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How the Senate’s Big Climate Bill Eliminates 4 Billion Tons of Emissions

The Inflation Reduction Act would avoid 24 tons of climate emissions for every new ton it creates, say researchers who have analyzed the legislation. 

A pipe for carbon dioxide captured from the emissions of a generating station in Thompsons, Texas.

A pipe for carbon dioxide captured from the emissions of a generating station in Thompsons, Texas.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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A week after US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin stunned the world by announcing they’d finally struck a deal on a climate, energy and health package, the implications for greenhouse gas emissions are starting to come into view.

The Democratic senators initially said the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would cut US emissions about 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, and expert climate policy modelers said reaching that target was plausible. Now three preliminary climate models of the IRA — by researchers at Princeton University, the think tank Energy Innovation, and the research firm Rhodium Group — offer more details on how exactly the US could get there: through changes in the electric power sector, the use of carbon-capture technologies and more.