Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: Drought Effects on California Electricity Generation and Western Power Markets

Over the last decade, California has experienced more frequent and intense drought conditions, and is currently in its third year of drought. Droughts limit water use in general and reduce hydropower in particular. Current drought conditions in the state potentially have a significant impact on power markets throughout the West, which could be different than in past years, given the state’s accelerating growth in intermittent generating capacity and reliance on imports, which account for nearly one-third of California’s power supply.

The analysis in this STEO supplement focuses on the drought’s effect on hydropower generation in California. Though the impact of …

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Electric Utilities Continue to Play a Critical Role in Driving Electric Vehicle Adoption in the United States

Across the United States, both public and investor-owned electric utilities are playing a key role in driving critical investments in electric vehicle (EV) and electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) programs.

According to the Edison Electric Institute, utilities have invested more than $3.4 billion to date to deploy charging infrastructure and accelerate transportation electrification1 in the United States.…

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The Case Against New Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf

When the current five-year program for federal offshore oil and gas leasing expires on June 30, 2022, the secretary of the interior should propose no new leasing in the subsequent five-year program. Given the substantial reserves already under lease, stopping new leasing would have minimal projected impacts on U.S. fossil fuel production through at least 2035 and would do nothing to alleviate current high energy prices. These negligible changes in production will be more than made up for by the country’s anticipated energy conservation gains. Indeed, just the federal and state-level efficiency policies that are currently in place will produce …

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The U.S. 2030 Climate Target Remains Within Reach: Policy Opportunities to Achieve 50% Emissions Reductions

About one year ago, the United States offered a new and ambitious national climate target: to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52% by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. In this critical decade, delivering on this nationally determined contribution (NDC) would set the United States toward net-zero emissions by 2050 and support a global 1.5℃-compatible future. Our previous work on opportunities for U.S. action has consistently shown that this NDC is a good target—it is ambitious, achievable, and aligned with global pathways to keep 1.5℃ within reach.

In a new paper published in Science, CGS researchers and five other …

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Revitalizing America’s Nuclear Energy Supply Chain

After years of investing in innovative advanced reactor designs, the United States now has a unique opportunity to deploy nuclear energy to reduce emissions, bolster American industry and manufacturing, and create thousands of good, well-paying jobs. A robust US advanced nuclear industry would also be well-positioned to lead the world in nuclear energy exports—there is a potentially massive global market for these technologies in the next few decades, including a projected demand of 200-300 GW of new nuclear by 2050 in just the EU and UK. This growing international demand for new nuclear builds is driven not only …

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Pore Space Rights – U.S. Overview

Sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂) in subsurface geological formations in the United States presents a unique property law issue; pore space ownership.

This brief, authored by Ruth Ivory-Moore, Policy and Advocacy Manager for the Americas, summarizes the issue of pore space ownership within the U.S., and provides a brief overview of the current state of property right laws related to pore space ownership in nineteen different states.…

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Global EV Outlook 2022

The Global EV Outlook is an annual publication that identifies and discusses recent developments in electric mobility across the globe. It is developed with the support of the members of the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI).

Combining historical analysis with projections to 2030, the report examines key areas of interest such as electric vehicle and charging infrastructure deployment, energy use, CO2 emissions, battery demand and related policy developments. The report includes policy recommendations that incorporate lessons learned from leading markets to inform policymakers and stakeholders with regard to policy frameworks and market systems for electric vehicle adoption.

This edition features an …

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Global Hydrogen Trade to Meet the 1.5°C Climate Goal: Green Hydrogen Cost and Potential

Hydrogen is an essential component of a net-zero energy system and has a key role to play in decarbonizing sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy industry and long-haul transport.

Vast green hydrogen potential exists around the world, equating to more than 20 times global primary energy demand in 2050. However, the potential within specific countries or regions depends on the land available.

This report estimates the potential for green hydrogen production as a function of land availability, considering exclusion zones such as protected areas, forests, wetlands, urban centers, slope and water scarcity. It forms part of a …

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Ensuring an Inclusive Clean Energy Transition: A Recovery and Revitalization Framework for Coal Workers and Communities

Across the United States, the transition from coal to a clean energy economy is accelerating. However, without thoughtful planning and robust resources, this transition will harm workers who depend on coal for their livelihoods, as well as the communities where they live and work. These people and places face serious risks in the shift to clean energy, including loss of well-paying jobs with good benefits, loss of health insurance, reduced property values, gaps in local tax revenues, unfunded liabilities for environmental cleanup, and uncertainty around future community economic development.

Climate policy that is effective and durable must comprehensively address these …

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Steel Yourself: Implications of Peak Demand in the Energy Transition

For the past two decades, the steel industry has been characterized by a “super cycle” of growth. This growth, although slowing in pace, has led in part to the sector’s emissions being higher than those from any other material industry. To bring the steel industry into alignment with a 1.5 °C climate outcome, steel demand will need to peak between 2035 and 2040, according to the energy transition pathways we analyzed in this brief.

However, current industry growth outlooks point to continuing demand increases. Absent near-term actions to decarbonize the currently emissions-intensive steel industry, end-users could be forced to drastically …

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