Democrats’ Massive Spending Bill Will Only Reduce Temperatures by 0.0009 Degrees Fahrenheit by 2100

August 24, 2022

Democrats have hailed their massive spending legislation as a climate change breakthrough. President Biden touted the law as “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis.” However, the impact the bill will have on climate change is almost negligible.

Bjorn Lomborg, the president of the Copenhagen Consensus, writes in the Wall Street Journal that the vast majority of greenhouse gas emission reductions the White House is claiming credit for will happen regardless because of increased use of natural gas.

“The foremost issue is that the act will have a trivial impact on climate change. The Biden administration claims the law will enable the U.S. to reduce carbon emissions in 2030 by around 40% below 2005 levels. This is less than the 50% reduction Mr. Biden promised only last year, but it still sounds impressive. One major wrinkle: Most of that cut has nothing to do with the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Unlike most other nations on the planet, the U.S. has substantially reduced its carbon emissions over the past 15 years. This is largely owing to the fracking revolution that replaced a lot of America’s coal with natural gas, which is cheaper and cleaner. Even without the new law, the U.S. was on track to cut emissions substantially by 2030, according to research by the Rhodium Group.”

The legislation itself will have little impact on a changing climate. Lomborg continues: “While the administration talks up its emission reductions, it never seems to tout the law’s impact on temperature and sea level—for good reason. If you plug the predicted emissions decline into the climate model used for all major United Nations climate reports, it turns out the global temperature will be cut by only 0.0009 degree Fahrenheit by the end of the century.”

It’s absurd that the administration is happy to take credit for the emissions reductions that result from American natural gas while waging a war on the industry. Earlier this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) tried to jam through a rule that would have made building new natural gas pipelines almost impossible, and they did it in the name of climate change. That effort was derailed because of opposition in Congress, but don’t be surprised if they try again.

Democrats and the White House will continue to promote their massive spending bill as a panacea for climate change. In reality, the bill’s detrimental impact on America’s economy will be far more significant than it will be on our greenhouse gas emissions.