John,

Welcome to our new and improved newsletter. We’re still going to hit your inboxes every week to keep you up to date with news from the intersection of climate, clean energy, politics and policy. But, we’re going to be revamping our format and style to ensure you receive a more impactful, concise update on what’s happening inside the Beltway and around the country.

1. BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE FRAMEWORK’S 9 LIVES 

Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration are still working tirelessly to get a bipartisan infrastructure package over the finish line. We expected it would face significant hurdles, and it hit another wall this week, when Republicans opposed the procedural vote.

We’ve always warned it would die eight times before it passed. So far, we’re at death three or four. But a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a Democratic-led reconciliation package remain by far the best opportunity to get bold, pragmatic, national climate and clean energy action done. We’re encouraged that Democrats and some Republicans are sticking with negotiations and being productive. Take a look at a memo we wrote here on what should be included. 

2. NEW POLLING SHOWS AMERICANS SUPPORT TRANSITION TO 100% CLEAN ELECTRICITY

Earlier this week, Third Way released new polling, covered exclusively by Andrew Freedman in Axios, that demonstrates that a majority of voters in all 50 states—and nearly every US congressional district—support moving to 100% clean electricity. Voter support breaks 60% in swing states that are targets for the 2022 midterms, like Arizona (62%), Georgia (60.8%), Pennsylvania (64%), and Texas (60.8%). Over 50% of voters also support moving to clean electricity in states like West Virginia (53%), Wyoming (52%), and Oklahoma (53%).

More research is needed to test how resilient this support is to potential GOP attacks, but it reflects widespread, bipartisan support for the federal government to move the country to a 100% clean electric grid. Now Congress must use the budget reconciliation process to pass a Clean Electricity Standard (CES) or CES-like policy that would move the country to a 100% clean electric grid.

It’s imperative that policymakers continue communicating to voters the value of a CES by emphasizing that:
 

• A CES designed to reach 80% by 2030 is proven to be technologically feasible, will enable our existing electric grid to continue operating reliably in 2030,  and is endorsed by a wide coalition of stakeholders, including major businesses and corporations and large utilities.
   
• A CES will drive significant investment in every region in the country and create 500,000 jobs in the next decade alone while saving roughly 317,500 lives by reducing air pollution and saving $1.13 trillion in health costs.
   
• An 80% by 2030 CES would result in wholesale electricity costs that are 2% lower than costs today, meaning consumers won’t bear the burden of higher prices for energy.

Explore the polling here.

3. CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Earlier this week, Dr. Rudra Kapila, Third Way’s Senior Policy Advisor for Carbon Management, co-authored Environmental and climate justice and technological carbon removal in Electricity Journal. The research explores the responsible deployment of carbon removal technology, which scientists agree is necessary to stop the worst impacts of climate change. 

• As the co-authors explain, because fossil fuel extraction and industrial processes have disproportionately harmed Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, it is imperative the US design climate solutions that do not perpetuate these injustices.
   
• Direct air capture, a process that uses industrial vacuums to capture carbon in the atmosphere and safely store it underground, requires community and stakeholder engagement to ensure it is deployed responsibly. Building community acceptance is crucial and can happen with inclusive, transparent, and participatory processes.

Read the full paper here.

4. WHAT WE’RE READING

A trio of articles recently published highlight important shifts in climate policy:

• In The Atlantic, Rob Meyer wrote the obituary to the carbon tax, Carbon Tax, Beloved Policy to Fix Climate Change, is Dead at 47. As Rob captures well, we’ve long been skeptical of this policy because it’s proven much more complicated to effectively implement in reality than on the chalkboards of economists, and (perhaps more important), we remain deeply concerned it would prove politically deadly to Democrats in swing districts and states if ever enacted. 
   
• Rob, clearly on a roll, authored a separate Atlantic piece reminding readers The Green New Deal Doesn’t Really Exist. We can’t emphasize how important this is. While the Left tries to take credit for President Biden’s climate agenda, the reality is that most of the bold plans come out of the centrist wing of the party, including the Clean Electricity Standard, dramatic scaling of investment in innovation, and using every clean technology including nuclear and carbon capture.
   
• Finally, Ezra Klein captured many of the political challenges in climate policy today in his New York Times column, It Seems Odd That We Would Just Let the World Burn. Ezra’s fundamental questions—Can our political system move fast enough to address climate change, and why in the world are people ruling any solution (like nuclear) out?—are important for all of us to come back to regularly to measure our own thinking against.