Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 91

Chinese President Details Wide-Ranging Carbon Pollution Pledge At White House

The Pope may have left Washington, D.C. after urging the United States to act on climate change at the White House, but the leader of the world’s largest country is in town to talk about some serious climate action of his own.

At a White House press conference Friday afternoon, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a suite of wide-ranging actions that clarify how serious the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter is about cutting greenhouse gas emissions. These include prioritizing green energy on China’s grid, a cap-and-trade or emissions trading system for China, additional low-carbon financing to developing countries, and emissions standards for heavy duty vehicles. The fact that these announcements were made during the world’s most important bilateral meeting and official state visit lends them further significance.

A senior administration official told reporters on a call Thursday afternoon that the two leaders would unveil a joint presidential statement on what the world’s two largest polluters will do to actually achieve the carbon pollution targets they agreed upon last year. In that agreement. the U.S. pledged to cut emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. China pledged to peak its carbon dioxide emissions at or before 2030, cap coal use by 2020, and get 20 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. This would mean deploying enough renewable energy capacity to power the entire United States — 800 to 1,000 gigawatts.

Until this week, the biggest news of how either country would fulfill those promises came from the release of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which uses authority granted under the Clean Air Act to require states to cut carbon pollution in the electricity sector.

Friday’s announcement sheds more light on how China will meet or exceed the emissions reduction targets it set last year.

First, the cap-and-trade system. This will be the first time the president of China has committed to it, yet the idea of China adopting a carbon market is not new. In 2013 it began launching regional carbon markets, building up to a half dozen large markets. Earlier this year, a Chinese official said the government planned to launch the first stages of a national carbon market in early 2016. The market still required approval from the authorities, so having the Chinese president confirm that it will launch the market in 2017 moves it into the realm of implementation. When implemented, the market will cover power generation, iron and steel, chemicals, building materials, including cement, paper-making and nonferrous metals, according to the senior administration official. However, it will take several years to get a clear sense of the significance of the carbon market — how expensive the emissions credits are, and who is trading them.

Second, China will adopt a green dispatch system for its grid, where low-carbon electricity gets prioritized over power sourced from fossil fuels. This has been the chokepoint on renewable energy development in China, as the main electricity dispatcher prioritized coal over renewables. There has been a long-running problem of wind power production curtailment in China, where wind turbines sit unused or unconnected to the grid. Though the government has tried to address this in the past, a green dispatch system would fundamentally change how the Chinese grid works. It will reduce the price incentive for coal and ensure that as renewable energy projects are built, they are given first priority to be used.

Third, China plans to boost its international climate finance ambitions significantly, to the order of billions of dollars, and drop support for high-carbon projects like coal plants. China has continued to increase its infrastructure financing projects in developing countries, including climate-related projects. The United States will reaffirm its commitment of $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, as well as affirm it’s prior commitment to limit global funding for high carbon projects.

Fourth, the U.S. and China announced the finalization of fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty vehicles, which could have serious impact on emissions. These standards could be huge in terms of emissions reductions, depending on how they are implemented. They will also propose further standards on building efficiency and appliances, and double down on action to cut down on HFCs, which are potent greenhouse gases.

Finally, the joint statement also elucidates a common understanding for the Paris climate agreement. “We’ve made new progress I think on the overall issue of differentiation, agreeing that we would, again, pursue an ambitious agreement in 2015 that reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in light of different national circumstances,” the senior administration official said. There is still a lot of work to be done to achieve an agreement, but this could serve as a safety net for the Paris talks, encouraging separate agreements according to each country’s needs. All nations are assumed to have responsibility for lowering emissions but there remains a need for flexibility and understanding for nations still in dire need. The U.S. and China appear to be working closer together on their commitments, and this coordination makes a flexible global agreement more likely.

To sum up, the green dispatching system and the heavy duty vehicle standards are new, potentially crucial tools to lower emissions. The commitment to the nationwide carbon market at the presidential level could also have a huge impact, depending on how it gets implemented. The rest of the joint statement, though important, is largely already represented in prior announcements and commitments.

“When China makes a solid commitment to take new action to reduce climate disruption and increase clean energy, it’s a big deal for everyone on this planet,” Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in a statement. “This announcement makes it clear that China is absolutely serious about taking specific policy steps to reduce its emissions and tackle the climate crisis.”

Brune said that the United States’ leadership made this agreement possible.

Conservatives have often used China as an excuse for why they believe the United States should not act on climate change. This announcement, along with the last year’s worth of action and pledges from the top of Chinese national leadership, makes that argument much harder to defend. With the world poised to come to a global agreement to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as local and regional leaders pledging to dramatically cut emissions, any U.S. intransigence becomes more and more discordant.

