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What Biden’s $2-trillion spending bill could mean for climate change

Research models shed light on how the Build Back Better bill might reshape the US energy landscape.
By
  1. Jeff Tollefson

US President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in Congress are rushing to enact a US$2-trillion budget bill that would boost US investments in technologies for fighting climate change to record levels. If it passes, and everything goes just right, some scientists say that the legislation — dubbed the ‘Build Back Better’ act — could bring the United States closer to meeting the goals that Biden laid out during a major United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, UK, last month. According to researchers interviewed by Nature, the latest economic models suggest that the massive cash infusion could drive down prices for clean-energy technologies and help put the United States on a path to reduce greenhouse gases to 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 — although they also warn that there are still plenty of potential barriers and roadblocks ahead.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03787-7

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