Dear Friends,
What’s ahead for energy and climate? We are seeing rapidly accelerating progress in the science, technology, ingenuity, and motivation needed to both understand and mitigate the climate crisis. Consider how far we’ve come just in the last few years: in a stunning transformation, Europe now creates much more power from renewables than fossil fuels, EVs are expected to comprise almost a fifth of all new car sales globally this year, and exciting new “breakthrough” technologies are unveiled almost every day.
Together, these and other advances have put us onto a faster lane to climate neutrality. Hallelujah! But the month of June reminded us that the road ahead is littered with potholes – and some are actually more like rabbit holes, in the Alice in Wonderland sense.
As Alice says, “…what it is, it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” And indeed the climate world seems topsy-turvy. We’ve seen environmentalists challenging green infrastructure projects – even those aimed at delivering carbon-free energy. We’ve seen legislators aiming to kneecap the Texas renewable sector – even though it’s hugely beneficial to taxpayers, energy security, and climate, alike. We’ve seen politicians working to keep West Virginia’s uncompetitive coal-fired power plants open – even when the operators want to close them and they add millions to consumers’ energy bills. And so it goes.
We’ll devote much of this newsletter to parsing such logic, but there’s also balance to this Alice-in-Wonderland-level stuff and nonsense. There are inspiring ideas afoot in the scientific, technical, and economic realms that could change the climate equations in ways that are different from what we envisioned even a year ago. And there are world leaders like United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres who is shouting about the fact that short-term profits are driving fossil fuel companies to abandon long-term plans. It’s clear we still live in a world where climate politics can trump economics and even common sense, and the road ahead promises to be bumpy. Buckle up!
Sincerely,
The C-Change Conversations Team
Notable Quote
“Last year, the oil and gas industry reaped a record $4 trillion windfall in net income. Yet for every dollar it spends on oil and gas drilling and exploration, only four cents went to clean energy and carbon capture — combined. Trading the future for 30 pieces of silver is immoral.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres
News of Concern
So what exactly motivated the Secretary-General’s outburst? He’s had it with fossil fuel companies that, basking in the windfall of recent profits, are suggesting they can keep pumping fossil fuels as long as they nod their heads toward renewable energy or foray into capturing carbon emissions. Business – that is, profit – as usual, even though the International Energy Agency and other experts say that we have to wean off fossil fuels as quickly as possible to stay safe. Curiouser and curiouser. Calling a spade a spade, Guterres said bluntly, “The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions … It’s fossil fuels – period.” He is also unhappy about the larger role being played by oil and gas companies in climate planning: this year’s international talks on climate are scheduled to be held in oil-rich Dubai and will be led by the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
And what’s wrong with this picture? Texas has the natural resources to lead the world in renewable energy production. It already is America’s No.1 wind producer and rivals California in solar. And, in the midst of a record heatwave, renewables in Texas are making its grid more resilient while saving the state and its taxpayers billions of dollars. Hard to believe, but that’s ruffling feathers among some lawmakers. Bills to increase costs and regulation for the renewable sector failed to pass the most recent legislative session but the bills’ supporters are expected to take another swing in the next one. Meanwhile, the state recently approved a $10 billion program to incentivize more natural gas plants – the very product that’s causing heat waves in the first place.
Lest anyone think the Texas political landscape is uniquely riddled with rabbit holes, let’s cast a glance at California, where some of the biggest environmental groups in the country have joined the fight against a legislative package to streamline infrastructure projects that would produce and deliver clean energy. While supporting the state’s commitment to mitigating climate change, these groups say the proposed projects need to check the right environmental boxes before proceeding. Their roadblock may cost California the federal funding it needs to meet its energy transition goals. Even the state’s liberal governor, Gavin Newsom, is frustrated.
And then there’s West Virginia. Almost 90% of the state’s electricity comes from coal but the industry is increasingly uncompetitive in the face of renewables that offer a much cheaper alternative. While 11,000 West Virginia residents work in the coal industry, there are safer clean energy jobs growing at a rapid rate. And residential electricity rates in West Virginia have more than doubled since 2005 – the highest percentage-rate increase in the nation. Many corporate owners want to mothball their coal-fired plants or convert them to less-costly fuels but a new law recently passed will hinder such market forces by inserting state-appointed panels into the approval process. Kentucky passed a similar law last year, pitting the state against its utility companies, who argue it will cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Last month we told you that the insurance companies State Farm and Allstate had announced they would no longer write new policies for homeowners in California, where the annual fire season is getting harsher and longer due to climate change. This month, AIG (American International Group) went a step farther: in addition to spurning California, AIG will curb new home insurance policies in some 200 zip codes around the country at high risk of floods or wildfires. Affected states include New York, Delaware, Florida, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. This is as clear a sign as any that climate change poses real threats right now to millions of people who once thought it didn’t affect them.
The American Southwest is getting a wake-up call of another nature – water shortages. A decades-long megadrought in the region and relentlessly rising temperatures have dangerously reduced the Colorado River, compromising drinking water, agriculture, and electricity production throughout the area. Now Arizona has determined that its groundwater is also dangerously depleted. So much so that the state announced it must stop developers with approved construction projects from building new subdivisions in the Phoenix area. Some say it’s the beginning of the end of Phoenix’s remarkable growth.
And lastly, there’s the cautionary tale about Georgia and its famous peaches. It turns out peaches, like other fruit trees, need cold weather to bear fruit. But the first quarter of 2023 broke temperature records in the Peach State and more than 90% of the crop has been lost. This is a story playing out in other areas as well, and is just a precursor of more changes to come.
News of Hope
Technology, technology, technology. We’re well aware that technology alone won’t solve our climate problem. As we said up top, the country needs policies and political buy-in to implement even the most market-ready technologies, like solar and wind. And just like the proverbial gold rush of 1849, a lot of money will be lost chasing big hopes and big hype, we expect. Still. There are real game changers in the pipeline so we want to highlight a few great ideas that we’ll be tracking.
Let’s start with this inspiring article in The Wall Street Journal. From ultra-fast charging for electric vehicles to beaming solar energy from space and AI-guided solutions to new farming technologies, this roundup lays out some of the coolest approaches to solving really big problems.
Who would have thought an EV range of 807 miles on a single charge was possible when the limit for internal combustion engines is about 600 miles? But Porsche is projecting just that “in the medium term” with its new solid-state battery technology. And Toyota gets more specific on timing, aiming to achieve a range of 620 miles by 2026. These are not just stunning milestones; these innovations could soon shift this market into high gear.
Not all great ideas are spanking new. Nuclear energy, for example, has been around since the 1950s. A recent Department of Energy study concludes that 80% of U.S. coal plant sites could host nuclear reactors instead, creating hundreds of jobs per site and slashing carbon emissions. This includes coal-powered plants that have already been retired.
And not all great ideas are technological. Sixteen kids just brought Montana to court, claiming the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies violate their right to a healthy environment as laid out in the state constitution. The judge will rule on the landmark case in a few weeks but it’s already inspired similar cases in other states.
Notable Video
As the month closes, the Midwest is suffocating under apocalyptically bad air from the same Canadian wildfires that blanketed the Northeast with intense smoky conditions earlier in June. Although direct climate change attributions are hard to make, we all know that hotter, drier conditions provide wildfire fuel and the odds of this disaster unfolding as it did without climate change are small. This video of a day in New York City reminds us that national borders are no protection from this problem.
Notable Graphic
And finally back to Texas. We mentioned it was leading the nation in wind power and rivaling California in solar. This picture speaks volumes about just how competitive the industry is in Texas… and how absurd the efforts to hobble it.