UPDATE

According to a White House fact sheet, the U.S.-China Joint Presidential Statement on Climate Change “describes a common vision” for the Paris talks and “includes significant domestic policy announcements and commitments to global climate finance, demonstrating the determination of both countries to act decisively to achieve the goals set last year.” China also committed to a $3.1 billion international climate finance fund for low-carbon development. “This is by far China’s most significant commitment to climate finance to date,” the fact sheet said, comparable to the $3 billion U.S. commitment. The fact sheet also said China was “affirming that 50 percent of new buildings in urban areas will meet green building standards by 2020.”

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The post Chinese President Details Wide-Ranging Carbon Pollution Pledge At White House appeared first on ThinkProgress.

Pope Francis Gives Catholics Permission To Be More Vocal About What They Already Know To Be True

Pope Francis’s reputation is that of a maverick pontiff — one who is ushering in unprecedented change for the Catholic community. The reality, however, is that Francis isn’t leading Catholics to a new understanding of their place in the world as much as he’s reflecting many of his followers’ current views. The wonder of Francis is not that he is reforming an outmoded institution. It’s that he is giving Catholics permission to express what many of them already know to be true. And nowhere is this more evident than with climate change.

When it comes to global warming, Pope Francis is meeting American Catholics where they are. An analysis from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication conducted before the release of the pope’s encyclical found American Catholics are more likely than the general public to think climate change is happening. And, while fewer than half of non-Catholic Christians in the U.S. are worried about climate change, nearly two-thirds of American Catholics are concerned about the problem.American Catholics are also more likely to understand the scientific consensus around climate change and to support pro-climate policy than the American public at large. Hispanic Catholics are particularly likely to favor action to address climate change.

Yes, recent survey data shows Laudato si may have only had a modest effect on Catholic attitudes toward global warming, but American Catholics had largely already found religion on climate change, as well as a host of other issues. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds, for the first time in two decades, a majority of U.S. Catholics believes that the church is “in touch in touch with the views of Catholics in America today.” Nine in 10 approve of the direction in which Francis is leading the Catholic Church, and two-thirds of Catholics believe it is appropriate for the pope to “urge government action on social, economic, and environmental issues.”

By taking on contentious, difficult issues, Francis is giving other Catholic leaders permission to do the same. Earlier this month, the pope called on every parish in Europe to take in a family of Syrian refugees. “A priest standing on his own may have been a little bit hesitant to stand in front of his parishioners and say that, but because the pope came out and said it very forcefully, that gives those priests cover,” Said Archbishop Thomas Wenski, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “Certainly, it’s the same way with climate change.”

“A lot of our priests and bishops, for that matter, have not been terribly comfortable in talking about the issue,” said Bishop Oscar Cantú, chair of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on International Justice and Peace. In 2001, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted unanimously to issue a pastoral letter on climate change, but the bishops were reluctant to endorse any particular policy, apprehensive, as they were, to wade too deep into such a divisive issue. With Pope Francis at the helm, things have changed. Explained Archbishop Wenski, “This pope, as they say in Spanish, no tiene pelos la lingua. In other words, he says what’s on his mind, and he says it very courageously.” Bishops are now moving on climate change.

In the lead up to Laudato si, said Bishop Cantú, U.S. Catholic leaders “held workshops, webinars, and meetings, including outreach to ecumenical, interfaith, and environmental groups.” Within 24 hours of the encyclical’s release, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops delivered briefings to the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the White House. Catholic leaders gave interviews and held press events, and American bishops penned 109 statements and op-eds on climate change. Said Bishop Cantú, “We’re asking Congress not to block the adoption of a national carbon standard and to fund fully the Green Climate Fund, an international mechanism to help developing countries adopt sustainable technologies and adapt to climate change.” He added, “these two actions will give our nation something positive to put on the table in Paris.”

This represents a big step forward for the church, which, as Archbishop Wenski said “moves forward, perhaps slowly and ploddingly,” Catholics can expect more progress on climate change in the months and years ahead. “The encyclical is not a flash in the pan,” remarked Archbishop Wenski. “It’s not going to have a short shelf life.” Rather, Laudato si’ will form an essential component of Catholic social teaching. For Pope Francis, protecting our skies and seas from the ravages of carbon pollution stands on par with the church’s aims to care for the needy. The poorest among us stand on front lines for heat, drought and severe storms. “It’s not just [about] the bottom line,” said Archbishop Wenski, “It’s what happens to people, what happens to the most vulnerable people, that should be at the center of our concerns.”

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Why These Reverends Rallied Around Pope Francis’ Visit

Reverend Gerald L. Durley believes climate justice is one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time.

That’s part of the reason why Durley, a civil rights and social justice veteran and Pastor Emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, was in D.C. Thursday, joining the hundreds that rallied for climate action while Pope Francis delivered his historic speech to a joint session of Congress. The rally attracted reverends, congregational leaders, church members, and pastors from Christianity and other religions.

