Inflation Reduction Act Tracker

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Environmental Defense Fund

About

The Inflation Reduction Act Tracker, a joint project of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Environmental Defense Fund, houses the IRA Database, which compiles information about the climate change-related provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), organized by federal agency. The website is also home to the IRA Tracker, which records actions taken by federal agencies to implement, or roll back implementation of, the IRA’s climate-related provisions.

Enacted in 2022, the IRA represents the largest climate investment in U.S. history, with grants and tax credits providing more than $1 trillion in federal funding to advance development of clean and renewable energy projects, electric vehicles and vehicle charging infrastructure, other actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to build more climate resilient communities.

Over a dozen federal bodies are charged with implementing the IRA, including the Department of the Treasury, Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of the Interior (DOI), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Those agencies must work with state and local governments, Native American tribes, non-profit organizations, and others to achieve the IRA’s goals.

The IRA database and tracker provide information to highlight where and how eligible entities—from state and local governments to Native American tribes to nonprofit and community groups to innovative companies—can make use of the programs established by the IRA and help lead the way in tackling climate change.

User Tips

The Inflation Reduction Act Tracker is divided into two parts:

  • The IRA Database shows all of the climate-related provisions in the IRA, organized by federal agency. Browsing the database can help you find IRA provisions that match your interests or needs. The database information is complete and will not be updated.
  • The IRA Tracker can help you find and follow evolving agency actions to implement IRA climate provisions. These may include announcements of agency rules, guidance, and new funding opportunities. The tracker is updated weekly with new agency actions and announcements.

Database Tips

  1. From the homepage https://iratracker.org/, click on IRA Database.
  2. The colored squares show the federal agencies charged with implementing climate-related provisions in the IRA.
  3. From the IRA Database landing page, you can filter information from IRA programs across all agencies in several ways:
    • Filter by eligible entity to identify programs intended for a specific group of beneficiaries.
    • Filter by implementation status at end of Biden administration to determine where IRA programs left off at the end of Biden’s presidency.
    • Filter by current status to explore how the implementation status of IRA programs may have changed under the Trump administration.
    • Search by keyword.
  4. To explore IRA climate provisions administered by a particular agency, click on that agency’s colored square. The Department of the Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Department of Agriculture offer the most programs, so you may want to start with those agencies first.
  5. After clicking on an agency, you can filter information in several ways:
    • Filter by eligible entity to identify programs intended for a specific group of beneficiaries. For example, if you are a property owner looking to see if any Treasury Department programs could benefit you, you could select “property owner” in the eligible entity menu. Three programs appear: two provide energy efficiency tax credits for homeowners and one for owners of commercial property.
    • Search by keyword. For example, if you are interested in tax credits for solar energy, you could search for keywords “solar,” “clean” or “renewable.”
    • The federal government is aiming to ensure that 40% of available funding from the IRA benefits environmental justice communities, so the database has a separate filter for whether a provision expressly refers to environmental justice considerations.
    • Sort by IRA section number if you already know the provision number.
  6. Once you have found a provision you’re interested in, click on it. That will lead you to a page that summarizes the provision and provides the following information about its implementation:
    • Eligible Entity describes the specific group(s) intended as beneficiaries of the program.
    • Current Status indicates the program’s current implementation status using a standardized set of options.
    • Trump Administration Actions lists agency actions related to the program taken under the second Trump administration.
    • Implementation Status at End of Biden Administration indicates the program’s implementation status at the end of Biden’s presidency using a standardized set of options and a short description to provide additional context.
    • Biden Administration Actions lists agency actions related to the program taken under the Biden administration.

Tracker Tips

  1. From the homepage of https://iratracker.org/, click on IRA Tracker.
  2. The summary boxes of each action that appear on the IRA Tracker’s landing page are color-coded: gray boxes indicate actions to implement provisions of the IRA and yellow boxes indicate actions to roll back implementation of the IRA.
  3. Search for agency actions taken to implement, or roll back implementation of, IRA programs by choosing among the many options identified in the drop down menus:
    • Filter actions by agency
    • Filter actions by IRA section
    • Filter actions by characterization of action to sort between actions that implement the IRA and those that roll back implementation
    • Search keywords to find actions
    • Filter actions by eligible entity
    • Filter actions by explanation to narrow your search down to agency announcements, agency guidance, notices for public meetings, proposed rules, and requests for information. Agency announcements contain announcements regarding the release of funding and grant opportunities. The filters for agency guidance, proposed rules, and requests for information are generally opportunities for the public to provide input on how the agency should formulate guidance, regulations, and grant programs.
    • Filter actions by grant opportunities or filter actions by opportunities with deadline to identify those that are currently open, closing soon, or recently closed.
  4. Once you find the agency action you want to know more about, click on it. You will be taken to a summary of the action. Beneath the summary, you’ll find opportunities for participation and additional resources relevant to the agency action taken. 

Methodology

All content in the IRA Database and IRA Tracker is based on publicly available information. Key sources of information relied on to develop and maintain the website include:

  • The Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Federal Register, Grants.gov, and federal agency websites. For example, the Implementation Status at End of Biden Administration section of each program page relies on agencies’ public reporting of their progress, such as through press releases. Therefore, for provisions with a status of “Not Started,” it is possible that the Biden administration has taken implementation actions but has not publicly reported them.
  • Secondary sources including reports, models, and analyses authored or created by educational institutions, non-profit organizations, think tanks, etc. For example, the Program Stakes & Performance section of each program page relies in part on the Sabin Center’s analysis in the report, “Implementing the Inflation Reduction Act: Progress to Date and Risks from a Changing Administration,” to assess each IRA provision.

Feedback

If you would like to provide feedback on ways we can improve the IRA Tracker, go to https://iratracker.org/contact/ and submit a message.