Energy Policy Now

Economist Lord Nicholas Stern discusses why traditional economics fail to capture the magnitude of threat presented by climate change, and how the discipline must adapt. --- In 2006 climate economist Nicholas Stern published the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, a report that offered the first systematic examination of the costs of addressing climate change and impacts on the global economy. The report marked a fundamental shift away from climate change being viewed primarily as an issue of science, to also being one of economics. Fifteen years later Stern looks back on that seminal report to examine how economics, and markets, have failed to grapple with the unprecedented risks posed by a changing climate, and how the profession must change to guide policy toward rapid decarbonization on a global scale. Stern’s recording took place during his visit to the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy on April 19, where he received the center’s Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions to energy policy. Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics, and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.  Related Content Guidelines for Successful, Sustainable, Nature-Based Solutions https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/guidelines-for-successful-sustainable-nature-based-solutions/ Supply and Demand Evolution in the Voluntary Carbon Credit Market https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/supply-and-demand-evolution-in-the-voluntary-carbon-credit-market/ The Role of Negative Emissions in Getting to Carbon Neutral https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-essential-role-of-negative-emissions-in-getting-to-carbon-neutral/   Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An expert in energy geopolitics discusses the war in Ukraine and its implications for European energy security and decarbonization. The episode was recorded in front of a live audience. --- Anna Mikulska, lecturer in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in European energy geopolitics, discusses the history of escalating energy tensions between Russia, Ukraine and the EU prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. In the episode, which was recorded in front of a live audience at UPenn’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Mikulska explores the EU’s dependency on Russian natural gas and options for alternative sources of energy supply including LNG. She also considers the prospects for an extended period of high energy prices going forward, and how the war may alter Europe’s path toward its aggressive decarbonization targets for the end of this decade. Anna Mikulska is a lecturer in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and a nonresident fellow in Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Related Content Climate Leader Germany Faces Challenging Exit from Coal https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/climate-leader-germany-faces-challenging-exit-from-coal/ Net-Zero Nevada: From Pledge to Action  https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/net-zero-nevada-from-pledge-to-action/ Barriers to Energy Efficiency Adoption in Low-Income Communities   https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/barriers-to-energy-efficiency-adoption-in-low-income-communities/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An energy activist highlights the opportunities, and challenges on the way to clean and equitable energy in the United States. --- The energy transition that is now underway in the United States holds the promise of delivering carbon free energy by the middle of this century. Yet often overlooked is a second critical opportunity to ensure that our future energy system delivers benefits, and shares burdens, much more equitably than has been true to date.  Chandra Farley, chair of the Atlanta NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Committee, discusses the disproportionate environmental, social and economic burdens of our fossil energy system that have fallen on communities of color and the economically disadvantaged, and efforts to ensure that the benefits and costs of clean energy are equitably shared. Chandra Farley is Chief Executive of ReSolve, a consultancy that works to strengthen the organizational foundations of grassroots advocacy, and founder of the Good Energy Project, which engages Black women in the effort to expand clean energy. She is running for a seat as a commissioner with the Georgia Public Service Commission. Related Content Barriers to Energy Efficiency Adoption in Low-Income Communities https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/barriers-to-energy-efficiency-adoption-in-low-income-communities/ Aligning Historic Preservation and Energy Efficiency https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/aligning-historic-preservation-and-energy-efficiency/   The Best Local Response to Climate Change Is a Comprehensive Efficiency Plan https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-best-local-response-to-climate-change-is-a-comprehensive-efficiency-plan/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The transition to a clean energy economy will generate millions of new jobs. Unions are working to ensure that those jobs provide a living wage. --- Dramatic changes are underway in the ways that the United States produces and consumes energy, with major implications for the country’s workforce. Along the Atlantic shore, states are racing to establish large offshore wind farms and the manufacturing supply chains to support them. Automakers in the middle of the country have committed to shifting production to electric vehicles and the federal government to supporting a nationwide EV charging network. Opportunity will continue to grow in clean energy manufacturing, infrastructure