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September 15, 2021
Hello and welcome to Climate Change Solutions! In this issue, we highlight the job-creation and workforce development benefits of high-impact climate policies. From the Arctic, where an Indigenous network helps monitor environmental change on the ground, to a NASA workforce program that uses satellites to inform climate resilience decisions, to utility workforce development in Colorado, it's clear that climate careers can take many forms. We also have Q&As with a number of the sponsors of our 2021 Clean Energy EXPO and Policy Forum, reflections from a former EESI intern, and the first episode of the second season of our podcast, The Climate Conversation! Finally, check out EESI's upcoming briefing on how climate policies can shape the future workforce and RSVP here! Have a climate solution? Send tips to Solutions editor Amber Todoroff. We want send a special thank you to Sydney O'Shaughnessy, the previous layout and content editor of Climate Change Solutions, for all of her great work. We wish her well in her new position is support of communications at the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Good luck, Syd!
NASA has spearheaded a workforce development program that trains participants—typically college students or recent graduates—in remote sensing imagery analysis.
The program, called NASA DEVELOP, aims not only to answer useful research questions but also to help move both sides of the partnership "from intellectual awareness and appreciation for Earth observations, to a genuine appetite for the solutions they can provide," according to chief scientist for DEVELOP Kent Ross. [click for more]
Utility providers are helping the nation transition away from fossil fuels by working with customers to install energy efficiency upgrades in homes and buildings. Upgrades like these often generate co-benefits to energy and cost savings, including improved health and safety, added home market value, reduced peak loads for the utility, and workforce opportunities.
Click to read how two programs in Colorado are keeping these co-benefits top of mind. [click for more]
Starting on August 30, House Committees began marking up their sections of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. The House Committee on Natural Resources approved its piece of the package, which provides $25.6 billion for coastal protection and restoration, the Civilian Climate Corps, climate resilience and adaptation, and more. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the $150 billion clean energy performance program (CEPP) on September 14, which would incentivize utilities to increase clean electricity generation by 4 percent each year. The Ways and Means Committee has also started its section of the reconciliation package mark up. Major climate proposals in that mark up include extensions of the production and investment tax credits for wind and solar energy facilities. On September 13, the Agriculture Committee approved its $94 billion portion of the reconciliation package, which would provide funding for forest management, biofuels, and climate resilience in addition to providing $200 million for the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP). House Committees will continue with markups this week ahead of the September 15 deadline to finish work on the reconciliation bills. See EESI's full environmental legislative tracker from August 30 to September 3 here and the tracker for September 7 to 10 here.
Solutions Spotlight: A Q&A with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power Alejandro Moreno Alejandro Moreno, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power, joined EESI for the 2021 Congressional Clean Energy EXPO and Policy Forum to share insights and updates from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. [click for more]
Solutions Spotlight: A Q&A with Growth Energy [5 min. read] Growth Energy, a sponsor of EESI’s 2021 Congressional Clean Energy Expo and Policy Forum, represents the renewable fuel industry. EESI sat down with Chris Bliley, senior vice president of regulatory affairs at Growth Energy, to learn more about ethanol and its current and future role in the transportation sector. [click for more]
Heather Luedke interned with EESI in the summer of 2019 as a communications and policy intern. For her, the experience was invaluable in informing her current work at the Environmental Law Institute.
"For giving me the work experience I needed and for connecting me to amazing people, I am so glad I spent my summer with EESI," Heather writes. [click for more]
Upcoming Events The Growing Climate Workforce: How Policies Today Could Shape the Jobs of Tomorrow
September 27 2:00 - 3:30pm Join us for a virtual briefing about the current state of the climate workforce and the job creation potential of key climate policies. RSVP here. EESI will also be hosting a series of briefings throughout October on what Congress needs to know in the lead up to COP 26. More information to come!
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