“[Pope Francis] is a prophet of our time, breaking the barriers not only in Catholicism, but he’s talking about how we can go back to the perfectly balanced world that God gave us,” Durley told ThinkProgress. “God said to take care of it, but we’ve ruined it by our own greed, our own selfishness, we’ve destroyed the trees, the ants, the bees, the birds, and each other now. The pope is saying lets come back to a balanced world again, so that what inspires me.”

God said to take care of it, but we’ve ruined it by our own greed, our own selfishness, we’ve destroyed the trees, the ants, the bees the birds, and each other now

Rev. Durley has long fought against racial injustices, police brutality, and other civil rights violations. In the late 1950s and 60s, during the height of the American civil rights movement, Rev. Durley marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and has long been active in local and national justice movements. But about seven years ago, he started to realize that environmental justice and climate change are connected to the civil rights movement. In recent years he has written for Huffington Post on climate change, spoke at the United Nations, St. John University with Al Gore, and at last year’s Climate March that brought in a historic 400,000 people. Durley has emphasized climate change’s out-sized impact on poor communities and communities of color, and its impact on asthma and other respiratory illnesses that are found at higher rates in minority communities.

“I began to connect the dots,” said Rev. Durley. “To understand why environmental justice and civil rights are so important.”

Rev. Michael McBride, pastor of the Way Church in Berkeley, California, and national director for PICO, the largest faith based network in the country, also spoke at the rally and gave his moral reasons for acting on climate change.

“I think we all understand that as followers of God and stewards of his creation, these issues have always been central to the way in which we understand the world,” Rev. McBride told ThinkProgress. “The Pope says it best: ‘How can we say we love God but cannot love what God created?’”

PICO’s faith community is planning 40 Days of Faithful Action to take place nation-wide after Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia later this week.
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CREDIT: Jess Colarossi

“We know that the people with our power influence the political and legislative agendas, so Congress must feel the power of our people,” said Rev. McBride. “We think there’s an extricable link between environmental justice, climate justice and racial justice, particularly because many families across the world that are bearing a brunt of unjust policies.”

The papal encyclical, he said, has brought a wide range of social and environmental justice issues to the forefront of faith-based communities, and the pope himself emphasized the urgency of these issues early on in his U.S. trip.

“I believe that the pope’s articulation of a broad justice agenda has forced congregations and faith leaders to take a look in the mirror to see if we are living to our highest ideals as stewards of God’s earth and ministers of this great gospel,” said Rev. McBride.

Faith groups in Washington D.C. also prepared for Pope Francis’ visit with interfaith vigils and group prayer. Susan Rogers, a coacher of Green Souls at All Souls Unitarian Church in D.C., attended the rally with her congregation.They held a 12-hour vigil at a nearby park before coming to the rally.

“We’ve had Green Souls at our church for many, many years, but we’re so glad regarding how the pope has stood up for this,” said Rogers.

‘Being green’ is nothing new for All Souls, nor is it a new concept for most Unitarian congregations. All Souls tries to bring awareness about what’s going in our environment by educating church members on ethical eating, waste reduction, and green building investment. Rogers and the rest of her congregation wore bright yellow shirts at the rally, which read, “Stand on the side of Love.”

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Rally goers listen to Pope Francis’ Speech to Congress

CREDIT: Jess Colarossi

“I think in many ways, [the pope] is leading for his time but I think many of the progressive forces across the globe are coming together to recognize that there’s an element of our society that has hijacked the whole world in terms of varied personal wealth interests,” said Rogers. “We have to come together in whatever group you’re affiliated with to fight against this.”

T.C. Marrow, with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, was also at the rally. She said that, “as a United Methodist, I feel that part [caring for God’s creation] is informing others about the realities of climate change.”

Pope Francis’ speech was aired on a large screen in front of the mall. Rally attendees were able to watch together, in the shadow of the Capitol as the Pope addressed issues on climate, immigration, poverty, and many others.

“I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play,” said Pope Francis during his speech. “Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”

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Pope’s Visit To D.C. Inspires Hundreds To Rally For Climate Justice

On Thursday morning — as Pope Francis prepared to make history by addressing Congress — hundreds of activists gathered on the National Mall. Holding signs, petitioning for signatures, and offering spirited remarks to an expectant crowd, the activists represented a spectrum of causes and religious denominations, from young evangelicals to Black Lives Matter leaders.

…we have to fix climate change and then get back to all the other issues that we care about

And they all came together for a common purpose: to demand action on climate change.

“We realize that climate change is the upstream issue, and that downstream, it affects all of us. It is a global an issue as you’ll ever want to encounter. If you’re concerned about immigration, then you realize climate change creates so many climate refugees. If you’re a person who is interested in protecting animals, then you realize that if we didn’t eat animals, we’d be reducing our carbon emissions by almost as much as the entire transportation sector,” Lise Van Susteren, head of Moral Action on Climate Justice, the organization responsible for the rally, told ThinkProgress. “Each group recognizes that we have so much common ground, and that if we put our energies together, that we can see some real differences.”

