President Joe Biden failed to mention the name of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) during his State of the Union speech, which has been criticized by Congressional Democrats for not adequately promoting the climate wins of the bill. Instead, Biden emphasized the billions of dollars spent on green investments and billions of jobs created as a result of these investments. Climate hawks on Capitol Hill were unperturbed by this strategy, with Sen. Brian Schatz suggesting that the IRA’s gains have more political salience as economic drivers than addressing the threat of global warming. However, few Democrats were willing to publicly criticise Biden’s efforts. Biden also promised to triple the number of young people currently eligible to participate in a green jobs training and placement program.
Solar Dominates US Energy Capacity Growth
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has published data showing that solar accounted for over 75% of US electrical generating
