Trump called climate change a hoax. “My plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam,” Trump said in reference to Biden’s climate policies at an event in September.

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was a landmark climate law which has spurred more than $900 million of private investment in Wisconsin. The state is set to receive $4 billion for large-scale power generation by 2030, supporting more than 73,000 workers in the state’s clean energy sector.

Wisconsin added almost 2,200 clean energy jobs in the first full year of the law. Of more than 900 businesses surveyed nationwide, more than half said they would lose business if the law were repealed as Trump has said he would do.

More than 350 major projects have been announced nationwide since the law’s passage.

“If the IRA and these other policies roll back, people are going to lose jobs, businesses are going to close, and Wisconsin and the rest of America is going to be less competitive with the rest of the world that is clearly on a path to shifting to a cleaner economy,” said Bob Keefe of Environmental Entrepreneurs.

Wisconsin Republicans in the House earlier this year backed a resolution denouncing Biden’s clean energy policies, making it likely they will support an effort to kill the clean energy gains made over the past four years.

As 2024 looks to be yet another record-setting high temperature year, historic efforts to combat climate change and shift to renewable energy accelerated under policies and regulations put in place by President Joe Biden’s administration. Even so, it hasn’t been enough to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according to Greg Nemet, energy expert and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We’re on track, but we need to really start pushing harder to get the adoption of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind power, heat pumps and all those things at a faster rate,” Nemet said. “I think what we’re looking at now is probably almost definitely slowing down.”

Sources:

The Inflation Reduction Act Delivers Affordable Clean Energy for Wisconsin

Landmark climate law helps boost clean energy jobs to 73K in Wisconsin

H.Res.987 – Denouncing the harmful, anti-American energy policies of the Biden administration

Wisconsin’s Changing Climate: Impacts and Solutions for a Warmer Climate

Former President Trump Remarks at the Economic Club of New York