“The U.N. report’s findings are bleak,” said EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette. “The United States and other countries are failing to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, which means that we need to make even deeper and faster cuts if we want to curb climate change. We need to step up our commitments, and do so now. There are policy options available to us today that would have an immediate impact. In fact, we have just laid out an achievable set of policy recommendations to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) today submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis an extensive set of policy recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)’s Executive Director, Daniel Bresette, testified before Congress on the importance of energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create a clean energy economy, promote climate adaptation and resilience, and save Americans money.

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“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a fantastic organization I have long admired,” said Daniel Bresette, who became EESI’s new Executive Director on October 1. He is taking the reins from Carol Werner, who had been with EESI for 32 years, 21 of which as Executive Director.

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Today, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading body of climate scientists, released its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (the cryosphere refers to areas containing frozen water, such as glaciers and snowcapped mountains). More than 100 scientists from 80 countries examined thousands of peer-reviewed studies to assess the impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans, as well as its coastal, polar, and mountain regions. Their conclusions were grim. “Global warming of 1 degree Celsius has already taken place, and the impacts are already being felt: rising sea levels, disappearing glaciers, more extreme weather, marine heatwaves…” noted EESI Executive Director Carol Werner. “Already severe, these impacts will only get worse as we continue to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is alarmed by the latest U.N. report, Climate Change and Land, which was released yesterday. The report warns that climate change is exacerbating pressures on the global food supply, threatening millions more with hunger, and potentially raising food prices for all.

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On April 8, Hawaii Governor David Ige formally announced the Green Energy Money $aver (GEM$) on-bill financing program, a statewide initiative to make clean energy more affordable for homes and small businesses. The culmination of more than seven years of work by Hawaiian authorities, the program provides easy-access financing for cost-effective rooftop solar panels and other renewable distributed energy systems, as well as energy efficiency upgrades. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has provided assistance to the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority (HGIA), the GEM$ administrator, since 2017.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is calling for bipartisan support of the Climate Action Now Act (HR 9), which was introduced into the House of Representatives today. The legislation would prohibit the use of federal funds to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, and would direct the President to unveil a plan to meet the carbon reduction goals the United States pledged to meet when it signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016. The Agreement calls on the world's nations to keep global warming significantly below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by transitioning to clean energy and adopting energy efficiency measures.

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Carol Werner, who has served as the Environmental and Energy Study Institute's Executive Director for the past 21 years, will step down in summer 2019, once her successor is confirmed. "Carol has been an amazing asset to the organization, and has played a critical role in making EESI the trusted policymaker resource it is today," said EESI Chair Jared Blum.

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Today, the Department of Defense released a Congressionally-mandated report on the effects of a changing climate on America's military bases. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute welcomes the report but finds it incomplete, as it fails to list the most vulnerable bases, per Congress's directive. More importantly, the report doesn’t list and price out actionable measures that could be taken to better prepare America's armed forces for the impacts of climate change.

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