The rally — held in the shadow of the Capitol — began at 7:30 in the morning on Thursday, two and a half hours before the pope was scheduled to address Congress. And as attendees awaited the pope’s remarks — and his subsequent appearance in front of the Capitol — they were treated to a mix of speeches and performances by activists, scientists, politicians, and artists representing a diverse range of political and social causes.

One such performer was Moby, a Grammy-winning musical artist and environmental activist. A noted vegan, Moby donned a t-shirt with “#VEGAN” emblazoned across the front. But while he didn’t shy away from using the stage as a platform to speak about his vegan lifestyle — ending his performance by telling the crowd that “22 to 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture” — he acknowledged that climate change is a wide-reaching problem that impacts an array of social causes.

“Any other issue that’s important to anyone, be they progressive or conservative, pales in comparison to climate change. Nothing else that we care about can exist if the climate changes. If there’s no food and there are hurricanes with 250 mph winds, and if half the world’s population is displaced, and if political systems start to fail, everything else we care about just falls by the wayside,” he told ThinkProgress. “It’s almost like we have to fix climate change and then get back to all the other issues that we care about.”

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Grammy-award winning artist Moby.

As speakers and performers took the stage, representatives from a wide array of organizations milled throughout the crowd, using the gathering as an opportunity to connect their own issues to social justice. Activists championing D.C. statehood spoke to ThinkProgress about how the issue of D.C. statehood and climate are interconnected, as statehood would allow D.C. to allocate more resources to green energy.

Representatives from Oxfam’s D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Action Corps were also at the rally petitioning for signatures to support their lobbying efforts for a green climate fund that would help developing nations build greater climate resilience.

“Oxfam works with the nexus of poverty, the environment, and climate. Really what they’re learning is that climate change most affects the people who are worst off in society — the poorest, the food producers,” Arzoo Malhotra, one of the Oxfam petitioners, told ThinkProgress. “These are the people that are getting hurt worst by climate change, and that’s a huge problem.”

As the rally wore on, more and more attendees crowded the space in front of the stage, mixing with activists brandishing banners with quotes from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on climate change. The Parker family from Arlington, Virginia made the trek into D.C. not only to witness the pope’s speech, but to show their support for climate action — both Elizabeth, 19, and her 15-year-old brothers Matthew and Jonathan skipped school to attend the event.

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From left: Elizabeth, Jonathan, Matthew, and Susan Parker, of Arlington, VA.

CREDIT: Jess Colarossi/ThinkProgress

“I wanted the opportunity to see Pope Francis. The address is historic, and it’s a very cool atmosphere,” Elizabeth told ThinkProgress. “People aren’t single-issue climate change voters. It’s something important that we all need to support to get anything done, because there’s not a lot of money in it, it’s not a super hot topic, but it’s really important.”

Her younger brother Matthew agreed, saying that he worries that political inaction now will saddle his generation with the worst of climate change’s consequences.

“If nobody does anything now, they’re going to realize it’s too late — and that will be when we’re old,” he said.

Their mother Susan expressed pride at her children’s interest in climate change issues.

“I’m excited by it. I was glad they wanted to come, and glad we were able to do it,” she said.

But as various groups used the rally as a platform to speak about their own causes, the moral implications of climate change — the theme of Francis’ encyclical — ran throughout the event. Jay Winter Nightwolf, a member of the Echota Cherokee Nation of Alabama, spoke of a Native American tradition of “seven generations” — thinking of how decisions made today will impact future generations as far down the line as seven generations hence. The decisions made today, he said, will have an outsized impact on future generations of Native American and indigenous people, who tend to live in poverty and may be unable to escape the consequences of dramatic shifts in climate.

Any other issue that’s important to anyone, be they progressive or conservative, pales in comparison to climate change

“Native Americans and indigenous people throughout the world are among the first to be severely impacted by climate change. Many live in poverty and are vulnerable, and the poverty I speak of is abject poverty,” he told ThinkProgress. “It’s the greed of a few that has put us into this tumultuous atmosphere of non-survival.”

Still, even as the specter of climate change hung over the event, the pope’s willingness to use his considerable influence to address the issue seemed to imbue the proceedings with a sense of hope.

“It’s just amazing to have him as our spokesperson, and we’ll claim that,” Van Susteren said. “If ever there was a forceful person that had an outstanding reputation for goodness, and objectivity, he’s got to be one of them.

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When Tesla And Apple Compete To Out-Do Each Other On Electric Cars, The Planet Wins

The future of cars is finally upon us — and it is electrifying. The Wall Street Journal reports Apple is speeding up its efforts to build and ship an electric vehicle by 2019.

