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theliberaltony · 5 years ago

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Graphics by Ryan Best

With dozens of candidates trading endless jabs over policies like Medicare for All and systems like capitalism and socialism, this primary season has highlighted a growing divide within the Democratic Party about where it’s headed, both in this election and future ones.

But now that former Vice President Joe Biden seemingly has a lock on the nomination, he may soon be making overtures to other candidates’ supporters as he looks ahead to the general election. So what are the fault lines splitting Democratic voters? And is the Democratic Party as splintered as we think?

To answer this, I analyzed data from a survey fielded in November 2019 by two liberal organizations, YouGov Blue and Data for Progress, that asked 2,900 likely Democratic primary voters how favorably they felt about 13 politicians and organizations on a five-point scale.1 (Full disclosure: I am a fellow at Data for Progress.) Respondents were asked to weigh in on labor unions, Wall Street, the Democratic National Committee, the #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, Ivy League universities, Facebook, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Socialists of America and former President Barack Obama.

This question let me aggregate respondents’ favorability ratings to understand how someone who gives high ratings to Schumer might rate, say, Ocasio-Cortez. And by running a statistical analysis known as principal component analysis, I was able to identify the types of organizations and individuals that respondents tend to have similar opinions about. For example, if someone rated Schumer positively, they were also likely to rate Pelosi positively, and positive feelings about labor unions were correlated with positive feelings about the DSA. By linking people according to their shared feelings, I saw two clear poles emerge within the Democratic Party: the “establishment” and the “progressive left.” A third group also emerged, and while it’s not as clearly defined as the other two, it has some overlap with the establishment and tends to be more fond Wall Street, so I’m calling that “neoliberals.””

The establishment includes those likely Democratic primary voters who rated the DNC, Schumer, Pelosi and Obama highly, and as you can see, those who rated these establishment figures highly tended to be less enthused about the groups and individuals associated with the progressive left.

The progressive left gives high ratings to the DSA, Ocasio-Cortez, labor unions, Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement. As you can see in the charts below, this feeling more favorably toward these activist groups meant respondents were less likely to feel warmly about the establishment, and were even more unlikely to feel favorably toward Manchin and Wall Street. In particular, the data suggests a tight connection between Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA, which may not be surprising considering her membership in the organization, but her rise to national prominence and the fact that progressive respondents tend to feel positively about both her and the organization speaks to the DSA’s increasingly high-profile role in the party.

There was a third group, though. The neoliberal group wasn’t as clearly defined as the other two groups, although as I mentioned earlier, there is overlap with the establishment wing of the party. It is a bit more of a hodgepodge, though, in terms of what types of groups and individuals were rated highly (for example, the connection between rating Wall Street, the Ivy League and Manchin all highly is not necessarily clear), although it’s possible that the people in this group are part of a more affluent wing of the party. This group was also less likely to give favorable ratings to individuals and groups associated with the progressive left.

So who exactly is this progressive left that is polarizing to both the establishment and the neoliberal wings of the party?

Well, we know this wing of the party feels warmly toward ideologies like democratic socialism and supports political insurgents like Ocasio-Cortez, so they may find themselves at odds with party leadership.

But we can also use our survey data to look at how respondents answered a variety of socioeconomic, demographic and attitudinal questions. Given the warm feelings this group has toward democratic socialism and the rising importance of group identities in politics, I focused on analyzing characteristics of respondents who describe themselves as socialists. For starters, they were more likely to be male than female and more likely to be white than nonwhite. (Though identifying as Hispanic or Latinx also made it somewhat more likely that a person would say they’re a socialist.) In general, younger respondents were more likely to adopt the socialist label, as were those who endorsed left-leaning outlooks, like the idea that it’s unjust for a society to have billionaires while others are living in poverty. Many also said they had experienced sexual harassment, with 63 percent of women and 33 percent of men saying it had happened to them.2

Party loyalists were also less likely to identify as socialists, which could be a problem for Democrats if Biden is indeed the nominee — he will not be able to take this group’s support for granted and may have to make a special effort to win their votes in the general election.

There are also a few interesting places where I didn’t find much connection between groups or ideas. For example, although some of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s supporters have a history of attacking women online and on the campaign trail, holding sexist attitudes didn’t make an individual more likely to identify as socialist in this survey, suggesting that the group that’s lashing out may be a minority of voters who hold views similar to the Vermont senator’s.

At the same time, despite progressive leaders like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez calling for a Green New Deal, there wasn’t evidence that individuals committed to clean energy or a federal green jobs guarantee were more likely to see themselves as socialists than those who did not support these Green New Deal policies. But this lack of coherent policy preferences isn’t actually that surprising; there’s a large body of political science research that suggests that broad identities and labels are much more meaningful to individuals than specific policy preferences.

And labels like progressive left and democratic socialist are the product of a very conscious movement that’s been years in the making. It’s not entirely a political movement either. The DSA, for instance, has been instrumental3 in shaping what it means to be a “democratic socialist” in the U.S., but it isn’t actually a political party. So even though individuals like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are often thought of as the vanguards of progressive left politics, it’s important to remember that think tanks like the People’s Policy Project and Data for Progress, media outlets such as Current Affairs and Jacobin, and the popular podcast Chapo Trap House have also played a role in shaping what it means to be part of the progressive left. Much like the Tea Party forged a transformation in the Republican Party, this new socialist wing of the Democratic Party is pushing for its own revolution.

