Friday Five: 5 climate wins this week
Your Weekly Dose of Climate Progress
Welcome to Climate Drift - the place where we dive into climate solutions and help you find your role in the race to net zero.
If you haven’t subscribed, join here:
Hey there,
Skander here. Yes, it's been a huge election week. But rather than add to the flood of political analysis, we're choosing to focus on moving forward. Let’s keep calm and build.
We have been heads down working with our latest cohort of Drifties on making an impact.
In one of our cohort sessions, one of our drifties, with 10 years in high ranking roles in the US government (across both republican and democratic administrations) put it well:
“Our government was designed with checks and balances that make it difficult to completely reverse course or turn off funding. While I'm uneasy about the situation, I don't share the doom and gloom view. The country has survived more challenging times. There are dedicated civil servants who will keep things running, and we still have agency to make positive change. Rather than letting fears snowball, we should remember that many of the worst-case scenarios we imagine may not materialize, and there's still significant progress to be made.”
The founders and investors we talked with this week share this sentiment. Our climate tech founders continue building, our investors keep investing, and important progress is happening at the state and local levels.
So this will not be about the election, Trump 2.0 and what it means for climate.
I thought about how we can set a positive signal.
We're kicking off something new to keep our spirits high and our eyes on the prize.
Every Friday(ish), we're sharing climate progress – 5(ish) developments that show we're still in this fight, come hell or high water (though preferably less of the latter, right?). It's our way of saying: keep pushing, keep innovating, keep fighting the good fight.
If there is no wind, row. - Sloane Davidson
Let’s dive in 🌊
Join the Climate Drift Accelerator and accelerate your climate journey. The time to join the climate side is now. We are selecting people for our next cohort now, and we're looking for talented individuals like you to make a real difference.
🚀 Apply today: Be part of the solution
While we're focusing on progress, we understand you may want a curated list of great analyses on the election's climate implications, so here you go:
- For the political angle: Political Climate discusses the fallout from Trump's landslide victory in the 2024 election, examining how Democrats can better message clean energy and affordability while identifying potential Republican clean energy champions in Congress, with hosts speculating about the Biden administration's strategy to secure Inflation Reduction Act funding before the transition of power.
- Bloomberg Zero goes deep into the implications of the victory for climate action and energy policy, featuring interviews with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and energy expert Jason Bordoff. They discuss how climate initiatives might survive under Trump, the future of US oil and gas production, potential areas for bipartisan cooperation on clean energy, and the global impact on climate diplomacy if the US withdraws from international agreements.- Politico drives the point home that Europe needs to step up now
- A Carbon Brief analysis reveals that Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election is projected to add 4 billion tonnes of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to Biden's previous plans. This increase is equivalent to the combined annual emissions of the EU and Japan, or twice the global emissions savings from clean energy technologies over the past five years. U.S. emissions are expected to fall to only 28% below 2005 levels by 2030, falling far short of the previous 50-52% reduction target under the Paris Agreement.
- MIT Technology Review warns that Trump's 2024 victory represents a devastating setback for climate action, potentially adding 4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions through 2030 while unraveling Biden's climate laws, with the publication's climate editor expressing particular concern that this second term could be even more damaging given Trump's increased sense of empowerment and a more ideologically aligned administration.
- Latitude Media reports that while Trump's 2024 victory raises concerns about clean energy policy, experts suggest the Inflation Reduction Act is likely to survive largely intact due to congressional support, while noting that states, private investors, and market forces - which helped clean energy thrive during Trump's first term despite his opposition - will continue to drive the energy transition forward.
Off to the positive news now
1. Climate Initiatives Succeed Across the U.S.
The election this week wasn’t all bad for the climate. Multiple states and localities passed climate-related ballot measures, totaling over $18 billion in funding. Notable examples include Suffolk County, N.Y. approving $6 billion for clean water, Minnesota renewing $2 billion for land and water conservation programs, and various counties in Illinois allocating over $500 million for conservation and forest preserve districts.
2. New Climate Podcasts!
Two new podcasts are bringing fresh perspectives to climate discussions:
Solving for Climate: Data scientist Hannah Richie and "sustainability nerd" Rob Stewart unpack potential climate solutions.
Inevitable: A new offering from MCJ, exploring climate-related topics.
3. UK has a good chance to reach a clean grid by 2030
The UK has a good chance of achieving a clean grid by 2030, according to recent assessments. While this goal poses significant challenges, it demonstrates the ambitious targets being set and pursued in the energy sector.
4. Electrification is going well
Ari Matusiak, CEO of Rewiring America, reports encouraging early progress in home electrification:
Heat pumps are outselling fossil fuel furnaces
Strong uptake of IRA tax credits
Gradual rollout of programs addressing challenges like contractor training and incentive systems
5. Canada is working draft regulation to cap oil & gas emissions at 35% below 2019 levels by 2030
The Canadian government issued draft regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, which would cap emissions at 35% below 2019 levels by 2030, Reuters reported.
See you next week Friday for our next dose of Climate Progress.
Skander