Hello and welcome back. I hope that “circle back in January” season is treating you well. Toward that end, we continue to gather momentum, schedule events, plan the podcast, and generally get ready for the year ahead.
This week’s must read: A New Climate Change Reckoning
Our friend Alex Flint from Alliance for Market Solutions co-wrote with Robert Eccles, Visiting Professor of Management Practice, Said Business School, University of Oxford, this piece, in which they note:
“As we pass +1.5°C, it’s time for a new reckoning, one that enables us to determine a path forward that’s pragmatic and durable. This will require us to do the following:
- Accept that we can’t solve climate change. It’s a condition that must be managed.
- Prepare for a +3.0°C world. We might accelerate our mitigation efforts, but we must plan accordingly until those efforts are fruitful.
- Accept that there will be an unlimited demand for energy. Higher standards of living, AI, and whatever comes after AI will always demand more.
- Recognize that adaptation will play a significant role in the response to climate change. It’s not admitting defeat. It’s adding stability to an unstable condition.
- Stop blaming corporations. Corporations are the way market economies produce goods and services people demand. If we change what we want, companies will change.
- Worry about how market democracies will fare in the face of climate change and competition from planned economies. In particular, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, China has developed a substantial lead over the United States in a number of green technologies and could use this to its geopolitical advantage.”
ICYMI: Trade Policies That Lead To Energy Innovation
In case you missed Bob’s piece which I linked in last week’s newsletter, I wanted to share it again because it got a mention in an update from the Steel Manufacturers Association.
“SMA’s Five-Point Action Plan for the incoming administration includes a recommendation for a foreign pollution tariff as well as pro-growth tax policies and an end to regulatory overreach,” the update reads with citations from the op-ed, noting that Senator Bill Cassidy’s proposed Foreign Pollution Fee Act “is designed to ensure that American manufacturers get the benefit of their investment in clean technology.”
This is why I believe in the power of the proverbial pen! Op-eds can have a ripple effect that amplifies the intended message.
Related… E&E’s Timothy Cama reported about Cassidy getting heat from a political opponent on his carbon tax effort.
From the article:
Cassidy argued that his carbon tariff proposal enjoys strong support in Louisiana. He pointed to 2023 resolutions passed unanimously by Louisiana’s state House and Senate calling on Congress to enact a trade policy to punish high-polluting countries like China and Russia “by rewarding American businesses and workers for their superior environmental performance while penalizing global polluters.”
Cassidy said those actions were particularly noteworthy given the GOP dominance of the Legislature. “So, sounds like it’s got pretty good support in my state,” he said.
Any op-ed writers out there in Louisiana who want to write in support of carbon tariffs? If so, let’s talk…
Speaking of op-eds, Heather Reams from Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions was published this week in Real Clear Energy with Reflecting on Eight Years of Conservative Clean Energy. (Heather, if you’re reading, I thought this was going to be an announcement you’re leaving CRES instead of a retrospective on your time at the helm… and your vision for forward progress.)
“It’s often forgotten that Republicans are the original champions of the environment. President Theodore Roosevelt was our nation’s proudest conservationist and President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” she writes. “This legacy has been reignited. Republicans have adjusted their engagement with energy and climate, understanding that climate policy and energy policy have a symbiotic relationship. Republicans have formed the House Conservative Climate Caucus and take part in the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus that is represented in both chambers of Congress.”
This week’s must listen(s): CCL Radio’s Hot Mess
Eagerly awaiting the premiere of season ten of the EcoRight Speaks? Why not catch up on Hot Mess while you wait for us to get our new season pulled together? Episodes 5 and 6 dropped in December and today, the final two episodes will be released. The wrap up episode features a hot-off-the-mic roundtable featuring yours truly; our executive director, Bob Inglis; and our friends at Green Tea Party Radio.
Quote of the week: Former Rep. Lee Zeldin
“I believe that climate change is real,” Zeldin said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “We can and we must protect our precious environment without suffocating the economy.”
Zeldin has been nominated for the top job at the Environmental Protection Agency. As a member of the House, he belonged to the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus co-founded by his Florida peers, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ted Deutch.
Signing off from the great state of Maine, where it’s about the same temperature as it is in DC. Have a nice weekend!