This legislation was signed in 2022 and promised an investment of more than $370 billion by the government to encourage clean energy technologies and a large number of private companies began to motivate their projects in this regard.
However, Trump has mentioned his intention to withdraw that money. “My plan will end the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. “We will revoke all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act,” he said in September before the Economic Club of New York.
How would the repeal of the IRA Law impact technology companies?
For the technology industry, complying with environmental issues is an aspect that opposes the rapid evolution of technology, says Adolfo de Unánue, leader of the Artificial Intelligence Initiative for Public Value at the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Tec de Monterrey, who highlighted that during his administration, Trump will boost oil extraction and energy production in the country, a central issue for the training capacity of data centers.
For the specialist, the technology industry may have an ally in Trump to exploit fossil energy sources to achieve its objectives, since his deregulatory vision will allow there to be fewer “legal obstacles” that will allow the acceleration of technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, to the detriment of the environment.
In contrast, Harris proposed an acceleration of more “traditional” technology, Unánue mentioned, that is, he would not stop supporting the technology sector, but he would not eliminate regulations so that large companies could act without rules “in favor of innovation.”
Big Tech towards a new environmental direction
Currently, technology companies have already taken steps towards the use of green energy, as their energy consumption has affected their environmental commitments towards 2030. Microsoft, for example, increased almost a third since 2020, according to data collected from its latest sustainability report, largely due to the expansion of data center infrastructure for AI.
In this sense, the company signed an agreement last September to use energy from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, where it was reported that the unit will generate 800 megawatts, and will help power the AI.
Likewise, Trump will find obstacles to repealing the IRA Act, since this action will require action by Congress and in addition to his growing popularity, it could result in lost jobs and unfinished factories.
So far, $92.5 billion in grants have already been awarded to companies in different sectors, according to statements from White House officials to Axios. This figure represents around 80% of the funds available for the fiscal year that ended in September, and legal experts told the outlet that it would be very difficult to recover the remaining money that has been promised, since it is illegal for a government to refuse to spend funds that Congress has already allocated.
Under the Embargoment Control Act of 1974, a president can pause spending for a time or ask Congress to rescind that money, however, he cannot not spend the funds for ideological reasons.
This legislation was passed during the Nixon administration, who used to not spend money on things he opposed, and while it represents an obstacle to Trump’s intentions, there are precedents in which he violated that law, such as when he withheld military aid to Ukraine in his government, something that also led to his first impeachment.
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