--- title: 2022 Midterm Elections Put U.S. Climate Aid at Risk description: Republicans likely can't undo Biden's green gains. Upping financial support for poorer countries to weather climate change is another matter. canonical: https://time.com/6232215/us-midterm-elections-global-climate-cost/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-11-10T18:22:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:01:56.864Z article:section: Climate og:title: How The U.S. Midterms May Put World's Poor at Greater Climate Risk og:description: Republicans likely can't undo Biden's green gains. Upping climate aid for poorer countries is another matter og:url: https://time.com/6232215/us-midterm-elections-global-climate-cost/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b18e7628cd53c98/698a37c9cabb1d00a4e50e67/bangladesh-climate-storm-us-midterm-election-international-aid.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: General view of a waterlogged Dhaka street following heavy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How The U.S. Midterms May Put World's Poor at Greater Climate Risk twitter:description: Republicans likely can't undo Biden's green gains. Upping climate aid for poorer countries is another matter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b18e7628cd53c98/698a37c9cabb1d00a4e50e67/bangladesh-climate-storm-us-midterm-election-international-aid.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How The U.S. Midterms May Put World's Poor at Greater Climate Risk > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. 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Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c422150e-cee2-45fe-ba02-2e20c1174eef&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/subscribe?i=c422150e-cee2-45fe-ba02-2e20c1174eef&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's climate and energy newsletter? Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Nov 10, 2022 6:22 PM UTC  General view of a waterlogged Dhaka street following heavy rains causing much suffering for pedestrians and commuters on Oct. 25, 2022\. Cyclone Sitrang hit Bangladesh snapping communications and power links, flooding streets bringing activities to a stand still. General view of a waterlogged Dhaka street following heavy rains causing much suffering for pedestrians and commuters on Oct. 25, 2022\. Cyclone Sitrang hit Bangladesh snapping communications and power links, flooding streets bringing activities to a stand still. Sazzad Hossain/SOPA Images/LightRocket— Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Nov 10, 2022 6:22 PM UTC The ultimate outcome of the [U.S. midterm elections](https://time.com/6228409/midterm-candidates-ignore-cimate-change/) will have profound [climate](https://time.com/section/climate/) consequences—but it probably won’t be American emissions ambitions on the line. Instead, people living in the poorer nations of the world will pay the price for how the U.S. votes. That may seem counterintuitive. Republicans—leery of committing to emissions cuts and eager to extract more planet-warming oil and natural gas—are favored to take at least one of the legislative chambers, though it may still be days before the final outcome is certain. And it seems likely that new Republican committee chairs will try to roll back or delay President Joe Biden’s climate goals through hearings and investigations that go after portions of the Democratic agenda, including the billions of dollars of clean-energy investment in the recently-passed [Inflation Reduction Act](https://time.com/6204582/inflation-reduction-act-climate-change/) (IRA). --- **_A version of this story first appeared in the_** **Climate is Everything** **_newsletter. To sign up,_** [**_click here_**](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters/?newsletter%5Fname=climate&source=onsite)**_._** --- But even if the GOP manages to take both houses, they’re unlikely to be able to roll back progress completely. They won’t be able to repeal the IRA without overcoming an ironclad presidential veto, and they may not have much appetite to do so anyway. Attacks on the climate bill were [noticeably absent](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=0b6c5ac25ef018e49a554b1afa3bd0115413dda304117e9fee7e9f07eaed625c1c673e202dd2f495a18cf8526a5b3350e67af4567342212fd08788a5284ec3a1) from the party’s campaign ads. And, as in the case of Republicans’ failed drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act under President Donald Trump, constituents in GOP-controlled states are benefiting from liberal policy. Rural GOP strongholds are primed for solar and wind energy development, while southern states like Alabama and Tennessee are slated for more investment as green manufacturing hubs. [Green investment](https://time.com/6207015/clean-climate-technology-inflation-reduction-act/) is also just good business—even if Republicans don’t care about emissions, lots of other countries do. They’ll either get batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels here, or go shopping in China or Europe—and Republicans certainly don’t want that. What may hinge more heavily on the midterm elections is the amount of funding the U.S. sends to poorer nations to help them adapt to climate change and cut emissions. President Biden has pledged to deliver $11 billion in climate aid every year by 2024, but to do so the Administration will have to get the money through congressional budget negotiations before the end of the legislative session. Such [climate finance](https://time.com/6225496/what-is-loss-and-damage-climate-change/) is a crucial sticking point in the ongoing international COP27 climate negotiations in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with wealthy industrialized nations still failing to deliver $100 billion in climate finance annually that they promised back in 2009\. “The credibility of the U.S. is on the line,” says Alden Meyer, an analyst at environmental think tank E3G. **Read more:** [_The U.S. Is Giving Way Less Than Its Fair Share of Climate Aid_](https://time.com/6231504/cop27-us-climate-change-aid/) Democrats will need 10 Republican votes to pass budget legislation through the Senate anyway, so the process will come down to budgetary horse-trading. But continued control of the chambers could give Democrats a bit more leverage in the negotiations, and hold back Republican efforts to cut the funding in the next legislative session. As John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, [told](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=0b6c5ac25ef018e4e082254332f6860b5d851c69edb725450d014741560ba88bad34bc4a677f28a36df205a5c1259b6d3664eb85ddc73fd6b492d7d786a0fd82) a panel discussion in Egypt on Tuesday, a Republican victory could all but squash Biden’s climate aid efforts: “If what I think will happen in today’s elections happens and the House is gone, you’re not going to see that money.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6232215/us-midterm-elections-global-climate-cost/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6232215/us-midterm-elections-global-climate-cost/"},"headline":"How The U.S. Midterms May Put World's Poor at Greater Climate Risk","datePublished":"2022-11-10T18:22:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:01:56.864Z","description":"Republicans likely can't undo Biden's green gains. 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