In response to President Joe Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, Evergreen Action Executive Director Jamal Raad released the following statement:

“By signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, President Biden has achieved something that no American president before him ever has: historic climate action that will dramatically reduce carbon pollution and put America within striking distance of achieving our science-based climate targets. The climate and clean energy investments in the IRA, totaling more than $370 billion, will save countless lives and catalyze America’s transition to an equitable and thriving clean energy economy, creating millions of new good-paying jobs and lowering energy costs for households across the country along the way. Today’s historic achievement belongs to every voter, activist, and leader in the climate movement who refused to take no for an answer and demanded bold action from the president and Democrats in Congress. 

“But even as we celebrate today’s milestone in America’s fight against the climate crisis, we know that our work has only just begun. This law was a compromise, one that enshrined giveaways to the fossil fuel industry that will inflict more harm on the communities that are already on the front lines of fossil fuel pollution and deadly climate impacts—predominantly Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. 

“While the IRA makes important progress towards President Biden’s climate and environmental justice goals, we know that the president will need to use every executive authority at his disposal to fully realize these commitments. In the days ahead, Evergreen Action is committed to holding the president to his commitment to bold, all-of-government climate action, and to standing with leaders across the movement in the fight against Senator Manchin’s sidecar fossil fuel giveaway scheme that would lock in unacceptable new fossil fuel infrastructure, cut communities out of the environmental review process, and chip away at some of America’s most essential environmental laws. The unprecedented climate investments included in the IRA mark the beginning of a new area in the push for a clean energy economy that works for everyone, and we are ready to get to work.”

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