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Columbia Energy Exchange

Podcast

How Politics Swings Clean Energy Policy in States

Over the past 20 years or so, states have been leaders in setting policies to promote renewable energy and other cleaner energy options. But sustaining those policies can be challenging, especially in the face of resistance from traditional energy companies and other interest groups. In this episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, I talk to a prominent young political scientist, Leah Stokes, whose new book “Short Circuiting Policy” details what’s happened in a number of states. They include Ohio, where a scandal has emerged over a law to help nuclear and coal power plants keep running. To hear this fascinating discussion, go to the homepage for the podcast at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. I hope you enjoy it!

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Podcast

Democrats’ blueprint for action on climate change

A new report from Democrats on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis calls for comprehensive actions by the U.S. Congress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. as quickly as possible, make communities more resilient to climate change, and build a durable and equitable clean energy economy. Called “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient and Just America,” the 550-page report contains hundreds of recommendations. Some call it the most far-reaching report on climate change to ever appear on Capitol Hill. In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, I reached the chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Rep. Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, soon after the report was released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Castor. It was the second appearance on…

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Podcast, Uncategorized

Climate policy starts hereFeatured

The Green New Deal is one of the hottest topics in Washington right now, as it should be. But putting together legislation is a difficult task, especially amid the partisan politics taking place on Capitol Hill today. In a “Columbia Energy Exchange” podcast, I talk to the lawmaker at the start of this process: Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y. Tonko chairs the House Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, the first start for making climate policy in Congress. Hear him describe what lies in store for climate policy making and the impact of the Green New Deal movement on this effort. You’ll find the podcast here https://bit.ly/2Gfu2Ll.

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Electricity, Infrastructure, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Barry Perry

Barry Perry is a chief executive from a remote region of Canada whose company is gradually becoming a major player in North America’s electric power industry. We sat down recently for a discussion on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast. From St. John’s, Newfoundland, the oldest city in North America, Perry runs Fortis Inc., the largest investor-owned utility in Canada. Since 2004, the company’s assets in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean have grown ten-fold to $48 billion. Fortis’ most recent acquisition, one that really put it on the map in the U.S., was ITC, the biggest electric transmission company in America, at a price of $11.3 billion. We visited with each other during one of his visits to Washington to talk about the electric and natural gas business in the U.S. and Canada, the different energy policies of the two…

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Energy, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Riccardo Puliti

Host Bill Loveless talks to Riccardo Puliti, the Head of the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank Group who oversees $52 billion in loans. They discussed: the World Bank’s energy portfolio, financing targets, and its role in the fight against global poverty; the need for private sector partnerships to finance World Bank projects; the variety of instruments used to energy access and climate change issues; regional differences and needs, with respect to energy; and the role of a carbon price in aligning incentives. (Listen)

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Climate, Government and Politics, Organizations, People, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Carl Pope

Following COP22 in Marrakech where global leaders were overcome with uncertainty about the United States’ commitment to greenhouse gas reduction under a new Trump Administration, host Bill Loveless speaks with Carl Pope, former executive director and chairman of The Sierra Club, about the path forward against climate change through both international and local initiatives. Pope is also a senior climate adviser to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary General’s special envoy for cities and climate change. They discuss: Reactions to Donald Trump’s election and other challenges and opportunities coming out of the Marrakech Climate Summit; The heightened roles for cities, states, investors and business in providing U.S. direction for climate initiatives; A sneak peek at the upcoming book by Carl and Michael Bloomberg called, “Overheated: How Cooler Heads Can Cool the World” that seeks to reset the conversation about…

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Consumer, Corporations, Energy, Podcast, Utilities and Providers

Columbia Energy Exchange: Exelon’s Chris Crane

Electric power companies across the U.S. are going through a period of unprecedented change. Low-cost natural gas, new technology, rapid expansion of renewables, and initiatives to reduce carbon emissions are some of the major factors shaking up the electricity sector. Moreover, for some power companies, keeping their nuclear power plants alive is another big challenge. On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, we welcome Chris Crane, the president and CEO of Exelon Corp., a Fortune 100 energy company with the most utility customers in the U.S., and the nation’s leading operator of nuclear reactors. Crane talks with host Bill Loveless about the ways in which he is piloting his company through this transformation. And on a timely note, they discuss a new clean energy standard in New York that would keep some nuclear power plants alive. (Listen here)

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Climate, Government and Politics, International, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: David Sandalow

Seven years ago, David Sandalow pitched an idea that’s turned into one of the biggest international gatherings on clean energy. While an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandalow proposed to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu an annual meeting of energy ministers from around the world to help accelerate the transition to clean energy technologies. The first Clean Energy Ministerial was held in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2010. Recently, the seventh Clean Energy Ministerial took place in San Francisco.  Delegates from 23 governments and the European Union participated.  Sandalow, the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, was in San Francisco and, not long after returning, joined Bill Loveless on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast (Listen here).

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