Thread by @narayansub

On the eve of the CNN Climate Town Hall @ewarren released *another* plan further expanding her suite of climate plans. This one is significant as it adopts/builds on @JayInslee's 100% Clean Energy Plan. Thread on why I think this is a brilliant move: medium.com/@teamwarren/10…

When Inslee dropped out of the race, he made it clear that his 218 pages of climate proposals were now open to all candidates to use. By taking this step, Warren demonstrates the best of what the 2020 primary has to offer: that we can collaboratively develop a policy platform. 2/

On its substance, the Clean Energy Plan (CEP) fleshes out Warren's position on how to decarbonize the electricity, transportation, and building sectors. Recall that the Green Manufacturing Plan (GMP) pledged to invest $1.9 trillion in cleantech federal procurement + R&D. 3/

The GMP, however, was silent on the regulatory side of how this massive investment in cleantech would decarbonize these sectors. The CEP fills in those details. Starting with electricity, the CEP propose a clean energy standard requiring all electric utilities to... 4/

...achieve 100% carbon-neutral power by 2030 and renewable/zero-emission electricity by 2035. This sounds drastic but it affords utilities quite a bit of flexibility and also signals that there's room for safe, existing nuclear plants to stay open until they can be replaced...5/

by renewable energy resources. I recommend reading this piece by @JustinHGillis and @jamesonmcb where they outline how a clean energy standard would provide certainty and also encourage new innovation/investment in the electricity sector:
nytimes.com/2018/08/14/opi… 6/

The CEP goes on to also propose a new Federal Renewable Energy Commission to replace FERC. Aesthetically, this is great, but it also has some wonky benefits. FERC's statutory authority re: GHG emissions has not been entirely clear. An explicit mandate that GHG emissions must...7/

...be considered in *all* regulatory decisions from wholesale market structure to the approval of new infrastructure would go a long way towards decarbonizing the electricity sector. Check out this @drvox interview with FERC commissioner @RichGlickFERC: vox.com/energy-and-env… 8/

The CEP also makes reference to expediting planning/siting of transmission lines. Expanding transmission can improve grid reliability, reduce the amount of energy storage needed to address renewable intermittency, and can make remote renewable energy sources more accessible. 9/

This dovetails with Warren's Public Lands plan which calls for 10% of electricity gen to come from renewable energy produced on public lands- a marked shift from the decades of fossil fuel production the federal gov has subsidized on public lands 10/
medium.com/@teamwarren/my…

On vehicles, the CEP proposes a standard for all new light/medium-duty vehicles (+buses) to be emissions-free by 2030. It's no doubt extremely ambitious, but China has been upping the ante on EVs and automakers seem prepared to respond 11/ wri.org/blog/2018/12/h…

The plan also calls for using procurement to electrify the federal vehicle fleet, investment in EV infrastructure, and a buy-back program for existing combustion vehicles. This is the kind of centralized effort that's given China an edge in the market 12/ eesi.org/articles/view/…

On buildings, the CEP recognizes the federal government's relatively limited role in direct regulation. That's why it calls for partnering with state and local governments to strengthen building codes to achieve a national zero-carbon building standard by 2023. 13/

As with many of Warren's plans, the CEP seeks to use conditional federal $ to drive policy. Here, it calls for linking energy/pollution standards to agency grants/federal tax incentives for buildings. And once again, using federal procurement to electrify federal buildings. 14/

What's most impressive about this latest plan is how it complements the existing Warren plans on climate, showing that the campaign is serious about listening, learning, and building on what it's already proposed. You can find the combined plans here: elizabethwarren.com/plans/climate-… /FIN