But it’s not clear how strong the progressive left’s current configuration is. Movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter are well-liked within the progressive wing of the party, but leftist activists and politicians haven’t always prioritized issues of race, gender or sexuality. And in fact, in this survey, people who held racial biases weren’t really any more or less likely to identify as socialist. It’s possible, then, that the progressive left risks creating a less diverse movement, particularly as it’s already weighted toward white, male supporters. And that could be a problem if the group wants to win races in a party whose coalition is largely built on women and nonwhite voters.

For the Democratic Party as a whole, this growing divide between the establishment and neoliberals versus the progressive left is perhaps one of the most important challenges it will have to face — not only going into this upcoming presidential election, but also in elections to come. And already, we’ve seen that when the party establishment refuses to budge — as, for example, when it continued to back Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois despite his opposition to major Democratic planks like abortion access and the Affordable Care Act — organizations such as Justice Democrats are willing to primary “their own” (challenger Marie Newman beat the eight-term representative). This all suggests that if the establishment won’t willingly make space for ideas like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, then a growing progressive left may attempt to make that space for itself.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Shom Mazumder

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feministdragon · 6 years ago

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THE GAME-CHANGING PROMISE OF A GREEN NEW DEAL

I realize that it may seem unreasonably optimistic to invest so much in a House committee, but it is not the committee itself that is my main source of hope. It is the vast infrastructure of scientific, technical, political, and movement expertise poised to spring into action should we take the first few steps down this path. It is a network of extraordinary groups and individuals who have held fast to their climate focus and commitments even when no media wanted to cover the crisis and no major political party wanted to do anything more than perform concern.

It’s a network that has been waiting a very long time for there to finally be a critical mass of politicians in power who understand not only the existential urgency of the climate crisis, but also the once-in-a-century opportunity it represents, as the draft resolution states, “to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation.”

The ground for this moment has been prepared for decades, with models for community-owned and community-controlled renewable energy; with justice-based transitions that make sure no worker is left behind; with a deepening analysis of the intersections between systemic racism, armed conflict, and climate disruption; with improved green tech and breakthroughs in clean public transit; with the thriving fossil fuel divestment movement; with model legislation driven by the climate justice movement that shows how carbon taxes can fight racial and gender exclusion; and much more.

What has been missing is only the top-level political power to roll out the best of these models all at once, with the focus and velocity that both science and justice demand. That is the great promise of a comprehensive Green New Deal in the largest economy on earth. And as the Sunrise Movement turns up the heat on legislators who have yet to sign onto the plan, it deserves all of our support.

Of course there is no shortage of Beltway pundits ready to dismiss all of this as hopelessly naive and unrealistic, the work of political neophytes who don’t understand the art of the possible or the finer points of policy. What those pundits are failing to account for is the fact that, unlike previous attempts to introduce climate legislation, the Green New Deal has the capacity to mobilize a truly intersectional mass movement behind it — not despite its sweeping ambition, but precisely because of it.

This is the game-changer of having representatives in Congress rooted in working-class struggles for living-wage jobs and for nontoxic air and water — women like Tlaib, who helped fight a successful battle against Koch Industries’ noxious petroleum coke mountain in Detroit.

If you are part of the economy’s winning class and funded by even bigger winners, as so many politicians are, then your attempts to craft climate legislation will likely be guided by the idea that change should be as minimal and unchallenging to the status quo as possible. After all, the status quo is working just fine for you and your donors. Leaders who are rooted in communities that are being egregiously failed by the current system, on the other hand, are liberated to take a very different approach. Their climate policies can embrace deep and systemic change — including the need for massive investments in public transit, affordable housing, and health care — because that kind of change is precisely what their bases need to thrive.

As climate justice organizations have been arguing for many years now, when the people with the most to gain lead the movement, they fight to win.

Another game-changing aspect of a Green New Deal is that it is modeled after the most famous economic stimulus of all time, which makes it recession-proof. When the global economy enters another downturn, which it surely will, support for this model of climate action will not plummet as has been the case with every other major green initiative during past recessions. Instead, it will increase, since a large-scale stimulus will become the greatest hope of reviving the economy.

Having a good idea is no guarantee of success, of course. But here’s a thought: If the push for a Select Committee for a Green New Deal is defeated, then those lawmakers who want it to happen could consider working with civil society to set up some sort of parallel constituent assembly-like body to get the plan drafted anyway, in time for it to steal the show in 2020. Because this possibility is simply too important, and time is just too short, to allow it to be shut down by the usual forces of political inertia.

As the surprising events of the past few weeks have unfolded, with young activists rewriting the rules of the possible day after day, I have found myself thinking about another moment when young people found their voice in the climate change arena. It was 2011, at the annual United Nations climate summit, this time held in Durban, South Africa. A 21-year-old Canadian college student named Anjali Appadurai was selected to address the gathering on behalf (absurdly) of all the world’s young people.