By that time, there should be at least three or four affordable EVs with a 200+ mile range on the market — along with thousands and thousands more charging stations, many of which can do most of their charging in 20 minutes or so. And thanks to Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the grid will be steadily reducing its carbon intensity, making EVs greener and greener with every passing year.

Tesla, the company that jumpstarted the 21st-century electric car industry, is now in a fight for technology and design leadership in what will be the biggest and most important new element of the automobile industry in the coming decades. Tesla has the lead in actually designing, manufacturing, and selling cutting edge electric vehicles — and promises an affordable mass-market Tesla by 2017.

But Apple became the biggest company in the world by reinventing and then taking over almost every market segment it has entered. It has a brand and reputation that is the envy of every company in the world. As the Journal notes, the company clearly sees the chance to become an auto industry leader “by applying expertise that it has honed in developing iPhones — in areas such as batteries, sensors and hardware-software integration — to the next generation of cars.”

Whatever the outcome of this fight — and there is room for both companies — the real winner will be the public and the planet. Because electric cars are by far the best bet for the carbon-free car of the future as we’ve discussed many times. If an affordable mass-market EV can be built, hydrogen fuel-cell cars don’t have a value proposition. Apple’s entry into the arena — including its decision to triple the size of its car team to 1,800 — makes the electric car future that much more likely.

And it was already pretty darn likely. Last year, UBS, a leading Investment bank, found “the 3-year total cost of ownership (TCO) of a Tesla S model is similar to that of a comparable petrol combustion engine car such as an Audi A7,” in places like Germany.

Even more revolutionary, UBS projects that “the payback time for unsubsidised investment in electric vehicles plus rooftop solar plus battery storage will be as low as 6-8 years by 2020.”

A key reason for all the excitement about EVs — and their explosive sales growth since 2010 — is that electric batteries have been declining in costs almost as rapidly as solar power has (see here). Batteries hit a major price point in 2015 that had not been predicted to happen until 2020.

Returning to Apple and Tesla, their seemingly inevitable fight has been a brewing cold war for a while now, with both poaching each other’s employees. As we reported back in February, Musk — whose Tesla bio lists him as “Co-Founder, CEO, and Product Architect” — has been amping up his efforts to be the next Steve Jobs and to make his electric car company, Tesla, the next Apple. At the time, Bloomberg reported that the 6,000-worker company “has hired at least 150 former Apple employees, more than from any other company, even carmakers.”

But will Tesla be the next Apple … or will Apple be the next Tesla? Apple has itself poached 50 Tesla employees, supposedly “offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent salary increases” — a heck of an incentive to work at a company so successful its market capitalization hit the all-time record of $700 billion. Apple also poached engineers from other companies in the EV space, such as now-defunct battery maker A123.

In May, Musk said there was no poaching war, but “if you look at the trailing 12 months, Tesla has recruited something like five times as many people from Apple as Apple has from Tesla.”

You can bet Apple — with $180 billion in cash — is wishing it had simply bought Tesla back in early 2013 when the entire market cap of the company was only $3 billion.

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If An Energy Bill Drops In The Senate But Everyone Knows It Won’t Pass, Does It Make A Sound?

This week, Senate Democrats unveiled an energy bill that would attempt to move America to a low-carbon future. But if the bill has zero chance of being passed in a chamber controlled by Republicans, does it matter?

“Today’s announcement should send a clear signal that it is a top priority for Senate Democrats to invest in our nation’s energy future and address climate change before it’s too late,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at a Tuesday press conference. The legislation “is a technology driven pathway to a clean energy future,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) who sponsored the bill, dubbed the “American Energy Innovation Act of 2015.”

Though it would not set a price on carbon emissions, like the failed cap-and-trade bill from five years ago, her bill does contain many provisions intended to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy, and sets a more ambitious carbon target than the White House.

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Sen. Reid thanks Sen. Cantwell at the bill’s press conference.

CREDIT: Screenshot

It would implement a “carbon savings goal” making it the policy of the United States “to use appropriate authorities and available technologies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the United States by not less than 2 percent per year on average through 2025.” It would repeal some fossil fuel subsidies and invest in clean energy technology through tax incentives and grant programs. It would, as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) explained at the press conference, provide incentives, but no penalties. It would boost community solar projects and access to solar energy for low-income families. It would help the grid and manufacturers modernize their infrastructure, making it cheaper and more efficient. It would “create a federal Energy Efficiency Resource Standard, which would save consumers $150 billion over the next 15 years, and support research and development on smart buildings.”

“This bill would tap America’s abundant clean energy potential to significantly reduce climate pollution while saving people money,” said Elizabeth Thompson, president of EDFAction in a statement.

