The anticipated “red wave” in Tuesday’s midterm elections has so far turned out to be more like a ripple — though one that still threatens to complicate President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Pundits and polls predicted that high inflation and gasoline prices would help drive a Republican sweep. Instead, the GOP is favored to win the House with only a slim majority, and Democrats flipped a Senate seat, improving their chances of retaining control of the upper chamber. Tallying the final election results will take weeks, but even a split Congress could have repercussions for Washington’s approach to the planet, writes Adam Aton. Republicans have vowed to use their new power to boost fossil fuels, haul in Biden administration officials for oversight hearings and undermine the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate programs. How successful they’ll be hinges on how much power they amass when all the votes are counted. But a GOP-controlled House doesn’t need a Senate counterpart to throw a wrench in Biden’s climate wheels. It’s worth pointing out that Republican-controlled regions stand to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $370 billion in climate funding, which could dissuade GOP lawmakers from attempts to cut the cash flow. The party dominates rural and often sunny and windy expanses of the American West and South, which are prime clean energy hubs. In fact, Republicans control nine of the top 10 congressional districts for planned or operating solar, wind and other clean energy projects. Still, obstructionist efforts could threaten the administration’s goal of cutting the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by decade’s end — the rate of action scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic warming. That reality cast a grim mood in Egypt, where world leaders have gathered for an annual climate summit to hash out paths to pull the planet back from the brink, Karl Mathiesen and Sara Schonhardt write. The impending switch of at least one chamber of Congress to a party that has embraced climate denialism and other extreme views sent a shiver of anxiety and defiance through the U.N. climate conference, Karl and Sara report from Egypt. The climate summit and midterm elections come as record temperatures continue to grip the globe, bringing with them unprecedented floods, supercharged tropical hurricanes, drought and mass biodiversity loss. Want more election coverage? Here are all the races still uncalled. Here’s a deeper dive into what the results mean for Biden’s energy agenda. And here’s a closer look at why things didn’t pan out as Republicans hoped.
| 