She delivered a stunning and unsparing address (worth watching in full) that shamed the gathered negotiators for decades of inaction. “You have been negotiating all my life,” she said. “In that time, you’ve failed to meet pledges, you’ve missed targets, and you’ve broken promises. … The most stark betrayal of your generation’s responsibility to ours is that you call this ‘ambition.’ Where is the courage in these rooms? Now is not the time for incremental action. In the long run, these will be seen as the defining moments of an era in which narrow self-interest prevailed over science, reason, and common compassion.”

The most wrenching part of the address is that not a single major government was willing to receive her message; she was shouting into the void.

Seven years later, when other young people are locating their climate voice and their climate rage, there is finally someone to receive their message, with an actual plan to turn it into policy. And that might just change everything.”

https://static.theintercept.com/amp/green-new-deal-congress-climate-change.html

#solarpunk #environmental change #real change

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christophergill8 · 6 years ago

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4 tax-saving ways to celebrate Earth Day

Happy Earth Day 2019

Earth Day was created in 1969 by environmental activists in response to an oil spill in waters near Santa Barbara, California. Since then, it has expanded each year as a day to emphasize environmental issues and inspire an appreciation of our planet.

With this year's celebration falling on a weekday, many folks are looking for ways to incorporate their pro-Mother Earth efforts into their daily lives.

Well, nothing is as incorporated into our day-to-day existences as our taxes.

So on Earth Day 2019 and every day this year, here are 4 tax-saving environmental options.

1. Electric vehicle credits: Millions of folks drove to their offices this morning. In most cases, their vehicles are powered by fossil fuel.

But there is a growing trend toward electric vehicles. And Uncle Sam can help you buy one of these autos.

A federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is available for some electric vehicles, or EVs as they're referred to in official transportation and tax material. Similar to the tax break provided for hybrid autos back when they were the enviro-friendly rage, the electric vehicle credit starts phasing out once the manufacturer sells 200,000 of the plug-in vehicles.

That means you'll get a small tax credit if you want one the most popular EVs. That's the case for Elon Musk's Tesla makes, as well as EVs manufactured by General Motors.

A Tesla or GM EV buyer now will get a federal tax credit of just $3,750. Remember, though, that this is a tax credit, which means you get a dollar-for-dollar reduction of any tax you owe.

Tesla led sales, so its credit reduction kicked in sooner, meaning the halved credit amount is available through June 30. GM's $3,750 credit runs through Sept. 30.

After those dates, the credit amounts will be cut in half again, eventually phasing out altogether.

In addition to my earlier blog post on the reduced EV tax credit amounts, you can find more about the electric vehicle credit at the Department of Energy and Internal Revenue Service websites.

2. Home is where the energy savings are: Unfortunately, the tax break for some relatively easy home improvements to make your residence more energy efficient have expired.

But the Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit is available 2021.

This credit, again the best type of tax break out there, is worth a 30 percent tax credit of the cost of solar-powered systems, such as sun driven water heaters and photovoltaic panels that produce a house's electricity.

That maximum credit is available for qualifying energy systems installed in 2019. It's reduced a bit in 2020 and 2021.

EnergyStar.gov has details on the tax benefits of installing these environmentally friendly systems.

3. Giving instead of taking from Mother Nature: The adage about it being better to give that to receive also applies environmentally.

And in these cases, if you itemize instead of taking the standard deduction, you could get some of your charitable gift back as a tax break.

Donations to IRS-approved nonprofits are still allowed under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Your philanthropic gifts to 501(c)(3) approved environmental organizations count here.

If you don't have a favorite, just Google "environmental nonprofits" and get ready to be overwhelmed by how many green causes are out there.

You also can search the green giving groups listed in GuideStar and Charity Navigator for more charitable choices of the green variety.

If you have the name of a group and want to make sure it's IRS-approved since that's one of the tax deduction rules you must follow, use the agency's online Tax Exempt Organization Search tool.

4. Check out more local tax benefits: Finally, take to heart the "think globally, act locally" advice when it comes not only to energy saving situations, but also tax breaks.

There are myriad tax credits, rebates and other government-subsidized energy-related savings at state and local levels. You can find many of them in the directory at DSIRE, the acronym for Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.

The site, according to its "About" Web page, is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewable energy and energy efficiency in the United States. It's been around since 1995, is operated by the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).

Speaking of DoE, there's the department's Energy.gov project. At that website, you can search, either nationally or by state, for programs that promote energy efficiency and offer rebates, savings and/or tax credits.

I hope you have enough energy left after celebrating this Earth Day to check out these environmentally conscious tax benefits. You deserve any and all you qualify for as a small reward for working to keep Mother Earth healthy.

You also might find these items of interest:

China's new pollution tax excludes greenhouse gases

Sweden looks at taxes to reduce wasteful consumerism

Former GOP Treasury chief calls for global climate change action

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from Tax News By Christopher https://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2019/04/4-tax-saving-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day.html

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science-criticaltheory · 6 years ago

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California's Response to Record Wildfires: Shift to 100% Clean Energy by Dana Nuccitelli

U.S. Senate candidate, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D- Los Angeles, speaks at the 2018 California Democrats State Convention Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, in San Diego. Photograph: Denis Poroy/AP

California’s Democratic leaders are determined to fight the climate change that’s ravaging their state.

In America today, it’s rare to see political leaders respond to a threat with an appropriate evidence-based policy solution. At the national level, more often we see actions that aggravate existing problems or create new ones. California – the country’s most populous and economically powerful state – has been a welcome exception.