and services. A central challenge that lies ahead is to ensure that these new jobs provide secure, living wages to support families and communities as they propel the energy transition. Guest Lara Skinner is Director of the Labor Leading on Climate Initiative at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, which works with labor unions to actively engage in decision making around clean energy and climate policy. She discusses efforts to ensure that new jobs in the clean energy economy address both economic inequality and the need to rapidly decarbonize. Lara Skinner is Director of the Labor Leading on Climate Initiative at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. For a transcript of this episode and more information, go to our website. Related Content Barriers to Energy Efficiency Adoption in Low-Income Communities https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/barriers-to-energy-efficiency-adoption-in-low-income-communities/ Leveraging Clean Energy to Alleviate Regional Water Stress https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/leveraging-clean-energy-to-alleviate-regional-water-stress/ Guidelines for Successful, Sustainable, Nature-Based Solutions https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/guidelines-for-successful-sustainable-nature-based-solutions/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ProPublica's Alec MacGillis discusses his recent New Yorker magazine article on Germany’s protracted struggle to wean itself off of coal.---Germany has earned a reputation as a leader in the effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and today counts some of the highest rates of renewable energy in the world.Yet one of the continuing ironies of Germany’s energy transition is that the country remains very much dependent on coal-fired generation, which last year provided over a quarter of its electricity. In fact, as Germany pursues steep reductions in emissions, it also plans to continue mining and burning coal nearly to the end of the 2030s.ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis discusses his recent New Yorker magazine article on Germany’s challenging exit from coal, and the fuel’s sustaining, and uniquely destructive relationship with German communities.MacGillis’ article, “Can Germany Show Us How to Leave Coal Behind?”, was published in the January 31, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, and on ProPublica.org.Alec MacGillis is a reporter with ProPublica. Related ContentNuclear Energy Meets Climate Change https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/nuclear-energy-meets-climate-change/ Electricity Storage and Renewables: How Investments Change as Technology Improves  https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/electricity-storage-and-renewables-how-investments-change-as-technology-improves/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rising global LNG demand points to a strong future for U.S. LNG exports. But ESG concerns loom.  ---Over the past decade, fracking technology has driven unprecedented growth in American natural gas production. Gas now powers 40% of U.S. electricity generation, and is also the most important fuel for home heating. And the U.S. is on track to become the world’s number one exporter of liquified natural gas in 2022, as Asia and Europe compete to pay top dollar for shipments of LNG. On the face of things, the outlook couldn’t be better for U.S. gas producers. Yet, the industry’s dramatic growth coincides with an accelerating shift toward clean energy technology, growing investor ESG concerns around the use of natural gas, and political division over gas exports. Gas producers must now weigh near term market opportunity against these longer term risks.     Robert Johnston, managing director of Eurasia Group’s Energy, Climate and Resources practice, and a research scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy, discusses the complex range of domestic and global dynamics that are shaping the future of the U.S. natural gas industry. Related ContentLeveraging Clean Energy to Alleviate Regional Water Stress https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/leveraging-clean-energy-to-alleviate-regional-water-stress/ Nuclear Energy Meets Climate Change https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/nuclear-energy-meets-climate-change/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A financier discusses the challenge of managing clean energy investment risk.---The transition to a clean U.S. energy system, including carbon-free electricity by the middle of the next decade, will be fueled by massive investment from government and industry and through the provision of green finance from banks and investors. Brian Lehman, the Head of Green Economy Banking at JP Morgan Chase, discusses the challenge of defining clean and sustainable investment in an age where uniform sustainability standards don’t yet exist. He also looks at how government policy might accelerate clean energy finance, and at the types of energy projects and technologies that are attracting attention from green financiers.  The Carbon Shock: Investor Response to the British Columbia Carbon Taxhttps://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-carbon-shock-investor-response-to-the-british-columbia-carbon-tax/ Related ContentBeyond Prices and Quantities: Greening Policies Under Sectoral Reforms in Argentina https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/beyond-prices-and-quantities-greening-policies-under-sectoral-reforms-in-argentina/Climate Tech for Real Estate: The Elephant in the Room. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/climate-tech-for-real-estate-the-elephant-in-the-room/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A climate economist discusses why efforts to cool earth’s climate through solar geoengineering appear all but inevitable, and considers the policy questions and political battles to come.