Episode description

In a little more than six weeks, Americans will cast their votes in a presidential election that has enormous stakes for the future of the planet. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi sits down with energy and environment reporter Jen Dlouhy to talk about how Kamala Harris could advance US climate policy — and how Donald Trump could chip away at it.  “Starting on day one, he's already said he intends to direct federal agencies to begin repealing and replacing climate regulations,” she says.

At this stage of the campaign, Harris’s plans are still somewhat opaque. But if elected, her administration is expected to keep quietly pushing forward policies passed under President Biden. “There's still tremendous work to get the IRA's programs running to get dollars flowing,” Dlouhy says. “The Treasury Department still hasn't finished writing rules for how people can claim tax credits under the law, including those governing hydrogen production and clean electricity. So there's just a lot of administrative work to be done to kind of unstick this process to accelerate deployment.” 

Explore further:

• Past episode with voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams on how middle and low-income families access the tax breaks that can help them affordably electrify their homes 
• Past episode with former Conservative Minister Chris Skidmore on how the UK’s Conservatives have given up on climate policy
• Past episode with John Kerry, former US special presidential envoy for climate

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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