No images? Click here Need to KnowGLOBAL FEDERAL - To best be able to follow President Biden's climate strategy and policies over the next four years, it will help to be familiar with the members of the Biden climate team. More. . . - At the end of January, President Biden announced that the federal government would begin phasing out gas-run vehicles in their fleet of vehicles and replacing them with electric vehicles (EV). He also mentioned creating an incentive plan for consumers who purchase EV vehicles to replace their gas vehicles, however, no further information was given. More. . . - In January, the Biden Administration issued a temporary ban on oil and gas leasing and drilling on Federal lands. This temporary ban does not apply to Native America tribes, some of who do oil drilling on their tribal lands. More. . . - According to a study by the journal Nature
Communications, many cities in the United States are inaccurate about the amount of GHG emissions they produce by 20% on average. More. . . INDIVIDUAL STATES - The Colorado Governor's Office and numerous Colorado State Departments have a collaboration with ETHDenver - a software building competition - to engage computer hackers in helping to fight climate change. More. . . MASSACHUSETTS NEW JERSEY VIRGINIA Opportunities to ParticipateNOTE: The following is an opportunity for colleges and universities for sign-on; not an opportunity for individuals at colleges and universities. Are you an individual at a higher education institution who believes your college/university may be interested in signing onto the below opportunity? We encourage you to reach-out to the leadership at your institution and let them know. MINNESOTA Coinciding with this, Ceres has organized a sign-on letter in support of policies that support clean transportation. If you're a higher education institution in Minnesota that has at least one fleet of vehicles on your campus, you understand first-hand the importance of clean car standards. Here's an opportunity to have your voice be heard. At the buttons below, you can read the sign-on letter and also read a background briefing on the Minnesota Clean Cars Program. For Minnesota colleges/universities; if the leadership at your school is interested in adding your institution's name to the letter, please contact Deanna Dennis at Ceres (ddennis@ceres.org) by February 17th at the latest. Sources: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). State Transportation Electrification Scorecard. ACEEE. URL. Baker, R., Jhijazi, J., and Scott, D. (2021, January 27). Environment Justice Scorecard Puts Teeth in Biden Equity Pledge. Bloomberg Law: Daily Labor Report. URL. Besheer, M. (2021, February 5). Michael Bloomberg Returns to UN as Climate Envoy. VOA News. URL. Booth, M. and Jaffe, M. (2021, January 15). Colorado governor releases final plan to reduce emissions by 90%. The Journal. URL. ETHDenver. (2021, January 26). Colorado Government Taps 2,000 Hackers to Address Climate Change & Local Economy in ColoradoJam Software Building Competition. Cision PR Newswire. URL. Graves, M. (2021, February 6). Manistee man among 14 appointed to governor's Council on Climate Solutions. Manistee News Advocate. URL. Hawkins, A.J. (2021, January 25). Biden wants to replace government fleet with electric vehicles. The Verge. URL. Herr, A. (2021, January 27). These flashcards will help you memorize Biden’s climate team. Grist. URL. Johnson, T. (2021, January 26). No fix in sight for dispute over opening NJ farmland to large solar projects. NJ Spotlight News. URL. Jossi, F. (2021, January 21). In Minnesota, key energy lawmakers see potential despite divided Legislature. Energy News Network. URL. Klepper, D. (2021, February 8). Charlie Baker returns climate bill to lawmakers, with amendments. www.boston.com. URL. Osaka, S. (2021, January 27). 25 states promised to stay in the Paris Agreement. Did they follow through? Grist. URL. Reuters Staff. (2021, January 25). Tribes exempt from pause in U.S. federal drilling program -official. Reuters. URL. Schwartz, J. (2021, February 2). U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find. The New York Times. URL. Vogelsong, S. (2021, January 26). Law aiming to help schools and local governments access solar sails through House. Virginia Mercury. URL. Our monthly policy updates, information, and opportunities to participate, are developed with support from Ceres, which is an organizational partner of Second Nature. Ceres has identified the following states plus Washington, D.C. for our primary focus - Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. - because of the beneficial legislative climates and real opportunities for policy advancements in these states. Note: The states included in each monthly Policy Update will be based on what policy updates we are recommending for that month, and are due to change - but will always be focused on the above 15 states (plus Washington, D.C.) - from month to month. |