Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest climate investment in history. To celebrate its anniversary, Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen issued the following statement:

“Two years after President Biden signed the biggest climate investment in history, the Inflation Reduction Act is transforming communities, our economy, and the global fight on climate change. In a short time, it has accelerated investments in long underserved communities, catalyzed our clean energy buildout, and created over 300,000 new jobs. From our coastal ports to our nation’s heartland, the impacts are reaching communities everywhere. New clean energy manufacturing projects are a new economic force, with billions of dollars flowing to projects in urban and rural communities, including low-income communities. Meanwhile, consumers have saved billions in tax credits to put clean energy solutions to work in their homes.

“All of this comes at a high price to communities in Alaska, Appalachia, and the Gulf of Mexico that have long faced the negative impacts of energy production. Just as we pledged two years ago, we are standing alongside these communities, and we continue to fight applications of the IRA that would entrench our fossil fuel addiction and its devastating impact on people in our country’s oil and gas hubs.

“The scale of suffering from climate change is unbearably high already, and dramatically increasing every year. It is imperative that we utilize every tool available to fight it. We applaud the Biden administration for continuing to work quickly to disburse all of the IRA’s funding for clean energy transition and community resilience, and we urge the administration to take every action possible to maximize the IRA’s impact with strong rules that ensure funds advance genuine climate solutions. We can’t afford to wait.”