Youngkin Pledges to Quit RGGI, "Our Biggest Experiment," & Biden Orders Net Zero Federal Procurement
Issue No. 101
Welcome to the latest issue of Carbon Creed - a curated newsletter for independent thinkers on carbon and climate.
VA Governor-elect Youngkin pledges to quit RGGI carbon program.
Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin is pledging to use executive action to pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon market involving 10 other Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
“RGGI describes itself as a regional market for carbon, but it is really a carbon tax that is fully passed on to ratepayers. It’s a bad deal for Virginians. It’s a bad deal for Virginia businesses,” Youngkin told the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. “I promised to lower the cost of living in Virginia and this is just the beginning.”
A transition aide for Youngkin said that because Virginia’s participation in RGGI is governed by a contract agreement signed by the Department of Environmental Quality, the governor can withdraw Virginia from that agreement by executive action.
However, Cale Jaffe, director of the University of Virginia School of Law’s Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic, said Youngkin can’t do that by executive order because of the way state laws authorizing participation are written.
“The (State Air Pollution Control) Board has promulgated regulation to join RGGI,” said Jaffe. “No governor can issue an executive order to just undo a duly promulgated regulation.”
Youngkin’s pledge comes less than a week after Virginia completed its first full cycle of quarterly carbon auctions, from which it netted $228 million earmarked by law for flood protection and low-income energy efficiency programs.
Earlier this week, Dominion Energy filed an application to update the charges it will pass onto customers for RGGI participation, which are expected to increase the average residential customer’s monthly bill by $4.37 beginning on Sept. 1, 2022.
Creed Thoughts: As a Virginia resident, I find this a curious pledge by Governor-elect Youngkin. I understand the argument against burdening rate payers in a time of high inflation. But look at the map above and imagine Virginia out of the RGGI program. The move almost seems like a rebuttal to President-elect Biden’s pledge to rejoin the Paris-Agreement. I can only hope that once in office, Governor Youngkin will continue the progress on carbon and climate that Virginians deserve.
[To read the full story written by Sarah Vogelsong, visit the Virginia Mercury]
We’ll keep you posted on the latest carbon policy and market insights as they happen.
If you have an opinion on any topic covered in this newsletter, please feel free to send me an email at mcleodwl@carboncreed.com.
Thank you for your viewpoint and the value of your time.
FORWARDED THIS AND WISH YOU GOT IT EVERY WEEK? YOU CAN! POUND THE BURGUNDY BUTTON BELOW…
NOW, LET’S GO DEEP!
QUOTES
Words that will inspire you…
(source: Creative Commons)
“There is no end to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
- Colin Powell, fmr.. U.S. Secretary of State
(source: Wikipedia)
"Climate change is like death, no one wants to talk about it."
- Amitav Ghosh, Writer
BOOKS
Our Biggest Experiment
By Alice Bell
Our understanding of the Earth's fluctuating environment is an extraordinary story of human perception and scientific endeavor. In Our Biggest Experiment, Alice Bell recounts how the world became addicted to fossil fuels, how we discovered that electricity could be a savior, and how renewable energy is far from a twentieth-century discovery. Bell cuts through complicated jargon and jumbles of numbers to show how we're coming to grips with what is now the defining issue of our time. The message she relays is ultimately hopeful; harnessing the ingenuity and intelligence that has driven the history of climate change research can result in a more sustainable and bearable future for humanity.
There are various places that one could start a history of climate change, and this one starts in 1851 and the Great Exhibition – a celebration of the age of steam and industry with little sense of its downsides. Using the exhibition as a starting point, Bell tells us about the machines within its Crystal Palace, the stories of Boulton and Watt, the industrialists of the Lunar Society, pioneers of steam ships and railways.
As it progresses, the book weaves together histories of technology, fossil fuels, science and environmentalism. We meet inventors, oil tycoons, scientists and their breakthrough discoveries. Multiple stories are nested within the overarching narrative of climate change, such as the evolution of meteorology as a discipline.
It’s striking how much this is a story about British and American elites, mostly men. The history of fossil fuels and thus climate change is inseparable from the power structures of the time. Other players enter the picture, but most of the relevant inventions, corporations and investment comes initially out of the global North. Climate change was set in motion by a relatively small group of people, with little idea of the eventual global ramifications.
Not that Bell is interested in blaming anyone, in what is an admirably balanced history. “I’m not going to offer you villains and heroes” she writes, with fossil fuel companies on one side and environmentalists on the other. Because it too reflects the power structures of the time, the roots of environmentalism are often dubious: eugenics, racism and colonialism are recurring themes in the early history of conservation told here.
