By Shayak Sengupta and Sagatom Saha
Little time remains before countries gather in early December in Dubai for COP28, the world’s largest climate conference. The negotiations frequently feature rifts between rich and poor countries, but this time it could be worse, because Washington’s biggest domestic action on climate may compound the world’s existing climate woes, from a lack of finance to bureaucratic battles over a promised loss and damage fund. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) received a lukewarm response last year at COP27 in Egypt several months after it was enacted, even provoking squabbling among the United States’ closest partners and allies. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron told West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the IRA’s architects, “You’re hurting my country,” intimating that the IRA will likely redirect billions in clean energy investment away from Europe and toward the United States as multinationals chase the legislation’s generous benefits.
Tensions with Europe have abated, but that trans-Atlantic spat may pale in comparison to what is to come on a global scale. Whether the IRA helps or hinders global climate progress will depend on whether the Biden administration can craft a policy toolkit to take the IRA abroad.
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