US President Joe Biden just signed into law a signature domestic policy achievement: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). At its heart is nearly $US400 billion ($576 billion) to bring down US greenhouse gas emissions, the largest investment the United States has ever made to address climate change.

Whether the law can live up to its historic promise will now depend on whether its massive, clean-energy subsidies can be deployed quickly and at scale. That will require several federal departments to write new regulations and guidelines to implement this bill. It will also require reforms to expedite the permits and approvals needed to rapidly build energy infrastructure, such as large-scale wind and solar farms as well as new high-voltage power lines.

Foreign Policy