Major Climate Win Scored With Quiet, Diverse Lobbying Campaign

A coalition of environmentalists, industry groups, and lawmakers quietly worked across the aisle for years to enact a historic phasedown of greenhouse gas emissions that supporters believe is the most important climate change policy to emerge from the 116th Congress.

The year-end $1.4 trillion spending package Congress passed late Monday includes language that would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to implement an 85% phasedown of hydrofluorocarbon production and consumption over the next 15 years. HFCs, chemicals found in air conditioning and refrigeration, are powerful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

“It is a big accomplishment,” said David Doniger, senior ...