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Biden win ushers in seismic energy policy shift
The race between Biden and Trump presented the starkest divisions on energy issues in recent memory, with Biden proposing a $2 trillion clean energy plan and denouncing Trump for downplaying the threat posed by climate change. Trump, in turn, pledged to continue to pursue an “energy dominance” agenda. Biden claimed a mandate to act as he delivered a victory speech Saturday night in Wilmington, Del., citing climate change, health care, the pandemic, a slumping economy and racial justice as critical crises facing the country. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
China Solar Manufacturers Jump as Biden Win Seen Boosting Demand
Shares in the Chinese companies that dominate production of solar panels rose after Joe Biden’s victory increased the likelihood that the world’s top economy will accelerate its move toward clean energy. During the campaign, Biden said he’s aiming to eliminate carbon emissions from the U.S. power sector by 2035. Doing so will require a ramp-up in new solar installations, which should lift global demand and support the sector, said Dennis Ip, an analyst with Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong. [ read more … ]
Cities
Cities pass all-renewable plans: A grid threat?
Ballot initiatives that empower cities to seek all-renewable electricity were approved by voters in Ohio and New Jersey last week, marking the spread of a popular idea that has also raised concerns about the impact on the grid. The approved measures will establish new community choice aggregation (CCA) programs in the cities of Columbus, Ohio, and East Brunswick, N.J. Those programs give municipal officials authority to take the lead in contracting with suppliers of wind and solar energy, with the goal of transitioning 100% of the city’s retail energy demand to renewable sources by 2023 and 2030, respectively. [ read more … ]
Climate Policy
‘Off the table.’ Financial analysts see no big climate bill
From Wall Street to K Street, Texas’ energy capital to the Motor City, an army of analysts and executives were watching the U.S. elections to see how the results would impact fossil fuel-dependent companies and their competitors. The emerging consensus — based on more than a dozen research notes, client briefings and investor presentations delivered since the polls closed Tuesday — is that a likely Republican-controlled Senate will rein in the ambitious climate and energy policy changes President-elect Biden touted on the campaign trail. [ read more … ]
Regulator: Climate risk ‘looms even larger’ than pandemic
Two top financial regulators last week affirmed the United States’ responsibility to address climate risk in capital markets. The declarations come amid plans by the incoming Biden administration to more aggressively confront global warming. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at a press briefing Thursday that the U.S. central bank remains in the early stages of understanding climate-related financial risk. Even so, he noted the Fed is getting up to speed on the issue by monitoring how central banks and regulators around the world are integrating climate change into their work.
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Fractures appear in Biden’s climate army
Biden won on a wave of unity among union workers, liberal activists and a diverse coalition of climate-minded voters who coalesced as an army against President Trump. That alliance, uneasy at times, carried Biden through the Rust Belt states where fracking and manufacturing are woven into the region’s economy. It helped him persevere in states like Arizona and Nevada where deadly heat waves and drought made aggressive climate policy a salient political message. If that unity dissolves, Biden’s monumental task of eliminating carbon emissions could fracture the party’s audacious approach to confronting climate change.
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The Transition
Here’s what Biden can get done on climate change even without the Senate
Many of the most ambitious parts of his sweeping $2 trillion plan for tackling climate change face an enormous uphill battle in Congress. His massive investment plan only stands a chance if his party wins two Senate runoff races in Georgia in January. If that happens, Democrats would have control of both chambers since the incoming vice president, Kamala D. Harris, would be able to break the 50-50 Senate tie. [ read more … ]
Biden Win May Curb U.S. Oil Drilling, Super-Charge Renewables
Biden’s presidency could super-charge growth of clean electricity in America. During the campaign, he said he’s aiming to eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector by 2035.
Investor interest in green stocks and technologies has surged recently. Among the things driving growth: mounting homeowner demand for rooftop solar and batteries amid blackouts from hurricanes and wildfire risk and a growing appetite for environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investments. Wind and solar power are already the cheapest electrical sources in many markets. [ read more … ]
Campaign
Analysis: Climate voters fueled Biden’s win
It’s true that Democrats and environmental groups were denied the resounding defeat of President Trump and his policies that they desired, losing House seats and likely facing at least two more years of a GOP-controlled Senate that has long been hostile to even the most modest climate policy. But the presidential candidate with the most aggressive climate plan in history, who campaigned on spending $2 trillion to decarbonize the economy, won a record-breaking number of voters in a year with one of the highest voting rates in recent memory. [ read more … ]
FERC
What to expect from Danly’s term as FERC chairman
President-elect Joe Biden’s weekend victory all but guarantees that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Republican Chairman James Danly’s tenure will expire in January, making it the second shortest in the agency’s 43-year history. President Trump unexpectedly named Danly chairman late last week, demoting former Republican head Neil Chatterjee to a commissioner on the influential panel. As a lame-duck leader, Danly, a staunch conservative, will have scant time to take significant action, which analysts say is actually his preferred way to regulate. [ read more … ]
EVs
In Biden, Detroit Gets a ‘Car Guy’ With Electric Vehicles on His Mind
Car executives say the president-elect’s intentions to throw the government’s weight behind electric vehicles will aid the industry’s investment in this technology. Executives, dealers and analysts say they expect Mr. Biden’s administration to push for stricter—and, for companies, more expensive—limits on tailpipe emissions. However, they say he could end a standoff between the federal government and California that has been dragging on the industry. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.