California has been battered by extreme weather intensified by climate change. From 2012 to 2016 the state was scorched by its worst drought in over a millennium. Weather whiplash struck in 2017, when much of the state broke precipitation records. This combination led to devastating mudslidesand created the conditions for the most destructive and costly wildfire season on record in 2017, followed by the state’s largest-ever wildfire in 2018, which broke the previous record (set in 2017) by more than 60%.

All of these impacts have been exacerbated by global warming. The past five years have been California’s five hottest on record. And so, the state’s leaders decided to do something about it. California had already set a renewable portfolio standard in 2002, strengthened by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2008 executive order requiring that 33% of electricity be generated by renewable sources by 2020. Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill (SB) 350 in 2015, expanding the requirement to 50% renewables by 2030.

Last week, California state lawmakers passed State Senator (and candidate for US Senate) Kevin de León’s SB 100, which amps up the target to 50% renewables by 2026, 60% by 2030, and 100% from “renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources” by 2045.

The more aggressive clean energy targets are justified. Not only does California need to make up some of the climate slack created by the Trump administration, but the state is now ahead of its targets, with 29% of electricity last year generated from renewables and over 50% from zero-carbon sources (including nuclear and hydroelectric power).

Percentage of California’s electricity generated by renewables (black) and zero-carbon sources (gray) to date, based California Energy Commission data. The previous renewable target is shown in blue and targets under SB 100 in green. Illustration: Dana Nuccitelli

Smart leaders are responding to climate change impacts

According to the latest California Climate Change Assessment Report, global warming impacts will continue to batter the state:

The water supply from snowpack is expected to decline two-thirds by 2050

Heatwaves in cities could cause 2–3 times more deaths by 2050

The average area burned annually by wildfires will increase by as much as 77% by 2100

31–67% of Southern California beaches may completely erode by 2100 without large-scale human interventions

$17.9 billion worth of residential and commercial buildings could be inundated statewide by sea level rise by 2050

Kevin de León specifically cited the record-breaking wildfires as a key factor in generating the votes to pass SB 100, which had been under debate for nearly two years.

To continue reading click here

#california #wildfires #drought #100 percent renewable energy

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melissasanders · 6 years ago

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What is the Green New Deal? Environmental Social & Economic Impacts

We’ve begun 2019 with the signs of climate change all around us - from a searing heatwave in Australia to the polar vortex recently unleashed across the Midwestern United States. As record-breaking events like these fail to convince some of our political figures that the threat of man-made climate change exists, many advocacy groups are pushing for sweeping governmental and regulatory action to confront it and mitigate future damages.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines by proposing a “Green New Deal” that would make climate change a priority for our government, set new goals and standards for energy production, and address pervasive economic issues as well. Predictably, a chorus of naysayers has emerged to call the plan unfeasible and even unnecessary. However, many politicians and renewable energy advocates support the idea.

Let’s examine what this Green New Deal is shaping up to mean and how it could change the energy landscape in the United States.

Green New Deal: Environmental Goals

Ocasio-Cortez’s website contains a draft resolution that outlines a number of the goals that would be prioritized under the Green New Deal. Within a 10-year window from the adoption of the resolution, goals include “meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources,” “building a national, energy-efficient, ‘smart’ grid,” and “upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety.” The Green New Deal also calls for the elimination of greenhouse gas production in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and infrastructure.

These are very ambitious goals, but they reflect the passion and commitment of an ever-growing coalition that acknowledges the threat of climate change and is working to address it in meaningful, systematic ways. As Axios notes, groups that have rallied behind the Green New Deal include “the Center for Biological Diversity, the Climate Justice Alliance, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Food & Water Watch, Oil Change USA and more,” ultimately numbering in the hundreds of national and local organizations. Additionally, a number of high-profile Democratic politicians (many of them 2020 presidential hopefuls), including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, and Beto O’Rourke, have expressed support for the idea of “a Green New Deal.”

Ocasio-Cortez writes that her Green New Deal includes “making ‘green’ technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely greenhouse gas neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.” Ambitious? Yes. Important and inspiring? Absolutely.

Green New Deal: Economic Impact

Alongside the environmental goals set forth in the Green New Deal is a plan that would help the emerging alternative energy industry continue to drive job growth, embrace innovation, and ultimately address systemic economic inequality by creating opportunities for those who want to work in the green economy. This would include education and job training programs to prepare a new workforce for careers in alternative energy technology development, implementation, and maintenance.

In short, just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal both provided opportunity for impoverished American workers and accomplished massive infrastructure and public works projects, the Green New Deal aims to mobilize today’s workforce towards achieving economic and environmental stability and sustainability.

An Alternative Energy Economy

How might this set of policies, if implemented, impact the alternative energy industry? A short series recently published by Greentech Media notes that “with limited exceptions, clean energy advocates are enthusiastic” about the Green New Deal. “A Green New Deal must fundamentally transform the electric grid into a platform for innovation and allow new business models to flourish,” notes energy storage expert Daniel Finn-Foley, who also states that “a national (renewable portfolio standard) may be the only politically feasible way to transition the entire economy to clean energy.”

