Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG

The soaring price of natural gas, driven in part by the war in Ukraine, is encouraging the development of 25 liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects in the U.S. that could emit more than 90 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, according to state and federal permits reviewed by the Environmental Integrity Project.

That’s as much climate-warming pollution as from about 18 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles running for a year – more than from all the cars and trucks in Florida or New York State, according to the Environmental Integrity Project’s report, “Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact …

An ESG Reporting Methodology to Support CCS-Related Investment

The ESG reporting landscape remains dynamic, and there is an increasingly clear opportunity for both project proponents and investors to leverage ESG frameworks for the deployment of CCS in pursuit of decarbonization. However, while there are few barriers to reporting CCS-specific activities within an organization’s climate risk mitigation activities, questions remain about the quality and utility of this information.

This thought leadership report from the Institute builds upon previous analysis, to consider in greater detail how project proponents and investors may leverage the benefits of their CCS-related investments and project operations, in the context of the wider reporting environment. The …

The Value of Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency

This report underscores the vital role of energy efficiency and energy saving in meeting today’s crises by immediately addressing the crippling impacts of the spike in energy prices, strengthening energy security and tackling climate change.…

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

Transitioning away from fossil fuels is necessary to ensure long-term price stability and put the economy on a path to sustainable growth. A recent Roosevelt issue brief makes the case for robust public investment to fund a rapid transition to renewables, arguing that such a transition will:

Provide lower, more stable prices energy prices Drive stronger, more equitable growth Remediate energy and economic inequities

Fueling American Reactors: A Tale of Two Nuclear Bills

Enriched uranium fuels are the lifeblood of our nuclear reactors. For civilian nuclear power, these fuels are typically characterized in two classes: low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used to power conventional light water reactors (LWRs) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) needed to power many advanced reactor technologies. Russia is a major global provider of LEU fuel services and is currently the only commercial supplier of HALEU in the world. Thus, the need to secure uranium fuel supply and ensure long-term availability is even more urgent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Without a reliable supply of nuclear …

Electricity Grid: DOE Should Address Lessons Learned from Previous Disasters to Enhance Resilience

Natural disasters, such as cyclones, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and severe storms—and the power outages resulting from these disasters—have affected millions of customers and cost billions of dollars. The growing severity of wildfires and extreme weather events in recent years has been a principal contributor to an increase in the frequency and duration of power outages in the U.S. Federal agencies, such as DOE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, play a significant role in disaster response, recovery, and resilience.

This report (1) identifies lessons learned from federal, state, and other entities’ responses to selected disasters that affected the electricity grid …

Southern Company Knew: How a “Clean Coal” Utility Was Warned About Climate Change Risks Years Before it Funded Climate Disinformation, 1964-2022

In its latest assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called out the “vested interests” that stand in the way of climate action.

While the IPCC doesn’t name names, a growing body of academic research and investigative reporting has documented how major fossil fuel producers, utilities, and automakers knew more than fifty years ago that carbon dioxide emissions could cause harmful climate change in the future. Despite these early warnings, many of these powerful companies later backed disinformation campaigns against climate science and policies.

This report documents for the first time the nearly 60-year history of one …

Seeing CH4 Clearly: Science-Based Approaches to Methane Monitoring in the Oil and Gas Sector

In early 2021, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology initiated an investigation into methane leaks and strategies for detecting them in the oil and gas sector. The purpose of the investigation was to inform the role of the Federal research and development enterprise in reducing and quantifying methane emissions.

Committee staff conclude that oil and gas companies are failing to design, equip, and inform their Methane Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) activities as necessary to achieve rapid and large-scale reductions in methane emissions from their operations. The sector’s approach does not reflect the latest scientific evidence on methane leaks. …

OurEnergyPolicy Webinar Summary – The Future of America’s Infrastructure

This webinar examined America’s aging electrical grid and what is needed to modernize it.…

Renewable Energy Certificates Threaten the Integrity of Corporate Science-Based Targets

Current greenhouse gas accounting standards allow companies to use renewable energy certificates (RECs) to report reductions in emissions from purchased electricity (scope 2) as progress towards meeting their science-based targets. However, previous analyses suggest that corporate REC purchases are unlikely to lead to additional renewable energy production. Here we show that the widespread use of RECs by companies with science-based targets has led to an inflated estimate of the effectiveness of mitigation efforts. When removing the emission reductions claimed through RECs, companies’ combined 2015–2019 scope 2 emission trajectories are no longer aligned with the 1.5 °C goal, and only barely …