President-elect Donald Trump spent the Friday evening before Thanksgiving filling out nearly the rest of his Cabinet. He plans for his Treasury secretary to be a hedge fund manager who’s called the Inflation Reduction Act “the Doomsday machine for the deficit”; he’s named a vacci … | Continue reading
Before it even began, the 29th annual United Nations climate conference, or COP29, was deemed the “Finance COP.” While the name is fitting, it’s also a little absurd. It’s called the Finance COP because the main item on the agenda at this year’s conference, held in Baku, Azerbaij … | Continue reading
Donald Trump ended weeks of Billions-esque drama on Wall Street and Palm Beach by finally settling late Friday on a nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. In contrast to the quick and instinctive picks for major posts like secretary of defense, s … | Continue reading
When Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, the legislation promised to unleash a wave of funding for electric vehicles, zero-carbon electricity, clean manufacturing, and more across the United States. It signaled the return of industrial policy and the … | Continue reading
As the annual United Nations climate change conference reaches the end of its scheduled programming, this could represent the last time for at least the next four years that the U.S. will bring a strong delegation with substantial negotiating power to the meetings. That’s because … | Continue reading
Whenever projections of future electric vehicle demand come up, the conversation will inevitably turn to battery recycling. And for good reason: It takes a lot of expensive, difficult-to-acquire metals and materials to make the big lithium-ion batteries that power EVs, making it … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A heat wave is baking southeast Australia, bringing temperatures that are 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the seasonal average • There have been 363 brush fires in New York City in November alone • It is 65 degrees and sunny in Baku for the last official day … | Continue reading
Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, passed on a party line vote by the narrowest of margins — 50 Democratic votes in the Senate (with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie) and 220 in the House of Representatives. With tense tax negotiations loomin … | Continue reading
A sprawling multi-state carbon pipeline appears easier to permit and build than wind and solar farms in red states, despite comments the president-elect or his team may have said on the campaign trail. And the answer has to do with more than just the potential benefits for oil an … | Continue reading
1. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – The Biden administration is rushing to finish permitting Ocean Winds’ Southcoast Wind project, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie, before Donald Trump returns to the White House. Questions remain as to whether it can be done. Sin … | Continue reading
Trump’s energy direction – We’re far enough into the Trump 2.0 transition that I can offer a few specific insights having covered him the first go-around. Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum indicates any form of energy or resource extraction prevalent in his state of … | Continue reading
Today we’re chatting with Ryan Murphy, executive director of the labor-enviro coalition group Climate Jobs Massachusetts. Last week his group along with labor organizations in Rhode Island and Connecticut released a report detailing how they envision the offshore wind industry mo … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A severe heat wave warning has been issued for most of Australia • Schools are closed across parts of Great Britain due to snow and ice from Storm Bert • The atmospheric river pummeling Northern California will reach peak intensity today. THE TOP FIVE 1. New C … | Continue reading
Within days of stepping into the White House in 2021, President Biden introduced his “whole of government” approach to tackling climate change. Now, months out from Trump’s inauguration, it's looking like the returning president may emulate that whole of government strategy for h … | Continue reading
Nobody quite knows where Donald Trump stands on electric vehicles these days. While he’s reportedly coming for the $7,500 consumer EV tax credit and previously characterized the switch to EVs as a “transition to hell,” once Elon Musk threw his support behind Trump, the once and f … | Continue reading
Georgia is going to need a lot more electricity than it once thought. Again. In a filing last week with the state’s utility regulator, Georgia Power disclosed that its projected load growth for the next decade from “economic development projects” has gone up by over 12,000 megawa … | Continue reading
Maybe you’ve seen them, the white or deep cerulean signs, often backdropped by an empty lot, roadblock, or excavation. The text on them reads PROJECT FUNDED BY President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Law, or maybe President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The northern Plains states could experience blizzard conditions this evening • A brush fire disrupted traffic in Upper Manhattan yesterday • It is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and very windy in the Italian village of Ollolai, which is offering cheap houses to A … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The northern Plains states could experience blizzard conditions this evening • A brush fire disrupted traffic in Upper Manhattan yesterday • It is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and very windy in the Italian village of Ollolai, which is offering cheap houses to A … | Continue reading
Here’s the bad news: The world is almost certainly going to miss the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The needed emissions cuts are too large and the direction of policy too slow to lead to an … | Continue reading
Donald Trump first took the office of the president in January 2017, having called climate change a Chinese-invented hoax and promising to “end the war on coal.” He quickly went to work reversing the climate policy of the previous administration, withdrawing from the Paris Agreem … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of emergency to battle wildfires • Londoners were treated to rare snow flurries this morning • Storm Sara, having caused deadly flooding in Honduras, is set to drench the Gulf Coast. THE TOP FIVE 1. West Coast to get soaked … | Continue reading
When the American people elected Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States earlier this month, a large portion of climate world went into a tailspin. In the groggy reckoning of Wednesday morning, MIT Technology Review deemed the outcome a “tragic loss for climate pr … | Continue reading
