- Environment
- Planet Possible
Methane supercharges climate change. The U.S. has a new plan to slash it.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. can make the oil and gas sector pay for methane leaks—but the law leaves out a controversial source of the pollutant.
The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant investment the U.S. government has made in fighting climate change, putting more than $369 billion toward projects that will reduce planet-warming emissions.
While much of the bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, will pay for incentives like tax breaks for renewable energy construction and electric vehicle purchases, it also quietly introduced the country’s first ever fee on a greenhouse gas. Methane emissions, which can contribute more to warming over a much shorter period than carbon dioxide, could be subject to a fee starting in 2024.
Cutting the amount of methane released into the atmosphere is one of the easiest and most effective ways to fight climate change, according to a
