Political Climate

President Joe Biden campaigned for the White House on a number key climate promises. When he officially took office, hopes were high that bold climate action would be at the center of the Biden policy platform. One year later, where does his record stand? On this episode of Political Climate, our hosts look at what the Biden administration has achieved during the president’s first year in office....

California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed spending $22.5 billion on tackling the climate crisis this week, as part of his $286.4 billion budget proposal. The so-called California Blueprint includes funding for everything from electric buses and building retrofits to support services for firefighters. As other states have stepped up on climate, some have accused California of falling behind. Could...

2021 was a productive year for climate policy – particularly for U.S. states. Both red and blue states passed ambitious climate bills last year. Several of the new laws address emissions from multiple sectors of the economy, include strong labor provisions and center environmental justice in meaningful ways. In the first Political Climate episode of 2022, we look at some of the biggest political w...

Is Build Back Better really dead? Could the climate and clean energy provisions live on? Political Climate weighs in on the timely issue of Senator Manchin’s “no” on President Biden’s marquee legislation. Plus, Brandon, Shane and Julia share some 2022 predictions. In the second half of the show we look at the troubling rise in global methane emissions. Methane is 80 times more potent as a global w...

The clean energy transition is accelerating — but progress isn’t always smooth.  The global energy crisis and related price spikes have raised some difficult political questions around the push for decarbonization. At the same time, local opposition to clean energy projects threatens to undermine meeting national net zero goals. Similarly, complexities around accessing materials needed to make cle...

As we enter the holiday season, our hosts run through 10 powerful stats that will help you navigate the inevitable question from a curious family member: “So, what’s going on with the climate?”  As a listener of this podcast, you are probably no stranger to these conversations with loved ones. But this year in particular — amid more in-person visits and a slew of recent headlines on climate policy...

Climate finance has been center stage at COP26. Meeting the globe’s climate goals will require mobilizing trillions of public and private dollars. So what exactly does that look like? During the first week of the UN climate summit, 450 financial institutions with $130 trillion in assets under management pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The announcement from the Glasgow Financial Alli...

Where are the offshore wind projects in America? While turbines have become a familiar sight in states across the country, offshore wind is virtually non-existent.  Even with thousands of miles of coastline, the U.S. only has around 40 MW of offshore wind production, most of it from a single wind farm. This pales in comparison to other parts of the world, particularly Europe, which has more than 2...

Policy debates on Capitol Hill today fit into a bigger political picture. In Part 2 of this conversation with David Roberts, hosts Julia Pyper, Brandon Hurlbut, and Shane Skelton talk about political sentiments, campaign messaging, and things Democrats don’t want to hear — as well as asymmetry in the media landscape and its impact on electoral politics today. Plus, David shares what he’s genuinely...

David Roberts is worried. Democrats have control of the House, Senate and the White House and an opportunity to pass bold climate policy and political reform — perhaps their last opportunity for a long time — but are stuck in political gridlock. The stakes are high, with procedural deadlines and the COP26 global climate summit looming.  On this episode, Julia Pyper, Brandon Hurlbut and Shane Skelt...

With several major deadlines looming, U.S. lawmakers remain divided on how to move forward with the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ larger $3.5 billion spending package — both of which contain critical funding and programs to fight climate change and promote clean energy.  At the same time, Congress must immediately pass a spending package to avoid a government shutdown. Also (becaus...

Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico is no stranger to climate and energy issues. In recent months, he’s sponsored legislation on zero-emission homes, electric transmission, energy storage, a civilian climate corps, and more. Now, these proposals are being considered as part of Democrats’ sweeping $3.5 trillion budget plan. What’s likely to stay in and what’s likely to get cut? On this episode of...

The U.S. political climate has changed a lot in 2021, especially when it comes to climate and energy issues on Capitol Hill. The Political Climate podcast has changed too. Rather than debate macro politics, we’re focused on analyzing concrete proposals, policy choices, and getting at the “how” of achieving our shared climate goals. Unlike in the past, there is no shortage of policy action! On Augu...

Political Climate is coming back to the airwaves! Catch new episodes every two weeks — wherever you get podcasts — starting Thursday, September 2nd.  Brandon Hurlbut, Shane Skelton and Julia Pyper will be discussing all of the climate and energy issues that you want to know about, along with a roster of fantastic guests who know the ins and outs of the politics and policies shaping the future of o...

We always new that 2021 would start with a bang — between the Georgia Senate runoff election, the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden, cabinet announcements, coronavirus relief and, of course, earnest discussions on the future of American climate policy.  A deadly assault on the United States Capitol incited by the President was not on the calendar, although the seeds of division and misinfo...

The past few years have been a mixed bag for climate. U.S. emissions declined to their lowest level in three decade this year, but these reductions came at an incredible cost as the economy shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic.  The challenge now is to make these emissions cuts sustainable for years to come, while getting millions of Americans back to work. We dig into a new analysis on how to...

It will take a massive war-time mobilization effort to effectively address the climate emergency, argues Saul Griffith — inventor, MacArthur genius fellow, CEO of Otherlab, and co-founder of Rewiring America, an organization dedicated to creating millions of American jobs while combating climate change.  So, what does a war-time mobilization effort look like? How much will it cost? Will we have to...

Crowdfunding, blockchain, artificial intelligence and neobanks. What do all of these buzzwords have to do with fighting climate change?  On this episode of Political Climate’s DITCHED series, host Julia Pyper speaks to the authors of a new report on “climate fintech,” an emerging ecosystem that leverages digital technology to help move more capital into climate change solutions. The report, publis...

2020 has been a remarkable year. It witnessed the coronavirus pandemic, an economic crash, a historic and divisive U.S. election, widespread protests for racial justice and more. And yet, amid all of the turbulence, the world took several major steps toward realizing a low carbon future. The numbers are still coming in and the trends are still formalizing, but we have a pretty good sense of how th...

Cities and states have powerful roles to play in divesting from fossil fuels and directing investments toward sustainable industries. There are a number of ways for these sub-national actors to participate in the divest/invest movement and help pave the way for more widespread action.  In this episode of Political Climate’s DITCHED series, we go to the home of Wall Street and look at steps being t...

When Neil Chatterjee was appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Trump in 2017, stakeholders in the climate and clean energy space were concerned about what his agenda would be. Headlines dubbed him “McConnell’s coal guy” and “fossil fuel champion Chatterjee,” referring to his role as a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).  But Chatterjee has pro...

2020 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for fossil fuel divestment.  Despite economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of countries, companies and financial institutions are committing to quit coal and are beginning to ditch oil and gas projects, too.  In this episode of Political Climate’s special DITCHED series, host Julia Pyper speaks to Tim Buckley at the Instit...

The coronavirus pandemic has created an opportunity to reboot the American economy in a way that is cleaner and helps to mitigate climate change for future generations. But it’s not only that, this is also a moment to build back the U.S. economy with more resilience.  The word “resilience” is thrown around frequently. But what does it really mean? And how should leaders be factoring resilience int...

A growing number of financial institutions are moving their investments from fossil fuels into less polluting projects and resources. So what do oil and gas companies make of this shift? Some of them are waking up to the clean energy transition in response to investor pressure. But there are leaders and laggards when it comes to oil and gas companies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There ar...

In the past two years, climate change has gone from the back burner to the center stage. Why? It all started with a protest in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in 2018.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez teamed up with a then-obscure youth activist group called Sunrise Movement to launch the fight for a Green New Deal. It took a lot of planning, courage, and luck to make the protest happen. We brin...