Even by the standard of the Trump administration’s record on climate change and energy, the megabill passed by Congress on July 4 – the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill – is iridescently destructive. It will hurt Americans first, particularly those in Republican states. But eventually, we will all pay.

Trump’s goal with the BBB, as it has become known, was not, firstly, to assault the world’s climate. His primary goal was to lock in tax cuts for big business and America’s wealthiest citizens.

Illustration by Dionne GainCredit:

To placate the few remaining deficit hawks in Republican congressional ranks, the BBB’s authors had to make at least a pretence of seeking to pay for some of these cuts. They did so first by stripping funding that had been directed to the benefit of America’s poorest citizens.

For example, spending cuts to healthcare and food assistance programs in the bill will average about $US1.2 trillion over the next decade, while new tax cuts for households already making over $US500,000 each year will cost about the same, the Congressional Budget Office shows.

Because this transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich will not even touch the sides when it comes to paying for the BBB, Republicans also hacked into government spending on green technology.

This serves several purposes beyond paying for some of those tax cuts. It satisfies Trump donors in the fossil fuel industry, but more importantly, it undoes the signal achievement of the Biden administration – the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA served as both a post-COVID stimulus measure and as the world’s single largest ever investment in fighting climate change, a vast incentive scheme for new green tech in the US. If left in place, the incentive payments and........

© The Sydney Morning Herald