What the reconciliation bill would do to boost clean energy and combat global warming

Judy Woodruff:

And, as we have reported, the bill passed by the Senate would push billions of dollars toward boosting clean energy projects and combating global warming.

William Brangham has more on what is being described as potentially America's first major climate law.

William Brangham:

That's right, Judy.

If this passes the House and the president signs it into law, it will be by far the biggest investment the federal government has ever made to tackle climate change. According to several estimates, this initiative could produce a 40 percent reduction in America's carbon emissions by 2030. That's compared to 2005 levels.

So, for some context, I'm joined by Paul Bledsoe. He's a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute and president of Bledsoe & Associates. It's a policy firm that specializes in climate change. He's also worked on several international climate change treaties.

Paul Bledsoe, great to have you on the program.

We just heard Brian Deese, the president's economic adviser say, that this bill, if it becomes law, puts America on a path to meet its climate commitments. Is that true? Is this that substantial?

Paul Bledsoe, Bledsoe & Associates: It comes very close.

It will reduce U.S. CO2 emissions by about 40 percent this decade by 2030, which is a huge amount of progress. And the administration deserves real credit for it. But it is important to note that the U.S. is only 15 percent of total global emissions.

One of the things this bill has to do is begin to lead the American economy, to lead the world in clean energy production and put pressure and opportunity on nations around the world to clean up their economies and grow their clean energy sectors.

For example, China has 30 percent of global emissions, twice what the U.S. does, and just withdrew from bilateral talks on climate change. So, this bill has to not only grow the U.S. clean energy economy, but begin a global transition.

William Brangham:

A lot of the pieces within this bill are tax incentives. They're carrots, as opposed to sticks, to encourage utilities and cities and individuals to move in this direction.

Is it your understanding that those incentives are enough to encourage this process to start really moving aggressively?

Paul Bledsoe:

Thanks, William. It's a really important point.

This is not about government spending. This is about providing consumers and businesses incentives to make big investments. We're talking about trillions of dollars over the next decade in a brand-new clean energy sector that's going to create millions of new jobs and save consumers thousands of dollars a year.

This is going to reenergize much of the American private sector economy. So this is in very much a market approach to getting the private sector making these large investments that will make the United States much stronger in terms of our energy security, our overall economy and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

William Brangham:

I want to ask you a political question, because it is striking how virtually the entire GOP was hostile or dismissive to any real substantive action on climate change.

And public opinion polling on climate change seems to waffle as to how important it really is to voters. And yet these very substantial climate provisions have endured for almost a year. How do you account for that?

Paul Bledsoe:

You know, it's interesting.

Formerly, Democrats proposed energy taxes, that is, carbon taxes, to deal with the climate problem, and those were politically unpopular. Now, however, Democrats have finally hit on a tremendously popular set of policies, tax cuts for businesses and consumers for clean energy.

These are favored by Republicans, Democrats and independents in all polling. I think the Republicans have made a huge mistake in underestimating how much the business community and average Americans want these new technologies.

And I think that, if Democrats are smart, they will run on this pro-business, pro-economic platform of clean energy in the midterms.

William Brangham:

Let's say that this goes through.

You and others have said this is certainly not the be-all and end-all. It's not like we will have solved the problem overnight. What are some other steps you would like to see the administration take going forward?

Paul Bledsoe:

Thank you. It's a great question.

One thing that Senator Schumer committed to, as part of these negotiations, including with Senator Manchin, was that we would look at permitting reform for U.S. infrastructure. Right now, it's extremely difficult to put up the big power lines we need to move clean energy from the places where we can cheaply generate it to the places where we can use it.

We also need more pipelines for natural gas, so that we can completely eliminate coal. And we're going to need to export gas, so that we can help the rest of the world eliminate coal. There's a lot of other work to be done.

Another area is methane emissions. Methane is a super pollutant 80 times more powerful than CO2, and is the key to controlling near-term temperature increases. This bill creates about a $1.5 billion fund to mitigate methane from the oil and gas sector, which is important, but much more needs to be done on these non-CO2 pollutants, which are a key to limiting near-term temperatures and preventing runaway warming in the natural system.

William Brangham:

All right, Paul Bledsoe of the Progressive Policy Institute, thanks so much for being here.

Paul Bledsoe:

Thanks so much.

William Brangham:

And back to you, Judy.