Arizona Clean Transportation Pathways: Transportation Sector Brief

As of early 2022, Arizona still lacks significant binding clean energy goals or transportation decarbonization measures. Western Resource Advocates (WRA) commissioned GridLab and Evolved Energy Research for a joint study to investigate the impacts of transportation electrification in Arizona. This study analyzes various pathways to decarbonizing Arizona’s economy by 2050 to meet emission reduction goals set out by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with a particular focus on the relative costs of different decarbonization strategies in Arizona’s transportation sector. In this transportation sector brief, we also recommend policies that utilities and state and local decision makers can …

Arizona Clean Transportation Pathways

In the summer of 2021, Western Resource Advocates (WRA) commissioned GridLab and Evolved Energy Research for a joint study to investigate the role of transportation electrification in economy-wide decarbonization for the state of Arizona. As of early 2022, Arizona still lacks significant binding clean energy goals or transportation decarbonization measures. This study analyzes various pathways to decarbonizing Arizona’s economy by 2050 and meeting emission reduction goals set out by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with a particular focus on the relative costs of different decarbonization strategies in Arizona’s transportation sector. The study also examines least-cost pathways to …

Absolute Impact: Why Oil and Gas Companies Need Credible Plans to Meet Climate Targets

For the third year running Carbon Tracker’s Absolute Impact report assesses and ranks climate policies, expanding its analysis to cover the 15 largest publicly traded oil and gas companies. It warns that net zero targets are not enough for companies to be aligned with Paris – they need absolute limits on future emissions and significant interim targets.

A key element of this year’s analysis is a greater focus on the credibility of companies’ approaches to emissions reductions and the degree to which their efforts contribute to a genuine fall in global emissions levels.

Since the first publication of this report …

Making Energy Resilient: State Strategies, Progress, and Opportunities

Amidst energy transitions and the rising impacts of climate change, resilience is a growing part of state energy strategies. But there is relatively little consolidated information describing what states are doing to build adaptive capacities in the power sector. This report fills this gap. It examines how resilience is addressed in planning and policy resources from a selection of representative states. These resources describe anticipated hazards and vulnerabilities, use-cases for emerging clean energy technologies, and broader efforts to create new resilience institutions and authorities. Though resilience garners considerable policy attention, most state initiatives are not guided by well-defined performance goals …

Risks to Sustaining Climate Action: Why Securing Clean Energy Supply Chains Requires A Global Perspective

Climate Advisers’ research finds that there are no international institutions or efforts aimed at securing key clean energy supply chains for all countries committed to climate action. After detailing the risks that exist for clean energy supply chains today, the report offers new U.S. foreign policy recommendations to achieve global clean energy security.…

Meeting Climate Change Targets: The Role of Nuclear Energy

All credible models show that nuclear energy has an important role to play in global climate change mitigation efforts (e.g. IEA, 2021; BNEF, 2021; IIASA, 2021). Despite clear analyses from many sources, including the NEA, that point to the need for a massive, “all-the-above” approach that includes nuclear energy, some multinational activities, financial institutions, and policy makers avoid discussion of nuclear energy. This dynamic is deeply problematic to the cause of carbon reductions. All low-carbon technologies, including nuclear energy must be included in relevant discussions about the energy transition in order to maintain the integrity and evidence base of the …

The High Price of “Cheap” Gas: What’s the True Cost of E15?

Authorizing year-round sales of E15 is a short-sighted political stunt that comes at a high price for taxpayers, consumers and the environment. For just a few more months of slightly cheaper fuel, Americans could be paying out for years to come.…

Most Electric Vehicles Are Cheaper Off the Lot Than Gas Cars From Day One

New research finds that in most states, new electric vehicles (EVs) are cheaper to own than gasoline-powered vehicles on a monthly basis from the day they are driven off the lot, even if the sticker price is higher. Many studies have shown EVs are cheaper to operate with a lower total cost of ownership than gasoline-powered vehicles over the vehicle’s lifetime, but this research examines monthly costs of owning and financing an EV compared to a gasoline car, since 85 percent of Americans finance their cars. These savings are contingent on extending the existing federal EV tax credit; if EV …

Transmission Reform Strategy from a Customer Perspective: Optimizing Net Benefits and Procedural Vehicles

Cost-efficient electric transmission planning, development and operations are vital for grid reliability and economic development. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have access to ample capital and spend about $20-25 billion per year on transmission in the United States. However, billions of dollars are misallocated annually, which erodes net benefits to consumers and suppresses the development of cleaner and lower-cost energy generation. The problem rests squarely on a regulatory system that is outdated and structurally flawed.

Nevertheless, a rare opportunity to remedy regulatory flaws has emerged. After years of experience and building records on the shortcomings of its transmission policies, FERC recently opened …

Energy Price Stability: The Peril of Fossil Fuels and the Promise of Renewables

In “Energy Price Stability: The Peril of Fossil Fuels and the Promise of Renewables,” authors Lauren Melodia and Kristina Karlsson demonstrate that volatile fossil fuel prices are a key driver of overall inflation and have historically triggered recessions. They argue that the Federal Reserve has little power to mitigate inflation driven by fossil fuel prices, and that the solution to ongoing energy price volatility is a government-led investment in renewable energy production and deployment.…