On Sunday, August 7, 2022 the Senate – (significantly watered down from the original Build Back Better bill in order to capture the votes of two recalcitrant democrats, Joe Manchin and Krysten Lee Sinema) passed the biggest climate bill the US has ever seen, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
On Friday, August 12, the House followed and sent the bill for signature to President Joe Biden.
On Monday, August 16, 2022 the President signed it, handing the pen to Senator Manchin after completion.
The White House immediately launched Cleanenergy.gov, a website that explains how consumers can take advantage of the clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. The site provides information on the tax credits that are available for rooftop solar panels, heating and cooling systems, energy efficiency upgrades and electric vehicles. Consumers can also sign up to receive updates about additional incentives.
“About half of the energy costs for the average home come from HVAC units," a senior White House official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. “For the first time, we've got a set of rebates and tax credits that will combine to help us reduce those costs by deploying electric heat pumps all across the country.”
The site provides information on the tax credits that are available for rooftop solar panels, heating and cooling systems, energy efficiency upgrades and electric vehicles. Consumers can also sign up to receive updates about incentives that will become available next year. “About half of the energy costs for the average home come from HVAC units," a senior White House official told reporters Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. “For the first time, we've got a set of rebates and tax credits that will combine to help us reduce those costs by deploying electric heat pumps all across the country.”
A guidebook was also created, providing an overview of the clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investments programs in the IRA, including who is eligible to apply for funding and for what activities. It was last updated on 11/28/23. It can be downloaded.
Finally, The Inflation Reduction Act changed a wide range of tax laws and provided funds to improve IRS services and technology to make tax filing easier for you. Lots of useful information here.
The IRA is the most significant legislation to combat climate change in our nation’s history, and one of the largest investments in the American economy in a generation. Already, this investment and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s implementation of the law has unleashed an investment and manufacturing boom in the United States unlike anything seen in decades—especially in disadvantaged communities.
On the two year anniversary (August 2024) of the Inflation Reduction Act, the White House released a FACT SHEET analyzing its progress. According to the Fact Sheet, since the IRA passed there have been $8.4 billion in tax credits for clean energy upgrades in American homes, 250,000 Americans claiming the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credit, and $900 billion investments in clean energy from companies. Additionally, the majority of clean energy investments are going towards economically disadvantaged areas, making the IRA the largest environmental justice investment in history.
One of Trump’s first actions after his inauguration was to freeze Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure-law funding. The pause throws tens of billions of dollars of lawfully designated clean energy funding into uncertainty. Industry observers had been expecting the Trump administration to halt spending that federal agencies have yet to allocate, but the text of the executive order leaves unclear whether the freeze will also target spending that has already been”obligated,"or legally committed under contract.
A Biden administration official told reporters on Friday before the inauguration that $96.7 billion in clean energy grants, or about 84% of grant funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, has been obligated. Analysts say it would be difficult for Trump to undo obligated awards made by the Biden administration.
This tracker records steps taken by federal agencies to implement, or rollback implementation of, the climate change-related provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The tracker is linked to the IRA database, which provides more information about the IRA, and its climate-related provisions.
In the tracker, agency actions are listed in order of date (from newest to oldest) and can be filtered by IRA section, agency, eligible entity, type of action (explanation), and more.
For tips on using the Database and Tracker, visit the About page.
IRATracker.org is a joint project of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Environmental Defense Fund.
On July 4, President Trump signed “one big beautiful bill” which guts many IRA provisions. More on CCR’s Budget page.
