Congress Defines Carbon Dioxide as Pollutant

The recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contains nearly $370 billion in federal funding to for energy security and climate change. Included in the bill is a new definition of greenhouse gases that reads: “In this section, the term ‘greenhouse gas’ means the air pollutants carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.” This is the first time that carbon dioxide was named as an air pollutant that can be regulated by the EPA under the federal Clean Air Act.

In a statement from The White House, the Act is intended to help create renewable energy through 950 million solar panels, 120,000 wind turbines and 2.300 grid-scale battery plants by 2030. Coupled with other efforts, this is projected to help creation millions of new clean energy jobs in the U.S.

Greenhouse gas emission reduction target is 1 gigaton in 2030, 10 times more than previously enacted legislation, which will also lead to the prevention of thousands of premature deaths and asthma and breathing issues for thousands of Americans.

For more information, the full text can be found here or the White House statement here.