Americans who report experiences with extreme weather are more likely to support pro-climate policies. 62% of Americans support tax credits for families who install rooftop solar or battery storage in their homes. 62% of Americans support increasing investment in energy-efficient forms of public transportation. 60% of Americans support grants to communities to protect them from the impacts of climate change, including drought, heat, and extreme weather. 57% of Americans support forgivable loans for rural communities to improve their energy efficiency.

This Federal Funding Primer on Climate Justice provides an invaluable roadmap for navigating the maze of funding opportunities provided by Justice40, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The Justice40 Initiative is a requirement of Executive Order 14008 and mandates that 40 percent of the benefits from environmental and climate justice related federal investments go to communities that are disadvantaged, underserved, or overburdened by pollution.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling and research on the EPA's vehicle emissions rules, utilities, and people’s emotional responses to climate change.

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Voters mostly like their utility companies, but overwhelmingly oppose junk fees and utilities using customers’ money to fund lobbying and political activities. 72% of voters support legislation to prevent utility providers from using money collected from customers’ monthly bills to fund political activities. Support for this proposal is very balanced across party lines, with 74% of Democrats, 72% of independents, and 69% of Republicans in favor of legislation that would ban utility companies from using customers’ money on political activities.

The closer we get to the 2024 presidential election, the more sketchy information out there about electric cars. GOP polling has shown that attacking electric vehicle (EV) policy has been “amazing” for Republicans. Even the New York Times op-ed section has been fooled by EV arguments. In a recent column, Ross Douthat complained that Biden’s new EPA regulations tell American consumers: “If you like your [gas-powered] car, I don’t want you to keep it.” This is, at best, highly misleading.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including newly released polling on the Sackett v. EPA decision and clean water protections, new polling on oil and gas accountability, and a new analysis on the gap between Americans’ interest in climate activism and their actual behaviors.

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The 2024 Community Power Scorecard from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance provides a measure of state policies related to energy democracy and utility accountability. State scores suggest lawmakers must take immediate action to improve. Of the 50 states and D.C., only one state scraped an above average grade (a B), 11 hit the C average, 13 received Ds, and 26 states received a failing F grade. This annual scorecard goes beyond greenhouse gas reductions or renewable generation capacity to evaluate how state policies help or hinder local clean energy action.

Voters distrust fossil fuel companies and the politicians that they fund, and want to see fossil fuel companies held accountable for their pollution. 84% of voters are concerned about oil and gas companies making large profits while consumers face rising energy bills. 78% of voters agree that “oil and gas companies that knew about the polluting impact of burning fossil fuels, but that intentionally misled the public about it, should be held accountable”.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling about President Biden’s record on climate change and clean energy + new research on messaging about electric vehicles.

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Is the Inflation Reduction Act, passed nearly two years ago, doing what it set out to do? In this episode, Trevor Houser of the Rhodium Group compares the predictions of pre-IRA energy-sector models to the real-world data on clean-energy investment since its passage.