Within the nested histories of Our Greatest Experiment are a panoply of fascinating stories, from failed technologies to scientific eureka moments. There are entrepreneurs and aristocrats, dogged activists and diplomats. Some overlooked figures get their moment, such as Eunice Newton Foote, who was the first to warn that increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere could lead to global warming, right back in 1856. Or Ida Tarbell, whose fearless investigative journalism exposed the monopolising tricks of Standard Oil, and led to the break-up of one of the most powerful corporations in history.
In short, I really enjoyed Our Biggest Experiment. Whether or not the word appears on your version of the front cover, it well and truly is an epic history. It traces the narrative line through a highly complex global crisis, a feat of storytelling that is as entertaining as it is illuminating.
Creed Comments: I really enjoyed Our Biggest Experiment. It truly lives up to the subtitle description, “An Epic History of the Climate Crisis.” Bell does a great job tracing the narrative line through a highly complex global crisis, a feat of storytelling that is as entertaining as it is illuminating.
INSIGHTS
Biden signs Executive Order Catalyzing “Net Zero” Federal Procurement
On Wednesday, President Biden signed an executive order that demonstrates how the United States will leverage its scale and procurement power to lead by example in tackling the climate crisis. The executive order will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities.
The President’s executive order directs the federal government to use its scale and procurement power to achieve five ambitious goals:
100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030, at least half of which will be locally supplied clean energy to meet 24/7 demand;
100 percent zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) acquisitions by 2035, including 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027;
Net-zero emissions from federal procurement no later than 2050, including a Buy Clean policy to promote use of construction materials with lower embodied emissions;
A net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2032; and
Net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030.
Don’t Fight the Fed
The federal government owns about 350,000 buildings, 650,000 cars and trucks, and spends $500 billion a year on goods and services, including about 53.8 million MWh of electricity, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which last week petitioned the General Services Administration (GSA) to adopt climate-related procurement policies.
The White House expects the federal government's planned clean energy purchases to spur the development of at least 10,000 MW of clean energy by the end of the decade.
In a move that matches corporate efforts, the federal government will seek to directly match its energy use with 24/7 emissions-free electricity from nearby power sources.
Generally, corporations have been ahead of the government in adopting climate-related goals, driven by investor and consumer demands, according to Peloso.
However, with the executive order and an early-stage rulemaking by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the government may become a leader on using procurement practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Peloso said.
The 24/7 clean electricity procurement goal is "monumental," Michael Terrell, Google global head of energy, said on Twitter, noting Google and the federal government previously helped spur renewable energy markets.
"The federal government has the same opportunity to move the market toward round the clock clean energy, which in turn will drive electricity grids to 100% carbon-free energy, faster," Michael Terrell, Google global head of energy
Buying emissions-free energy to match electricity use is critical to cutting carbon emissions because it supports the market for "firm" power sources like zero-carbon fuels, carbon capture and storage and nuclear energy, the Clean Air Task Force, an advocacy group, noted Wednesday. It also leads to higher carbon emissions reductions, the group said.
Vroom!
The executive order could also provide a boost to the EV sector.
The GSA, a federal procurement and real estate management agency, spends about $1.5 billion a year on vehicles. In the last fiscal year, federal agencies bought 47,350 vehicles through the GSA, according to the agency.
Biden ordered the Transportation Department and the GSA to coordinate with states, tribes and local governments to facilitate wider adoption of zero-emission vehicles and to use federal acquisition programs for non-federal purchasers.
The executive order requires agencies to let their properties, such as rooftops, parking structures and land, be used for emission-free electricity and energy storage.
Equity and Offsets
Agencies must also consider how their climate spending can help meet a goal that 40% of the overall benefits from the investments go to disadvantaged communities. According to Biden's proposed 2022 budget, agencies must also consider their climate spending in the frame of a social equity goal: 40% of the overall benefits from climate investments must go to disadvantaged communities.
The administration's efforts will cut carbon emissions, but the executive order isn't clear on how the government would meet its net-zero commitments.
"Is this a signal that the United States might become an active participant in the offset markets? Or is this really meant to signal we're going to use procurement to drive our emissions down as far as we can, without really addressing the zero part?" Margaret E. Peloso, Partner at Vinson & Elkins
Biden's order reestablished the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer within the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The office will oversee efforts to implement the executive order.
[This post was adapted from the original written by Ethan Howland for Utility Drive]
RESOURCES
The Keeling Curve a daily record of global atmospheric CO2 concentration.
Congressional Policy Tracker a summary of current federal energy legislation.
Click Clean your favorite apps and tech company clean power rankings.
Advancing Inclusion Through Clean Energy Jobs a report by the Brookings Institute.
Understanding ESG a series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars for business and investors, presented by Baker McKenzie.
Matter of Fact, a weekly newsmagazine that focuses on socioeconomic and climate issues in America, hosted by veteran journalist Soledad O'Brien.
IF YOU ARE A SUBSCRIBER, THANK YOU AGAIN, AND PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO A FRIEND!
👋 Questions, comments, advice? Send me an email!