Dear Friends,
Too often climate change is depicted as a battle for “hearts and minds,” with one side warning that we need to act aggressively and immediately to lessen our risk, and the other defending the status quo and portraying the risk as small or non-existent.
But the narrative is changing. The question of “belief” is becoming less important as the costs of climate inaction go up and the costs of new technologies come down. You don’t have to declare a belief in climate change to want to lower your electric bills with solar panels or to drive a cleaner, cheaper-to-fuel-and-maintain electric car. And you don’t have to believe in climate change to feel the pain of rising insurance rates, higher electricity costs for your nonstop air conditioning, or a decreasing sense of personal safety due to extreme heat and supercharged storms and flooding.
Forget about “hearts and minds.” The narrative now is “health and wallets.” Self-interest is a huge motivator, and we can indeed measure climate change on a very straightforward scale – personally, corporately, globally – of well-being and money.
Why do investors support and consumers adopt electric vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps, or induction stoves? Reporters tell us it’s not altruism alone. It’s because people are increasingly attracted by the prospect of saving and making money. Why did 64% of young adults aged 18-29 (and a majority aged 30-44) tell pollsters in July that they now see climate change as a “major threat” to society? Because young Americans – liberal and conservative alike – are connecting the dots, and a summer of debilitating heatwaves and deadly wildfires demonstrated how unhealthy climate change is, right now.
In short, the main sticking points – that tackling climate change is too expensive and disruptive to our lives – are simply no longer true. Yes, it will take some upfront investment, but the savings on the other side are just too big to ignore. And yes, there is minor disruption as we fuel our cars with electrons instead of molecules, but the disruption to our lives from weather wackiness all across the country (and the world) is much, much greater.
It is not just in our short- and long-term self-interest to take action. Politicians on both sides should take note. The rising tide of young voters, including conservative ones, care deeply about the issue. Yesterday’s obfuscation and denial won’t meet today’s reality. Whether you feel it in your heart or in your wallet, climate change – and the need for action – is a genie that cannot be put back into the bottle.
Sincerely,
The C-Change Conversations Team
Notable Quote
“Polls consistently show that young people’s number one issue is climate change. How will you as both President of the United States and leader of the Republican Party calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn’t care about climate change?”
–Alexander Diaz, a member of the Young America’s Foundation, asking a question by video at the Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee on August 23.
News of Hope
Climate change was the topic of the second question asked at the first Republican presidential primary debate – a far cry from the days when the issue was totally ignored. The Fox News moderators tied weather crises around the country to climate change and showcased that young conservatives care deeply. A young conservative, Alexander Diaz, a student at Catholic University of America, asked the candidates how they plan to show that the Republican Party will heed the growing urgency.
While the candidates worked hard to avoid answering that question (caught between the older base that still is anti-climate change and the emerging economic and political realities), the fact it was raised at all signals a big turning point in conservative thinking.
If the symbolism alone fails to persuade that change is afoot, look at the data. The polls Diaz referenced go back to at least 2020 and include a Pew study that makes his point about Millennial and Gen Z Republicans. A Marist poll conducted last month by NPR and PBS NewsHour sorts opinions across fascinating demographics, but however you slice it, the voters of the future across both parties (start at page 36) tell pollsters that climate is a big deal in their worldview.
The investment community has definitely gotten the memo. Although an “anti-woke” crusade has caused hesitation and confusion in some areas of finance, money will go where profits beckon. That’s why we’re pleased (but not surprised) by reports that the world’s largest alternative investment firm, Blackstone, actually over-achieved its goal by a full billion to raise more than $7 billion for a clean energy fund. The money will be used to finance solar companies, electric car parts makers, and technology to cut carbon emissions.
Also in the multi-billion dollar category is a new push by the Department of Energy to fund projects aimed at sucking carbon directly out of the air. It recently selected the first recipients of a $3.5 billion fund to develop “Direct Air Capture” machines that could eventually vacuum more than 2 million metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere yearly. What’s more, the projects are expected to create some 5,000 jobs, which is important for the health of the Louisiana and Texas communities where they’ll be based.
It’s just one more way the Lone Star State is benefiting from the ongoing energy transition. We’ve told you in previous newsletters about the booming renewable energy industry in Texas that is creating towering proof in the heart of oil country that renewables are both profitable and reliable. That latter point has been back in the news this summer, thanks to the backup batteries that kept air conditioners humming during one of the most sweltering heat waves on record. Energy storage facilities pumped a record amount of power into the Texas grid when it was at risk of failing, demonstrating yet again that renewables can carry the load under extreme conditions.
The same lesson was affirmed in Southern Europe this summer, when solar power came to the rescue amid unprecedented temperatures and air conditioning demand.
News of Concern
Needless to say, we deeply wish all the life-saving air conditioning wasn’t needed in the first place. Indeed, too many people still suffer without it. Extreme heat is the number one weather killer – responsible for eight times more weather-related deaths than hurricanes, and 2023 is on track to join the record books for excess deaths caused by heat.
Indeed, “health and wallet” can’t be viewed as separate spheres. Recent research suggests they are intertwined on a larger economic level, where heat-related human health issues cause massive drops in labor productivity across industries like agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and services. According to one study, the overall cost to the U.S. economy of lost productivity due to heat exceeded $100 billion in 2020 alone.
From lost productivity to hurricanes and wildfires: billion-dollar hits to the economy caused by global warming have become staggeringly commonplace. Bloomberg reported this month that the U.S. had been hit with 15 weather and climate disasters costing $1 billion or more in 2023 – even before the Maui fires devastated Hawaii. This year may outstrip 2020 as the most expensive year in history for the national wallet. To those who say America can’t afford to address the issue, we offer the obvious rejoinder: we can’t afford not to.
And so we particularly regret new evidence that global subsidies for fossil fuel use just keep flowing – to the tune of trillions of dollars annually. A new analysis by the International Monetary Fund identified $1.3 trillion in “explicit subsidies,” including things like rebates for consumers, and another $5 trillion in “implicit” support that tries to capture the costs of economic externalities – health and environmental costs caused by fossil fuel production and consumption that increasingly falls to taxpayers.
And while we’re worrying about regressive policies, we must express concern about reports that some Republican insiders are actively developing a “battle plan” to boost U.S. fossil fuel production and dismantle almost every clean energy program should they take control of the White House in 2025, actions that will make the U.S. less competitive and less secure. In our view, that’s a dangerously outdated plan. While conservative strategies for meeting the challenge would be different than those of the current administration, pretending the problem doesn’t exist is downright perilous. We hope a more enlightened view – of both the Party’s and country’s self-interest – will prevail.
Notable Video
Summer’s brutal heat shifts climate change views.
As the world continues to deal with brutal heat, raging wildfires, and other extreme weather-related events, more and more people are understanding that climate change is the root of these hardships. Scientists believe this summer may turn out to be “a turning point in climate change communication.” This short video explains why it’s easier for some people to accept the reality of climate change when they are experiencing its effects firsthand.
Notable Graph
Average annual heat-related deaths are up 95% in the U.S. from 2010 to 2020.
