Congress votes for “big beautiful lie” that will kill wind and solar, condemns world to 3°C warming

The US Congress has voted to approve Donald Trump’s astonishing “big beautiful bill,” effectively ending credits for wind, solar and EVs in the country, and in a move that some environmentalists say could condemn the world to a catastrophic 3°C of average global warming.

The passage of the bill through the Senate and the House were flagged as tight, but the assumed Republican holdouts quickly sold their “principles” in return for a few dollars and some local programs of little consequence. The impact on the rest of the world could be extreme.

The vote in the House on Thursday (US time) was followed by an extraordinary series of tweets and social media posts, celebrating not just the evisceration of Joe Biden’s Clean Energy Act, but the removal of social welfare support and healthcare to tens of millions across the country.

It confirms to many that the Republican Party has lost its collective mind, if that was not already abundantly clear. The bill is more or less as promised by Trump to the fossil fuel industry in return for an estimated $1 billion of support in his election campaign.

It comes as science and health programs are trashed, the judiciary is attacked, and human rights – including the fundamental right to live in a safe environment – are thrown out the door.

The bill provides trillions of dollars in tax cuts, mostly to the rich and ultra rich, provides more incentives ($US18 billion) and strips back regulations for the fossil fuel industry, and dismantles most incentives for clean energy.

“This budget bill is the largest-ever transfer of wealth from working families to the ultra-rich and one of the most environmentally destructive pieces of legislation in US history,” said Collin Rees, campaigns manager at Oil Change International.

“Congress voted today to turn its back on the very industries that are adding the majority of the new electricity generating capacity to the grid,” added Abby Hooper, the president of the Solar Energies Industry Association.

“Many brand new factories will close. Americans will lose their jobs. Investments will be cancelled. Consumers will have fewer choices. Our electric grids will suffer. And the race for the most strategic and innovative technologies will be handed to China.”

These are powerful words, but sadly of little consequence in a world where up is down, black is white, and greed is not just good, it’s great. The “big beautiful bill” is, on any reasonable assessment, the “big, beautiful lie.”

One analysis says that wind and solar generation capacity could fall by 340 gigawatts – below what could have been – and consumer utility rates may rise by 10 to 18 per cent over the next 10 years. And hundreds of thousands of jobs in the clean energy sector are expected to be lost.  

An analysis by the REPEAT Project from the Princeton University Zero Lab and Evolved Energy Research shows that the bill is expected to contribute an additional 470 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2035.

That is the annual equivalent of more than 100 million gas-powered cars on the road, and more than the annual net emissions from Australia’s entire economy.

In the last week, climate scientists have warned of the catastrophic impacts of global warming, saving that the carbon budget to limit average global warming below 1.5°C will be exhausted in two years, and the budget to limit warming below 2°C will be exhausted in nine years.

The US bill, scientists say, will make it difficult for the world to cap warming much below 3°C, particularly as Trump’s actions give cover for other countries to be less ambitious. Just look at Queensland to see how.

The Trump administration does not want this to be widely known, and this week shut down the Global Change Research Program’s website, globalchange.gov, along with all five versions of the National Climate Assessment report and extensive information on how global warming is affecting the country.

“They’re public documents. It’s scientific censorship at its worst,” said Peter Gleick, a California water and climate scientist who was one of the authors of the first National Climate Assessment in 2000. “This is the modern version of book burning.”

All of this should be a surprise to no-one, and particularly Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has fallen out with Trump despite spending more than $A400 million backing his campaign.

As CurrentAffairs.org wrote this week:

“These actions and policies fulfill promises made on the campaign trail. As a candidate in 2024, Donald Trump propositioned oil company executives for $1 billion in campaign contributions.

“In return, he swore to roll out the red carpet for drilling on public lands, rolling back rules for power plant emissions and methane emissions from oil and gas fields. He promised to kill the electric car and renewable energy.

“All that and much more has already transpired on an administrative level throughout the federal government in under six months, and will now be codified and expanded upon by this budget bill. Incentives for home solar and heat pumps, tax credits for buying an electric vehicle—all these could be erased.”

And they were erased. And it’s not just book burning – now the White House will get to host a UFC fight on its front lawn. One day a Tesla car yard, the next day a fighting circus. The administration, and our future, is open to the highest bidder, and guess who has the deepest pockets.