But it’s not going anywhere. With the increasingly likely possibility the the government will be unable to keep the lights on due to congressional conservatives’ opposition to funding women’s health centers, the prospect of the Senate Democrats even getting a climate bill out of committee is dire.

In fact, there is no guarantee that the bipartisan but Republican-led energy bill that does not directly deal with climate change or renewable energy will see a floor vote either. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was able to get it passed out of her energy committee with a vote of 18-4. The Senate has not passed a comprehensive energy bill in eight years.

So why bother? Legislation like Cantwell’s climate-focused energy bill provides a chance for the minority party to set a national policy to highlight their priorities, operating somewhat like a shadow government does in a parliamentary system. If the Senate Democrats still held their majority, this is the sort of bill they would try to get passed. However, because of the rules of the Senate, history shows that even with a strong majority it is difficult to get a major piece of legislation passed.

“At a time when the majority in Congress is seemingly at the beck and call of the fossil fuel industry, legislation like this … lays out clear clean energy priorities, offering a blueprint for the kind of energy policy that actually represents what the American public actually wants and reflects the direction the market and the nation are actually going,” Sierra Club legislative director, Melinda Pierce, told ThinkProgress. Pierce said that it would not be surprising to see some parts of the bill adapted into other bills that would have a better chance of passage.

Other environmental advocates were less impressed with the scope of the bill.

“Marker bills serve as an opportunity to put forth a positive vision for how our country can move to a better future built on decentralized renewable energy,” Ben Schreiber, climate and energy program director at Friends of the Earth told ThinkProgress. “What makes today’s bill so disappointing is its lack of ambition.”

“With Democrats in the minority in both chambers of Congress there is often so much time spent defeating horrible legislation that there isn’t time to put forth a proactive vision,” Schreiber told ThinkProgress. Schreiber said that although it would make strides on climate change, “unfortunately, it is not an articulation of what is actually necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change or how we can achieve that reality.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that a bill like this “is the kind of thing I’d embrace,” which is important because he is seen as the likely leader of the Senate Democrats after Reid retires after 2016. “A plan that looks something like this is going to be high on the next Congress’s agenda.”

With current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) threatening to undermine President Obama’s climate measures on the domestic and global stage, the minority party sought to make clear what legislation they would advocate should they win back a majority next year.

“Wouldn’t it be refreshing in the United States Senate if we announced in the next two weeks we’re going to debate the energy policy of the United States?” asked Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) at the press conference. “That would be a breath of fresh air, wouldn’t it? Instead, what do we do? Last week we had five straight repeat votes on the Iran agreement. This week we are giving seriatim Republican presidential candidates a chance to get into the top ten by offering an amendment on the floor … that just might lead to a shutdown of the government. And people look at Washington and say, ‘I just don’t get it.'”

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Catholic Presidential Candidate Explains Why He Won’t Listen To Pope Francis

On the same day that Pope Francis spoke to thousands of people in Washington, D.C. about the need to fight poverty and climate change, Catholic presidential candidate Marco Rubio went on Fox News to explain why he disagrees with the Holy Father on the specifics of those issues.

Appearing on “Special Report,” Sen. Rubio (R-FL) told host Bret Baier that Pope Francis is “infallible” — but only on questions of morality.

“On moral issues, he speaks with incredible authority,” Rubio said. “He’s done so consistently on the value of life, on the sanctity of life, on the importance of marriage and on the family. [But] On economic issues, the pope is a person.”

Watch it:

Rubio then went on to argue that Pope Francis could authoritatively advocate against poverty and climate change, but that he did not have authority on the specific political solutions to those problems. Rubio cited the Holy Father’s historic criticism of capitalism, and defended capitalism as being better for the poor.

“We have the same goal — providing more prosperity and upward mobility, I just honestly believe free enterprise is a better way of doing it.”

Pope Francis might not agree that issues of poverty and economic inequality are not moral issues central to the Catholic faith. The Bible talks quite a bit about the moral necessity meeting the needs of the poor, which Pope Francis also discussed in his historic speech to Congress on Thursday.

Rubio is proposing a variety of changes to the tax code that benefit the very wealthy, including the elimination of taxes on capital gains and dividends. Rubio also wants to eliminate taxes on “pass through” corporations which are used extensively by the top 0.1% of taxpayers creating “breathtaking windfalls” for this group.

Meanwhile the “big loser” under Rubio’s plan “would be the working-poor people who feed and bathe the elderly, care for preschoolers, clean offices, and perform other essential tasks.”

Massive increases in wealth for the already rich, despite Rubio’s claims, have not proven an effective strategy in improving the lot of the poor. A comprehensive study by the International Monetary Fund released this year concluded that there is an “inverse relationship between the income share accruing to the rich (top 20 percent) and economic growth.” In other words, windfalls to the rich — as Rubio proposes — “do not trickle down.”

