US response to the climate emergency: key moments of 2022

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is one step to confront the crisis, but a divided Congress will hamper additional measures

The climate crisis inflicted painful wounds to the US in 2022, but the year also brought hope that the country is finally prepared to confront disastrous global heating while also facing a tentative reckoning over its outsized role in causing it.

Historic climate legislation passed by Congress in the summer, coupled with an acknowledgment at the UN Cop27 talks in Egypt that developing countries suffering the worst climate impacts deserve new financial support from rich nations such as the US, offered some optimism during a year otherwise punctuated by disasters that point to an ominous climatic future for the world.