The Green New Deal would not only allow the alternative energy industry to continue its record of driving job growth and technological development, it would place it at the center of a national project that could reshape our society and the world around us for centuries to come. The responsibility would be immense, but then so are the challenges that we are facing as a result of decades of reliance on coal and oil for energy.

There are many, many unknowns surrounding the idea of a Green New Deal, but it is vital that we seek wide-ranging solutions to the problem of man-made global warming. The alternative energy industry is adaptable, scalable, and eager to prove its worth on a national scale.

It may take years before we see a policy like the Green New Deal implemented, but the conversation it has created is already bringing awareness to the power of green technologies to impact our future for the better. At Solar Design Studio, we’re proud to be part of that conversation. Contact us today to learn more.

from http://www.solardesignstudio.com/RSSRetrieve.aspx?ID=13199&A=Link&ObjectID=735716&ObjectType=56&O=http%253a%252f%252fwww.solardesignstudio.com%252flearn-from-the-solar-expert-blog%252fwhat-is-the-green-new-deal-environmental-social-economic-impacts

from Solar Design Studio - Blog http://solardesignstudio.weebly.com/blog/what-is-the-green-new-deal-environmental-social-amp-economic-impacts

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derekgarcia5404 · 6 years ago

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Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

I attended the Solar & Storage Finance conference hosted in NYC in late October 2018. Presenters included a mix of capital providers & asset managers, private non-profit entities & public agencies, legal, accounting & consulting firms, intermediaries, firms providing risk analysis, ratings & mitigation, & various vendors of energy storage and IT-related services. The tone of the discussions was noteworthy for its near total absence of ideological comments about environmental urgency. Rather, it was a meeting of finance technicians and technocrats focused on the nuts & bolts of accomplishing those ends, with the merits and relevance of mission assumed.

The conference issues were organized with public agency comments at the beginning about policy targets and accomplishments. This set the stage for discussion panels to address the interests and appetites of Large Buyers, including both offtaker utilities and capital market asset buyers (institutional infrastructure portfolio managers as well as real estate asset holders). This was followed by opportunities to showcase the concerns of tax equity investors and debt providers. Interspersed were presentations and panels regarding risk mitigation, storage technologies, and storage financing concerns for both public & private sectors.

Public Policy and Agency goals

The agency sector was represented by 3 public institutions, NYSERDA, NY Power Authority (NYPA), & the NYC Office of Sustainability & Resiliency; 2 utilities, ConEd (ED), and E.On (EOAN.DE), and 5 private non-profits, ACORE, Solar Finance Council, Urban Land Institute, and NY-BEST (battery energy storage consortium).

NYSDERA’s CEO Alicia Barton as the keynote speaker affirmed a strong commitment to the State Renewable Energy Vision (REV) as the grand policy framework for transitioning from a “business as usual” carbon economy, citing a long series of goals and achievements. The NY-Sun initiative was given a budget of $1B which is being administered by NYSDERA’s NY Green Bank, of which $450M has been deployed. She noted that there were 4400 community solar projects in the pipeline, and 22 large scale projects that were announced this year. 1500 new storage projects were targeted by 2025 under the Storage Roadmap, which is part of the larger NYSolarMap project.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has filed to allocate $350M in incentives, of which $40M will be placed through NY-Sun for solar+storage projects. These incentives are projected to produce $2B in value from grid optimization. She addressed questions about the sentiment from the development community that the PSC’s net metering successor tariff program, VDER, has quashed development by capitulating to utility concerns and shaving compensation for distributed generation, reducing incentives for private sector capital. She responded that PSC white papers published 7/26/18 & 7/31/18 addressed these concerns, which she acknowledged were plaguing the public dialogue, but she expressed her feeling that the VDER plan is the right approach. She closed by directing attention to the fact that electric generation constituted approximately only 25% of GHG emissions, that policy & development would need to address buildings and transportation.

The representative from NYC’s Sustainability Office Susanne Desroche, recited its development profile: 7GW of renewable generation installed in the 5 boroughs, 154MW solar & 67MW storage installed in NYC, goal of another 100MW by 2024, 40MW in the pipeline, for solar & storage. She reported plans to replace 85% of peaker plants with 1000MW of storage by 2030. Automated permitting is a major initiative in process.

FDNY is evaluating concerns about fire risk for indoor siting of batteries, but some outdoor sites for battery storage are being installed. Targets for 2050 include 60% building electrification and 50 DC fast chargers, with 5 DCFC’s planned for 2019. When asked about plans for the MTA to accelerate its acquisition of electric buses and build out of bus charging infrastructure, she declined to comment on MTA timelines. NYPA however noted that its EVolve NY plan has committed $250M through 2025 for EV charging infrastructure including 200 DC Fast Chargers (150kW) along traffic corridors, airport charging hubs and EV model communities.

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

The LBMP is indexed to the wholesale ISO market price, whereas the LSRV is value for avoided line development. The Environmental value is priced on either REC prices (as determined by NYSDERDA) or the social cost of carbon (as determined by RGGI). An extended analysis was referenced in NYSolarMap analysis, which included excel modeling presentations by several large solar developers.