Rubio also said he “understands” Pope Francis’ call to fight climate change and be “stewards of the Earth,” but doesn’t believe in “big government mandates” to solve the problem of climate change. In fact, as Rubio often does, he argued that policies to fight climate change would actually harm the poor by killing jobs — something that is widely disputed, as the renewable energy sector is currently creating thousands of jobs.

Rubio failed to mention the Pope’s moral argument for fighting climate change, which is this: Though America has contributed most to climate change historically, the poorest globally are the ones who are going to suffer the most. Taking Rubio’s logic that the Pope is “infallible” on moral issues, this should mean that America is obligated to do something to help the global poor.

But Rubio has so far not taken that bait. In fact, at the most recent Republican debate, Rubio explicitly rejected the notion that America had a moral obligation to do anything about climate change. “America is not a planet,” he said.

In fact, though Rubio takes issue with being called a climate denier, he has in the past denied that climate change is a problem at all. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying,” he said back in May. “And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it.”

Rubio was not always so close with the Catholic Church. His spokesman has called him a “practicing and devout Roman Catholic” who “regularly attends Catholic Mass” and “was baptized, confirmed and married in the Roman Catholic Church.” But he has also been associated with other faiths. He was first baptized Catholic, but then baptized Mormon. Later, he attended a Baptist church, and reportedly worshiped regularly at an evangelical mega-church. He now identifies again as Catholic.

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America’s Elders Flex Their Political Muscles On Climate Change

Few things strike fear into the hearts of politicians like a disgruntled grandparent entering a voting booth. Seniors wield immense political power in the United States, a fact made plain by their voting record. In the 2014 midterm elections, a year of historically low voter turnout, nearly 59 percent of adults aged 65 and older pulled the lever on Election Day. Just 23 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds bothered to do the same. It’s numbers like these that have made Social Security and Medicare the third rail of American politics.

So, what happens when America’s seniors find out what climate change means for their grandkids?

Recently, dozens of retirees descended on Capitol Hill to advocate for climate action. Organized by the Conscious Elders Network, the Grandparents Climate Action Day brought together seniors from around the country. Following a day of training, during which renowned NASA climatologist James Hansen spoke to those assembled, the gray-haired activists headed for the Hill. They urged their representatives to support the Clean Power Plan and they advocated for pricing carbon emissions using systems like cap and dividend.

Grandmothers and grandfathers even formed a flash mob in the cafeteria of the Longworth House Office Building, dancing and singing about the need to address climate change.

It was an inspiring sight, and a reminder that old age does not destine one to political irrelevance. “We represent a very big block of voters,” said John Sorensen, co-founder of the Conscious Elders Network. He pointed to his peers, who were gearing up to lobby their member of Congress. Said Sorensen, “There’s a lot of people that don’t want to go play shuffleboard and bingo. They want to go do stuff.”

For the seniors in attendance, that means fighting to safeguard an uncertain future. Sunny Thompson, a small business owner from Ashford, Washington, said, “If you have children or grandchildren, or you are an aunt or an uncle, or you just care about life in general, it upwells within you to make sure you’re leaving it in good standing, and we’re not.” It was a sentiment echoed by many of those in attendance.

Erv DeSmet, a retired lawyer from Woodinville, Washington, said, “A special sense that I have is I’m a grandfather. I have four grandkids.” He added, “I’ve come to understand that it’s time for me to open my big mouth and talk about these things.” DeSmet expressed his frustration at the dearth of meaningful climate legislation at the federal level. As he correctly noted, “A majority of people want some action on the climate; It’s not, ‘You lose, we win.’ No, it’s ‘everybody wins.’”

Although casual observers of politics will note that common sense often carries little weight on Capitol Hill, lawmakers answer to political pressure. They answer to the threats of party leaders, to the pleas of rich financial backers, and to the angry letters of aggrieved constituents. For Thompson, Desmet and the rest of the elder activists, power and influence comes less from the strength of their argument than from the strength of their numbers. As they quietly mill about a congressional waiting room, they serve as a visible reminder of what many voters care about: climate change and environmental care.

If the lawmakers don’t respond to their concerns, they say, there’s always Election Day.

Jeremy Deaton writes about the science, policy, and politics of climate and energy for Nexus Media. You can follow him at @deaton_jeremy.

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Hillary Clinton Releases A Plan To Modernize America’s Energy Infrastructure

Less than 24 hours after officially coming out against the Keystone XL pipeline, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released her plan for modernizing America’s energy infrastructure and combatting climate change across North America.

Clinton had long refused to take a public stance on Keystone, a project that was first filed with the State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State. But the increasingly-visible threat of climate change, Clinton wrote in an essay published today on Medium, caused her to finally release an official position on the proposed pipeline, which would bring tar sands crude from Canada to Nebraska.