The optimistic case for the Inflation Reduction Act — even under a Trump presidency, even with a Republican trifecta in Washington — rests on a “public investment first” view of climate policy. Public investment in the clean energy economy is not merely a second-best policy optio … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Super Typhoon Man-yi made two landfalls across the Philippines over the weekend, becoming the country’s fourth typhoon in 10 days • Parts of Europe are bracing for a cold snap • The Jennings Creek Wildfire along the New York-New Jersey border is 90% contained. … | Continue reading
Donald Trump has selected another stalwart of the fossil fuel industry to lead the Department of Energy. On Saturday, the president-elect put forward Chris Wright, CEO of the oilfield services firm Liberty Energy and a major Republican donor, for the job. Wright “has worked in Nu … | Continue reading
On Wednesday, Heatmap readers gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Neil Chaterjee discuss the impacts of the election on climate and energy policy. Although the subject matter w … | Continue reading
Donald Trump does not care much about climate change. By which I mean not just that he does not believe the warming of the planet is a problem, but also that the entire subject is far from the top of his priority list. Unfortunately, that makes his incoming administration even mo … | Continue reading
Trump 2.0 may sound the death knell for climate tech — not the concept, of course, but the phrase. “Climate tech” became ubiquitous during the Biden era, attached to companies pitching anything vaguely related to either climate change or technology, as well as the specialized and … | Continue reading
A moment of profound uncertainty for many of America’s environmental laws has just become even more uncertain-er. This week, as President-elect Donald Trump considers how to revise or repeal the country’s bedrock climate laws, one of the country’s oldest environmental laws has be … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The Philippines issued its highest storm alert ahead of Super Typhoon Usagi • Pakistan declared a health emergency in Punjab as toxic smog worsened • Tropical Storm Sara is not expected to pose a major threat to Florida. THE TOP FIVE 1. Leading climate advocat … | Continue reading
Berkeley, California and Washington State put the transition to all-electric buildings on the ballot last week, and in both cases, it seemed to fail the test. Voters in Berkeley overwhelmingly rejected a proposed tax on natural gas that would raise money for electrification proje … | Continue reading
The Trump administration is hoping to kill the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle buyers, according to a Reuters report citing two anonymous sources within the Trump transition team. That aspiration isn’t totally unexpected — President-elect Donald Trump flirted with ending t … | Continue reading
We’ve got a high-speed charging problem. Without readily available high-speed charging, people will never let go of their range anxiety fears and buy electric; but unless you have people in EVs willing to pay to charge their cars, there’s no reason to build the chargers. The Bide … | Continue reading
This week we’re talking to Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado who joined me yesterday at Heatmap’s Election Post-Game event in Washington, D.C., for a spirited chat about the 2024 election, permitting, and support for renewable energy in a Trump 2.0 era. We also talked about b … | Continue reading
1. Forget about the IRA – As the dust has settled post-election, it’s becoming clearer far more than the IRA is at stake in the coming Trump 2.0 administration – namely, whether what people expect in the normal course of governing will resume at all. Case in point: Massachusetts … | Continue reading
1. Magic Valley, Idaho – Sen. Jim Risch, one of the state’s loudest opponents of the Lava Ridge wind farm, said he believes Donald Trump will stop the project on Day 1. In a newly-aired interview with TV outlet KTVB, Risch said the matter has been presented to the incoming presid … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Smog in India has obscured views of the towering Taj Mahal • Thousands of people have evacuated Málaga, Spain, due to extreme flooding • Most of the U.S. will experience higher-than-average temperatures through the end of the week. THE TOP FIVE 1. Economists s … | Continue reading
A mere two years ago, climate world was awash in optimism as the tax credits in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act and other Biden-era legislation opened up exciting opportunities for climate tech companies. Now, Trump has said he wants to repeal the IRA in its entirety … | Continue reading
Tesla is ubiquitous. Following Election Day, the company’s shares broke the $1 trillion mark, making the electric vehicle manufacturer more valuable than the next 15 automakers combined. Much of that is because Elon Musk’s company is likely to benefit from its CEO having Presiden … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A brush fire caused major delays to Amtrak journeys along the East Coast • More flood alerts have been issued for Spain as new storms loom • It’s cloudy in Washington, where President Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump at the White House today. THE T … | Continue reading
The rollbacks are coming. Donald Trump’s incoming administration is expected to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules for power plants and tailpipe pollution, and — potentially — rewrite or repeal big swaths of the I … | Continue reading
The most important legal challenge for the renewables industry in America may have just been filed in Michigan. On Friday afternoon, about 70 towns and a handful of Michigan counties appealed the rule implementing part of a new renewable energy siting law – PA 233 – providing pri … | Continue reading
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts were supposed to be a bonanza for the clean energy business. Renewables, with their high upfront costs compared to their costs of operating (the “fuel” — i.e. the wind the sun — is free), are especially sensitive to the cost of borrowing m … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The Philippines is bracing for another major storm, the fifth in under a month • Warnings are in place for Guam as Tropical Storm Man-Yi approaches • It is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny in Washington, D.C., where Congress is back in session. THE TOP FI … | Continue reading
When then-President-Elect Donald Trump nominated then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in 2016, everyone right, left, and center knew exactly what that meant: The top law enforcement officer from one of the nation’s most conservat … | Continue reading
Of all the eerie paradoxes of climate change, one of the most unsettling has got to be Christmas shopping in wildfire smoke. This weekend, ice skaters seeking early holiday cheer in New York’s Bryant Park did so not to the usual scent of honey-roasted nuts but to the reek of brus … | Continue reading
Since August, climate policy optimists have pointed to a letter sent by 18 Republican members of the House of Representatives to Speaker Mike Johnson imploring him to preserve the energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. As of January, however, some of them will no long … | Continue reading