Daniel Spitzer, attorney from Hodgson Russ, presented a critical assessment of agency policies, in particular noting contradictions between declared goals and actual pacing in implementing the VDER framework for compensation for both solar and for storage development. He noted that NY will not be able to achieve its goals of 50% renewables by 2030 (REV, RPS or NY-BEST Roadmap,) without faster adoption of storage. $200M allocated at NY Green Bank for storage is not being committed quickly enough (which is at odds with NYSERDA’s statement that $450M had been deployed). He noted that recent legislation in CA leading the promotion and adoption of storage, citing one bill that imposes a requirement that microgrids use batteries or other storage rather than nat gas generators, recommending NY should follow that course, which would catalyze more renewable microgrid development. A 2nd CA bill directs utilities to implement 500MW of storage. He also advocated called for more aggressive efforts for restraint on interconnection costs than provided in the solar+storage Map, noting that the PSC has taken steps to update the SIR (Standard Interconnection Requirements).

Storage Applications

Storage deployments in NY have trickled in as compared to the surge in renewable generation. In part this is because grid integration of storage technology is still in an early stage, with 94% of 25.2GW of US storage capacity in pumped hydro, and all the tech innovation constituting only 6% of storage capacity.

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

The primary purpose of energy storage is energy arbitrage, ie., purchasing energy to charge batteries when prices are low due to surplus and discharging to sell when prices are high due to demand congestion, with the effect of providing load smoothing, at several levels within the grid architecture.

In addition to the compensation storage should receive for its contribution to the Value of Distributed Resources, it should also see revenue for these ancillary services. Storage provides “ancillary services” to the grid that are currently un- or under-compensated, including frequency regulation, voltage support, reserve capacity, load following & ramping.

The PSC is considering a “value stack” approach for storage as well as generation, to disaggregate the value streams and compensate each separately. RMI identified 13 services that storage can provide, to 3 stakeholder groups.

Determining the cashflow for a solar+storage project from VDER rules involves a complicated comparison between structuring and pricing regimes, which can create confusion when presenting a proposal for financing. Because storage can potentially participate in both state-regulated retail markets and FERC-regulated wholesale markets, storage pricing models have to ensure not only adequate compensation but must also avoid double compensation for any segregated value stream.

Spitzer advocated for expansion of incentives & subsidies in the VDER compensation model, in addition to the Transition benefits currently supporting VDER pricing. He also made reference to a supplemental subsidy for storage, a “market acceleration bridge incentive” (MAI), a proposal within the Roadmap that calls for $350M to be drawn from the State’s Clean Energy Fund. Solutions to this were briefly touched upon, including a proposed subsidy under the State storage Roadmap plan to offset soft-costs, a mechanism to ensure storage is sold in 10-20yr contract increments, a state run central procurement agency for storage, and support for specific market applications, ie, for schools to offset seasonal shifts, and replacement of peaker plants.

Institutional investors

Institutional investors are potentially the largest source of capital but currently the smallest by total assets under management, so it is an industry priority to find the means to unlock access to those large pools of funds that require very low risk assets & can tolerate relatively low returns. Institutional entities represented in the panels, included 2 insurance companies, 2 banks, 1 investment bank, 3 commercial REITs, several institutionally funded alternative funds, & several entities engaged in securitization of projects into Asset Backed Securities (ABS) that are placed with institutional investors, including 2 securities brokers, an asset manager & a major developer with a deep balance sheet. Public policy is a factor in incentivizing private sector involvement, as to federal tax incentives, state structural goals such as Renewable Portfolio Standards, property tax, carbon credits, support for valuation of storage assets, and portfolio guidelines limiting category and percentage of alt assets.

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Only 40 deals were with institutional participants, constituting .5% of transactions, in part because, as one panel member observed, there are easier ways to bet on 15-year assets than investing in power contracts, due to numerous uncertainties, in costs, O&M risks, performance both during the contracted period and after the end of the PPA, in the merchant period. Clean Capital has partnered with John Hancock (subsidiary of Manulife (MFC)), and with Blackrock on large portfolio acquisitions.

Tax Equity

The reps for AON Insurance (AON) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY) participated in a panel discussion about tax equity investments. Jonathan Silver of Tax Equity Advisors noted that pension funds, cash equity funds and insurance funds are increasing their participation in general, but also other non-institutional corporations are taking large positions in renewables via tax equity. Gary Blitz of AON focused his comments on coverage indemnifying narrow risks for tax equity partners against reversal judgments in IRS challenges, stating that insurance revenue for this line is up 2x yoy since ’17, similar to the services offered by the Surety carriers. Tax credit recapture risk can be triggered by foreclosure, which can mean that lenders concerned with loan default risk have interests at odds with tax equity investors.

RBC stated that they place funds from 80 institutional investors into their syndications of low income housing, who have been increasing their participation in renewable assets primarily to increase diversification, but since the tax reform are finding fewer tax equity opportunities. Tax advisor and syndications expert Joel Cohn of CohnReznick Capital noted that tax flips use GAAP rules primarily but also require use of “Hypothetical Linked Book Value” (HLBV) accounting rules. Other complicated factors discussed included Base Erosion Anti-abuse Tax (BEAT) rules, 5% Safe Harbor rules, and Opportunity Zone rules for pre-tax deferrals out to 2026. This discussion ended noting that it is generally simpler to employ back-leverage structures to avoid the default risk, and in some cases avoid transacting with tax partners.

