Electrifying Trucking: The Case for Ambitious Federal Emissions Standards and Policies

Strong emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles will enable fleet operators, shippers, truck manufacturers, and parts suppliers to take advantage of the economic benefits of vehicle electrification. This report reveals that while economic signals are already propelling the industry toward electrification, without effective federal policy support, the transition will not happen fast enough to reach the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.…

Everything is Climate Now: New Directions for Industrial Policy from Biden’s Supply Chain Reports

Russia invading Ukraine was not the only thing that happened on February 24. Attracting barely any notice, just hours before, the White House published over 1,300 pages of reports from a yearlong and unprecedented investigation into the economic vulnerabilities brought on by global supply chains. In light of Putin’s carnage, these reports received almost no press attention. Yet they were eerily prescient about the challenges policymakers were about to face—namely, the disruptions wrought by attempting to economically decouple the US and its allies from authoritarian states.

This issue brief is the first-of-its-kind read-along to these supply chain reports. It documents …

OurEnergyPolicy Webinar Summary – Competition and Choice in Electricity Markets

Since the 1990s roughly two-thirds of the nation has joined competitive wholesale markets. Some states went further in disbanding monopolies and adopting competitive generation and retail supply. This webinar examined the state of competitive electricity markets and their potential role in the future of reliability and affordability.…

PHMSA Suggests Operators Should Be Prepared to Operate Sophisticated Pipelines Manually

Should hazardous liquids pipelines be prepared to operate “manually” in the event of a future cyberattack? An almost million dollar fine proposed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) on Colonial Pipeline Company (“Colonial”) for, among other things, not having a communications plan in place for “manual operation” of the pipeline at all stations between Louisiana and New Jersey would suggest the answer is “yes…maybe.” PHMSA justifies this interpretation of its pipeline safety rules because, according to PHMSA, Colonial’s failure to have this communication plan in place exacerbated the supply issues and societal impact of the 2021 ransomware …

Further Energizing Innovation in Fiscal Year 2023

The Biden administration’s FY 2023 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE) calls for a 25 percent increase in investment in clean energy RD&D over FY 2021 enacted levels. Along with the passage of the Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), this proposal is an encouraging sign for the progress of climate-tech innovation and would sustain the momentum of federal clean energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) programs. Continuing along this trajectory is vital to develop the climate solutions the world needs while strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. technology developers and manufacturers.

The …

Structured Finance for Energy Transition: Building a Clean Energy Portfolio to Replace Mississippi’s Last Coal Power Plant

Structured finance — often called project finance or limited-recourse finance — is a common means of developing large, capital-intensive assets like power plants and pipelines. Project finance isolates risk at the project level and supports lending with long-term contracts that provide stable, predictable revenue.

When attached to a coal-fired power plant or other fossil asset, the same long-term contracts that give creditors assurance of debt repayment also insulate the facility from market forces that would otherwise justify its replacement with clean energy alternatives. This circumstance poses a barrier to cost-effectively mitigating carbon pollution.

In this report, we present a scenario …

A Majority of Americans Favor Expanding Natural Gas Production to Export to Europe

As much of Europe grapples with how to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, 61% of Americans say they would favor the United States expanding production to export large amounts of natural gas to European countries. A smaller share (37%) say they would oppose expanding natural gas production to export to countries in Europe. 

While the survey finds broad support for exporting natural gas to Europe, the findings also underscore how potential impacts on domestic prices are front-of-mind for large shares of Americans. Two-thirds (67%) say the impact on natural gas prices in the U.S. should be a …

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 …