At a June 6 “roundtable” discussion, Democratic members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) talked with representatives from clean energy companies to promote the Clean Air Act, citing its economic and job creation benefits.
The International Energy Agency reports clean energy technologies are not decarbonizing global energy systems fast enough to meet Paris Agreement goals. But IEA’s technological roadmap also shows where governments should double down on the technologies to secure a safe climate future at least cost.
Trump’s announcement that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement is an unmatched abdication of climate responsibility. This decision needs to be kept in perspective, though. Important reactions and trends will continue to add momentum to decarbonizing the world.
Some of the fastest progress on clean energy is occurring in states led by Republican governors and legislators, and states carried by Donald J. Trump in the presidential election. From Georgia to the Dakotas, business and political leaders are embracing clean energy sources even as the Trump administration pushes for more exploitation of oil, gas and coal. Their leaders see tapping wind, and to a lesser degree the sun, as an economic strategy.
This roundtable event, hosted by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) and the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, offered a discussion on how the Clean Air Act’s past regulations and protections have created innovation and economic opportunities for the U.S. The discussion included Hal Harvey as well as three other participants from the clean energy and pollution control business community.
California Governor Jerry Brown is in China this week to promote action on climate change and clean energy. Amid the climate policy void left in President Trump’s wake after his announcement last week of the United States’ withdrawal from the world’s first truly global climate change agreement, Brown sees China as the remaining superpower that can steer the world onto a low-emissions path.
The United States no longer has a climate change target.
California is a beacon of hope for those in the climate-change-is-real category (and for those who want to see America continue to lead the world in innovation and environmental protection). And… let us not forget that some formidable American environmental accomplishments came at the hands of Republicans. “Everyone talks about red states and blue states,” said Hal Harvey, CEO of Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based policy research group. “We really have to start talking about green states and brown states.”
As President Trump retreats from the nation’s previous path on environmental policy, Brown has the distinction of being America’s unofficial ambassador on climate change. “The reference point for China is not Washington, it’s California,” said Hal Harvey, who runs energy and environmental think tank Energy Innovation. “They would rather learn from California than any other jurisdiction.”
California has the most successful carbon cap program in the world. Many state actors have expressed their support for the program’s extension to at least 2030. in order to serve its intended purpose of reducing emissions while generating revenue and accounting for disadvantaged communities, California’s next carbon cap program would benefit from four crucial elements: set price collars, intelligent use of auction revenues, clear strategy for disadvantaged communities, and constraints for carbon offsets.
