Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
A new report offers a window onto something on a lot of people's minds in the energy world: what kind of policies Democrats could try to move through the Senate with 51 votes.
Driving the news: The groups Evergreen Action and Data for Progress yesterday released a proposal for ways to move a "clean energy standard" through the Senate using the budget reconciliation process.
That's the procedural tool that enables some types of spending- and revenue-related policies to move on special legislation that's immune from filibusters, but it's a tricky thing.
Why it matters: President Biden, during his campaign, set a target of reaching 100% carbon-free U.S. electricity by 2035.
Electricity is the second-largest source of U.S. carbon emissions after transportation, but the policy and legislative pathways to meet that ambitious goal are a little foggy.
How it works: The new analysis says there are lots of options to spur power sector transformation that are consistent with reconciliation. Here are a few...
- A new federal system of "zero-emissions electricity credits."
- "Utilities would earn ZECs by continuously increasing the amount of carbon-free electricity they deliver to customers, or else purchase the credits from the federal program," the authors note in a Vox summary.
- A twist on the idea would "involve the federal government regularly buying a quantity of ZECs from power companies, through auctions," they note.
- Another could be "conditional block grants based on their utilities’ commitments to meet certain clean electricity criteria," the report notes.
- Yet another would be a federal "carbon intensity standard" that gives power producers incentives to "remain below a declining emissions-intensity threshold, by charging them an increasing penalty for failing to do so."
Reality check: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has signaled that he's interested in moving some climate-related provisions through reconciliation.
- But even then, the political pathway and appetite for aggressive power-sector policies are really unclear right now.
- Sen. Joe Manchin, the chairman of the Senate's energy committee, has expressed deep reservations about moving things with a bare majority (zoom to the 26-minute mark of his interview yesterday with the Bipartisan Policy Center to get that flavor).
- And this Washington Examiner piece explores his skepticism about zero-carbon power mandates.
The big picture: An RBC Capital Markets report yesterday lays out some broad areas that could be ripe for reconciliation.
- The report notes overall there would be a "strong hand in determining the mandatory spending allocations that can fit with clean energy advancement and climate change mitigation."
- One avenue is a "clean energy financing mechanism or 'bank' to consistently fund clean technologies or infrastructure."
- "Extended or improved tax rebates for renewable energy, battery storage, carbon capture technologies, etc. are also on the table."