• More than 100 countries, led by the US and the EU, pledged to cut methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Signatories represent nearly half of global methane emissions and 70% of global GDP. Notably absent from the agreement are China, India, and Russia – although Brazil signed onto the pledge. President Biden backed up this commitment with the announcement of new US regulations to cut methane, as part of an economy-wide Methane Emissions Reduction Plan.
• The US and the World Economic Forum launched the First Movers Coalition to leverage the purchasing power of the world’s largest companies in an effort to expand the market for emerging clean energy technologies. The coalition is targeting four hard-to-abate sectors: shipping, aviation, steel, and trucking. Members of the coalition--which include major airlines, manufacturers, and banks--will commit to buying low-carbon products and technologies by 2030 to help develop green supply chains.
• 20 countries, including the US and Canada, committed to stop financing international fossil fuel projects, specifically unabated coal, gas, and oil projects, which means the deal allows for projects that use carbon capture, utilization, and storage to abate emissions. It’s a technology-inclusive agreement encouraging the use of every emissions-cutting tool available to us.

1. US & ROMANIA ANNOUNCE NEW NUSCALE ADVANCED REACTOR

 On Thursday, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry unveiled a new partnership between US-based company NuScale and Nuclearelectrica, Romania’s sole producer of nuclear energy, to construct a first-of-its-kind small modular reactor in Romania.

The five-reactor NuScale plant will replace 4.5GW of coal generation and eliminate 45 million tons of CO2 per year. It will also create 1,450 power plant jobs, 5,855 construction jobs, and over 23,280 manufacturing jobs.

Third Way’s Josh Freed attended the signing ceremony in Glasgow and hosted a fireside chat with the CEOs of NuScale and Nuclearelectrica to discuss the implications of this project for the future of advanced nuclear deployment and global collaboration on advanced energy technologies.

There’s a lot more where this came from. Keep an eye out for an update to our Map of the Global Market for Advanced Nuclear, which visualizes advanced reactor projects under development around the globe.
 

2. BUILDING BACK BETTER WITH $555 BILLION FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY

If passed, the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) would commit $555 billion to climate and clean energy investments that will move the US toward its goal of reducing emissions 50% by 2030 while boosting clean energy innovation, strengthening US industrial competitiveness, and creating good-paying jobs for Americans across the country. 

As Josh Freed explained in Bloomberg, E&E News, and CNN last week, this focus on industrial decarbonization is a BIG DEAL. BBBA will help ramp up our clean manufacturing and curb emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, like cement and steel, which will boost our economy while tackling some of the most challenging sectors to decarbonize. BBBA also invests money in red states and rural communities that have been slower to transition to clean power.

What are some of the provisions that will help accomplish these goals?

→ An expansion and enhancement of the 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit and the 45Q Carbon Sequestration Tax Credit
→ A production tax credit to help keep existing nuclear plants online (the credit is currently proposed for 6 years, but hopefully Congress will extend it to 8-10 years).
→ Several billion dollars to help the government leverage its purchasing power to buy lower-carbon materials and help manufacturers track and disclose emissions.
→ $4 billion for industrial decarbonization grants
→ An expansion of the Loan Programs Office’s Title XVII loan authority to $40 billion
→ Significant EV tax credits for new and used EVs, plus a bonus tax credit if a new EV was assembled at an American facility using union labor
→ A performance-based tax credit for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to reward lowest-emission jet fuels and make SAF more affordable

...and much more.

Now, Democrats need to hunker down and pass both the BBBA and the bipartisan infrastructure deal and deliver these investments to families and businesses across the nation.

3. HOW TO SELL CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY? TELL A STORY

When Congress finally passes both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act, how can they sell the climate and clean energy provisions to voters? Our recent polling with Avalanche Insights tested voters’ understanding of federal climate and clean energy investments to determine how policymakers can best communicate the benefits of clean energy policies. Here’s what we found:

• Storytelling in a narrative fashion resonates more closely with voters than policy briefs.
• Optimistic messaging that focuses on building a healthier future lands better than lamenting the abuses of the past.
• Messaging should be localized to demonstrate how climate and clean energy investments will improve livelihoods at the community level.

Read the full results of our polling here.

4. WHAT WE’RE READING

• In light of the corporate climate agreements made over the past few days at COP26, Michael Corkery and Julie Creswell at the New York Times explain why these commitments should account for emissions from supply chains. For some companies, as much as 95% of overall company GHGs come from supply chains or waste.
• Robinson Meyer at The Atlantic breaks down the significance of the new US-EU trade deal on steel. Steel is a heavy industry with a significant carbon footprint, and the commitment to lower tariffs and prefer trade for lower-carbon steel is an implicit recognition of the US steel industry’s lower-carbon steel. As Josh Freed stated last Saturday when the deal was announced, it’s a huge win not only for global climate goals, but also for the US economy and our domestic steel industry.
• Karla Adam and Reis Thebault trace the history of global climate negotiations for The Washington Post, mapping out how political will to make meaningful progress on climate action has grown and evolved over more than two decades since the formation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. What was once dismissed as a fringe issue with no urgency has now become one of the hottest and most urgent objectives of the international political agenda.