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Your weekly intelligence on Decarbonization Policy and Impacts
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One thing we know at NetZero Insider, is that the Department of Energy is a dependable source of headlines as it continues to push toward the Biden administration’s climate and decarbonization goals. , Last week, the biggest DOE story was probably Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to talk about DOE’s proposed $51 billion budget request for 2025. She received some tough questions from the committee’s Republicans, our James Downing reports.


We had plenty of state headlines, too. On the East Coast, the New York Public Service Commission launched its Grid of the Future docket, aimed at planning for the integration of distributed energy resources, John C. writes. New Jersey correspondent Hugh Morley reports on the state’s new green bank, which will channel private and public funds to clean energy projects. 


K Kaufmann was in New York as well, covering the BloombergNEF Summit, where the focus was also on innovation to accelerate the financing of clean energy. 


Moving to the West Coast, Washington correspondent John Stang continues his coverage of the heated battle over the state’s cap-and-invest program, with supporters now organizing to turn back a ballot referendum to repeal the program. 


And in California, a key committee passed a raft of energy-related bills, including legislation focused on grid-enhancing technologies, hydrogen and data centers, correspondent Elaine Goodman writes.   


The main theme for our curated content this week is controversy, beginning with Heated’s coverage of a panel at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention, where fossil fuel industry representatives argued that access to natural gas is a civil rights issue. 


With the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule on climate-risk disclosure under attack in the courts, Moody’s Investor Service has launched a platform to assess companies’ performance on their emission-reduction plans. The new diagnostic tool provides a description of a company’s plan, as well as an analysis of its credibility, likelihood of success and governance commitments, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. 


Grist has a report on the Salt River Project’s recent board election, where six clean energy advocates won seats and are promising to push the Arizona public utility beyond the 3.4% of its power currently supplied by solar. 


Two bills allowing the state’s two investor-owned utilities to pass on the cost of developing small modular reactors to their customers are now in limbo – passed by the state legislature but amended by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to add modest caps for such increases. Lawmakers will reconvene on Wednesday to consider amendments and vetoes made by Youngkin, Virginia Public Media reports. 


Nuclear is also providing common ground for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress, with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) co-sponsoring a bill that would support the commercial development of nuclear fusion, according to Reuters. 


Want more? You can follow the conflicts and compromises every week in NetZero’s Policy and Impact Intelligence Report. Read on! 


Jump To

Equity & Economics
Finance & Investing
Impact & Adaptation
Policy & Politics

 
 

Equity & Economics

Economic Development

Washington

A Washington State Coal Plant Has to Close Next Year. Can Pennsylvania Communities Learn From the Transition?

Under pressure from climate activists to close, the plant agreed to a deadline and put millions in a transition fund. Inside Climate News


Environmental Justice

International

How much do rich countries owe in climate aid? That's the trillion-dollar question.

As COP29 climate talks approach, developing nations are pushing for a huge boost in decarbonization and disaster funding. Grist


U.S.

"Reprehensible": Fossil Fuel Industry Infiltrates Civil Rights Convention

Al Sharpton invited methane representatives to his National Action Network convention, where they fear-mongered attendees about renewables. Heated


U.S.

For a just transition to green energy, tribes need more than money

Many green projects over the last few years have been criticized for not including tribes in important decisions that infringes or even destroys ancestral land. Grist


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Finance & Investing

International

A new standard for offshore wind: Creating a climate of investor confidence

Milad Sheikhi, Head of Sales and Business Development-Offshore Wind at Jumbo Offshore, discusses the way forward for standardisation in offshore wind. offshoreWIND.biz


International

Clean Energy Investing Has Been Tough, But is Change Coming?

The progress in renewable energy has been rapid, but investing in the sector has been much less profitable. Experts make the case for a more optimistic outlook Morningstar


International

How much do rich countries owe in climate aid? That's the trillion-dollar question.

As COP29 climate talks approach, developing nations are pushing for a huge boost in decarbonization and disaster funding. Grist


International

Development Banks Are Starting to Spark Climate Action. Will They Complete the Task?

The World Bank and other multilateral development banks are on the cusp of evolution. Their transformation is fundamental to the world's ability to simultaneously tackle the climate crisis and poverty. WRI


International

International Debt Is Strangling Developing Nations Vulnerable to Climate Change, a New Report Shows

Many small island nations which contributed little to climate change now must borrow money to rebuild after climate-induced storms. The debt service they're carrying hinders their ability to invest in new adaptive infrastructure before the next storms hit. Inside Climate News


International

OPINION: Multilateral Development Banks Must Turn Words into Action on Climate Finance

Addressing our planet's climate crisis requires commitment, cooperation and urgency -- all underpinned by finance. But our international financial systems were not designed for a challenge of this scale, and we are falling behind in meeting the needs of developing countries in combating climate change, writes Impact Executive Vice President Angela Churie Kallhauge. Environmental Defense Fund


U.S.

