Recent Interviews
Biden’s Message on Climate Might Not Be the One the World Wants
When President Biden walks into the United Nations climate summit here on Friday, he could fairly boast of returning the United States to the global fight to keep the planet from dangerously overheating, and of turbocharging America’s…
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…
Is it ‘I.R.A.’ or ‘Ira’? Advocates are split.
Policy nerds love a good acronym. But climate advocates haven’t settled on how to refer to the massive climate and health care law that Democrats have dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. President Joe Biden prefers to say all seven syllables of…
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…
Global anger at Sunak’s Cop27 snub that raises fears over UK’s climate crisis stance
Rishi Sunak’s decision to snub the Cop27 UN climate talks, and to keep King Charles from attending, has angered and upset countries around the world, risking the UK’s standing on the world stage and raising concerns…
Delayed methane rule rams into rising gasoline prices
The Biden administration has delayed releasing its proposed rule to reduce methane at oil and gas wells for weeks now. It comes as the president faces criticism for stepping up climate regulations on American energy companies even as he…
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…
Republicans search for the next Solyndra
Solyndra is having a political renaissance. Thanks to the federal cash pouring in to renewable energy projects, Washington’s climate and energy insiders are abuzz again over the failed energy startup that went bankrupt more than a decade ago…
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…
UK risks ending Cop26 presidency in disarray over Truss climate policy
The UK is in danger of ending its presidency of the UN climate talks next month in disunity and disarray, amid cabinet rifts on green policy, and confusion over who will attend the Cop27 summit…
OPEC oil output cut fuels Dems’ gas price fears
OPEC’s move to cut oil exports on Wednesday is feeding an autumn of anxiety for Democrats over energy inflation as prices at the gas pump march higher — particularly in some states and districts that could swing in…
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 the defeat of Manchin’s energy bill could be a loss for the climate
On Tuesday, when Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) announced he was pulling his proposal to expand energy development across the country from a must-pass government operations bill, many environmental…
Washington’s latest energy drama: ‘Permitting reform’
Boring and technocratic as it sounds, “permitting reform” may be just about the most significant barrier facing the clean energy revolution Joe Biden wants to bring to America. Yesterday, Congress began debating it in earnest…
Manchin’s permitting reveal
The Progressive Policy Institute is out with a new report this morning that offers some support for Manchin’s efforts and disputes some of the criticism from progressives who argue the permitting changes would…
Why Republicans support Kigali
The Senate could ratify a major climate treaty by the end of the week. And it’s being pushed across the finish line by conservative Republicans and industry. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol has long been a standout in…
Clean energy bosses urge permit reforms to meet US climate goals
Senator Joe Manchin to unveil bill revamping regulatory approvals for pipelines and power systems. A lobbying group has estimated that clean energy installations could be 100 gigawatts less without permitting…
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…
California hits the gas on electric cars
California regulators approved a rule today banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move could accelerate the electric vehicle transition and reshape the nation’s auto market, but meeting that deadline will bring…
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…
How Trump could exit the Paris climate deal — and thwart reentry
Allies of former President Donald Trump have a plan to leave the Paris climate agreement and make it much harder for a future Democratic president to rejoin it. The idea: pull the United States out of the treaty that…
Biden backtracks on climate plans and ‘walks tightrope’ to court both young voters and moderates
Joe Biden, touted as the US’s first climate president, is presiding over the quiet weakening of his two most significant plans to slash planet-heating emissions, suggesting that tackling the climate crisis will…
Oil and gas profits triple under Joe Biden even as industry decries him
Profits for the biggest US oil and gas producers have almost tripled under President Joe Biden, even as the industry berates his administration’s “hostile” policies and warns that a second term would be “disastrous” for the…
Biden’s LNG Pause Might Be a Model for Other Energy Dilemmas
The Biden administration Friday halted the approval of new licenses to export US liquefied natural gas. The freeze is expected to last months, giving the government time to review how additional shipments might affect the economy and climate. The moratorium…
China may be close to a climate tipping point
If you want to be hopeful about the world’s chances of tackling climate change, look to China. It is such a force in the electric car market that, last year, for the first time, it became home to more than half the electric vehicles on the world’s roads. An equally…
Joe Biden factors domestic energy costs into decision to pause LNG permits
Climate campaigners rejoiced last week when US President Joe Biden froze approvals for new liquefied natural gas terminals that export the fuel. But the White House hopes the “pause” in LNG permits will win it political kudos with a much bigger group…
Is Joe Biden a climate champion?
There is no doubt that climate activists scored a major win last week when President Joe Biden announced a pause in approvals of liquefied natural gas export terminals. In fact, Biden gave a nod to their pressure when making the decision by…
Biden administration freezes gas export approvals
The Department of Energy is pausing approvals of liquefied natural gas exports while it conducts an open-ended analysis of the impacts of the shipments — a move being blasted by fossil fuel groups and applauded by environmentalists who say…
Biden reins in gas exports that have raised both US prestige and climate fears
The Biden administration announced a freeze Friday on new export permits for natural gas while it studies their impact on climate change — despite those exports’ role in bolstering the U.S. economy and Washington’s influence in Europe…
By attacking Biden on climate, the far left risks true disaster with a Trump win
When it comes to climate change, Joe Biden has done what Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did not — and now, what Donald Trump vows to destroy. President Biden has executed a deft policy strategy that joins job creation…
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