Publications: Commentary

The new democratic majority in the House of Representatives is pressing for action on a “Green New Deal” (GND) that would significantly cut carbon emissions and support clean technologies. At least in its initial iteration, its centerpiece is reaching 100 percent carbon-free electric generation in 12 years – but only using wind, solar and other…

The next Congress must respond quickly and comprehensively to the significant economic and national security impacts posed by climate change that were forcefully documented in the recent reports of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The answer is not the narrowly-drawn Green New Deal, a renewables-only proposal that has generated support from some climate…

There is an estimated $500 trillion of global wealth, equity and debt. If the earth warms by 3.7° Celsius by the end of the century – a business as usual trajectory - it will swamp that value and more, producing an estimated $551 trillion in damage. That is the kind of wholesale financial disintegration that…

The shockwave generated by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report on the severity of the climate crisis is rattling the long-standing climate canon, leading to a reconsideration of the required partnerships and the role of nuclear power in meeting this urgent challenge. In an unprecedented joint Op-Ed, the president of the MacArthur…