Moody's sets new course to rigorously assess carbon transition net-zero plans as a business imperative

The credit agency emphasizes performance, subjects company claims to independent assessment and publishes a report with a credibility ranking. IEEFA


U.S.

US awards $28M for cutting-edge tech to clean up iron and steel

The DOE picked Electra, Limelight Steel and other teams that are working to slash steel's emissions. Experts say their innovations are crucial but still far off. Canary Media


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Impact & Adaptation

International

OPINION: Climate Change's Hidden Costs Are the Most Damaging

Many of us realize climate change is a threat to our well being. But what we have not yet grasped is that the devastation wreaked by climate change comes not just from headline-grabbing catastrophes but also from the subtler accumulation of innumerable slow and unequal burns that are already underway -- the nearly invisible costs that may not raise the same alarm but that, in their pervasiveness and inequality, may be much more harmful than commonly realized. Recognizing these hidden costs will be essential as we prepare ourselves for the warming that we have ahead of us, writes Dr. Jisung Park, an environmental and labor economist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World." The New York Times


Maine

New Endangered Species Act rules consider climate impact on ME wildlife

Conservationists in Maine said reinstated protections of the Endangered Species Act could help wildlife already struggling to adapt to climate change. Economic impacts will no longer be considered when listing certain species as threatened or endangered, but the threat of climate change will be a factor. Public News Service


Virginia

Warming water temperatures in Virginia are changing aquatic life as we know it

Throughout Virginia, scientists are documenting significant warming of water temperatures, from inland freshwater streams and rivers to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, which experts say has "huge cascading effects on ecosystems." Rising water temperatures in Virginia are a result of global climate change as well as localized changes in the environment, like a loss of shading from trees that have been removed along streams and riverbanks and a decrease in the amount of freshwater flowing through some ecosystems. Virginia Mercury


Adaptation

Colorado

Colorado regulators open probe into Xcel Energy's preemptive power shutdowns during wind storm

Planned shutoffs and wind damage cut power to a total of 194,000 Xcel customers in Colorado. The Denver Post


Drought & Flooding

Florida

FEMA is making an example of this Florida boomtown. Locals call it 'revenge politics.'

The Biden administration is trying to punish Lee County for rebuilding flood-prone homes. The state's Republican politicians are fighting back. Grist


Louisiana

The Flooding Will Come "No Matter What"

The complex, contradictory and heartbreaking process of American climate migration is underway. ProPublica


Wildfires

U.S.

As Climate Change Intensifies Wildfire Risk, Prescribed Burns Prove Their Worth in the Heat-Stressed Plains of the Texas Panhandle

In a small Texas city, officials say land previously treated with a prescribed burn stopped the Windy Deuce Fire from entering neighborhoods. But the practice of intentionally burning excess vegetation has faced opposition from some private landowners. Inside Climate News


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Policy & Politics

Arizona, Nebraska

The downballot races that could transform energy policy in Arizona and Nebraska

The energy future of fossil-fuel dependent Phoenix could be reshaped by some clean-energy advocates who just won seats on the board of a public power utility. Grist


California

California derailed its booming rooftop solar buildout. Can it be fixed?

Over the past year, California regulators have kneecapped small-scale solar needed to hit the state's climate goals. These lawmakers are trying to bring it back. Canary Media


California

California Supreme Court to review rooftop solar net metering

The case involves NEM 3.0, a rate structure that went into effect in April 2023. The California Public Utilities Commission approved a request by the state's largest investor-owned utilities to cut compensation to customers that export excess solar generation to the grid pv Magazine


Colorado

Bipartisan Colorado legislators introduce bill to revamp community solar program

Senate Bill SB24-207, introduced by Senate President Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder), comes at a time of unprecedented federal funding opportunities through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act. Solar Power World


Georgia

11th Circuit Will Allow Elections For Georgia Public Service Commission

After several years of not holding elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission, the 11th Circuit will allow new elections using a method that the lower court found violates the Voting Rights Act. This order comes as voters recently took their case -- originally filed in 2020 -- to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the state's at-large method for selecting members of the body that is responsible for regulating public utilities in Georgia violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Democracy Docket


Georgia

Georgia passes bill extending terms of Republican PSC members

Elections for Georgia's powerful utility board have already been canceled. Now, the five Republicans on the Public Service Commission could stay in office for years to come until they have to face the voters again under House Bill 1312, approved by the General Assembly. Gov. Brian Kemp has not indicated whether he intends to sign or veto the bill. The Atlanta Journal Constitution


International

'Profound changes impacting global energy systems'

Latest World Energy Trilemma report highlights that energy security now encompasses reliability of renewables. reNEWS.biz


International

General Mills identifies actionable 'climate levers' in new transition plan to reach net-zero

General Mills details the roles that regenerative agriculture, the electrification of transport, and a switch to renewables can playing in reaching a long-term target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Edie


International

Is it Time to Retire the Term "Clean Energy"?

