Political Climate

Cities and states have powerful roles to play in divesting from fossil fuels and directing investments toward sustainable industries. There are a number of ways for these sub-national actors to participate in the divest/invest movement and help pave the way for more widespread action. 

In this episode of Political Climate’s DITCHED series, we go to the home of Wall Street and look at steps being taken by New York City and New York State to accelerate the movement of funds from brown to green resources. 

We speak to NYC’s chief climate policy advisor Dan Zarrilli about the city’s pledge to fully divest its pension funds from fossil fuels. Then, in the second half of the episode, we speak to NY Green Bank President Alfred Griffin about how green banks operate and the role they fill in transforming financial markets.

*Since this podcast aired, New York State announced it will divest its $226 billion pension fund from fossil fuels, becoming the largest pension fund to make such a commitment to date. Both New York City and New York State have now pledged to fully divest from fossil fuels. New York State went even further by setting a 2040 carbon-free target for all parts of its portfolio.

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Catch all DITCHED episodes in addition to our regular Thursday shows! Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!

When Neil Chatterjee was appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Trump in 2017, stakeholders in the climate and clean energy space were concerned about what his agenda would be. Headlines dubbed him “McConnell’s coal guy” and “fossil fuel champion Chatterjee,” referring to his role as a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). 

But Chatterjee has proven to be much more than a “coal guy,” despite his sympathies for struggling Kentucky coal communities. The Republican leader recently voted in favor of rules supporting distributed energy resources and carbon pricing, and views these decisions as powerful steps in advancing the energy transition. 

His openness to supporting policies that benefit clean energy may have cost him his leadership position at FERC. President Trump demoted Chatterjee from the chairman role last month, although he remains on the commission and will serve alongside two new appointees confirmed by the Senate this week.

In this episode, we speak to FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee about several of the agency’s recent rulemakings, past controversies and his outlook for the future of U.S. energy policy in today’s shifting political landscape.

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Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter at @Poli_Climate!

2020 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for fossil fuel divestment. 

Despite economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of countries, companies and financial institutions are committing to quit coal and are beginning to ditch oil and gas projects, too. 

In this episode of Political Climate’s special DITCHED series, host Julia Pyper speaks to Tim Buckley at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) about what’s driving the increase in fossil fuel exits around the globe, including in historically coal-dependent economies such as China and India. 

Will 2020 prove to be a tipping point in the energy-finance transition?

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Episodes of DITCHED will air Mondays over the next several weeks. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! You can also find DITCHED episodes via Our Daily Planet.

The coronavirus pandemic has created an opportunity to reboot the American economy in a way that is cleaner and helps to mitigate climate change for future generations. But it’s not only that, this is also a moment to build back the U.S. economy with more resilience. 

The word “resilience” is thrown around frequently. But what does it really mean? And how should leaders be factoring resilience into their recovery efforts?

In this episode, we speak to Norfolk, Virginia City Councilwoman Andria McClellan about how her coastal city, home to the world's largest naval station, is coping with rising seas and worsening flooding. And we hear what she hopes lawmakers in Washington D.C. will do to help address the growing crisis. 

But first, we check in with Josh Freed, founder and leader of Third Way's Climate and Energy Program. We discuss how President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration is shaping up and what to watch for on the policy front post-election. 

This is the fourth episode in our "Relief, Rescue, Rebuild" series supported by Third Way. The series theme song was created by @AYMusik.

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Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter at @Poli_Climate!

A growing number of financial institutions are moving their investments from fossil fuels into less polluting projects and resources. So what do oil and gas companies make of this shift?

Some of them are waking up to the clean energy transition in response to investor pressure. But there are leaders and laggards when it comes to oil and gas companies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There are also valid concerns about greenwashing. And yet, some of these firms are fundamentally reshaping the way that they do business.

In this episode, the latest in Political Climate’s special DITCHED series, we look at the pressures oil and gas companies are under to go low-carbon with Valentina Kretzschmar, vice president of corporate research at the research firm Wood Mackenzie.

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Episodes of DITCHED will air Mondays over the next several weeks. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! You can also find DITCHED episodes via Our Daily Planet.

