the new law a down payment on U.S. emission reductions.
36"Now that this is done, the U.S. can celebrate a little, then focus on implementation and what needs to happen next," Gross said.
37I'm John Russell.
1American President Joe Biden has signed into law a major bill on climate change and healthcare. The new law includes $375 billion in spending to help clean energy efforts over the next 10 years. 2The spending is much smaller than first proposed. But Biden and his Democratic Party lawmakers said the law "would represent the single biggest climate investment in U.S. history, by far." They said the investment would put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. 3What's in the law? 4For some Americans, that means a tax credit of $4,000 to buy a used electric vehicle and up to $7,500 for a new one. The credit is good for electric vehicles that are manufactured in the U.S. or have parts made in the country. There are also tax breaks for renewable energy investments in wind and solar. 5For businesses, the law includes $60 billion for a clean energy manufacturing tax credit and $30 billion for a production tax credit for wind and solar. It is designed to support the industries that help the country move away from fossil fuels. 6The law also gives tax credits for nuclear power and carbon capture technology that oil companies have invested millions of dollars to develop. It would set a new fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas drilling while permitting more exploration for oil and gas on federal lands and waters. 7Western states including Arizona, Nevada and Colorado would receive $4 billion to deal with extremely dry weather conditions and conservation efforts in the Colorado River. Nearly 40 million Americans depend on the river for drinking water. 8Climate scientists' study 9The group Climate Action Tracker measures government climate action against the Paris climate agreement. It says the United States still is not doing enough to help the world stay within another few tenths of a degree of warming. It rates the new spending as "insufficient." 10Bill Hare is the director of Climate Analytics which puts out the tracker. "This is the biggest thing to happen to the U.S. on climate policy," he said. "When you think back over the last decades, you know, not wanting to be impolite, there's a lot of talk, but not much action." 11This is action, he said. Not as much as Europe, and Americans still release two times as much heat-trapping gases per person as Europeans, Hare added. 12The U.S. has also released more heat-trapping gas into the air than any other nation. 13Before the U.S. climate law, Climate Action Tracker calculated that the world would warm up 3 to 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. The U.S. actions, if followed by other countries, would lead to only 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of warming. 14That would still fall short of the international goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. And the world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since the mid-19th century. 15Hare said officials from Chile and a few Southeast Asian countries, which he would not name, told him this summer that they were waiting for the U.S. before setting their own "policies and targets." 16And China, in Hare's words, "won't say this out loud, but I think [they] will see the U.S. move as something they need to match." 17Scientists at the Climate Action Tracker calculated that without any other new climate policies, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 will shrink to 26 to 42 percent below 2005 levels. 18Other researchers and scientists agreed with the Climate Action Tracker estimates. 19"The contributions from the U.S. to greenhouse gas emissions are huge," said Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi. "So reducing that is definitely going to have a global impact." 20Samantha Gross is the director of climate and energy at the Brookings Institution. She called the new law a down payment on U.S. emission reductions. 21"Now that this is done, the U.S. can celebrate a little, then focus on implementation and what needs to happen next," Gross said. 22I'm John Russell. 23Hai Do adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press. 24___________________________________________________________________ 25Words in This Story 26greenhouse gas - n. gas that cause the warming of the earth's atmosphere 27emission - n. the act of producing or sending energy or gas 28excess - adj. more than usual 29insufficient - adj. not having enough of what is needed 30calculate - v. to find a number by using mathematical process 31decade - n. a ten-year period 32match - v. to do something that is equal 33contribution - n. something that is done to cause something to happen 34impact - n. major or powerful influence or effect 35focus - v. to direct attention to something 36implementation - n. act of making something active or effective