Political Climate

There’s more political momentum than ever around achieving net zero emissions by 2050, especially following the release of House Democrats’ new Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy.  But where do we currently stand on that trajectory? And is the path to zero as inclusive as it should be? On this episode, the last in our monthly “Path to Zero” series supported by the public policy t...

There aren’t many sporting events taking place amid the pandemic, but athletes and the brands that support them aren’t sitting idle.  Protect Our Winters, a non-profit representing the outdoor sports community on climate issues, recently spent a week virtually lobbying Congress for bolder climate action and environmental protections.   Professional snowboarder and two-time X-Games gold medalist Da...

Lyft is going 100% electric. The rideshare company just pledged to transition every vehicle on its platform to an EV by 2030. But this decision isn’t as simple as buying a few new cars. It will require building out an entire ecosystem of electric vehicle infrastructure and incentives, and getting into the weeds on policy. On this episode, we speak to Lyft’s director of sustainability, Sam Arons, a...

Deep-seated racial justice issues have been brought to the fore in recent weeks by a series of nationwide protests over police violence. These protests are taking place in the midst of a global pandemic, which has exposed, and in many cases worsened, long-standing issues of racial inequality.  The energy and climate space is not immune to racial discrimination. But some politicians have questioned...

Democrats are beginning to rally around a progressive, three-part climate platform that prioritizes environmental justice. But will Joe Biden fully embrace it? If so, could it sway the 2020 election? Or will few voters care in this turbulent year? On this episode of Political Climate, we speak to Maggie Thomas, political director at Evergreen Action, a new group created by former Jay Inslee campai...

Buckle up. Electric vehicle sales are expected to take a big hit this year amid the current health and economic crisis. Industry analysts say the long-term prospects for EVs remain strong, but the jury’s still out on how quickly the market will rebound.   The EV market outlook could have a major impact on the U.S. economy overall. Boosting government investment in clean transportation is being cha...

The skies may look clearer these days. But don’t get too excited. Levels of smog and other short-lived climate pollutants (remember HFCs?) are still high and climbing. The good news: there’s a long track record of international cooperation to get these harmful pollutants in check. The challenge: finding the political will to eliminate them entirely. Short-lived climate pollutants include black car...

Late last year, the European Union introduced a $1 trillion plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and achieve a just transition away from polluting technologies. Europe’s Green Deal enjoys strong backing from many of the EU’s top political figures. But it faces pushback from coal-heavy member states. Implementation of the Green Deal has now been further complicated by the urgent need for governm...

Are progressive ideas on how to tackle climate change a political poison pill? New opinion polling challenges this commonly held assumption. On this week's episode of Political Climate, we discuss how data is helping decode where the American public stands on progressive issues with Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy at the left-wing think tank Data for Progress. We dig i...

African Americans are struggling with a disproportionate death toll from COVID-19 and severe financial strain from the economic downturn. This crisis has exposed preexisting racial disparities created by deep-seated social, economic and political factors.  These same underlying issues make African Americans more vulnerable to health damage from pollution, as well as from heat waves, storms and oth...

John Kerry isn’t pleased.  As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the former senator and secretary of state says a profound lack of leadership is causing the United States to fall behind on climate action and clean energy innovation. In this episode of Political Climate, we speak to Secretary Kerry about his outlook on combatting climate change. We get his views on abolishing t...

The 2020 election is crawling forward amid the coronavirus pandemic. Former Vice President Joe Biden has become the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, with Senator Bernie Sanders announcing his withdrawal from the race. With the primary settled, the next question is: can Biden win over Bernie’s climate supporters? And how much do these supporters matter? Speaking of support, clean energ...

The coronavirus outbreak continues to loom large over the world. Across the globe, countries face major challenges as consumer demand contracts, employee payroll is cut, and capital shrinks as billions of people remain in quarantine.  The combination of an economic downturn, cheap oil and gas, and global supply chain disruptions will have big consequences for clean energy markets and climate actio...

Climate change didn’t stop while the world turned its attention to combating the coronavirus. Will leaders seize the moment to tackle more than one crisis? The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act offered no explicit support for the energy sector. Will Congress use the next stimulus bill to accelerate the green economy as part of the COVID-19 recovery? If so, when...

Labor groups and environmentalists have a complicated relationship. Efforts to mitigate climate change stand to create new employment opportunities in a thriving, low-carbon economy. But they also stand to eliminate many unionized jobs, particularly in the fossil fuel industry. So how can organized labor and the environmental movement work together to promote a just and sustainable society? We dis...

With cases recorded in more than 140 countries, the novel coronavirus has become a global health crisis.  In the U.S., bars and offices have been closed, conferences cancelled and kids kept home from school in an attempt to slow the spread. President Trump has declared a national emergency and invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate the virus response. So why aren’t we reacting as swiftly...

It's been pretty hard to miss the latest news. Coronavirus spreads! Oil prices plummet! Stock market crashes! What does all of this have to do with climate and clean energy? A lot, actually. On Monday, oil prices had their worst day since the 1991 Gulf War, falling 24 percent to around $34 per barrel. So how did we get here? And what does the combination of rock bottom oil prices and the coronavir...

Joe Biden had a super, Super Tuesday. We discuss the results and what they mean for climate in the 2020 Democratic Primary. We also touch on the sweeping Senate energy bill that could come to a vote any day now. Plus, there was another big winner this week! We share the results of our policy bracket competition from last week’s Decarb Madness episode. In the latter half of this show (26 min), we d...

Welcome to Decarb Madness! The policy bracket game for energy wonks who don’t want to play with our future.  With March Madness just around the corner and a climate crisis closing in, Political Climate challenged four energy experts to build their ideal policy bracket for decarbonizing the electricity sector. For the third episode in our “Path to Zero” series, contestants were asked to select five...

Is the United States positioned to lead long-term as the global energy mix continues to shift? Fossil fuels have shaped the geopolitical map over the last two centuries. Now, the rapid deployment of renewables has set in motion a global energy transition that could have profound geopolitical consequences. In this episode of Political Climate, we speak to Daniel Simmons, assistant secretary for the...

We’re off to the races! The Democratic primary started slow off the blocks in Iowa, but the nomination process is now well underway following the New Hampshire vote. What have we learned so far in this election? Where have we seen climate and energy play in? And what’s to come next? On this week’s episode of Political Climate, we discuss the latest developments in arguably the most consequential ⁠...

What the heck happened in Iowa? Democratic co-host Brandon Hurlbut shares a first-hand account of the caucus reporting glitch and top voter issues in the first state to hold a presidential nominating contest. We look at where climate ranked. Meanwhile in the capitol, House Democrats have unveiled draft legislation and policy roadmap to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Is this the kind of bold cli...

Science tells us we must reach net zero emissions by 2050 to stave off the most devastating impacts of climate change. But do we have all of the technologies we need to do it? In the second episode of Political Climate's “Path to Zero” series, we put that question to physicist, professor, Nobel Laureate, and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Under his leadership, the DOE launched several...

This is a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change. There is a need to act now and there are a lot of open questions on how to do that. Net zero emissions by 2050 has emerged as the target that the world must hit in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Policymakers and activists in the U.S. are working to put the net zero goal into law, and multiple major companies have al...

Hello and happy new year! It’s January, so we can still say that — right? Between devastating wildfires in Australia, conflict in the Middle East, and a rapidly approaching Democratic presidential primary there’s been no shortage of news since 2020 began.  In this week's episode, we discuss what the latest headlines mean for climate and energy policy. Plus, we bring you a sit-down interview with f...