'Protecting the Public Health with the Inflation Reduction Act — Provisions Affecting Climate Change and Its Health Effects'

Professor Robert L. Glicksman, GW Law

December 22, 2022

NEJM quote

Graphic Credit: The New England Journal of Medicine

CHI member and J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law, Robert L. Glicksman, published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions that are aimed at mitigating climate change and its associated adverse health effects. Noting that it's impossible to predict the overall public health impact from individual provisions, Professor Glicksman discusses IRA efforts aimed at sector-specific emissions, predominately in the energy and transportation sectors. Highlighting the possible limitations of the IRA and concluding with a mention of alternative approaches to greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation, Glicksman states that "The IRA may provide a firmer foundation for efforts to abate climate change and reduce its public health effects than traditional regulatory approaches, a cap-and-trade program, or a carbon tax would have done."

Read in full here.