Two years after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law, a new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) warns that far-right extremists behind Project 2025 are planning to undo all the climate progress this historic legislation has achieved.
The IRA is the largest clean energy investment in U.S. history, saving Americans money, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and boosting clean energy. Its total benefits by 2030 are projected at $49 billion domestically and $5.6 trillion globally. More than 334,500 new clean energy jobs have been created since its passage in 2022, helping to protect against the immediate and long-term threats of climate change.
“The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred the growth of the American clean energy industry and set our nation on the path to winning the fight against the climate crisis,” said Jessica Ordóñez-Lancet, senior director of Energy and Environment Campaigns at CAP and co-author of the analysis. “But the far-right extremists behind Project 2025 want to undo this progress and prioritize fossil fuel profits at the expense of the American people. Our planet cannot afford this step backward.”
The analysis shows how Project 2025 would halt—and, in many cases, reverse—efforts to combat the climate crisis and advance environmental justice, exacerbating extreme weather events and endangering the safety, health, economy, and future of communities. These damaging efforts would:
- Repeal IRA tax credits
- Weaken the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority
- Lower or eliminate existing emissions standards
- Ease environmental permitting restrictions for new fossil fuel projects
- Cut financing and investments for clean energy technologies and industrial manufacturing
- Cut advanced manufacturing programs, which would undermine competitiveness in global clean technology manufacturing
- Dismantle labor standards and defund renewable energy programs
- Open sensitive public lands to oil and gas drilling
This analysis is part of a series from CAP that exposes how Project 2025's policy agenda would harm all Americans by destroying checks and balances while giving far-right politicians, judges, and corporations more control over lives.
CAP has also produced a series of videos showing success stories of IRA in action in various states:
- “Offshore Wind Development in Maine Is a Collaborative Effort”
- “Unions Are Building a Clean Energy Future in Wisconsin”
- “Organized Labor Is Uncovering the Truth About Offshore Wind in Rhode Island”
Read more: “How Project 2025 Threatens the Inflation Reduction Act’s Thriving Clean Energy Economy” by Devon Lespier and Jessica Ordóñez-Lancet.
For further information or expert interviews, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].
