Background

• The US Senate has approved a sweeping $700bn (£577bn) economic package that includes major legislation on healthcare, tax and climate change.

• The bill seeks to lower the cost of some medicines, increase corporate taxes and reduce carbon emissions.
• U.S. Senate approved a bill titled the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 2022. The IRA has a special focus on climate, healthcare, and tax provisions to address inflation.
• The Bill marks the largest American investment aimed toward making the U.S. a leader in clean energy. It provides a tax deduction to low and middle-income households to go electric and seeks to lower the energy bills of U.S. households. For disadvantaged low-income communities and tribal communities, the Bill provides funding to benefit from zero-emission technologies. It also imposes a fee on methane leaks from oil and gas drilling. 
• However, climate advocates criticise the bill for coupling the development of renewable energy, which is the cause of global warming, with land leasing for oil and gas drilling.

• The bill is a scaled-down version of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which failed to get approval from the Senate. The IRA has a special focus on climate, healthcare, and tax provisions to address inflation.

1. The Provisions associated with climate change in the bill

• The bill seeks to lower the cost of some medicines, increase corporate taxes and reduce carbon emissions.
• The passing of the bill - a flagship part of President Joe Biden's agenda - is a boost ahead of mid-term elections.
• But it is a significantly scaled-back version of the $3.5tn package that was first proposed by his administration.
• The bill, a product of 18 months of intense wrangling, passed by a margin of 51 to 50 on Sunday with Vice-President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote. It was previously blocked by two Democratic senators who shared Republican concerns about its cost.
• It will now be sent to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass in a vote on Friday before the president can sign it into law.

2. Aim of the Bill

• The legislation aims to reduce carbon emissions and shift consumers to green energy while cutting prescription drug costs for the elderly and tightening enforcement on taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

• The Ruling party believed the strategy could put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, and “would represent the single biggest climate investment in US history, by far”.

3. Agenda held by the US

• The U.S is currently facing extreme climate threats. 
• This includes heatwaves, wildfires, cyclones, floods, and hurricanes that have become frequent and intense in the past few years. 
• The ongoing floods in Kentucky triggered by heavy rainfall and the wildfires in California induced by dry lightning have become a major concern for the country. 

• There is a link between extreme weather events and climate change.

• Additionally, the US has also undertaken certain climate commitments. 
• Climate action has been a priority since Joe Biden came into office. 
• In 2021, he committed to the new ambitious target of cutting emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030 and signed a new methane deal to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. 
• He introduced the Build Back Better plan, a multi-trillion deal with key provisions for climate change.
• In May 2022, the Biden administration revoked the Alaska oil and gas drilling lease sales in the backdrop of soaring fuel prices, a move that is consistent with its climate commitment.

4. Criticism against the Bill

• Bill cannot curb inflation. 
• Fossil fuel supporters criticize the bill as it does not consider the communities that depend on the fossil fuel industry for their income. 
• Climate advocates criticize the bill for coupling the development of renewable energy, which is the cause of global warming, with land leasing for oil and gas drilling. 
• The Bill still contains giveaways to the fossil fuel sector.

5. Why such legislations are need of the Hour

Climate change is a threat to mankind. The earth's average surface temperature has increased by 0.3-0.6 0C since the end of the 19th century. Such an increase in temperature may seem minimal to us but can lead to a disaster as highlighted below.

5.1.Agriculture

• The increasing population has resulted in increased demand for food. This results in pressure on natural resources. 
• Climate change will affect agricultural yield directly because of alterations in temperature and rainfall, and indirectly through changes in soil quality, pests, and diseases. 
• It is said that the yield of cereals is expected to decline in India. Extreme weather conditions such as high temperature, heavy rainfall, floods, droughts, etc. will also affect crop production.

5.2.Weather

• A warmer climate will change rainfall patterns, lead to increased droughts and floods, cause melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets, and increase sea-level rise. 
• An increase in the number of cyclones and hurricanes over the last few years has been attributed to changes in temperature.

5.3.Sea level rise

• One of the outcomes of climate change is the rising sea level. 
• The heating of oceans, and melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets, are predicted to raise the average sea level by about half a metre over the next century. 
• Sea-level rise could have several physical impacts on coastal areas, including loss of land due to inundation and erosion, increased flooding, and salt-water intrusion. 
• These could adversely affect coastal agriculture, drinking water resources, fisheries, human settlements, and health.

5.4.Health

• Global warming will directly affect human health by increasing cases of heat-related mortality, dehydration, the spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition, and damage to public health infrastructure.

5.5.Forests and wildlife

• Plants and animals in the natural environment are very sensitive to changes in climate. If the rate of climate change continues to increase, extinction of various species of plants and animals could happen.

6. Key elements of focus to tackle climate change

• Sustainable Lifestyles - To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.
• Cleaner Economic Development - To adopt a climate-friendly and cleaner path than the one followed hitherto by others at the corresponding level of economic development.
• Reducing Emission intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level.
• Increasing the Share of Non-Fossil Fuel-Based Electricity - To achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 with the help of the transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
• Enhancing Carbon Sink (Forests) - To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• Adaptation - To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, the Himalayan region, coastal regions, and health and disaster management.
• Mobilizing Finance - To mobilize domestic and new & additional funds from developed countries to implement the above mitigation and adaptation actions given the resource required and the resource gap.
• Technology Transfer and Capacity Building - To build capacities, create a domestic framework and international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting-edge climate technology in India and joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.

7. India's perspective on climate Change

• With a significant proportion of its population still below the poverty line, India is well - positioned to understand and balance this demography’s needs for upliftment with the global agenda for climate change action. 
• India accounts for 2.4% of the world surface area but supports around 17.5% of the world population. 
• It houses the largest proportion of the global poor (30%, 363 million people), around 24% of the global population without access to electricity (304 million), and about 30% of the global population relying on solid biomass for cooking and 92 million without access to safe drinking water. 
• These, geographical and other socio-economic factors make India highly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
• The average annual energy consumption in India in 2011 was only 0.6 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per capita as compared to the global average of 1.88 toes per capita. 
• Additionally, India has been able to achieve a Human Development Index of 0.586 with this significantly lower average annual energy consumption. 
• No country in the world has been able to achieve an HDI of 0.9 or more without an energy availability of 4 per capita.
• India has a lot to do to provide its population with a dignified life and meet their rightful aspirations. 
• Given the development agenda in a democratic polity, the infrastructure deficit represented by different indicators, the pressures of urbanization and industrialisation and the imperative of sustainable growth, India faces a formidable and complex challenge in working for economic progress towards a secure future for its citizens.
• Given its experiences in effectively implementing climate change actions, India also knows that current adaptation efforts are not affordable or practical on a universal scale. 
• Current climate change resolution efforts put the burden on the economically disadvantaged of society without accounting for their growth and development aspirations. 
• As a responsible global citizen, India is willing to lead in adaptations efforts that will make lifting the poor across the world out of poverty central to climate change action