“We shouldn’t be building a pipeline dedicated to moving North America’s dirtiest fuel through our communities — we should be focused on what it will take to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century,” Clinton said in the essay. “Building a clean, secure, and affordable North American energy future is bigger than Keystone XL or any other single project. That’s what I will focus on as president.”

If elected president, Clinton announced that she would immediately begin negotiations for a North American Climate Compact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, intended to create strong national targets and accountability mechanisms for emissions reductions in each country. A climate pact between the three countries, Clinton said, would “[create] certainty for investors and confidence in the future of our climate, so we can all marshal resources equal to the challenges we face.” In addition to setting ambitious emissions reduction targets, the proposed climate compact would develop common infrastructure standards across the continent, expand existing regional emissions trading markets, invest in low-carbon transportation, and work to set continent-wide reduction standards for methane.

At home, Clinton’s proposed energy infrastructure upgrades would focus on ensuring that fuels are transported across the country safely — whether by rail or pipeline — and unlocking new investment resources.

In the arena of pipelines, Clinton said that, if elected president, she would work to strengthen national pipeline safety regulations and partner with local operators and regulators to fix and replace aging pipelines. To tackle the recent spike in oil that is now transported by rail, Clinton said she would speed up both the retirement of outdated tank cars and the repairing of track defects.

Clinton also pledged to create a new national infrastructure bank, which would be used for investments in new infrastructure projects. She also said that she would look to expand access to clean energy by making the federal permitting process more streamlined and efficient, and help expand customer choice in an array of energy options.

“American energy policy is about more than a single pipeline to transport Canada’s dirtiest fuel across our country,” Clinton wrote. “It’s about building our future — a future where the United States will once again lead the world by constructing state-of-the-art infrastructure, creating new jobs and new markets, accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy, and improving the health, safety, and security of all Americans.”

The plan makes no mention of expanding — or contracting — drilling operations, though Clinton has previously come out against drilling in the Arctic. The plan also takes no position on lifting the ban on the export of crude oil, which is currently being debated in Congress. It says nothing about exporting coal overseas, a market that coal companies are hoping to greatly expand through proposed coal export terminals along the country’s Pacific coast.

Clinton previously released a detailed plan on combatting climate change and investing in renewable energy, which called for, among other things, the installation of half a billion solar panels by 2021 — a 700 percent increase over current installations.

Despite these proposals, as well as her now clarified stance against Keystone, it’s unclear whether environmentalists are ready to embrace Clinton as their candidate. Environmental groups have, thus far, been hesitant to pledge their unabashed support, citing things like her failure to take a strong stance against Keystone and her propensity to support fossil fuel production as worrisome.

Many environmental groups applauded her statement against Keystone yesterday, however, saying that it indicates Clinton is on the right track with regards to her climate policies.

“It’s good to see Hillary Clinton finally oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, especially her recognition that it would be inconsistent with efforts to address climate change,” Kelly Mitchell, energy campaign director for Greenpeace, said in a statement. “With clear opposition from every major Democratic presidential candidate, there is now even more pressure on President Obama to reject this dangerous tar sands pipeline.”

Clinton isn’t the only candidate to make energy policy and climate change a central theme of their campaign. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s energy plan is arguably the strongest plan released by a current Democratic candidate, taking a strong stance against fossil fuels and tax breaks for fossil fuel companies — something Clinton has yet to do. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gained the endorsement of Friends of the Earth in early August, though the senator has yet to release his own energy plan.

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In First U.S. Address, Pope Francis Spends Most Of His Time Talking About Climate Change

In his first public address during his visit to the United States, Pope Francis spent the majority of his time harping on one issue: Climate change.

Speaking before a massive crowd outside the White House Wednesday morning, Pope Francis began his talk by referencing his immigrant heritage, noting, “As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.” He then offered an aside praising the merits of religious liberty, asking the U.S. government to pay heed to the beliefs of American Catholics and “respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty.”

But just three paragraphs into his prepared remarks, Francis pivoted sharply to the another issue near to his heart — the environment.

It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.

“Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution,” Francis said. “Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.”

Francis twice quoted his own encyclical on the environment, a papal document released earlier this year that made headlines because of its bold call for global action on climate change.

“When it comes to the care of our ‘common home’, we are living at a critical moment of history,” he said. “We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about ‘a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.’ Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them. Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies.”

“To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it,” Francis added, quoting the famous civil rights leader’s “I Have A Dream” speech. “We know by faith that ‘the Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home’. As Christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common home.”

President Barack Obama, who spoke before Francis, praised the pontiff’s environmentalism.

“Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet — God’s magnificent gift to us,” Obama said. “We support your call to all world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to a changing climate and to come together to preserve our precious world for future generations.”

Francis’ rhetoric isn’t inspiring everyone, however. At least one Catholic Republican — Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) — is boycotting the pope’s speech to Congress on Thursday because he disagrees with the Holy Father’s stance on climate change.

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