Another panel that included M&T Bank (MTB), Investec Holdings (South African fund) & FTI consulting (which also operates a mid-market investment bank) continued discussion of the relative merits of back-levered debt, in which a project sponsor finances its equity contribution with Back-leverage is increasingly prevalent, in part because lenders prefer less dependence on tax equity, like to see more profit distribution to Sponsors, and because tax equity participants are ramping down on long tail risk. Revenue stacking models were discussed, that involve layering on capacity and ancillary services, to the extent that projects include front-of-the-meter storage. The head of Investec for No. America commented that simpler revenue models were favored. He pointed an earlier era in tech financing when cash flow for startups were subsidized by relationship banks backed up by entities with deep balance sheets that were able to carry the risks and negative cash flows until the developing firms were able to build “economic velocity”, suggesting something similar will need to happen with renewables.

Securitization was addressed by a panel moderated by Mike Mendelsohn from the Solar Finance Council, which offers a bond securitization rating portal, & includes on its advisory board kWh Analytics and CleanCapital. Panelists included a rep from asset manager Guggenheim Partners ($209B AUM) and brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Ron Borod from asset manager Ram Island Strategies, & Thomas Plageman from Vivint Solar Capital Markets (VSLR), a major developer with a deep balance sheet that has one of the largest financings listed by the NY Green Bank. Vivint reported it had completed $466M in ABS deals & 2 debt deals on the 144a market both levered and back levered, some that included a 2nd layer of tax equity. Their ABS securities were rated BBB on Quantum, with interest rates at L+ 1.75 rather than L+2.25, advance rate of 73-85%, and buyers were insurance companies taking 18yr dated PPA’s. Critical mass for these portfolios were 25-30,000 customers, which equated to $100M-$200M in asset scale. Ram Island noted its lease PPA portfolios were almost all residential, noted that the minimum levels of critical mass to be able to do the statistical underwriting was threshold of 15-20MW. It preferred using back-leverage to avoid IRS challenges of ITC basis, and to avoid the competition contractually for cashflow between debt holders and equity holders. Guggenheim also indicated a preference for debt rather than the complexities of managing inter-creditor relationships, and the upfront costs for legal & rating agencies in setting up ABS’s. He agreed critical mass to achieve the statistical granularity for rating purposes was $100M, preferably composed of similar asset class, with investment grade C&I offtaker. Storage, interestingly, was considered by all three to be a benefit to the project cashflow stability and the ABS, as a hedge for changes in net metering rules.

Real Estate

The real estate asset holders funding renewable developments appeared on their own panel, moderated by the non-profit Urban Land Institute. Panelists included Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), a publicly traded REIT with marquis high rise properties, largest owner of LEED-certified property in the US, DWS Group, (formerly Deutschbank) with a $50B real estate portfolio, & L&M Development Partners a non-profit builder of low income housing..

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davidbailey2613 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

natalieweber221 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

captainalexandra21jones · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

helloashleygreen2213 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

itsemilyadamsat36 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

aaronlawson2183 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

#Solar &amp; Storage Finance Conference Notes

0 notes

charlesmatthews0501 · 6 years ago

Text

Solar & Storage Finance Conference Notes

Public Policy and Agency goals

NYPA further commented that historically, it had accumulated 25% of the entire state’s generating portfolio, but was shifting its focus to distributed generation.

VDER – Value of Distributed Energy

Stephen Wemple from ConEd articulated the premise of VDER, the successor tariff to Net Energy Metering (NEM), identifying the main categories of the “Value Stack”.

Storage Applications

Massive efforts will be needed to expand both capacity & grid integration.

Institutional investors

The rep for insurance company John Hancock sat on a panel discussing investor appetites for PV & storage with fund managers from Wafra Alternative Investments, C2 Energy Capital & Clean Capital.

Tax Equity

Real Estate

https://ift.tt/2G5e6yj

0 notes

investmart007 · 6 years ago

Text

Shaw Contract Joins Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/YHeRp6

Shaw Contract Joins Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment

CARTERSVILLE, GA./ SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 (STL.News)

Shaw Contract, a leading global flooring manufacturer, has officially joined the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment as part of the momentous Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, celebrating 37 founding signatories.

Troy Virgo, Director of Sustainability and Product Stewardship, Shaw Contract said: “The challenges of climate change are global in scale and require a global response. No one company can solve problems at this scale by itself, but we can each contribute to an effort that enables all of us to create a net zero future. Shaw Contract is proud of this latest partnership with the World Green Building Council to create a cleaner, healthier and more livable planet that stands to improve quality of life for all through the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.”

The Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment drives the scale and pace of action necessary to reduce carbon emissions and requires a transformation in the way we design, build and operate buildings.

The aim is to inspire industry and governments to develop aggressive strategies to start the actions necessary for change, and to fulfil their obligations within the Commitment. Signatories are required to evaluate their current energy use and associated emissions across their portfolios; identify opportunities to reduce energy wastage and improve energy efficiency; power their buildings from renewable energy sources; and report on progress against decarbonisation targets. All signatories will be expected to meet high verification standards, in the lead up to and in the year of achievement of net zero carbon emission buildings, and report annually on progress.

