A Security Threat Assessment of Global Climate Change

In a comprehensive report released by the “National Security, Military and Intelligence Panel (NSMIP)” of the Center for Climate and Security, experts warn of High-to-Catastrophic threats to security from plausible climate change trajectories – the avoidance of which will require “quickly reducing and phasing out global greenhouse gas emissions.”

The panel, made up of national security, military and intelligence experts, analyzed the globe through the lens of the U.S. Geographic Combatant Commands, and concluded that:

“Even at scenarios of low warming, each region of the world will face severe risks to national and global security in the next three decades. …

Expert Dialogue: A Realistic Strategy for Climate Change

“To tackle a topic as monumental and divisive as climate change, it will take a politically realistic and technologically inclusive agenda built on advancing clean power around the world,” said Darren Goode, Communication Director for ClearPath, a nonprofit organization that develops and advances policies that accelerate clean energy innovation.

OurEnergyPolicy’s community of energy professionals weighed in on this topic in an online discussion. They provided various perspectives on policies and actions that could successfully address climate change and generate bipartisan agreement. This document features excerpts from that discussion. Follow hyperlinks to view full comments and expert profiles. Read the entire …

Expert Dialogue: A Framework for the Green Real Deal

“The principles of the Green Real Deal are designed to foster a broad coalition and turn climate ambitions into meaningful action,” said Ernest Moniz, former Secretary of Energy, now CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative. “The Green New Deal, a congressional resolution,… while it has helped shine an important spotlight on the climate crisis, elements of the resolution—such as going to zero carbon in a 10-year time frame—are largely impractical…. The principles of the Green Real Deal are designed to foster a broad coalition and turn climate ambitions into meaningful actions.”

OurEnergyPolicy’s community of energy professionals discussed Dr. Moniz’s Green …

Regional Clean Energy Innovation

The Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) commissioned this report by the University of Maryland to enhance our understanding of U.S. innovation at the regional level, providing a foundation for policymakers and researchers to strategically expand and accelerate regional clean energy technology innovation. This report assembles and aligns U.S. clean energy innovation data at the subnational level. The data reveals trends in regional clean energy innovation, providing a baseline of activities for all 50 states. The report builds on this baseline with a bottom-up case study assessment of clean energy innovation in two states with contrasting energy innovation conditions, Colorado and Maryland; …

Energy Innovation: Supporting the Full Innovation Lifecycle

There is a growing urgency for the United States to address the critical challenges of climate change and global economic competitiveness. A robust energy innovation agenda must be at the heart of this strategy because all the technologies we need to address climate change simply do not yet exist. Bipartisan momentum is gathering around a technology-forward innovation agenda. For the United States to effectively nurture climate-saving technologies and maintain our position of global economic leadership, we must triple our investment in the full energy innovation lifecycle. This will require increasing federal support for basic science research to creating effective federal …

The IPBES Global Assessment: Pathways to Action

The IPBES Global Assessment released in the spring of 2019 is a significant milestone for the international scientific community; the critical challenge now is to disseminate and apply its findings at national and local scales where most policy and management decisions affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services are made.

Effective, enduring action from assessments requires collaborative, multidisciplinary science-policy processes that frame and cogenerate knowledge with decision makers and stakeholders from many sectors.

Examples of assessments driving policy responses to recover biodiversity and ecosystem services highlight the need for significant, long-term commitments by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, civil society, …

As Economic Concerns Recede, Environmental Protection Rises on the Public’s Policy Agenda

Reflecting a strong U.S. economy, Americans’ policy priorities have changed in recent years. The public now places less priority on economic and job concerns than it did just a few years ago. At the same time, environmental protection and global climate change are rising on the public’s agenda for the president and Congress.

For the first time in Pew Research Center surveys dating back nearly two decades, nearly as many Americans say protecting the environment should be a top policy priority (64%) as say this about strengthening the economy (67%).

In addition, while a smaller share (52%) rates dealing with …

Expert Dialogue on Critical Minerals: The Achilles Heel of America’s Clean Energy Future?

OurEnergyPolicy (OEP) held a discussion November–December 2019 on the United States’ critical mineral import dependency and potential policy solutions. OEP’s community of energy professionals provided recommendations on the best ways to address this issue, and this document provides excerpts from that discussion.…

Charge for Less: An Analysis of Electricity Pricing for Electric Vehicles in Ameren Territory

Electric Vehicle drivers in Central and Southern Illinois could potentially save hundreds of dollars a year in charging costs if they participate in an Ameren Illinois program called Power Smart Pricing, according to a new study released by the nonprofit consumer watchdog Citizens Utility Board (CUB) Monday.

“Charge for Less: An Analysis of Electricity Pricing for Electric Vehicles in Ameren Territory” can be found at CUBHelpCenter.com. It was written by CUB Data Scientist Ramandeep Makhija, Research Director Jeff Zethmayr and Executive Director David Kolata.

The study found that Ameren’s Power Smart Pricing program, a special electricity plan available to residential …

What Does Ridesharing Replace?

Ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft are an increasingly popular mode option for many travelers. Yet little is known about the effects of this mode on travel behavior and other social impacts, such as public transit use, traffic, and pollution. In this paper, we estimate the effects of the availability of ridesharing on travel mode choices made in a large sample of metropolitan areas. We do so by estimating a discrete choice model of household mode choice using a nationally representative dataset of travel behavior and simulating household mode choices in a setting where ridesharing were not available. We …