- 82% support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
- 82% support funding more research into renewable energy sources.
- 80% support generating renewable energy (solar and wind) on public land in the U.S.
- 78% support providing federal funding to put solar panels on the roofs of public schools.
- 74% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
- 72% support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050.
- 67% support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a tax on the carbon pollution they produce, and using that revenue to reduce other taxes (such as the federal income tax) by an equal amount (i.e., a revenue-neutral carbon tax).
- 66% support requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2035.
- 66% support eliminating all carbon pollution created by coal, oil, and natural gas from the U.S. economy by 2050.
Voters On Board For Climate Action As Biden Administration Begins: Voters support the climate change proposals expected to be a priority when President-elect Joe Biden takes office next week, according to a new national poll conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, the New York Times reports. The survey found a majority of registered voters (53%) support making addressing global warming a high or very high priority for the new administration and Congress, and nearly two-thirds (66%) said developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority. Biden ran on the most ambitious climate platform ever put forward by a major party nominee, and several of his specific proposals were highly favored in the survey, including setting stronger vehicle fuel efficiency standards (78%) and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations (67%). Voters especially support programs to address the wind-down of fossil fuels, including a jobs program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells, and a program to hire unemployed coal workers, shut down old coal mines safely, and restore the natural landscape (both 83%). A Green New Deal had 66% support. Across most climate priorities, a partisan gap remains; however, a plurality of Republicans (43%) said developing clean sources of energy should be a high or very high priority for the Congress and president, suggesting a bipartisan avenue forward on at least some proposals. The poll’s findings are consistent with the results of several Nexus Polling surveys conducted over the past year. (New York Times)
Survey finds majority of voters support initiatives to fight climate change
The New York Times | John Schwartz A majority of registered voters of both parties in the United States support initiatives to fight climate change, including many that are outlined in the climate plans announced by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr, according to a new survey. The survey, which was conducted after the presidential election, suggests that a majority of Americans in both parties want a government that deals forcefully with climate change instead of denying its urgency — or denying that it exists at all. In the survey, published Friday by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, 53 percent of registered voters said that global warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress, and 66 percent said that developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority. Eight in 10 supported achieving those ends by providing tax breaks to people who buy electric vehicles or solar panels, and by investing in renewable energy research. […] Of those polled, 83 percent said they supported creating a jobs program that would hire unemployed coal workers, shut down old coal mines safely, and restore the natural landscape. The same percentage said they supported a jobs program that would shut down the thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells around the nation, which pollute water and leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Some of the policies that appear in the survey echo Mr. Biden’s campaign points closely, including support among 78 percent of those surveyed for setting stronger vehicle fuel efficiency standards and 67 percent support installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the United States by 2030. […] Some of the signature initiatives of the Trump administration proved to be deeply unpopular with the public, especially the effort to promote drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska: only 28 percent of voters favored it. Just 40 percent supported drilling for and mining fossil fuels on public lands, and 47 percent supported expanding U.S. offshore oil and natural gas drilling. As for the Paris climate agreement, which Mr. Trump abandoned with great fanfare, 75 percent of American voters said they wanted the nation back in. And while Mr. Trump heralded his aggressive efforts to relax energy efficiency standards for home appliances like dishwashers and light bulbs, 83 percent of the voters in the survey said they supported more energy-efficient appliances
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Climatechange@yale.edu released a new report “Politics & Global Warming” based on our latest national survey, conducted after the 2020 election. With climate change a top priority of the incoming Biden-Harris administration, climate champions nominated to lead multiple federal agencies and programs, and with narrow Democratic control of the U.S. House and Senate, there will likely soon be multiple opportunities to reduce carbon pollution and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.
Overall, we find that large majorities of registered voters – often across party lines – support numerous policies to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy. These include:
Global Warming and Energy Policies
- 82% support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
- 82% support funding more research into renewable energy sources.
- 80% support generating renewable energy (solar and wind) on public land in the U.S.
- 78% support providing federal funding to put solar panels on the roofs of public schools.
- 74% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
- 72% support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050.
- 67% support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a tax on the carbon pollution they produce, and using that revenue to reduce other taxes (such as the federal income tax) by an equal amount (i.e., a revenue-neutral carbon tax).
- 66% support requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2035.
- 66% support eliminating all carbon pollution created by coal, oil, and natural gas from the U.S. economy by 2050.
• Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker vetoes a comprehensive climate roadmap bill, saying its efficiency requirements would have burdened the housing sector and that the bill lacked tools for localities to address environmental justice issues. (Masslive.com)
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reveals a new plan to reduce greenhouse gas pollution with a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2040, but critics say the roadmap is still not specific enough. (CBS Denver, Colorado Sun)
• Minnesota is falling further behind on its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets largely because of increased natural gas usage and transportation emissions. (Star Tribune)
• A coalition of 20 advocacy groups press Virginia lawmakers to build on last year’s sweeping Clean Economy Act by directing automakers to deliver more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles. (Energy News Network)
• Kentucky residents worry that bankrupt coal operator Blackjewel may abandon many of its unreclaimed surface mines, leaving a massive environmental mess for taxpayers and communities. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• A new report says the cost of reclaiming nearly half a million acres of mined land in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee may amount to $6 billion — more than twice than the $2.5 billion available in bonds for cleanup. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
The Los Angeles Times editorial board says climate change remains the defining crisis of our era, and we’re still not doing enough to address it.
OPINION: Banks shouldn’t have to lend to oil and gun companies (Bloomberg, Board $), Biden must avoid Obama’s mistake when setting his agenda (Bloomberg, Noah Smith column $), US climate finance is approaching a leapfrog moment (FT, Sarah Bloom Raskin op-ed $)
(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: “No one took us seriously”: Black cops warned about racist Capitol Police officers for years (ProPublica), a five-year effort to write environmental justice into Washington law is nearly complete—if it doesn’t fall apart again (The Stranger), Frank Gehry’s bold plan to upgrade the L.A. River seeks to atone for past injustices (LA Times $)
STIMULUS: ‘Sizable’ stimulus needed from the United States, IMF managing director urges (Washington Post $), Biden unveiling $1.9 trillion economic and health care relief package (Washington Post $, Bloomberg $)
LITIGATION: Environmentalists move toward lawsuit over fuel break plan (AP), enviros move toward lawsuit over wildfire plan (E&E $), groups accuse France of climate inaction, take case to court (AP, The Guardian)
SIX MORE DAYS: With only a week left in Trump’s presidency, a last-ditch effort to block climate action and deny the science (InsideClimate News), Trump admin delays higher fines for auto polluters (E&E $), Donald Trump confronts the scourge of efficient hot water heaters and furnaces (Earther, The Hill, E&E $, Final Rule)
CLOSING! EVERYTHING MUST GO!: Drillers turn out for last chance to nab federal acreage under Trump (Reuters, CNN)
DOJ: DOJ punts methane court fight as Biden term approaches (E&E $)
Will 2021 be the year for environmental justice legislation? States are already leading the way
InsideClimate News | Kristoffer Tigue In Oregon, new legislation would require state officials to consider the “cumulative” impact on neighborhoods already overburdened by pollution before granting permits to projects that potentially pose a threat to human health or the environment. In Illinois, a bill would dedicate $2 billion to fund clean energy and climate mitigation initiatives in low-income communities of color by 2030. […]Those measures are a few of the growing number of proposals that have been passed or are under consideration across the United States that explicitly address the issue of “environmental justice,” the idea that low-income communities and communities of color tend to be disproportionately exposed to pollution and benefit the least from government regulation and investment. For decades, studies have shown that poorer neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Black, Indigenous and other people of color are more likely to be located near hazardous waste sites, suffer more frequently from polluted air and are hit hardest by climate change and Covid-19. Now, after a year marked by fierce calls for racial justice and a pandemic that laid bare the country’s racial and socioeconomic disparities, many environmental activists and energy policy experts foresee 2021 as a breakout year for environmental justice legislation. And with President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration less than a week away, some also see the year as an opportunity to not only rally more state governments around environmental justice issues, but to move the needle at a federal level. […] Activists are also hoping the new Congress will be able to pass the Environmental Justice Act, a bill led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the former presidential candidate. The bill, which Booker last introduced to the U.S. Senate in 2019, would require all federal agencies to consider environmental justice issues when crafting policy or when issuing permits under the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. And it would establish a permanent National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, among other things. […] Biden has also promised a number of structural changes: He has said he will create an Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the Justice Department. He has proposed elevating the EPA’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the Environmental Justice Interagency Council as White House entities, with both reporting to the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. And he has proposed overhauling the EPA’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office to empower under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act “communities that experience the worst aspects of climate change and fenceline communities that are located adjacent to pollution sources.”
