Photo courtesy of clearpath
The invasion of the Ukraine is a once in a generation moment that will turbo charge the clean energy revolution and put an end to the fossil fuel era.
For that to happen we need a clean energy investment plan to get off fossil fuels that matches the scale and urgency of the moment. One that aligns with the IEA Net Zero scenario and UN Secretary Generals call to triple clean energy investment to $4 trillion globally. A commitment that every financial institution on earth committed to net zero should be loudly supporting right now. In short, we need to invest like our future depends on it - because it does.
But if you work at the world’s largest financier of fossil fuels you think the exact opposite. Whether it’s calling for a marshal plan for gas or ‘new deal’ efforts to increase our reliance on fossil fuels the team over at JP Morgan Chase has dropped all pretense that they’re interested in clean energy (Except, that is, when they’re busy defending ESG investing because they’re worried about losing employees they know care about these issues).
That’s a problem because that lobbying is providing political cover for dangerous decisions that will lock us into new fossil fuel infrastructure we simply can’t afford. Worse, it appears to be having an affect on the path the Biden administrations takes in this critical moment.
Rather than loudly calling for a surge of new clean energy to deliver peace, freedom and security the Biden administration has had a schizophrenic response. One that includes loud support for new oil and gas drilling and more worryingly - fast tracking new LNG export facilities. Something that Amos Hochstein a new senior administration official with deep ties to the gas industry told the Atlantic Council is the explicit goal.
But, not all is lost in large part because there are other voices in the Biden administration that clearly see a different path is needed. First, Secretary Granholm publicly mused that clean energy may be the greatest peace project the world has every known. Now senior DOE official David Turk is publicly agreeing that the appropriate response to the invasion of the Ukraine is a clean marshall plan. That friends, is more like it.
Have a listen to the episode of climate one where I discuss the need for a clean marshall plan with David Turk and more importantly let him know you agree with him. Let him and other climate hawks in the administration know we need leadership that demands a surge of clean energy and investment, and we need it now. Because with mid terms looming, and Republicans desperate to disguise their climate denial as climate policy its clear climate is a winning issue. Now is the time for the Biden administration to lean into the moment and send a signal to the climate base in the US, and to many more around the world, that this administration is the leader they told us they’d be.