Ben Beachy

Happy to. DM forthcoming.

Blueprint for a Popular Climate Agenda The path forward is climate policy written not about impacted workers and communities, but by them.

It's Climate Week in NYC, home of the everything bagel.

Time for an everything bagel-themed take on the path forward for climate policy.

Check it out:
‎
democracyjournal.org/magazine/78/...

Please have at it. I welcome your “yes, and,” “yes, but,” and “no, actually.”

Blueprint for a Popular Climate Agenda The path forward is climate policy written not about impacted workers and communities, but by them.

It's Climate Week. How can the climate community move from dysphoria to action?

For a proposed path forward, see my new article below

We need a climate agenda that:
1. Cuts costs
2. Expedites clean energy
3. Is written not about workers/communities, but by them
democracyjournal.org/magazine/78/...

Blueprint for a Popular Climate Agenda The path forward is climate policy written not about impacted workers and communities, but by them.

Want a blueprint for pivoting from climate rollbacks to a strategic climate offense?

That's my focus in a new article out today in Democracy Journal.

The path forward is a new climate agenda written not about impacted workers & communities, but by them.

democracyjournal.org/magazine/78/...

What's the path forward for climate & clean energy policy?

Tune in to this symposium tomorrow, where a few of us will offer ideas for what comes next.

Livestream link below. Climate panel starts at 11:20am.

If you're in DC and abundance-curious, you might like this panel & happy hour tomorrow evening.

We'll discuss policies that would deliver abundance vs. those that would take us backwards, moderated by Claire Jones of the Financial Times.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/abundance-...

Today's vote is a gut punch.

But it's not over. Our generational task of building a more just, clean energy economy will outlive this political cycle.

We'll fight – in the states, courts, & streets. When we win a gov't that reps the majority, we’ll pick up the baton the GOP dropped & keep running.

Crafting a plan for clean energy abundance requires precision, not abstraction.

We need to add industrial policies, end parochial restrictions, & use the labor/equity ingredients of the "everything bagel."

To actually deliver abundance, let's differentiate between those needs.

Delay #5: Workforce shortages

Solution: Use policies that ensure fair wages for construction workers, which also support workforce retention in a tight labor market. Wage standards were also part of the IRA "everything bagel," given they advance both jobs & deployment goals.

Delay #4: Community opposition

Solution: Community Benefits Agreements offer a proven tool for clean energy developers to obtain community support for projects, & for community & labor groups to secure wins. The IRA "everything bagel" encouraged CBAs as a pro-building solution.

Delay #3: Rising local restrictions on clean energy

Solution: "Abundance" proponents are right that we must end these problematic policies. But the map of the policies — across red & blue states — suggests the core problem isn't progressive overreach, but transpartisan NIMBYism.

Delay #2: A 137-week wait to obtain a large power transformer, due to dependency on imports for 4 out of 5 transformers

Solution: Enact industrial policies that stimulate domestic transformer production, including new manufacturing investments & a public stockpiling system.

Delay #1: A 5-year wait for clean energy projects to connect to the electrical grid

Solution: Fill the regulatory void that has enabled an inefficient, piecemeal approach to transmission buildout. Require proactive, systemic transmission planning to slash the long lag time.

If labor & equity incentives aren't holding up clean energy projects, what is?

Here are 5 of the biggest sources of delay, according to clean energy developers themselves.

Many of these delays point not to an excess of policymaking, but an absence.

Labor & equity incentives didn't deter clean energy firms from applying for up to 10x the available IRA funding.

And post-IRA data show potential for a win-win-win: ~100GW of clean energy built, unprecedented clean energy union density, AND 75% of investments going to low-income counties.

They taste good because they combine ingredients that go well together.

The question — whether for bagels or policies — is, are we using congruent ingredients?

Clean energy, union jobs, & equitable investments — like garlic, onion, & poppy seeds — can indeed pair well together.

A common "abundance" critique of the IRA is that the law's core strategy — uniting climate, jobs, & justice goals — tries to do too much.

Such "everything bagel" policymaking is said to slow clean energy deployment.

But here's the thing about everything bagels: They taste good.

The Energy Transition Needs More Policy, Not Less In defense of “everything bagel” policymaking.

The article names broadly-backed remedies for 5 major clean energy delays.

While some "abundance" fans call for policy rollbacks, fixing these delays often requires the opposite.

Here's the link. Come for the policy debate. Stay for the bagel metaphors.

heatmap.news/ideas/abunda...

The "abundance" debate has been long on narrative, but short on precise solutions.

What would a data-backed agenda for clean energy abundance look like?

In many cases, it'd mean more policy, not less — despite some "abundance" claims.

My piece in @heatmap.news offers examples: 🧵

Thanks, Mike. I'm in the UK, speaking at a convening, and just dropped the everything bagel metaphor. Thought about trying to find a scone equivalent, but turns out the bagel heuristic also works on this side of the Atlantic.

The Energy Transition Needs More Policy, Not Less In defense of “everything bagel” policymaking.

Despite some "abundance" claims, many clean energy delays point not to an excess of policymaking, but an absence.

I lay out a data-backed agenda for clean energy abundance in this new piece for @heatmap.news.

In many cases, we need more policy, not less.

heatmap.news/ideas/abunda...

The Energy Transition Needs More Policy, Not Less In defense of “everything bagel” policymaking.

"The data suggests that clean energy growth, union jobs, and equitable investments — like garlic, onion, and sesame seeds — can indeed pair well together," writes @ben-beachy.bsky.social.

Why "everything bagel" energy policy is a win-win-win:

The Trump admin offers pro-manufacturing pablum while gutting funding for actual manufacturers.

If we asked ChatGPT to outline a cartoonishly cruel spending bill, it'd be hard pressed to do better than this:

A dead-of-night vote to offer handouts to the rich by slashing health insurance, increasing energy costs, cutting food aid, and kneecapping a clean energy manufacturing boom.

A Clean Energy Boom Was Just Starting. Now, a Republican Bill Aims to End It.

America: We want cheap energy. And more manufacturing. And good jobs.

House GOP: What if, and hear us out, we got rid of those things but gave some nice tax breaks to the rich?

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/c...

West Virginia coal miners lose black lung screenings after Trump slashes worker safety agency NIOSH The Trump administration's cuts to NIOSH have gutted crucial programs affecting millions of workers across the U.S.

"I don't think it's hyperbole to say that eviscerating NIOSH, as they have, will cause people to die."

Coal miners need black lung screenings, not another empty sales pitch from a politician who doesn't give a shit about them.

www.cbsnews.com/news/west-vi...

Under Trump's new trade framework with the UK, the cheapest Rolls Royce could now sell for as low as $309,000.

What a great bargain for the middle class.

In the fight to replace lead pipes, Donald Trump has taken the side of the lead pipes.

Trump's new budget proposes a $2.5 billion cut to federal programs that fund clean water.

Remind us again how the Trump admin is supporting manufacturing?