How the climate fight will be won

Appliances, investments, supply chains, and a little bit of hope.

Next:Economy Newsletter Cropped image by Nenad Stojkovic on Flickr   How the climate fight will be won This year we experienced the hottest summer of what will likely be the hottest year ever recorded. We're in the midst of an escalating climate emergency, and solving it will take coordination from governments across the globe, new technologies, and some tough choices about the way we live. Recent big-ticket legislation, like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and New York's Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), offers a promising opportunity to kickstart change, as does the newly established American Climate Corps. But challenges still abound. Success—keeping warming under 1.5 degrees C—depends on the world coming together to tackle them. Here are just a few places where the climate fight will be fought—and how it will be won.   By simplifying government programs The IRA provides funds for installing household solar, purchasing electric appliances, and more. The catch? Reimbursement is often only available through a tangled web of tax rebates at both the federal and state levels. In a recent editorial in TIME, Jennifer Pahlka, explores the challenges the government faces in implementing the IRA, warning that the success of a program starts with getting the incentives right—it doesn't end with them. If it's hard to take advantage of them—if the rules are confusing, if the website doesn't work, if you don't trust that you'll get the rebate, or if there's an alternative that's just quicker and easier—the most carefully crafted incentives will sit largely unused. Robinson Meyer, founder of climate-change-focused media company Heatmap, is similarly concerned. In an essay in the New York Times, he sketches out the complexities the federal and state governments will have to manage to ensure that all Americans—particularly those with lower incomes, who may not benefit much from tax credits—can access the funds that will help them transition to greener technologies, something that's desperately needed. And as he points out, the stakes are high. The aspirations of 30 years of climate policies ride on the I.R.A. If this one law is successful, it will open up other ways of making policy for the environment and economy; if it fails, then lawmakers will shy away from tackling climate change for years. The law's home-rebate programs will not be large enough to fully decarbonize America's millions of buildings. But if they are successful, then they will allow the creation of future policy that is. + "An IRA Implementation Memo: Frictionless Income Verification Methods" (Rewiring America's recommendations on how to best implement electrification rebates) + Recoding America, by Jennifer Pahlka (Disclosure: Tim O'Reilly is married to Jennifer Pahlka. Rewiring America cofounder Saul Griffith is his son-in-law.)   By stranding existing fossil fuel resources Transitioning consumers to electric cars and appliances will help constrain US demand for fossil fuels, but won't be enough on its own to meet our climate goals. David Wallace-Wells notes in the New York Times that, according to research by the climate advocacy group Oil Change International, "the United States [is currently predicted to] be responsible for over one-third of all planned fossil fuel expansion through 2050." As Wallace-Wells observes, there's a solution, but it will be painful—particularly to the oil and gas industry. We've known for years that just rolling out renewables wouldn't be enough, that some existing fossil fuel assets would have to be "stranded" to meet the world's ambitious goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that additional fossil exploration or buildout threatens to push us past its riskier two-degree target, as well. There may be reason to think that U.S. natural gas could help some coal-heavy countries in the short term, and some European officials have come to believe the continent will need our L.N.G. for decades. But at some point, you have to find a way to leave those fossils in the ground. + "Biden Calls for Up to 3 Offshore Oil Leases in Gulf of Mexico, Upsetting Both Sides." + "Shell Plans to Increase Fossil Fuel Production Despite Its Net-Zero Pledge." + Net Zero Roadmap: A Global Pathway to Keep the 1.5 °C Goal in Reach   By investing in green projects everywhere While poorer nations are far less responsible for climate change, they're often the hardest hit by its effects. And they're also locked out of investment capital that would allow them to transition to green energy technologies themselves. But that may be changing. The New York Times' Max Bearak covers Nuru, a company building solar-powered microgrids in the Democratic Republic of Congo , in partnership with philanthropic funds including the Bezos Earth Fund and the Rockefeller and Ikea foundations. With solar, Nuru can provide cheaper and more reliable energy than the diesel generators used throughout the country. But despite the funding the company has secured, financing is still a significant challenge: according to Bearak, Nuru's interest rate is set at "more than 15 percent, five times as high as interest rates for many renewable energy projects in wealthier countries where companies have easier access to credit." However, the company's success may prove that renewable energy projects in poorer countries are worth investing in—and at more equitable terms. + "Rich Countries Promised Poor Nations Billions for Climate Change. They Aren't Paying." + Financing the Sustainable Development Goals Through Mission-Oriented Development Banks (policy brief by Mariana Mazzucato)   By establishing more sustainable supply chains Like most large corporations, food and restaurant companies including McDonald's, Starbucks, PepsiCo, and Chipotle have pledged to drastically reduce their emissions in the next two decades. But as of now, emissions appear to be going up. (Emissions disclosures are voluntary, so determining the true impact is impossible.) As Julie Creswell reports, this is largely an issue with their supply chains. More sustainable practices would go a long way toward improving an industry that, Creswell explains, "accounts for a third of the world's greenhouse gas emissions." + One way to do it: cargo ships that run on wind power. They still need backup fuel, but the sail-powered cargo ships already in service each reduce emissions by tons of carbon a day. + Another good idea: require companies to submit standardized emissions data.   By not giving up hope Writer and activist Cory Doctorow describes his new book, The Lost Cause, as a hopeful novel about the climate emergency. But how can the novel be so hopeful in the face of such a crisis? It comes down to what that hope represents. Here's how Doctorow describes it on the book's Kickstarter page: Hope. . .is the belief that what we do matters. It’s the belief that if we improve our situation in any way, that might open a new course of action to us that had been previously hidden from view, a course of action that, if seized, will reveal another hidden foothold, and another, and another. . . . That’s the difference between hope and despair, after all—not whether the situation is bad, but whether you believe you can make it better. And as Doctorow argues, "We need hope right now." You can back the novel on Kickstarter, or just dive right into the prologue, which Doctorow is serializing on his blog. Here's part 1—visit Pluralistic to follow along with the rest.   —Tim O’Reilly and Peyton Joyce This message was sent to alexvarboffin.abbb@blogger.com. You are receiving this because you've signed up to receive email from us. Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe From All | Unsubscribe From Next:Economy O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA, 95472 (707) 827-7000