The terminology of the energy transition is important and "clean" is a word that can be used to obscure important differences between electricity sources. Inside Climate News


International

Is net zero by 2050 at risk?

More aggressive policy and faster investment needed Wood Mackenzie


International

OPINION: To Fight Climate Change, We Need New 'Political Technologies'

Science alone won't stop the planet from overheating. But science coupled with political science just might. That's the theme of a new book, Thomas Hale's "Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time." Hale argues that people are too quick to throw up their hands because the political will to stop climate change is lacking. For political scientists, he writes, "this is not the end but rather the start of the intellectual challenge," writes New York Times opinion writer Peter Coy. The New York Times


Maine

After initial split, lawmakers back bill to keep Sears Island in running for offshore wind port

After initial disagreement between Maine's House of Representatives and Senate, a bill needed to continue the permitting process for the state's desired location for an offshore wind port appears to have prevailed. Yahoo


Montana

Should climate be in the purview of Montana's Public Service Commission?

The Montana Public Service Commission has fielded comments from more than 80 people weighing in on a petition that asks the PSC to incorporate climate impacts into its regulatory oversight of monopoly utility companies. Most comments came from Montanans who had packed the commission's chambers to ask the state's utility board to factor in the social, economic and environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions as it regulates shareholder-owned power companies. Proponents, many citing a district court judge's ruling for the plaintiffs in the Held v. Montana youth climate lawsuit, pointed to climate change's impacts on their livelihoods, health and recreational traditions. Montana Free Press


New Hampshire

N.H. Supreme Court: Communities can't reject solar on looks, property value fears alone

In a move not often seen, the justices essentially stamped the project, which would sit on about six acres of a 96-acre former Franklin golf course, approved by issuing a "builder's remedy," which allows a project to move forward if it meets zoning ordinances. New Hampshire Bulletin


New Mexico

Court considers arguments to toss constitutional O&G pollution suit

A New Mexico district judge heard arguments to dismiss a civil lawsuit alleging that the state has failed to meet its constitutional duty to protect air, water and environment from oil and gas pollution. First District Judge Matthew Wilson said he would issue a written order at a later date to determine the fate of the lawsuit Mario Atencio, et al v. the State of New Mexico, et al. It's unclear when Wilson's judgment will come down. Source NM


New York

New York's solar energy incentives exclude low-income residents, report says

Homeowners with incomes over $50,000 are two-and-a-half times more likely to have rooftop solar panels than those who earn less than that, according to the report by the think tank Win Climate and Columbia University. Gothamist


New York

Will New York's Big Socialist Climate Policy Be Led by ... McKinsey?

The Build Public Renewables Act was hailed as a model for socialist green energy policy. But now the New York Power Authority is asking McKinsey to come up with an implementation plan. The New Republic


Ohio

Ohio Lt. Gov. Husted won't say if he knew about $1M dark-money contribution

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is refusing to say whether he was aware of a $1 million contribution in 2017 to a political group that was supporting his bid for governor. Instead, his office is only reiterating that the group wasn't affiliated with the Husted campaign. The massive donation came from Akron-based FirstEnergy, which over the next two years ponied up more than $60 million in bribes in exchange for a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout -- a law that Gov. Mike DeWine signed just hours after it passed. Ohio Capital Journal


Pennsylvania

With labor and environmentalists talking, Pa. House Blue-Green alliance debuts legislative agenda

Labor leaders and environmentalists stood together recently as members of the Pennsylvania House Blue-Green Caucus announced a legislative agenda they said would create renewable energy jobs for union workers and protect the commonwealth's air and water. For Robert Bair, president of the Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council, the event marked a yearslong shift away from a belief that the interests of organized labor and environmental advocates are mutually exclusive. Bair met with Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia), the Blue-Green Caucus chairperson, and said he gained an understanding that the building trades can be partners in reinventing Pennsylvania's energy economy. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star


U.S.

Trump says he 'hates' wind power at fundraiser with oil executives

His stance poses a potential threat to one of the linchpins of America's clean-energy transition, according to more than a dozen Trump allies, energy experts and offshore wind industry officials. Washington Post


U.S.

