Blog Posts: climate legislation

Despite some limitations, the CLEAN Future Act is a starting point for turning President Biden’s plan for tackling the climate crisis into specific policies.

Economic recovery plans need to respond to public demand for social justice and climate action. Citizens' assemblies can pinpoint priorities as governments deal with COVID-19.

A U.S. tree restoration program could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. For this to happen, Congress needs to write a stronger Trillion Trees Act.

Even as climate negotiators in Poland laughed at the U.S. administration's promotion of fossil fuels, activists rallied for a Green New Deal in Washington. What they want is congressional support for climate action that would be embedded in the broader U.S. agenda of economic reform, public investment, job creation and social justice.

The first bipartisan U.S. climate legislation in a decade aims to reduce carbon pollution by 90 percent through a carbon fee and dividend program, demonstrating that thoughtful members of Congress understand the urgent need to address climate change.

The climate denier engine is revving up again. Last weekend, an article in the Mail on Sunday attempted to cast doubt on the strength of climate science, and it has been taken up by the U.S. House Science Committee, which has been prone to promoting more climate denial than sound science. The news article doesn't just misinform; it is not grounded in facts.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump assured Americans he would preside over a time of rising employment, a growing economy and cheap, abundant, reliable energy. Five charts show why clean energy is key to keeping those promises.

Because the Paris Agreement is a universal, legally binding agreement to tackle climate change under international law, it joins other such agreements as the highest expression of political intent and will. That sends a strong signal to corporations, planners, investors and others that governments will enforce climate policies.

Under the U.S. Clean Power Plan, Pennsylvania must reduce power sector emissions by 24-25 percent below 2012 levels by 2030. New analysis shows the state's existing clean energy policies and opportunities to make better use of existing power plans could get it more than halfway to that emissions target.

As the federal government gets started implementing a national Climate Action Plan, the country’s boldest state-level experiment is making strong progress. Yesterday, California announced the results of its latest auction of carbon pollution permits, completely selling out of its permits for future carbon pollution for the first time. The increased demand for these pollution permits reflects an encouraging development: Confidence in California’s climate action program is growing, and its long-term future is becoming more and more certain.