Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)

Congressional Climate Camp #5: Bonus Session: Understanding Budget Reconciliation

Congressional Climate Camps



Find out more about the briefings in this series below:



Jan. 29
Budget, Appropriations, and Stimulus


Feb. 26
Federal Policy to Decarbonize High-Emission Sectors


Mar. 26
Lessons Learned from Past Congresses and Current Public Attitudes on Climate


Apr. 30
Federal Policy for Mitigation and Adaptation Win-Wins


May 21
Understanding Budget Reconciliation




A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
Ready to make a difference in climate policy? But not sure where to start? We have you covered. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for our start-of-the-new-Congress Climate Camp online briefing series. We will go over the basics of the legislative process, highlighting key areas and opportunities for achieving near-term and long-term carbon reductions through policy.
Our fifth and final session will look at budget reconciliation, an oftentimes difficult-to-understand process that allows Congress to pass laws related to taxes, spending, and the debt limit with only a majority vote in the Senate (instead of a filibuster-proof 60-vote supermajority). The Senate Parliamentarian determined that the Senate can pass two budget reconciliation bills this year, for fiscal years 2021 and 2022. But how does the process work? What are the major challenges for Congressional lawmakers and their staff in drafting and passing reconciliation bills? And why does it matter for climate policy?
This briefing will discuss budget reconciliation procedures along with do’s and don’ts for those involved in the process. A moderated, 40-minute discussion will follow the two speaker presentations.

Ambition and Opportunity in America’s New Climate Commitments

A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
On April 22, the Biden-Harris Administration announced America’s new greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments in the context of the Paris Agreement. The new U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) sets a goal of reducing emissions by 50-52 percent based on a 2005 baseline by 2030. The new NDC signals a return to U.S. leadership on climate change that will need to be matched with federal policies and programs that transition the United States to a resilient and equitable clean energy economy.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for a briefing on everything you need to know about the new NDC. Experts will discuss the new emissions reduction goal, why it matters, and how it can be used as a guide for domestic federal policy development and design. The briefing will also explain how the U.S. NDC fits into the overall architecture of international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to climate impacts.

Natural Climate Solutions: A Win-Win Solution for Our Environment and Our Economy

A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and U.S. Nature4Climate (USN4C) invite you to a briefing on the role natural climate solutions can play in both mitigating climate change and stimulating the economy. Natural climate solutions, such as sustainable forestry and regenerative agriculture, reduce carbon emissions and sequester carbon through management of the world’s forests, grasslands, and wetlands. Policymakers are increasingly recognizing the important role America’s natural and working lands can play in efforts to tackle climate change. There is also growing evidence that these natural climate solutions can serve as a powerful mechanism to drive an equitable economic recovery—with lasting benefits for both rural and urban communities.
Panelists will provide an overview of the diverse range of climate-sensitive strategies that can be implemented in America’s farms and ranches, forests, grasslands and urban communities. They will also discuss the many economic benefits—from jobs to increased land productivity to new income for landowners—that can be derived by implementing natural climate solutions. We will also hear from on-the-ground practitioners who are already unlocking these benefits in both rural and urban communities. Finally, we will explore how major U.S. corporations are supporting the adoption of natural climate solutions to help meet their sustainability goals and improve their bottom lines.

Congressional Climate Camp #4: Federal Policies for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Win-Wins

Congressional Climate Camps



Find out more about the briefings in this series below:



Jan. 29
Budget, Appropriations, and Stimulus


Feb. 26
Federal Policies for High Emitting Sectors


Mar. 26
Lessons Learned from Past Congresses and Current Attitudes on Climate


Apr. 30
Federal Policy for Mitigation and Adaptation Win-Wins


May 21
Understanding Budget Reconciliation



Overview of the Climate Camp series


A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
Ready to make a difference in climate policy? But not sure where to start? We have you covered. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for our start-of-the-new-Congress Climate Camp online briefing series. We will go over the basics of the legislative process, highlighting key areas and opportunities for achieving near-term and long-term carbon reductions through policy.
Our fourth session will look at a suite of climate solutions that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to climate impacts. Briefing speakers will discuss how these solutions also advance environmental justice, job creation, and conservation.
EESI’s Congressional Climate Camp is designed for you to get the information you need, so join us for the full session or jump in and out.


2:00 PM


Welcome from EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette




2:05 PM


Coastal Nature-Based Solutions
Dr. Bhaskaran Subramanian, Ph.D., Chief, Shoreline Conservation Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources




2:25 PM


Solutions from the Agriculture Sector
Dr. John Quinn, Associate Professor of Biology, Furman University




2:45 PM


Mass Timber – Sustainable Buildings as Carbon Sinks
Russ Vaagen, Founder and CEO, Vaagen Timbers




3:05 PM


Achieving Efficiency and Resilience Through Building Codes
Kim Cheslak, Director of Codes, New Buildings Institute




3:25 PM


Ensuring Win-Wins Advance Environmental Justice
Jacqueline Patterson, Senior Director, Environmental and Climate Justice Program, NAACP

Rethinking Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Policies and Programs to Address Waste

A live webcast will be streamed at 12:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for a briefing on local, state, and federal policies and programs as well as new technologies that will make you rethink waste management, who is responsible for waste, and whether waste is worthless.
The United States generates nearly 300 million tons of municipal solid waste per year—or almost one ton of waste per person, the most per capita in the world. About half of this waste ends up in landfills, which account for 15 percent of human-caused domestic methane emissions and threaten local water sources with toxic liquid. Meanwhile, recycling has become uneconomic and requires new approaches to be a viable, cost-effective waste management strategy. Creative solutions are needed to stem the deluge of waste, and public and private sector innovators are leading the charge.
This briefing will feature speakers from cities, states, and the private sector working to reduce and reuse a variety of waste types. Experts will discuss their programs and the policies that are helping them succeed:

