1. NEW WHITE HOUSE EXECUTIVE ORDER TO CATALYZE AMERICA’S CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY

On December 8, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) directing the federal government to leverage its purchasing and procurement power to reduce emissions across the federal government while investing in American manufacturing and clean energy industries. The EO established five tangible goals, including a target of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030, at least half of which will be locally supplied energy to meet 24/7 demand, as well as net-zero emissions from federal procurement by 2050.

As Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for Climate and Energy at Third Way, told the New York Times: 

“It’s a similar strategy to what China is doing so successfully, leveraging the purchasing power of their government to create demand that markets can meet. The federal government in so many areas is one of, if not the largest, purchaser. Having the certainty that the government will purchase cleaner products, materials, and vehicles enables companies to move in that direction.”

We’re particularly thrilled to see an emphasis on establishing a Buy Clean policy, a program that will incentivize the purchase of cleaner construction materials and support domestic manufacturing companies. It’s a popular policy supported by labor, environmental, and industry groups alike, and it’s vital to curb emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sectors.

Read our full statement on the Executive Order here.

2. REMINDER: WE NEED CARBON CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, AND STORAGE TO MEET OUR CLIMATE GOALS

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal substantially funds clean energy innovation through $27 billion for research, development, demonstration, and commercialization priorities. That includes demonstration programs for carbon capture and regional hubs for direct air capture and hydrogen production.

All in all, this makes a pretty significant down payment to help commercialize these technologies. These investments won’t just help us reduce our emissions, they’ll also create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country and strengthen US competitiveness in emerging clean energy industries.

An enormous coalition of scientists and experts agree we need carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to tackle climate change. Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency have released reports demonstrating that CCUS significantly reduces the cost of decarbonization. CCUS is also essential to cut emissions from hard-to-abate sectors like cement and steel. As important, back in their Fifth Assessment Report, the UN IPCC report found that the overall cost of reaching net-zero by 2050 could be as much as 138% more expensive without CCUS.

That’s why Josh Freed took to Twitter to explain why carbon capture is so vital to eliminating carbon pollution, and how government action is critical to help us deploy CCUS as a climate solution and jobs creator.

3. WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING ACTION PLAN

4. RECAP: FASTEST PATH TO ZERO: REFLECTIONS FROM COP26

5. WHAT WE’RE READING

• In Foreign Policy, Adam Tooze writes about how our efforts to expand domestic clean energy capacity is triggering a transformational shift in the US political economy. As the fossil fuel lobby doubles down on its campaign to secure the oil and gas industry in the US, it threatens to leave the US economy stranded in the face of a growing market shift to low- and zero-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels.
• A bipartisan bill introduced last week would waive Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing fees for new nuclear reactors, as Jeremy Dillon reports for E&E. This would help ease the cost burden on and clear the pathway for advanced reactor developers looking to build and commercialize advanced nuclear.
• Nathan Bomey at Axios covers how Caterpillar, Chevron, and BNSF, three of the biggest industrial giants in the US, are working together to demo a hydrogen-powered locomotive. Commercializing hydrogen fuel as a low-carbon alternative to diesel is vital to decarbonize heavy-duty transportation like rail, as Alex Laska, our Transportation Policy Advisor, explained this year.