Biden Economic Advisers Talk Inflation Reduction Act at Clean Energy Summit

National security and economic advisers to former President Joe Biden discussed the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act and decarbonization efforts across policy and finance at the first “Amped & Wired Summit” on Saturday.

The event, which focused on clean energy, was hosted by the Harvard Undergraduate Clean Energy Group, in partnership with the Columbia Clean Energy Group and the Princeton University Energy Association.

“When I hear climate, I think jobs,” said Heather Boushey, former chief economist on Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Boushey discussed the Biden administration’s response to long-standing economic challenges, including the existential crisis of climate change and ensuing economic inequality across the nation.

“The economic agenda that we put together, that the President put together, was really focused on: how do we solve, how do we think about why we have these challenges in front of us, and how can we come up with a set of solutions that can work together,” she said.

Industry leaders also discussed the role of messaging in marketing their products to climate-conscious consumers.

“You’ll see utilities working different messages. You’ll see some utilities working with an environmental angle. You’ll see some of them working with an economic angle. You’ll see someone working a resiliency angle,” Randy Armstrong, product manager of National Grid’s clean transportation team, said.

“You’ll see everyone right now is experimenting, trying to figure out which messages resonate with people and, how do we market this to get people actually participating,” he added.

Michael Donilon, a former senior advisor to Biden, said climate policy should also be thought of as climate policy for long term success, pointing to the success of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 as evidence.

“He sold it as a jobs program, and he sold it as a program that was going to revitalize American industry and American community, and was going to put America in a leadership role for what he considered the existential threat facing work,” Donilon said.

Donilon, who currently serves as a Spring Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, said the IRA’s strength lies in its resilence built-in policy resilience to endure opposing executive branch administrations.

“One of the ways to sustain in a huge political fight is you build it in places, in Republican districts and Republican states in the country, where they say, ‘If we get rid of it, we’re hurting our own constituents,’” he added.

Daleep Singh, Biden’s deputy national security advisor, said that the Biden administration’s investment in clean industrial policy melded both economic security and national security.

“We were back to this old normal of intense geopolitical rivalry, and that’s why the IRA was so critical, because we know in this environment of resumed geopolitical competition, the private sector — if you leave it to itself — it’s going to try to maximize short term profits and efficiency,” Singh said.

Donilon said that even though the Trump administration may attempt to eliminate the IRA’s provisions, he doesn’t think it will be completely erased.

The event hosted by the HUCEG, a student organization, was held with the goal to “get people excited about the energy transition.” Leaders said the Trump administration’s current rollback of climate and energy policies renewed their focus on bringing these conversations to light.

“It’s not like ‘Oh, no, now we can’t talk about clean energy for the next few years,’” said Elson E. Bankoff ’27, the co-president of HUCEG.

“We have to talk about it more than ever, because if we want to keep quick and stay relevant with the progress of the world, we just need to compensate for what the Trump administration is lacking right now,” she added.

—Staff writer Ava H. Rem can be reached at ava.rem@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avar3m.

—Staff writer Iris J. Xue can be reached at iris.xue@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @iris_j_xue.