Data for Climate Progress – End of Year Edition – 12.21.22
Welcome to the special year-end roundup edition of the Data for Climate Progress Newsletter, your update on new research, blog posts and memes from the Data for Progress climate team. 2022 was a huge year for climate — join us as we take a walk down memory lane of our team’s biggest hits and look toward the future.
What We’ll Be Watching in 2023
IRA Implementation
The biggest climate win this year is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA): the single largest climate investment in US history. The IRA signifies a changing tide for American climate policy – investing a landmark $369 billion to reduce pollution, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and create good paying American jobs.
Now that the bill has been signed into law, 2023 will be all about implementation. Our polling shows that while public salience of the IRA is low, its climate provisions are extremely popular. We are committed to making sure average Americans are able to capitalize on the pollution-reducing and cost-saving benefits within the IRA. Our team will be focusing on expanding clean energy and transmission infrastructure to unlock the full emissions reduction potential of the IRA in the new year.
Appropriations
DFP submitted three energy and innovation appropriations requests for FY23 focused on grid resilience, clean energy loans and transition planning, and carbon dioxide removal. Our requests included the first designated research and development budget line for ocean-based CDR at NOAA. Altogether, our requests add up to more than $8 billion to support funding to combat the energy crisis while creating good-paying jobs and reducing emissions.
In 2023, we are excited to continue engaging in the appropriations process using our polling to strengthen action on climate innovation.
Direct Air Capture Hubs
Last week, DOE released its funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the four regional direct air capture (DAC) hubs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). This year, our team conducted community engagement workshops on CDR and DAC in four geographically diverse communities where DAC hub development would be viable, and are excited to share a memo summarizing our findings in the new year.
DFP will also watchdog the FOA process to ensure that robust accountability mechanisms are implemented throughout the process and that community benefits are prioritized for equitable DAC deployment. CO2 you next year, DOE!
Regulatory and Executive Action
With Democrats no longer holding a trifecta in the 118th Congress, there’s a strong need to safeguard the investments in IRA and ensure continued progress on climate. In the new year, we’ll be focusing on regulatory measures for environmental and climate-related issues (think EPA rules, climate finance, etc), as well as potential executive action to further solidify climate wins.
Polling: Best of 2022
Voters Support the IRA + Want Congress to Take Action on Climate
In April, DFP and Climate Power examined voter appetite for clean energy investments and other climate mitigation measures. We find strong support for these proposals, with three-quarters of voters (75 percent) indicating they would support Congress making an investment to expand clean energy production in America.
In the week before the IRA’s passage, DFP and Climate Power released polling showing the widespread, bipartisan popularity of the bill’s energy investments and inflation-reducing measures. Not only are the individual components of the bill popular, but also the IRA enjoys support from 73 percent of likely voters overall, including an overwhelming 95 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents, and 52 percent of Republicans.
Post-midterms, Data for Progress and Climate Power investigated voter attitudes toward the IRA after the bill took effect. We find national support for the IRA remains high. Voters not only want to prevent Republicans from rolling back components of the law, but also hope to see broader climate action taken by Congress, with 60 percent of likely voters agreeing that Congress should take additional action to address climate change, including 68 percent of voters under the age of 45.
Congressmembers on the Blog – Passing and Strengthening the IRA
Progressive queen Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) joined the DFP blog to share a progressive case for the Inflation Reduction Act ahead of the vote, highlighting the bill’s job creation, carbon pollution mitigation, and cost-saving measures for families.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also contributed to the DFP blog to spotlight implementation challenges of the IRA, arguing that building out new transmission lines by passing the Streamlining Interstate Transmission of Electricity (SITE) Act – which has support from 71 percent of likely voters – would ensure the investments of the IRA are realized through the deployment of clean energy infrastructure. The DFP team is exSITEd to see transmission infrastructure expanded in 2023.
Democrats on Offense in the Midterm Elections
In 2022, Data for Progress finally jumped on the mic and launched On Offense, a podcast leveraging our polling data insights on climate change, the IRA, abortion, and much more to highlight the most unpopular parts of the Republican platform and equip Democrats with the message guidance they need to win.
And win they did! Despite worries about a Republican tide in the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats defied expectations and held onto the majority in the Senate, expanding their lead to 51 seats with the run-off re-election of Sen. Raphael Warnock, while coming close behind Republicans in a highly contested set of House races. This fall, Data for Progress published its midterm election report Democrats on Offense: Messages That Win, spotlighting both the candidates who outperformed in tough races and the effective messages they used to achieve these wins.
Community Engagement in Development for CDR and Beyond
Ahead of the DAC FOA release, Data for Progress published a joint memo with National Wildlife Federation which contains guidelines and recommendations for ensuring equitable DAC deployment. With massive investments from IIJA being deployed for DAC, it’s crucial to make sure that DAC does not perpetuate the systemic wrongdoings of past project development and serves as a tool for public good.
We also published a blog on community benefits agreements (CBAs), showing widespread support (59 percent of likely voters) for these agreements between project developers and community groups that outline benefits a developer will give the community in exchange for community support for development projects. In addition to showing bipartisan support for CBAs, we also share best practices for community engagement and drafting CBAs for future development projects.
Data for Progress also found strong support for CDR legislation both at the state level in New York (72 percent of NY likely voters) and nationally (71 percent of likely voters).
Policy
Accountable Allies
This year DFP launched our Accountable Allies project: a corporate tracker investigating corporate hypocrisy where companies are making financial contributions that are out of step with their publicly stated values. Our first two iterations of the project focus on companies that have donated to legislators who oppose LGBTQ+ and abortion rights.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming climate edition of Accountable Allies which investigates how fossil fuel companies are influencing climate research at top US universities and the conflict of interest this poses.
Emerging Voices Fellowship Program
In 2022, we launched the Emerging Voices Fellowship Program – a program intended to uplift the leaders of tomorrow using the Data for Progress platform and infrastructure and the progressive policy ideas that fuel them. Our inaugural cohort of fellows helped raise the salience of critical issues like climate displacement and disaster relief, equitable and sustainable transit, and community-based public safety efforts via polling and policy analysis. Shout out to the incredible work of our fellows Ella, Adewale, and Alexi!
Keep your eyes peeled for our next cohort of Emerging Voices fellows and stay tuned as we open up applications for spring and summer fellows.
The DFP Jobs Model
This year, we rolled out the Data for Progress Jobs Model – a tool that measures the effects of different policies on GDP and job creation. We released jobs modeling on the US Innovation and Competition Act, CHIPS for America Act, and Direct Pay. We will be rolling out jobs modeling of the IRA’s climate provisions in the new year!
Greatest DFP Media Hits
European Green Journal: US Climate and Industrial Policy: What We’ve Won, What Comes Next
USA Today: Climate worries voters of color
Vox: How to fight the affordable housing and climate crises at once
The Drift: “A High-Stakes Dance with Social Movements”
The Hill: Most Americans have concerns about being displaced by extreme weather, poll says
Fortune: Major corporations are going all in for Pride Month while also supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislators
Grist: Americans are convinced climate action is unpopular. They’re very, very wrong.
The Hill: Most voters concerned over climate impact of Supreme Court EPA ruling: poll
The Nation: Why Are Fossil Fuel Companies Funding Climate Change Research?
Meme