Twice a month, we’re compiling the most relevant news stories from diverse sources online, connecting the latest environmental and energy economics research to global current events, real-time public discourse, and policy decisions. Keep reading, and feel free to send us your feedback.
Here are some questions we’re asking and addressing with our research chops this week:
What are the federal priorities for climate policy in the new presidential administration and Congress?
After inauguration, President Donald Trump swiftly signed executive orders that initiate the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement for the second time and pause permitting for new wind energy projects. Trump also declared a national energy emergency, with the purpose of facilitating the rapid development of energy infrastructure. While the new administration and Congress likely also will weaken rather than bolster climate policy, several climate issues may attract bipartisan interest. “Figuring out how to help communities be more prepared for [extreme weather events] … will be a point that both parties will want to address in the coming Congress,” says Resources for the Future (RFF) Fellow and Federal Climate Policy Initiative Director Kevin Rennert in an In Focus video about the new federal priorities for climate policymaking. Join Rennert and RFF next week Wednesday, January 29, to learn more about these priorities at “Big Decisions 2025,” an event that will feature a panel discussion with leaders from government, industry, media, and research.
How can deals between energy companies and the communities that host energy projects help ensure that these communities benefit from the development?
Delaware will provide a wind energy developer with infrastructure on state lands and waters in exchange for a financial package that includes $40 million in benefits for local communities. Job training, scholarships, and climate resilience projects are among the benefits in the agreement. As the sustainable energy transition ushers in a new era of constructing large-scale energy facilities, additional community engagement, planning, and agreement will be needed to ensure that host communities impacted by these new facilities also directly benefit from these investments, say RFF scholars Brandon Holmes and Suzanne Russo. In an article from the new issue of Resources magazine, Holmes and Russo discuss a federal template for including community benefits in energy projects and examine contracts between communities and developers. The magazine issue, which came out this week, also includes articles about the future of fossil fuels in the United States, the balance between targeting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, and more. Check out the online edition of the magazine here.
How do protections for species that are issued under the Endangered Species Act affect the value of land and building activity?
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has announced plans to designate the monarch butterfly as a threatened species. Monarch populations have declined significantly in recent decades due to climate change, the use of pesticides, and habitat loss. The agency proposed designating almost 4,400 acres of land in California as “critical habitat” under the authority of the Endangered Species Act. However, efforts in the United States and globally to protect species habitat “repeatedly are met with opposition from private landowners and developers, who are concerned about the potential constraints on land development and the subsequent effects on property values,” say RFF Fellow Beia Spiller and coauthors in a recent blog post about the economic effects of habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act. Protections under the Endangered Species Act have on average no negative effect on housing prices, but these effects can vary depending on the species and local land markets, say the authors.
Expert Perspectives
Fallout from the Wildfires in Los Angeles
The wildfires that have been burning in Los Angeles are expected to be one of the costliest extreme weather events in US history, with initial estimates of $250 billion–$275 billion in damages. The effect on households may be exacerbated by shifts in the insurance industry in California: insurance that covers fire damage has become more expensive and more limited.
“Insurers have been pulling out of California, partially because of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events—wildfires, in particular—in the state in recent years,” says RFF Fellow Matthew Wibbenmeyer. “A change in state regulation that allows insurers to pass certain costs on to customers may lure some insurers back to the state, but premiums for insurance that covers fire damage probably will increase no matter what. This increase may discourage or preclude residents of Los Angeles whose houses burned from returning to the area. Between the cost of housing and the cost of insurance, starting over in Los Angeles will be too expensive for some people.”
“Larger investments in mitigating wildfire hazard are required, regardless of what happens in insurance markets,” says RFF Senior Fellow and Climate Risks and Resilience Program Director Margaret Walls. “For individual homeowners, these investments include fire-resistant building materials, changes in landscaping, and the removal of flammable materials from land around the home. At the community level, the area between homes and wildlands needs to be increased; this area, also known as a fuel break, can act as a buffer when a wildfire is approaching. The challenge is figuring out how to pay for these resilience measures and how to incentivize individual homeowners to adopt these measures.”
Resources Roundup
Identifying Job Matches for Fossil Fuel Workers
What new jobs are available to people who currently work in the coal, oil, and natural gas industries, which could leverage the existing skills these workers have developed already in their careers? Join RFF in a webinar on February 5 for answers to this question drawn from new research coauthored by RFF Fellow Daniel Raimi. The webinar will feature the launch of a data tool that allows users to explore the jobs that may be a good match for those who have worked in the fossil fuel industry. A panel discussion with Raimi and other workforce experts will follow the presentation of this research. RSVP for the webinar.
Balancing Decarbonization with Affordability Concerns in New York State
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires New York State to cut greenhouse gas emissions and electrify the state economy. To meet these goals, the state is developing a program that incentivizes consumers and business owners to reduce dependency on fossil fuels by pricing emissions and subsidizing low-carbon technologies. In a new report, RFF researchers collaborated with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance to analyze how this program can help the state reach its decarbonization goals and keep energy costs affordable for its residents. “The … revenue [from the program] could be invested to reduce … transportation and energy cost burdens and put dollars back in New Yorkers’ wallets while yielding greater emissions reductions and climate benefits,” say the authors.
Addressing Energy Poverty in the United States
Americans in low-income households are taking risky measures to cope with high energy costs and avoid being cut off from services provided by utility companies. Sanya Carley, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an RFF university fellow, joined this week’s episode of the Resources Radio podcast to discuss the types of households that are most likely to experience utility shutoffs, potential improvements to state and federal programs that can help support these groups in paying their bills, and the need to address the root causes of energy insecurity. “We need to think more deeply about longer-term solutions: both preventative solutions—how to help households avoid becoming energy insecure and being disconnected—as well as these long-term solutions that help households lower their energy bills,” says Carley.
Demonstration Projects Can Help Accelerate Clean Energy
Innovative clean energy projects need to be developed into commercially viable technologies if the United States wants to meet increasing energy demand, maintain a competitive edge in global energy markets, and attract future investment. In a new blog post published by the Clean Air Task Force, RFF Senior Fellow Alan Krupnick contributes insights into how the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations at the US Department of Energy can improve efforts to develop these innovative projects—known as demonstration projects—to maximize the potential of these projects to bring clean energy solutions to the market.
Market Forces and Community Stewardship Are Helping Slow Deforestation in Latin America
Market forces have a significant impact on rates of deforestation. In Latin America, recent developments in the market have been slowing deforestation; technological innovations that affect land use and community stewardship of forested lands also are contributing to the slowdown. In last week’s episode of Resources Radio, Ohio State University Professor and RFF University Fellow Brent Sohngen discusses these intersecting forces, which are the subject of a new book that he coauthored. “It’s an exciting time for forests in the world,” says Sohngen.
#ChartoftheWeek
The term “energy burden” refers to the percentage of a household’s annual income that is spent on home energy bills. This Chart of the Week shows the median energy burden in nine regions of the United States for low-income households (i.e., households that earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line) (the red text at the top), along with the median energy burden across all households in each region (the purple text in parentheses below). The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy considers an energy burden that is higher than 6 percent “high” and an energy burden that is higher than 10 percent “severe.”
