Articles by Paul
Biden May Be The ‘Perfect Person’ to Enact A True Green Deal, But He Needs A Better Climate Plan
Rival Democratic Presidential candidates and climate activists continue to pounce days after the fact on the poor characterization of a “middle ground” on climate policy by an adviser to Joe Biden. The staying power of this…
EVs will have to replace oil-burning engines
[Financial Times subscription required to read this article.] In the US, coal’s share of electricity production has dropped by half in the past two decades, with not a single new coal plant built in almost a decade. Remarkably…
America Is Losing the World’s Biggest Manufacturing and Climate Race: Electric Vehicles
Suppose a Presidential candidate proposed a policy that would produce the following benefits: a resurgence of U.S. auto industry production and the creation of thousands of new, high-paying manufacturing jobs; cleaner air…
Winning the Global Race on Electric Cars
On Donald Trump’s watch, America is losing what is probably the most important new manufacturing opportunity in the world–the global race to produce affordable electric vehicles that people want…
Jam-packed primary poses a serious threat to Democrats in 2020
For tens of millions of Americans overridingly concerned with finding a presidential candidate who can beat Donald Trump in 2020, how the left-of-center and abnormally large Democratic primary field is shaping up is a topic…
Hickenlooper’s Real Green Deal
In announcing his candidacy for president this week, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper emphasized “getting things done” by citing Colorado’s jump from 40th in job growth to the top 10, its provision of health care…
Trump border emergency is fake and climate crisis is real. Guess which just got funded?
One emergency, the border wall, is fake, invented by a rogue president desperate for a political win no matter the price. Another, the climate crisis, is real, with tens of millions of citizen victims around the country. Guess which…
Green New Deal Must Grow Up Fast To Influence Bills Congress is Already Writing
Little noticed in the media circus surrounding the mere introduction of a non-binding Congressional resolution on the Green New Deal was the deletion of much-criticized and plainly unachievable mandates contained in previous…
Trump Suggests Raiding Money from Climate-Disaster Victims to Fund Border Wall
President Trump is considering raiding money from relief funds designated for victims of storms and wildfires exacerbated by climate change, in a last-ditch attempt to get money for his dubious border wall…
As U.S. Emissions Spike Under Trump, Democrats Pursue Real Climate Policies, Not Green Wish Lists
Leading researchers today released a report finding that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than 3.4% in 2018, the first increase since 2006 and the largest rise in 20 years. This news comes both as…
Going Nowhere Fast on Climate, Year After Year
Thirty years ago, a NASA scientist, James Hansen, told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that “global warming is now large enough that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence…
Takeaway from Poland: Climate success requires action by global leaders — including US president
The biggest takeaway from two weeks of climate negotiations in Poland is simple, if breathtaking: climate change is such a massive and existential issue that it can only be effectively dealt with…
Climate studies say warming may cost US $500 billion a year — it will cost much more
Three stunningly dire climate change reports have emerged in the last month, including the UN “Emissions Gap” report released this week and the U.S. National Climate Assessment released last Friday…
Wildfire and other climate costs are rising — fast
[Financial Times subscription required to read article.] If anything, your recent coverage of California’s wildfires (“The stark message from California raging fires”, editorial, and “Insurers grapple…
House Democrats Must Be Strategic To Win On Energy And Climate Change
By all accounts, House Democrats return to Washington this week to begin planning their priorities for 2019 in an aggressive frame of mind. But on climate change and energy issues, rather than simply responding…
Trump’s Blowhard Tactics on Climate Change and Storms Foreshadow A Political Blue Wave
In the last two years the U.S. has suffered from record hurricanes, rainfall, floods, wildfires and other disasters made worse by rising temperatures and sea levels…
As Heat-Fueled Hurricane Threatens Washington, Global Climate Leaders Begin to Act in California
This week Hurricane Florence, a massive Category 4 storm made larger by warmer than normal ocean temperatures, is bearing down on the Mid-Atlantic coast, including the Washington, DC region, where President Trump…
John McCain Knew Climate Protection Would Take Legislation, Not Just Regulation
It is a sad irony that John McCain died within just a few days of President Trump overturning Clean Power Plan regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. For McCain was the prominent…
Lower-Emitting U.S. Natural Gas Can Gain Export Markets
President Trump’s efforts to expand European imports of American natural gas thus far have consisted of tweeting and jaw-boning, approaches notably ineffective with EU allies whom he has sometimes cast as “foes”…
Dems Need “Big Tent” Energy Policies that Appeal to American Heartland
For more than a generation, Democrats have valiantly advocated policies to combat the serious problem of climate change. But they have usually done so with indifference or disdain for the economic and energy views…
COP27: A global methane agreement can prevent climate catastrophe
All the parties participating in the climate negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this week and next would do well to remember that today’s climate emergency is about two basic concepts: time and temperature. It’s too…
Call China’s climate bluff
While American climate advocates are still taking victory laps over the historic clean energy bill passed by Congress in August, the international climate challenge remains dire as diplomats gather in Egypt next week at the…
US can improve energy security and climate together
Election seasons always feature exaggerated divisions, with candidates drawing bright lines between themselves and opponents. But lasting problems come when discourse devolves into false choices between important shared goals…
Democrats’ Midterm Message Should Be Working-Class Opportunity
Conventional wisdom in cynical Washington has it, and recent history does suggest, that the easiest way for a Democratic president to be reelected is to run against a radical Republican Party who has just taken over Congress…
GOP killed permitting reform — giving Democrats a new campaign issue
Over the last two years, Congress has passed a series of landmark bills that together fund more than $500 billion in clean energy investment, by far the largest ever enacted. More importantly, generous tax incentives can spur…
Why Democrats Must Support Biden in 2024
Despite good news for Joe Biden lately, many Democrats continue to be deeply worried about his chances of reelection. These concerns are understandable given that Biden, already the oldest president in history, will be…
Streamline power line permitting to achieve IRA climate goals
One of the most important goals of the clean energy and climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden is the decarbonization of the electricity system. The core of this effort is…
A look at the policies in the Democrats’ historic climate bill
The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in climate policy in U.S. history, including more than $300 billion to address global warming. It also sets a goal of reducing carbon emissions by…
Climate Change: Congress Needs to Act Now
Federal regulations have been a crucial part of U.S. efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions over the last 30 years. But such regulations are increasingly subject to reversal by Republican presidents…
Democrats: Don’t just declare a climate emergency — make clean energy a winning campaign issue
The decision by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to walk away from more than a year of negotiations over a landmark clean energy legislation is a bitter pill for President Biden and other Democrats who made passing effective…
SEARCH
TOPICS