A New Program Will Bring Clean Energy to Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in the U.S.

The EPA released $20 billion through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, one of the most significant clean energy funding programs created through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. World Resources Institute


U.S.

Big Oil Is Quietly Paying State Legal Officials To Kill Climate Litigation

Honolulu's climate lawsuit is an existential threat to Big Oil. So they're buying Republican attorneys general to defend them in court. Heated


U.S.

Climate-Controlled' Sausage? Courts Crack Down on 'Greenwashing'

From airlines to pork sellers, corporate brands face legal and regulatory challenges for misleading the public with lofty climate claims. The New York Times


U.S.

Constellation prepared to 'visit with the courts' about proposed hydrogen tax credit rules

The company plans to file for 45V tax credits even though their hydrogen would not qualify under draft IRS guidance, Executive Vice President Kathleen Barron said. Utility Dive


U.S.

GAO recommends NRC consider the potential risks posed by climate change to nuclear plants

While the NRC conducts its own oversight process for these facilities - largely based on historical data - that process does not currently consider potential increases in risk from climate change. Daily Energy Insider


U.S.

House GOP begins congressional challenge to SEC climate disclosure rule

The House Financial Services Committee has held a hearing to begin the markup process for a congressional rebuke of the Securities and Exchange Commission's paused climate-risk disclosure rule. The rule was finalized last month without proposed requirements for companies to disclose scope 3 emissions and a slimmer universe of scope 1 and 2 reporting companies. However, legal challenges were immediately filed despite the changes. ESG Dive


U.S.

Native American voices are finally factoring into energy projects

Given the federal government's long history of exploiting Native American resources without tribal consent, we're following FERC's actions for further evidence before assuming that a new era has begun. The Conversation


U.S.

New Report: Best Practices for Reforming Renewable Energy Siting

E3 identifies state policy trends and recommendations for siting renewable energy in a way that benefits people and nature. The Nature Conservancy


U.S.

OPINION: FERC's final regional transmission rule is coming soon. It has one shot to get it right.

A strong rule will help spur the transmission lines necessary to meet America's growing energy needs, while also setting the table for an interregional rule to mitigate the effects of extreme weather, writes Ray Long, CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Utility Dive


U.S.

OPINION: Five clear-eyed reasons for conservatives to support solar

Fossil fuels and renewables are not mutually exclusive -- America is stronger with a combination of both, writes Katie Mehnert, founder and CEO of ALLY Energy. The Hill


U.S.

Puerto Rico's solar net metering law at risk from federal oversight board

Puerto Rico led the nation in per-capita residential solar installations last year, but continued progress is threatened. pv Magazine


U.S.

The time is ripe for utilities to play a larger role in the energy transition

Utilities should provide upfront support to low- to moderate-income customers for residential electrification and decarbonization measures to prevent them from being stuck on fossil fuel systems, writes Dan Bakal of Ceres. Utility Dive


U.S.

The downballot races that could transform energy policy in Arizona and Nebraska

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and watershed protection, several down-ballot elections this year in a handful of states could have a major effect in the transition away from fossil fuel. The elections come amid growing concern about the role of money in such races and in the wake of headline-grabbing corruption scandals at utilities across the country. Utility fraud and corruption -- in Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and South Carolina -- have cost electricity customers at least $6.6 billion, according to an analysis by news nonprofit Floodlight, which noted that "some power companies embrace -- or seek to block -- the transition away from fossil fuels toward wind, solar, hydrogen and nuclear, which produce fewer greenhouse gasses." Capital & Main


U.S.

Trump Allies Target NOAA Climate Research

The strategy is outlined in a governing playbook known as Project 2025 that was written by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative organizations. It's designed to serve as a road map for a second Trump administration. E&E News


U.S.

U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to support nuclear fusion development

The Fusion Energy Act would ensure the development of a tailored NRC regulatory framework geared toward supporting the growth of commercial fusion. It would also require the NRC to report to Congress within a year about licensing commercial fusion machines. Reuters


U.S.

What to Know About the Rate Increases for Drilling on Public Lands

The fossil fuel industry says higher rates will harm the economy. The administration says they will pay for the environmental costs of drilling and mining. New York Times


Virginia

Youngkin adds more ratepayer protection to small modular reactor bills

Opponents of the measures maintain the bills have ratepayers fronting the risk of an unproven technology. VPM News


Wyoming

Conservation groups press for big game habitat exclusions in federal solar energy initiative

But the agency's "programmatic" environmental impact statement at least provides a high-level blueprint to avoid piecemeal leasing decisions that often lead to conservation and energy development conflicts, they say. Gilette News Record


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