Climate Solutions Lab

Rhode Islanders have shown they believe in solar. Policymakers need to step up to address gaps. • Rhode Island Current A robust public finance plan is needed to distribute funding and incentivize adoption for households and local businesses to embrace going solar, and give the state greater influence in the decision-m...

COMMENTARY: Why investing heavily in rooftop and community solar will help ensure Rhode Island, and New England more broadly, stay on track. Via @climatesollab.bsky.social postdoctoral researcher Mircea Gherghina
rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/09/29/r...

One out of every 4 homes is at 'severe or extreme' climate risk, study says Some $12.7 trillion of Americans' housing wealth is exposed to the climate change crisis.

More than one in four US homes—amounting to $12.7 trillion in real estate—faces at least one type of “severe or extreme climate risk,” like floods, hurricanes, and wildfires - new report by Realtor

fortune.com/2025/09/03/h...

Trump Just Suffered His First Loss on Offshore Wind A judge has lifted the administration’s stop-work order against Revolution Wind.

breaking from me: the trump administration just suffered its first major loss in court over its onslaught on offshore wind

the revolution wind project can now resume construction after a federal judge found its developer orsted was likely to win against the trump order to stop work

@heatmap.news

It was an honor to visit @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social to share my new book #CorporationsAtClimateCrossroads today! Thank you @jenniferhadden.bsky.social and @jeffcolgan.bsky.social at @climatesollab.bsky.social for hosting me. I very much enjoyed engaging with the Brown Watson School community!

As the Great Salt Lake dries up, clouds of dangerous dust blow into boomtowns Dozens of dust events probably happen each year across the 120-square-mile playa once covered by the Great Salt Lake. But there are no comprehensive state or federal records of them.

See my commentary @washingtonpost.com in re risk perception and human mobility #SaltLakeCity www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation Electricity prices are rising more than twice as fast as overall inflation. That's especially costly during the dog days of summer when air conditioners are working hardest. In addition to hot…

Electricity bills rising 2x faster than inflation. We have cheap renewables but this administration is choosing expensive fossil fuels. This is a policy choice.

www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...

✍️ New on @brookings.edu Brown Center Chalkboard: Why climate change is an urgent education policy issue.

We cover:
* How climate change disrupts schools
* What schools can do to advance change
+ a lookup tool for climate risks in your district

www.brookings.edu/articles/cli...

In the 1st half of 2025, @climate.noaa.gov 's staff were terminated, shutting down daily operations.

Now, former members have joined w/ nonprofit partners to launch Climate.us, where climate info can be safeguarded from politics.

Check out our website and join the effort today.

Americans: it takes just a minute to submit a comment to the EPA asking them to preserve the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which finds carbon dioxide emissions to be dangerous to public health/welfare..it underpins all subsequent federal regulation of CO2 emissions www.regulations.gov/commenton/EP...

As this chart shows, the Med is once again in record territory. Look at the colored lines - showing the last few years - these extreme heatwaves are now becoming a semi-permanent feature of summer. Over the past 2 decades, the Med in summer is warming at a huge rate of .7C per decade (1.2F).

Reducing the climate impacts of food and farming Michael Grunwald joins me to discuss how to increase agriculture's output while reducing its carbon footprint.

I had a dream that my energy & climate hero @volts.wtf, who absolutely fucking hates talking about food & climate, would do an episode about WE ARE EATING THE EARTH. He did it!

It was so fun and I am so grateful.

www.volts.wtf/p/reducing-t...

YouTube video by Watson School of International and Public Affairs Teaching Climate Politics | Jeff Colgan & Max Bradley | CSL

We are excited to share a new resource for teaching climate politics! @jeffcolgan.bsky.social and @maxbradley.bsky.social introduce the framework here www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI20.... Visit the Syllabus Bank for more details climate.watson.brown.edu/syllabus-bank - we'd love your feedback!

@jeffcolgan.bsky.social and I have spent some time thinking about different approaches to teaching the politics of climate change. We advocate an approach that emphasizes the different 'theories of change' behind decarbonization.

YouTube video by Watson School of International and Public Affairs Teaching Climate Politics | Jeff Colgan & Max Bradley | CSL

We are excited to share a new resource for teaching climate politics! @jeffcolgan.bsky.social and @maxbradley.bsky.social introduce the framework here www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI20.... Visit the Syllabus Bank for more details climate.watson.brown.edu/syllabus-bank - we'd love your feedback!

Climate Policy Is Still Good for Business The green transition will survive cuts to U.S. subsidies.

Is the climate strategy behind the IRA dead after the GOP's massive cuts to its clean energy subsidies?

In my new piece for @foreignaffairs.com, I argue: No!

