Groups Warn Treasury To Not Promote False Climate Solutions With New Clean Energy Credits Starting in 2025

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Groups Warn Treasury To Not Promote False Climate Solutions With New Clean Energy Credits Starting in 2025

August 2, 2024

WASHINGTON - Friends of the Earth, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, and Partnership for Policy Integrity submittedjoint comments with 100+ groups to the Department of the Treasury regarding implementation of the new clean electricity tax credits created under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The comments demand that the new credits uphold their zero emission mandate by excluding highly polluting energy sources like woody biomass, waste incineration, and landfill gas. The comments further highlight that allowing offsetting schemes like book-and-claim accounting would have disastrous consequences for both our climate and the Biden Administration's environmental justice commitments .

"The 45Y production tax credit (PTC) and the 48E investment tax credit (ITC) for clean electricity are perhaps the most crucial provisions of the entire Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for decarbonizing the power sector," the comments read. "Simply by upholding its statutory duty to accurately measure lifecycle emissions, the Treasury Department has an opportunity to both protect communities and fight the climate crisis."

"The Biden Administration has a real opportunity to shift our power sector away from fossil fuels and other dirty energies like burning trees and trash," said Sarah Lutz, Senior Climate Campaigner at Friends of the Earth U.S. "Polluter-friendly accounting gimmicks like book-and-claim should be non-starters. We are counting on Treasury to keep fossil fuel loopholes closed."

"We're calling on the experts at Treasury to do the math properly and exclude these highly polluting facilities from qualifying for the new clean energy tax credits," said Laura Haight, U.S. Policy Director at the Partnership for Policy Integrity. "These tax credits will steer billions of dollars into the energy sector and are intended to combat climate change by promoting "zero emission" electricity. No credible carbon accounting model would treat electricity produced from burning woody biomass or municipal solid waste as "zero emission.""

"We're calling on the self-titled "Environmental Justice Administration" to uphold environmental justice values and stop billions of taxpayer dollars from funding false solutions," said Marcel R. Howard, Zero Waste Program Manager at the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). "These false solutions perpetuate environmental racism, and Treasury's implementation must put our communities first over polluters."

The Treasury Department's May guidance raised concernsamong environmental groups about the credits. The proposal affirmed the eligibility of renewables like wind and solar and requested comments on emissions modeling questions, with major implications for the eligibility of woody biomass, incineration, and methane biogas. The Treasury also requested comment on the introduction of book and claim accounting, which could allow fossil gas power plants qualify as "zero-emission" by purchasing dubious offset credits sold by landfills or factory farms. Not only are these combustion-based power sources often worse for the climate than fossil fuels, but they're significant sources of harmful air and water pollution in the surrounding communities.

Communications Contact: Erika Seiber, [email protected]

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