The (un)just transition in ecomodernist climate policy: Critical analysis of social inequities in the US Inflation Reduction Act

Abstract

The US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 marks a monumental shift toward mitigating climate change and transitioning to a clean energy society. With disproportionate, adverse impacts of climate change on marginalized communities, we utilize a critical environmental justice framework to investigate how the policy structure may deepen social inequalities. While the climate policy invests in clean energy and includes provisions for marginalized communities, our critical analysis finds embedded, conventional power imbalances ceded to corporations and a failure to acknowledge environmental racism. As a result, benefits are far from equitably distributed to communities that bear class, racial, and environmental burdens. We specify policy revisions of narrowing low-income eligibility, incorporating race in provisional criteria, and expanding clean energy investments to environmental justice locations. While our proposed reforms may create a more equitable response, we argue US climate policy's shortcomings are endemic to its ecomodernist approach, limiting the possibility of a just transition.