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Sparking adaptation: The politics of reforming effective interconnection regimes in Massachusetts and New York As the U.S. grapples with the urgent need to speed clean energy deployment to meet net zero targets, interconnection delays are a major obstacle to ac…

Thrilled to share my article examining policy adaptation in DG #interconnection regimes in MA and NY is out in ERSS! shorturl.at/L7Xl1

I had the great opportunity to conduct this research during my postdoc at @climatesollab.bsky.social @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social. 🔌💡#energysky

Sparking adaptation: The politics of reforming effective interconnection regimes in Massachusetts and New York As the U.S. grapples with the urgent need to speed clean energy deployment to meet net zero targets, interconnection delays are a major obstacle to ac…

Delays in connecting to the electrical grid are a huge drag on the clean energy transition to solar and wind (aka interconnection queues). Congrats to CSL Fellow @kathrynchelminski.bsky.social on publishing her important new study on dealing with this challenge. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Lawmakers pass game-changing bill to make it easier for homeowners to make popular upgrade: 'Bringing it into the 21st century makes sense' New Jersey's homeowners will soon see fewer obstacles to installing solar panels thanks to new legislation.

Lawmakers pass game-changing bill to make it easier for homeowners to make popular upgrade: 'Bringing it into the 21st century makes sense' — @climatesollab.bsky.social report cited by The Cool Down found permitting adds $3,800–$4,500 to rooftop solar costs in NJ.

YouTube video by TEDx Talks Climate Change and National Security | Josh Busby | TEDxSouth Congress

I have a new TEDx talk on why climate change is a national security risk. It might provide some helpful points for public audiences. It builds upon my 20 years of scholarship and policy work in this space. #EnergySky www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ne...

Towards a post-Trump order for the climate crisis Abstract. The Trump administration has injected a level of chaos into international economic relations. It is worthwhile for policymakers and scholars to t

NEW from me in a Journal of International Economic Law symposium:

Towards a post-Trump order for the climate crisis.

I lay out why, despite setbacks, industrial policy is still the way to address climate change - and how macro and distributional policy can help.
🧵
academic.oup.com/jiel/advance...

My key takeaways from the EFTA Court advisory opinion on the requirements for assessing petroleum extraction projects under the EU's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive and the implications of failing to adhere to those requirements. eftacourt.int/wp-content/u...

Cover of new REPEAT Project report, "A Fork In The Road: Impacts of Federal Policy Repeal On The U.S. Energy Transition."

Summary Full repeal of current federal energy and climate policies would: • Increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 0.5 billion metric tons per year in 2030 and more than 1 billion metric tons per year in 2035. • Raise U.S. household and business energy expenditures by $25 billion annually in 2030 and over $50 billion in 2035. • Increase average U.S. household energy costs by roughly $100 to $160 per household per year in 2030 and roughly $270 to $415 per household per year in 2035. • Reduces cumulative capital investment in U.S. electricity and clean fuels production by $1 trillion from 2025-2035. • Imperil a total of $522 billion in announced but pending investments in U.S. clean energy supply and manufacturing. • Reduce annual sales of electric vehicles by roughly 40% in 2030 and end America’s battery manufacturing boom. • Substantially slow electricity capacity additions, raising national average retail electricity rates and monthly household electricity bills by about 9% in 2030 — and as much as 17% in some states (including TX, OK and PA). • Kill off the nascent clean hydrogen, CO2 management, and nuclear power sectors.

Graphic showing historical and modeled US greenhouse gas emissions, with substantial increase if current federal policies are repealed.

Graphic showing modeled average household US energy costs, with substantial increase if current federal policies are repealed.

What does the GOP Megabill passed by the House this morning mean for the US energy transition, energy prices, emissions and the economy? REPEAT Project's new analysis has you covered. Read the new report or listen to our recent SHIFT KEY episode diving into the details. 🔗 ⤵️
🔌💡

New State of the voluntary carbon market report is out.
- Huge market contraction -- not surprising given that Article 6 is not yet in full swing.
- VCM will likely grow as Paris markets expand, bc this unregulated market needs some governmental legitimacy (and demand) to make it work. 🧵

Yes! A peer-reviewed comic on wildfires and climate politics! 🔥A fun project on a deadly serious topic, grounded in science and field experience. Featuring Miss Pigy, André the Giant, Harold Lasswell, and my co-author Jamie Michaels ! In open access here: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

The Evolving Landscape of US Green Banks A new Climate Solutions Lab white paper highlights the rapid rise of green banks in the U.S. over the past decade as a vital tool for financing the green energy transition.

The Evolving Landscape of US Green Banks — A new @climatesollab.bsky.social white paper highlights the rapid rise of green banks in the U.S. over the past decade as a vital tool for financing the green energy transition.

My NSF grant on Clean Energy and Society got terminated today. It helped support the @climatesollab.bsky.social.
We will continue our work as best we can.

Great to see this explainer about US green banks come out @climatesollab.bsky.social , the latest in a series of White Papers with lots of useful (and teachable) updates on the #climate politics landscape
Greensky 🌎

bsky user martinleaphoto doing a climate denial hinging on “CO2 is 0.04% of the atmosphere”

window glass is like 0.04% of my house, but it would be a hell of a lot colder if I didn’t have any

releasing this one into the blockosphere

The Evolving Landscape of US Green Banks Green banks are an essential tool for the green energy transition. Though well-established in countries such as Germany, India, Australia, and the UK, green banks have gone mostly missing in action in...

Check out CSL's latest white paper explaining the evolving landscape of green banks in the US climate.watson.brown.edu/news/2025-04...