In the past two years, climate change has gone from the back burner to the center stage. Why? It all started with a protest in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in 2018. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez teamed up with a then-obscure youth activist group called Sunrise Movement to launch the fight for a Green New Deal. It took a lot of planning, courage, and luck to make the protest happen. We bring you the inside story of the Pelosi sit-in on this special episode from Generation Green New Deal, a new podcast from Critical Frequency.

Host Sam Eilertsen takes a look at how scrappy organizations led by teenagers and twenty-somethings have brought the U.S. closer than ever to addressing the issue that will define the future of humanity: climate change. This episode features Varshini Prakash and Sarah Duckett of Sunrise Movement and Waleed Shahid of Justice Democrats.

Listen and subscribe to Generation Green New Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!

Banks don’t just hold on to your dollars and cents, they also play a role in addressing the climate crisis. 

In the latest episode of Political Climate's DITCHED series, we take a closer look at the banking sector and what institutions like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others can do to fight global warming.

Patrick McCully, climate and energy director at the Rainforest Action Network, explains how activists are pressuring banks to clean up their act through initiatives like Stop the Money Pipeline. 

Plus, Joe Sanberg, founder of the financial firm Aspiration, explains how this traditional bank alternative is putting climate at the center of its business strategy. 

But first, we kick off the episode with Monica Medina and Miro Korenha, founders of leading independent environmental news platform Our Daily Planet, which Political Climate is thrilled to be partnering with to bring you the DITCHED podcast series!

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Episodes of DITCHED will air Mondays over the next several weeks. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!

Young Americans voted in record numbers during the 2020 election and played a key role in tipping the scales to Joe Biden. Early research shows that climate change was a major driver of that robust turnout.

The Sunrise Movement and other environmental groups mounted extensive campaigns to register and mobilize voters to oppose President Trump and vote climate champions into office. 

Biden’s climate platform isn’t the Green New Deal plan that many climate activists called for, and Democrats will have a tough time passing progressive climate policies unless they win both Senate runoff races in Georgia. Still, Donald Trump’s defeat gives the planet a better chance of avoiding an apocalyptic future. 

We speak to first-time presidential election voters, Troy Distelrath in Michigan and Gabriela Rodriguez in Florida, about what they want to see next from their political leaders.

Plus, while Biden’s win represents a new era in the climate fight, the United States remains deeply divided and the policy path forward remains murky. So in the second half of this episode, we speak to Andreas Karelas about his critically acclaimed new book Climate Courage, and how to advance climate solutions in these polarized times. 

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Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @Poli_Climate.

Americans are waiting with bated breath for the results of a long and contentious election. At the time of publication, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden looks poised to take the White House, while Republicans are likely to hold on to the Senate. But the final outcome of this unprecedented pandemic election remains uncertain, with ballots still being counted in several key states.

In this episode, we discuss what we know so far — from the top of the ticket down to local ballot initiatives — and what those results mean for climate and clean energy policy. 

Then we look at what a divided Congress would spell for a Biden presidency and the future of his ambitious climate plan. From solar tax credits, to vehicle fuel economy standards, to oil drilling permits, what's likely to advance and what doesn't stand chance? We discuss with Glenn Schwartz, director of environmental and energy policy at Rapidan Energy Group. 

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Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!

What comes after November 3? As presidential candidates make their closing arguments, many stakeholders in the climate and energy community are already looking beyond Election Day. 

In this episode, experts discuss the top action items they’re watching for in a potential Biden versus returning Trump administration. What are the most tactical policy moves? Who will be making decisions? How will the private sector respond? What role will the courts play?

We hear from Josh Freed, founder of Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program. Podcast co-hosts Brandon Hurlbut, senior advisor at NGP Energy Technology Partners III, and Shane Skelton, energy policy consulting firm S2C Pacific, also weigh in. 

In the second half of the show (39:00), we discuss the ongoing health and environmental crisis in cities with high levels of lead poisoning. While it doesn’t appear in print, grassroots activists say tackling this issue is very much on the ballot this year. We speak to Michelle Mabson of Black Millennials for Flint about what she wants to see from political leaders. 

This is the fourth episode in our "Relief, Rescue, Rebuild" series supported by the think tank Third Way. The series theme song was created by @AYMusik.

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Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!