Energy, Climate and the 2020 Election
Congressional Action on Resilient Infrastructure: Areas of Progress and Future Needs
By Brian La Shier, Jessie Stolark, and Ellen Vaughan The Environment and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has issued this informative paper on recent congressional actions to encourage the development of resilient infrastructure. INFRASTRUCTURE Natural and built systems that can better
Why We Need the Feds
By William S. Becker For at least 20 years in the United States, the relationship between climate-action advocates and the federal government has been like the relationship between Charlie Brown and Lucy's football. Every time it looked as though congresses
Plan B: A Green New Bill
By William S. Becker The scuttlebutt from Washington, D.C., is that supporters of the Green New Deal (GND) will embark on a Plan B now that the Senate has voted down their aspirational resolution for an aggressive federal response to
WMO’s New State of Climate Impact Report
The physical signs and socio-economic impacts of climate change are accelerating as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization. The WMO Statement on the State of
How to Have an Excellent Climate Debate
By William S. Becker After a somnambulant decade, Congress is finally having a Rip Van Winkle moment on global climate change. A special House committee has been formed to focus on the climate crisis. Several additional House committees have put
Go Big on Climate Action
By William S. Becker There has been a 10-year drought in Congress on legislation directly related to global climate change. Now, there is a cloudburst of ideas being considered by the Democrat-controlled House. Will any of them become law? If
The United States’ Carbon Footprint
The latest EPA data show that in 2016, transportation in California, Texas and Florida was the source of more carbon dioxide pollution than transportation in rest of the United States. California, Texas and Louisiana led country in emissions from industry.
What’s New?
Natural Sinks
If the United States is to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by mid-century, the restoration and care of soils, grasslands, forests and wetlands will be critical. The consulting firm Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions has issued a comprehensive guide on what must happen to maximize the use of these natural carbon sinks. Conservation and changes in land management can provide more than a third of the cost-effective mitigation the world needs to keep global warming below 2oC, the company says. The guide is written for philanthropies, but it contains idea for government policies, too.
Seamless Mobility
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and the urban population is growing. McKinsey & Company offers a vision of what mobility could look like in cities of the future.
Legal Paths to Decarbonization
The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) at Columbia University is about to publish more than 1,000 specific recommendations for the municipal, state and federal laws necessary for the United States to decarbonize its economy and achieve the goals of the Paris Climate accord. More than 60 experts contributed to the book, titled “Legal Pathways to Decarbonization in the United States”. The editors are Michael Gerrard, Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School, and John C. Dernbach, Distinguished Professor of Law at the Widener University Law School. The complete book is 1,100 pages. A shorter version can be downloaded here at no cost.
The Green New Deal
The Green New Deal is a proposal to make a rapid and comprehensive transition to a decarbonized economy, principally by shifting to 100% renewable power generation. Green groups have promoted the idea for some time, but one version is contained in a proposal by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat Socialist from New York who was elected to Congress last November.
Options for a Carbon Tax
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a new analysis of different options for creating a carbon tax. Key issues for Congress, should it take up the issue this session (which it should), include how much the tax should be and how to use its revenues. The most disturbing fact in the CRS report: “…carbon tax analyses do not generally consider the benefits that would be gained by reducing GHG emissions and avoiding climate change and its adverse impacts.” That is information — the cost of doing nothing — that Congress must consider.
12 Years and Counting
Two reports issued last fall shook up the assumption that holding global warming to no more than 2oC above pre-industrial levels would be sufficient to avert catastrophic climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the much safer goal is 1.5oC.
Climate & Energy
New developments in climate science and the transition to clean energy.
Commentary
Latest news along with blogs by PCAP’s Bill Becker and other prominent commentators.
Kindred Groups & Resources
Other groups working on climate change and the clean energy transition, regardless of political affiliations, along with resources climate activists can use.
PCAP Archive
The most important of PCAP’s previous reports and studies.
“As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.”
“We have, I hope, finally put to rest the false choice between the economy and the environment, for we have the strongest economy perhaps in our history, with a cleaner environment.”
“The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water?”
“I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing.”
“Laws change; people die; the land remains.”