Climate Adaptation and Resilience: The Road to COP26

A live webcast will be streamed at 11:00 AM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for a briefing on raising global ambition to fund and implement climate adaptation and resilience.
During Earth Day week, the Biden-Harris Administration will host the Leaders Summit on Climate and will unveil its new greenhouse gas reduction goal—the U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution—under the Paris Agreement. Designed to build momentum ahead of the next meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP26, the Summit is expected to focus on how major emitting countries can redouble efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across sectors and geographies.
This briefing will highlight the complementary global efforts to advance climate adaptation and resilience in the lead-up to COP26. These efforts are intended to share best practices, develop metrics, and mobilize countries and subnational actors dedicated to protecting people and nature. Speakers will also discuss the key roles of financing, implementation, disaster preparedness, and the need for systemic action in building resilience. Speakers for this forum are:

Protecting Vulnerable Communities from Climate Impacts

A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
Climate events like sea-level rise, extreme precipitation, and dangerous heatwaves and cold snaps—like the one Texas recently endured—stress our already vulnerable affordable housing stock and disproportionately impact low-income, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Preparing for climate shocks by assessing the vulnerability of buildings and communities to climate events and improving the resilience of affordable housing and neighborhood infrastructure are necessary to avoid future financial and social impacts on owners, residents, and communities.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing hosted in coordination with the National Housing Trust and the Natural Resources Defense Council (national partners with the Energy Efficiency for All project) about the challenges and opportunities involved in protecting physically and socially vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change. Speakers will discuss a new data resource developed by Climate Central that identifies federally-subsidized affordable housing at risk of chronic flooding due to sea-level rise; property-level climate risk assessment tools that are being piloted in Miami; a recently published scorecard of state flood-risk disclosure policies; and resilience measures in Los Angeles.

Toward an Evidence-Based Nuclear Energy Policy

A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast





— Briefing Backgrounder —
Toward an Evidence-Based Nuclear Energy Policy: Gaps in Research, Regulation, Policy, and Practice in the U.S. Nuclear Industry, and What Policymakers Can Do to Bridge Them
(PDF)

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join an online briefing on nuclear energy issues, including the current economics of the U.S. nuclear power industry, how to approach decommissioning as more civilian reactors shut down, and what to do with their high-level radioactive waste. In particular, the briefing will assess the impacts of extending the licenses of existing nuclear plants and pursuing “advanced reactors” as a way to fight climate change.
As U.S. nuclear plants age out or become unprofitable, the growing number of shuttered reactors has spawned a new decommissioning business model which promises to remediate sites quickly, but also raises new questions about safety, financial assurance, cleanup standards, and waste disposition. Decommissioning companies want to ship highly radioactive spent fuel through 75% of Congressional districts to their proposed consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) in New Mexico and Texas, which overburdened residents there oppose. Congress will likely be asked to change basic provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act this year to enable CISFs. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to lengthen the duration of license extensions for operating nuclear plants, potentially allowing them to keep running and generating radioactive waste for more than 80 years.
To help inform major decisions on nuclear energy policy facing Congress, the briefing will point out gaps in current research and data, federal policy, and regulatory oversight, and what can be done to fill them. It will examine how some other countries safeguard their radioactive waste, and offer practical recommendations to help make pending U.S. policy and regulatory decisions about nuclear energy more evidence-based, and better aligned with science and environmental justice.
This is the fourth EESI briefing on nuclear plant decommissioning and radioactive waste issues. It will be a moderated discussion with leading experts and advocates, including:

Congressional Climate Camp #3: Lessons Learned from Past Congresses and Current Attitudes on Climate

Congressional Climate Camps



Find out more about the briefings in this series below:



Jan. 29
Budget, Appropriations, and Stimulus


Feb. 26
Federal Policies for High Emitting Sectors


Mar. 26
Lessons Learned from Past Congresses and Current Attitudes on Climate


Apr. 30
Federal Policy for Mitigation and Adaptation Win-Wins


May 21
Understanding Budget Reconciliation



Overview of the Climate Camp series


A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast
Ready to make a difference in climate policy? But not sure where to start? We have you covered. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for our start-of-the-new-Congress Climate Camp online briefing series. We will go over the basics of the legislative process, highlighting key areas and opportunities for achieving near-term and long-term carbon reductions through policy.
Our third session will look at past legislative efforts to establish climate policy and the current political and public opinion environment on climate change, in order to explore the forces that are shaping current Congressional work to address the climate crisis.
EESI’s Congressional Climate Camp is designed for you to get the information you need, so join us for the full session or jump in and out.



2:00 PM


Welcome from EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette




2:05 PM


Key Turning Points in Climate Policy History
Kathleen McGinty, Vice President of Global Government Relations, Johnson Controls




2:30 PM


Climate Policy Then and Now: An Advocate’s Perspective
Tina Johnson, Principal, Johnson Strategy & Development Consultants; Director, National Black Environmental Justice Network




2:55 PM


Current Attitudes, Polarization, and Environmental Policy
Dr. Laurel Harbridge-Yong, Associate Professor, Northwestern University




3:20 PM


What Congressional Staff Should Know about Climate Policy
Dr. Ana Unruh Cohen, Staff Director, House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

2021 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook

A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast
Hosted in coordination with:
Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus
Sponsored by:
Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Environmental and Energy Study Institute
The ninth edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, published by BloombergNEF (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), was released on February 18, 2021, and is available to download at www.bcse.org/factbook. The Factbook provides updates on industry information and trends for the U.S. energy economy, with an in-depth look at the energy efficiency, natural gas, and renewable energy sectors, as well as emerging areas such as digitalization, micro-grids, offshore wind, hydrogen, and renewable natural gas.