Even amid a global health pandemic, we hope everyone finds time to take a break over the next several weeks.

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Hi John,

Even amid a global health pandemic, we hope everyone finds time to take a break over the next several weeks. It’s been a tumultuous five months, and we all deserve some rest. To that end, this newsletter is taking a break until after Labor Day. But before our hiatus, we have a few more items to share with you.

This week, members of Congress and many across the country paused to honor the life and legacy of Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. It was said during his funeral service yesterday that Lewis was known as a civil rights champion, but he was also a champion for women, the LGBT community, and other marginalized and vulnerable communities. What wasn’t mentioned was Congressman Lewis’s commitment to solutions to address the climate crisis and environmental injustice. Marshall Shepard, a Senior Contributor to Forbes.com, recently wrote about Lewis’ environmental legacy ([link removed]) . He recounts the Congressman’s statement upon President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement: “I do not agree with the dark vision of America’s future the president described that pits accepting responsibility for our environmental impact against the economic stability and vitality of our country…. The
rest of the world has seen the economic and environmental benefit of clean energy, and they will leave us behind.”

Congressman Lewis will be missed on Capitol Hill and in the hearts of countless Americans, but the memory of his perseverance and resilience will live on to inspire millions more to achieve the justice he so tirelessly fought for his entire life.

Tune in
Don’t forget to check out our new podcast partnership with Political Climate, Relief, Rescue, Rebuild ([link removed]) . The first episode features Dr. Leah Stokes, Oni Blair of LINKHouston, and our very own Alex Laska on what a green economic recovery could look like and how we can rebuild fairly and equitably. Listen here ([link removed]) .

Clean Energy Demonstrations and an Economic Recovery
As members of both parties continue to hammer out the details of the latest recovery package before August recess, it’s unclear what it will ultimately include or the extent to which it will help Americans still suffering due to the COVID-19 crisis. Reports suggest that the package is not likely to include a clean energy stimulus. But like other sectors, the clean energy industry—critical not just to the economy but also to addressing climate change—is suffering.

When Congress returns after the Labor Day holiday, they should look to investments in clean energy demonstrations as a means of driving new, sustained job growth and new clean energy generation. Demonstrations of new technologies are critical to helping decarbonize our transportation, industry, and power sectors. Third Way’s Farah Benahmed and The Coefficient Group’s Elizabeth Noll wrote about how policymakers can achieve these goals in a new memo, Clean Energy Demonstration Projects: Critical for Economic Recovery and Mitigating Climate Change. ([link removed])
Talking Points:
* Lawmakers should consider investing in federal clean energy demonstrations as a way to support the clean energy sector, which the pandemic has severely destabilized.
* Carbon capture demonstration projects are already showing the potential to reduce global climate pollution significantly.
* Numerous other emerging technologies need help to cross the innovation gap and reach eventual commercialization. Congress still has an opportunity to make significant investments in the Energy Department’s applied energy offices when lawmakers return in September.

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Assessing the Biden Climate Plan
Two weeks ago, Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a comprehensive and ambitious $2 trillion plan ([link removed]) that would address both the climate crisis and the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. As we’ve previously written, this is a data-driven plan that would accelerate investment in all innovative clean energy technologies—something that groups like Third Way, the New Democrat Coalition, Center for American Progress and the Environmental Defense Fund have been championing for years. Biden has also repeatedly called for policies that address generations of environmental injustice ([link removed]) . As Third Way’s Josh Freed and Jackie Toth recently wrote, this plan “represents a clear consensus among Democrats, climate experts, and many in the investment and business community that the United States needs to leverage every zero-emission option to eliminate climate pollution.” Read their
assessment here ([link removed]) as well as in Politico’s Morning Energy ([link removed]) from Tuesday.

Dr. Ellen Hughes Cromwick also writes in her popular blog series ([link removed]) that “the plan is strategic and recognizes the necessary interplay between fiscal support and private sector momentum. It incorporates all of the best tools to execute the transition to a clean energy economy, consistent with the mainstream understanding of how we can best address our climate crisis.”
Enjoy the rest of your summer, and let’s keep the conversation going,
Jared

Jared DeWese
Senior Communications Advisor | Third Way
202.384.1737 :: @jareddewese ([link removed])

T.J. Osborne
Climate and Energy Press Coordinator | Third Way
202.775.5163 :: @tjosborne_ ([link removed])

Jackie Toth
Advisor for Policy and Content, Climate and Energy | Third Way
202.775.5167 :: @JackieTothDC ([link removed])

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