Energy

Does the GOP finally have a climate plan?


Republicans appear ready to cast off their label as the party that sidesteps or denies climate change.

That doesn’t mean the GOP will embrace President Joe Biden’s agenda — quite the opposite — but the evidence suggests lawmakers are investing new energy into formulating a Republican response to the crisis, at least on paper.

Under new Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the lower chamber’s Energy and Commerce Committee is updating its leadership roster and the names of relevant subcommittees to highlight the revamped GOP agenda, which specifically emphasizes the ties between climate and energy policy, writes Jeremy Dillon.

For example, Rep. John Curtis of Utah, who heads the Conservative Climate Caucus, will serve as vice chair of the newly named Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee (formerly the Energy Subcommittee).

“We believe that our energy solutions are climate solutions and that addressing climate change is absolutely a prime priority,” Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state told Jeremy. That’s in line with McCarthy’s own efforts to craft a GOP climate strategy before last year’s midterms.

Some Republican lawmakers are promoting measures to boost deployment of renewable energy and sequester carbon through tree planting (while others are stuck on the hoax thing). But overall, the GOP agenda is still one that promotes the use of fossil fuels without benchmarks for reducing climate pollution, writes Emma Dumain.

“Republicans have moved from denial to an acknowledgment of climate change,” Alex Flint, a former Republican congressional staffer who now leads the conservative group Alliance for Market Solutions, told Emma. “They have not yet articulated clear climate goals, and their proposals are inadequate to address the risks associated with climate change.”

Party members have also decried efforts to consider social and environmental factors in investment decisions as “woke capitalism,” and just this week one of the Senate’s top Republicans, John Barrasso of Wyoming, peddled a debunked conspiracy theory that Russian President Vladimir Putin is funding U.S. environmental groups, as Scott Waldman reports.

The bottom line: The GOP wants to appease climate-conscious voters and powerful business interests that want the party to act on climate. But they don’t want to impose any of the sweeping federal mandates or spend the kind of money many experts believe are necessary to stave off the worst of global warming.

The party that traditionally prides itself as pro-business may ultimately not have much choice in the matter. For the first time, the world’s investors poured as much money into low-carbon energy projects as they did into fossil fuel ones, according to a new market analysis from BloombergNEF.

It’s Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [email protected]

Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down the messy fight unfolding within one of the nation’s largest power grid operators.

Follow the money
The oil and gas industry donated millions of dollars to members of the House in the last election cycle. Now, many of the top recipients are well-positioned to advance its interests, writes Scott Waldman.

Two of them — McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — serve in leadership positions. Several more have been assigned to House committees where they will wield outsize influence over energy and climate policy.

Offshore oil lands at SCOTUS
The fossil fuel industry is asking the Supreme Court to resolve a legal battle over hydraulic fracturing off the California coast — a fight that companies say carries “enormous practical and legal significance,” writes Niina H. Farah.

A ruling by the high court could have implications for the pace of the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels. The Pacific outer continental shelf is estimated to contain about 10 billion barrels of untapped oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of untapped natural gas.

European cities at risk
Europe’s biggest, wealthiest cities are located in places increasingly threatened by devastating climate change, write Aitor Hernández-Morales and Giovanna Coi.

Despite evidence that these potentially catastrophic climate impacts are unavoidable, few political leaders are addressing what may be coming just a few decades down the line.

Back it up: Biden had vowed to punish Saudi Arabia over its oil cuts. That’s no longer the plan.

Utilities: Florida Power & Light’s CEO abruptly steps down amid crises and scandals.

A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.

California officials are weighing local clean air plans that favor electric appliances, a move likely to inflame the debate over restricting natural gas heaters and cooktops.

Pressure is mounting on Capitol Hill to enforce U.S. trade law ahead of the Biden administration’s final decision in a long-running solar tariff dispute.

The world’s largest renewable energy developer said it will move ahead with major hydrogen projects after a year of record clean power and storage development.

That’s it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.





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