Actions by Households Play a Surprisingly Large and Cost-Effective Role in IRA/IIJA Emissions Reductions
Mariah Caballero, Mike Vandenbergh, Elodie Currier, and I have a paper analyzing the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These laws include incentives for households to take voluntary actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as buying electric cars and performing energy-efficiency home renovations. We found that these incentives account for only around 11% of spending, but the household actions they stimulate are expected to produce around 40% of total emissions reductions.
These results confirm previous studies which found that incentives for individuals and households to voluntarily adopt energy efficiency actions can make powerful contributions to climate and energy policy, and should be emphasized in future policy proposals.