Fact Sheet: Federal Resources for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change

Climate change is fueling more intense weather and compounding the impact of hazards that communities are dealing with already, such as flooding and heat waves. Projects that restore and/or emulate natural systems in order to increase human, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience to climate impacts­­––often referred to as nature-based solutions––can reduce damage from natural hazards as well as (or better than) traditional engineered projects, often at less cost. Living shorelines, restored wetlands, reforestation projects, and green (vegetative) roofs are just a few examples of nature-based solutions. They provide multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits, including carbon sequestration, which is a key …

The Changing Geopolitics of Nuclear Energy: A Look at the United States, Russia, and China

The nuclear industry of advanced industrialized countries is under significant pressure to remain competitive as the market landscape for new nuclear power opportunities changes. The relative decline of U.S. nuclear export competitiveness comes at a time when Russia is boosting its dominance in new nuclear sales, and China is doubling down on its effort to become a leader in global nuclear commerce. This report illuminates how the changing market competition among the United States, Russia, and China will affect their future relations with nuclear commerce recipient countries, and discusses why Russia and China promote nuclear commerce, as well as which …

2019 RENEWABLE ENERGY NARRATIVE TRENDS

Analysis of more than 2,300 news and opinion articles from 2019 related to renewable energy— sourced from LexisNexis and Google News. Articles came from national and state outlets, as well as online and trade publications.

Purpose of the research was to understand how the media covers renewable energy, in particular to determine if funding gaps in climate philanthropy are also leading to a gap in media coverage of local leaders and innovations. To what extent would articles quote women as spokespeople, reference issues of equity, or talk about communities of color?

Percentage of clean energy news articles quoting women doubled …

Climate Solutions Series: Deep Decarbonization Pathways

Reducing emissions to lessen the long-term impacts of a warming climate has been a shared objective of the international community for decades. To date, progress toward this goal has not kept pace with pathways necessary to deliver a stabilized climate by the end of the century. The result is that the emissions pathways necessary to achieve this target relative to current activity are necessarily steeper and the energy and land-use system changes required are more abrupt. The current scientific consensus indicates that to stabilize the climate and prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change, we must reduce greenhouse gas …

Investing in Failure

Decarbonizing the electricity sector is critical to achieving climate goals. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2018 report found that global carbon emissions must be cut by nearly half by 2030, and then reach net-zero by 2050 if we are to have a 50 percent chance at limiting warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels. The power sector is responsible for 33 percent of U.S. energy related CO2 emissions according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and decarbonization of the power sector is critical to enabling other sectors, such as transportation, to decarbonize through electrification.

Three …

A New Energy Strategy for the Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere has a unique advantage in global energy markets. It is rich in natural resources, from conventional fuels such as oil and natural gas, to critical minerals such as lithium for batteries. The region is also poised to become a leader in newer and emerging energy resources. It has, for example, abundant potential for solar and wind energy and other advanced energy technologies, such as nuclear energy. It enjoys high and rapidly growing levels of renewable energy, especially in power generation, largely based on significant levels of legacy, utility-scale hydropower. Many of the Americas’ subregions share cross-border electric …

THE D^2S AGENDA

“If solutions within this system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself.” This is the message of Greta Thunberg and the youth activists around the world demanding climate action. It is simple and powerful. Yet few global efforts are dedicated to making it happen – to changing the systems that are inhibiting transformative climate actions.

Most climate mitigation strategies approach the climate crisis principally as a carbon management problem, focusing on reducing emissions by sector (e.g. energy, transport, or food). Sector-based emissions reduction work is critical, but it is not sufficient. This is because, …

The Drawdown Review

Since the 2017 publication of the New York Times bestseller, Drawdown, the organization has emerged as a leading resource for information and insight about climate solutions. We continue to develop that resource by conducting rigorous review and assessment of climate solutions, creating compelling and human communication across mediums, and partnering with efforts to accelerate climate solutions globally.

Cities, universities, corporations, philanthropies, policymakers, communities, and more turn to Project Drawdown, as they look to advance effective climate action. We aim to support the growing constellation of efforts to move climate solutions forward and move the world toward Drawdown—as quickly, safely, and …

Implementing Transitions for the New Energy Economy

The second annual Energy Week was co-chaired Ernest Moniz and Andy Karsner and explored recent developments in electricity markets, technology, decarbonization, and cyber security. The forum, which took place in Aspen, Colorado, brought together ~65 experts from corporate, government, academia, and non-profits during August 6-10, 2019.…

How Clean is “Refined Coal”? An Empirical Assessment of a Billion-Dollar Tax Credit

US tax law provides nearly $1 billion annually in tax credits for “refined coal”, which is supposed to reduce local air pollution. Eligibility for the credit requires firms to demonstrate legally specified emissions reductions for three pollutants. Firms typically demonstrate eligibility through laboratory tests, but results from the lab can differ from those in practice. Using a nationally comprehensive boiler-level panel dataset, we find that emission reductions in practice are only about half of the levels required. We also show that the policy reduces social welfare. Because the tax credit is up for reauthorization in 2021, our work has immediate …