---There is no overarching, national debate into the merits of solar geoengineering, which is process to artificially cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight back into space. The technology sounds fanciful, the stuff of science fiction. Yet earlier this year the National Academies of Sciences issued an urgent request to Washington to begin a federal research program into geoengineering. That request has, so far, largely fallen on deaf ears.Climate economist Gernot Wagner believes solar geoengineering is inevitable despite the relative lack of attention the technology has attracted to date. In a recently published book he makes the case for this inevitability, and also presents a compelling argument for why much more research into geoengineering’s risks must be completed if is to be put into practice. In the podcast, he explores why solar geoengineering is fundamentally different from other strategies that address climate change, and why research programs into the technology must be tightly governed. He also discusses concern that solar geoengineering’s implementation, if inevitable, is likely to stoke fierce policy debate and, quite possibly, geopolitical tensions.Gernot Wagner is a climate economist at New York University and author of the recently published book Geoengineering: the Gamble. He is also co-author of Climate Shock, which was chosen by the Financial Times as a best book in economics in 2015.Related Content Can We Measure Successful Climate Adaptation? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/news-insights/can-we-measure-successful-climate-adaptation/ Guidelines for Successful, Sustainable, Nature-Based Solutionshttps://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/guidelines-for-successful-sustainable-nature-based-solutions/ Harvesting the Sun: On-Farm Opportunities and Challenges for Solar Development https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/harvesting-the-sun-on-farm-opportunities-and-challenges-for-solar-development/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who will pay for the electric grid of the future? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission explores options to incentivize and finance a vast transmission network to support clean energy.---Much of the fossil fuel generation fleet in the United States will be replaced by renewable energy resources as the country’s electricity system is decarbonized. Yet it remains unclear how the vast network of high-voltage transmission lines needed to connect clean energy resources will be planned and paid for. Marc Montalvo, president and CEO of Daymark Energy Advisors and former director of risk management and market development at ISO New England, looks at why existing means of planning electric transmission are not up to the task of delivering a low-carbon grid. He also discusses recent action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the nation’s electric grid regulator, to explore ways to incentivize the construction of new transmission and support the expansion of renewable energy. Marc Montalvo is president and CEO of Daymark Energy Advisors. Marc has 25 years of market and regulatory experience in the electricity industry, including in senior roles at ISO New England. Related ContentMassive Shift toward Solar Power Begins in Largest U.S. Electricity Market https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/massive-shift-toward-solar-power-begins-in-largest-u-s-electricity-market/The Opportunities and Limitations of Seasonal Energy Storage https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-opportunities-and-limitations-of-seasonal-energy-storage/Why Is It So Hard to Build the Electric Grid of the Future? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/why-is-it-so-hard-to-build-the-electric-grid-of-the-future/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China’s leadership must navigate conflicting agendas, and threats to domestic political stability, as it seeks to rein in global warming emissions.---China has adopted a relatively low profile of late when it comes to addressing climate change. At the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the most notable headline concerning China may in fact have been the failure of its President, Chi Jinping, to attend or address the conference directly. The Chinese leader’s absence was remarkable given the country’s position as the top global emitter of greenhouse gasses, and also in light of the leadership role that China has taken at other global climate conferences over the past few years.Scott Moore, Director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, looks at factors that have contributed to China’s recent avoidance of the climate spotlight, including an ongoing energy crisis that threatens the nation’s economic growth. More broadly, he discusses the political vulnerabilities that the pursuit of a low carbon energy system presents for China’s governing powers, and how these considerations may shape the country’s future climate action, and the pace of its energy transition.Scott Moore is a political scientist and Director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania.Related ContentLeveraging Clean Energy to Alleviate Regional Water Stress  https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/leveraging-clean-energy-to-alleviate-regional-water-stress/ The Not-So-Rare Earth Elements: A Question of Supply and Demand https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-not-so-rare-earth-elements-a-question-of-supply-and-demand/ The Essential Role of Negative Emissions in Getting to Carbon Neutral https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-essential-role-of-negative-emissions-in-getting-to-carbon-neutral/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.