Clean Energy Investment Trends 2019

Late surge in offshore wind financings helps 2019 renewables investment to overtake 2018.…

Insights From the California Energy Policy Simulator

California met its 2020 economy-wide goal of reducing emissions below 1990 levels in 2016, and is now working toward a 2030 goal of reducing emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels. Using the California Energy Policy Simulator, this report finds existing climate policies will reduce the state’s 2030 emissions by more than 100 million metric tons, but leave emissions about 25 million metric tons above the 2030 target. The report also identifies six preferred policies that together reach California’s 2030 target, generate $7 billion in direct economic benefits, and yield an estimated $14 billion in health and climate impacts.…

How Will Natural Gas Fare in the Energy Transition?

It is hard to know sometimes whether natural gas is in a golden age or a dark age. Gas is often presented as a promising candidate to deliver cleaner air and decarbonization, which are reasons why many outlooks see a continued need for gas to 2040 and beyond, even assuming a rapid energy transition. Others see it as a temporary and expensive solution that we, as a world, must not lock in, lest we undermine our efforts on deep decarbonization. And others still question whether gas should play any role at all in the energy transition, its environmental credentials undercut …

Emissions in the Stream: Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of an Oil and Gas Boom

The Shale Revolution has stimulated a large and rapid buildout of oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf and Southwest regions of the United States (US), expected to unfold over decades. Therefore, it is critical to develop a clearer understanding of the scale and composition of the likely greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with this activity. We compile a detailed inventory of projected upstream oil and gas production expansions as well as recently and soon-to-be built midstream and downstream facilities within the region. Using data from emissions permits, emissions factors, and facility capacities, we estimate expected GHG emissions at the …

Advancing America’s Climate Leadership

In a new report released today, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) examines notable climate policy approaches for their impact on renewable energy growth and investment, including a federal high-penetration renewable energy standard or clean energy standard, a technology-neutral tax credit, and carbon pricing regimes.

The new report, Advancing America’s Climate Leadership: Policy Options That Most Effectively Put Renewable Energy to Work, helps lay the groundwork for implementation as ACORE offers policy design recommendations and identifies complementary measures to ready the electric grid for the higher levels of renewable energy penetration necessary to achieve ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emission …

Building a 100 Percent Clean Future Can Drive an Additional $8 Billion a Year to Rural Communities

Rural communities face many challenges, and climate change is only making matters worse. Flooding and drought are hitting rural communities hard, causing massive financial losses for farmers, who are also facing low commodity prices and bearing the brunt of an international trade war. And the rural landscape is changing as farmland is being lost to the same development pressures that are contributing to climate change. These challenges are creating a palpable sense among rural residents that their way of life is changing and under threat.

Shifting weather patterns are one of the most noticeable changes. For example, in Iowa, the …

Preliminary US Emissions Estimates for 2019

After a sharp uptick in 2018, we estimate that US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell by 2.1% last year based on preliminary energy and economic data. This decline was due almost entirely to a drop in coal consumption. Coal-fired power generation fell by a record 18% year-on-year to its lowest level since 1975. An increase in natural gas generation offset some of the climate gains from this coal decline, but overall power sector emissions still decreased by almost 10%. Unfortunately, far less progress was made in other sectors of the economy. Transportation emissions remained relatively flat. Emissions from buildings, industry …

Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Electricity Generation

Chapter 135 of 2017 (AB 398, E. Garcia) requires our office to report annually on the economic impacts and benefits of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) limits. In this report, we assess the effects of some of the state’s major policies intended to reduce GHG emissions from the generation of electricity.…

2020 Renewable Energy Industry Outlook

The renewable energy industry is primed to enter a new phase of growth driven largely by increasing customer demand, cost competitiveness, innovation, and collaboration. But will challenges surrounding trade and tariff policy require the industry to prioritize risk mitigation tactics? Our 2020 renewable energy industry outlook explores what it will take for companies to thrive in the year ahead.…

Farm & Forest Natural Carbon Solutions Initiative Working Papers

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Energy Project is focused on the development of pragmatic, evidence-based energy and climate policies that can make meaningful progress towards a low-carbon future. BPC’s Farm & Forest Natural Carbon Solutions Initiative aims to identify the most promising opportunities to enhance the economic and environmental well-being of our nation’s natural resources.

The BPC Energy Project has been working with a variety of technical experts to examine these opportunities and compiled a set of short working papers that create a foundation for a new federal initiative, geared toward the development of more targeted and ambitious natural carbon storage …