Golden Examines the Unintended Consequences of the Inflation Reduction Act in The Hill

August 18, 2022

The Hill

Jay Golden

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Climate Change

Federal

Sustainability

United States

The Hill

Jay Golden

"The unintended consequences of the Inflation Reduction Act," written by Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance, was published in The Hill.

President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday. The bill allocates more than $300 billion to be invested in energy and climate reform, the largest federal clean energy investment in U.S. history.

Golden writes, "I am concerned that the pace at which we are advancing policies to address climate change is not being matched by an effort to provide policy makers a better understanding of the hidden and unintended economic, social and environmental implications."

One example is the transition to move away from internal combustion gasoline and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles. "While this transition will provide strong benefits, including domestic manufacturing and job creation, we must also understand the other side of the ledger: As the adoption rate of electric vehicles increases, so too do the potential losses in local and state revenues," says Golden.