Horowitz: A Positive Climate Milestone - Renewables Pass Coal
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Rob Horowitz
A combination of the rapidly declining cost of renewable energy and the fact that a critical mass of states, counties, cities, towns, and businesses have stepped up their commitment to renewable energy is fueling its increasing market share. As Paul Bodnar writes in a separate Brookings post, “The International Energy Agency estimates that solar photovoltaic module costs dropped by around 80 percent in the six years to 2016, and that by 2020, electricity from renewables will be cheaper than most fossil fuels. Already, in many regions, it is now cheaper to build new renewable energy capacity than new fossil energy.” Sensing the market potential for renewables and understanding that the reality of climate change is going to accelerate the move to lower or zero carbon options, even fossil fuel companies, such as Exon Mobil, are investing in alternatives to traditional fossil fuel production.
The stepped-up commitment to renewable energy by mayors, governors and business leaders is in part a result of the recognition that with the Trump Administration declaring its intent to withdraw from the Paris Global Climate Change Agreement and doing everything it can on the federal level to undo policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the rest of us must fill the vacuum. Given that the energy mix is determined more on the local level than on the national level, the energy choices of local officials and businesses can be decisive. As former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed, “Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up – and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us.”
Dedicated to meeting the Paris Climate Change goals through local action, the “We Are Still In” movement, led by Bloomberg and former California Jerry Brown, has successfully recruited entities that “represent a constituency of more than half of all Americans, and taken together, they represent $6.2 trillion, a bigger economy than any nation other than the U.S. or China.” That is major market leverage to speed the growth of renewable energy.
We have a long way to go to cut carbon emissions as much as is needed to limit the increase in global temperatures sufficiently to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, But renewable energy exceeding coal production is a milestone well-worth noting. And the market signals are full speed ahead.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island
Related Articles
- Horowitz: Distrust of Trump Complicates Reaching a Shutdown Solution
- Horowitz: 5 Reasons for New Year’s Optimism
- Horowitz: Americans Blame President Trump for Shutdown
- Horowitz: Martin Luther King Challenged America to Live Up to its Ideals
- Horowitz: More Americans Becoming Concerned About Climate Change
- Horowitz: Mattis Resignation on Principle Sounds Clarion Call
- Horowitz: On Obamacare - Trump Given Another Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity
- Horowitz: The Trump-Splainers
- Horowitz: National Climate Assessment Highlights Need for Action
- Horowitz: George H. W. Bush - An Appreciation
- Horowitz: Trump Administration Takes Its Climate Change Denial International
- Horowitz: State of the Union Unlikely to Move the Needle
- Horowitz: President Trump’s Falsehoods Mount Up
- Horowitz: Climate Adaptation Committee Disbanded by Trump Re-Forms to Fill the Gap
- Horowitz: People Retain Faith in Local News; Increasingly Consume it Digitally
- Horowitz: America is Not Full
- Horowitz: Mueller Report - Nuanced But Still Devastating
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It