This package would be the largest single federal spending to promote clean energy, and a rhodium analysis found it could reduce pollution enough to meet a third to one-half of Mr. Biden’s emissions cut targets, and carbon dioxide emissions by about 25 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Ron Wyden, the Democrat from Oregon who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, is the lead author of the Clean Energy Tax Credit Package. If the legislation is passed before the Glasgow summit ends on November 14, Wyden said he would fly to Scotland to deliver the message that the United States had enacted a law that would eliminate a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
“The president could say this is the broadest climate law ever passed by Congress,” Mr. Wyden said in an interview, though acknowledging that the standard was low: the US has never had a major climate change bill.
“This is the first-ever tax reform to tie monetary stimulus to an actual emissions cap, saying that the more you cut emissions, the more you save.” Mr. Wyden said. “We think you’re going to have an extraordinary increase in renewables and clean transportation.”
Mr. Larsen, a rhodium analyst, agreed. “The United States has never had that basis for long-term clean energy tax credits,” he said. “This would give electric utilities, automakers, and builders a safety they didn’t have before…”
