White House national climate advisor talks Inflation Reduction Act results and reasons for hope

In a fireside chat at Penn, Ali Zaidi talked about the Biden Administration’s climate policy as a throughline to securing global competitiveness and domestic prosperity.

As White House National Climate Advisor, Ali Zaidi has seen the results of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IRA) in different parts of his home state of Pennsylvania. He recalled meeting in Philadelphia with pipefitters and steamfitters who are replacing leaking methane pipes, speaking with people on the frontier of climate-smart agriculture in central Pennsylvania, and talking to mine workers in southwestern Pennsylvania who are helping produce the active material that goes into cathodes, electrodes in batteries.

At a recent event at the University of Pennsylvania that focused on climate policy as a throughline to securing global competitiveness and domestic prosperity, Zaidi talked about the Biden Administration’s climate accomplishments and why he is hopeful for some continuity into the Trump Administration. 

Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at Time magazine covering climate change, moderated the discussion with Zaidi. Perry World House, the Environmental Innovations Initiative, and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy hosted the hybrid event.