In an unprecedented statement of coordinated action from business and cities, states and regions, the 37 signatories, made up of 11 businesses, 22 cities and four states and regions, gathered at a dedicated session to signal the start of a leadership movement towards a decarbonised built environment. Combined, these organizations are committed to eliminating 244 million metric tons of carbon emissions equivalent (CO2e) from their buildings. That is the equivalent of 52 million cars off the road for one year.

Businesses across the world and throughout the building and construction supply chain, have set ambitious targets to eliminate operational carbon emissions from their building portfolios of over 10 million square meters by 2030. This will create a wider market transformation to enable net zero carbon buildings by 2050.

Leaders from some of the world’s biggest cities have committed to enact regulations and/or planning policy that will require all new buildings within their jurisdiction to operate at net zero carbon from 2030, and all buildings, including existing, to operate at net zero carbon by 2050. Some cities, along with state and regional governments, have additionally committed to ensure the municipal assets they own, operate and develop are net zero carbon by 2030.

Their collective commitment provides strong evidence that industry, mayors and governors are willing to take drastic action to prevent catastrophic climate change and create more comfortable, healthy and future-proofed environments for their employees and residents to occupy. WorldGBC welcomed the following founding signatories of the Commitment:

Business, recruited from the Green Building Council network – Majid Al Futtaim, property developer in the Middle East; Integral Group, global engineering firm; Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), lighting manufacturer; Cundall, global engineering firm; Kilroy Realty, real estate investment trust; Frasers Property Australia, major developer; AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund, property investment fund; Berkeley Group, residential property developer; Shaw Contract – Commercial division, flooring manufacturer; GPT Wholesale Office Fund, property investment fund; and Stockland, property developer. Cities, recruited in partnership with C40 – Copenhagen, Denmark; Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg & Tshwane, South Africa; London, UK; Los Angeles, New York City, Newburyport, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica & Washington DC, USA; Medellin, Colombia; Montreal, Toronto & Vancouver, Canada; Paris, France; Stockholm, Sweden; Sydney, Australia; and Tokyo, Japan. States and regions, recruited in partnership with The Climate Group as secretariat for the Under2 coalition – Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Yucatan, Mexico; Navarra and Catalonia, Spain. The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment has been developed in partnership with a wide stakeholder group including Green Buildings Councils, The Climate Group and C40. Last month, C40 announced that 19 cities from their network will join the Commitment across 9 countries. The Commitment forms part of EP100, a global corporate leadership initiative for energy-smart companies, delivered by The Climate Group in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy. Businesses signing the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment become EP100 members.

About Shaw Contract At Shaw Contract, we believe that the ground beneath your feet should have a positive impact on how you live, learn, work, heal and play. We strive for design excellence in everything we do – from conception to production to installation, it’s what sets us apart. We make flooring that delivers a purposeful blend of design elements, materiality, sustainability and performance. Every day we take on creative challenges to research, design and innovate flooring solutions that transform spaces across the globe.

About the World Green Building Council The World Green Building Council is a global network of Green Building Councils that is transforming the places where we live, work, play, heal and learn. The goal is to help reduce the building and construction sector’s CO2 emissions by 84 gigatonnes and ensure all buildings have net zero emissions by 2050. We believe green buildings can and must be at the centre of our lives. Our changing climate means we must reshape the way we grow and build, enabling people to thrive both today and tomorrow. We take action – championing local and global leadership and empowering our community to drive change. Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts, and commit to green buildings for everyone, everywhere.

About C40 C40 Cities connects 96 of the world’s greatest cities to take bold climate action, leading the way towards a healthier and more sustainable future. Representing 700+ million citizens and one quarter of the global economy, mayors of the C40 cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level, as well as to cleaning the air we breathe. The current chair of C40 is Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo; and three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the Board. C40’s work is made possible by our three strategic funders: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Realdania. To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit our website, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About The Climate Group At The Climate Group, our focus is on accelerating climate action. We secure big commitments on climate action from those with the power to shift markets and policies so that we can go further and faster in driving climate action. The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment is part of The Climate Group’s global EP100 initiative, bringing together a growing group of energy-smart companies committed to doing more with less. By integrating energy efficiency into business strategy, these leading companies are driving tech innovation and increasing competitiveness while delivering on emissions goals – inspiring others to follow their lead. EP100 is led by The Climate Group in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy as part of the We Mean Business coalition. The Climate Group is also secretariat to the Under2 Coalition of ambitious state and regional governments committed to keeping global temperature rises to under 2°C.The coalition is made up of more than 200 governments who represent over 1.3 billion people and nearly 40% of the global economy.

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prweb.com/releases/shaw_contract_joins_net_zero_carbon_building_commitment/prweb15763125.htm

#Cartersville Georgia #Flooring Manufacturer #global climate action summit #Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment #Product Stewardship #real estate #San Francisco #Shaw contract #Sustainability #TodayNews #Troy Birgo #World Green Building Council

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berna2206thames19-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Some Helpful Questions On Fast Tactics Of Weightlifting Chalk Canada

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Nonetheless, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is insisting the government's climate change plan will allow Canada to meet its target. "If you look at the plan, it shows how we are going to get to the target," McKenna said. "We've taken very serious measures." The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change,signed last fall by Ottawa and 11 of the 13 provinces and territories, aims to take 86 million tonnes of carbon emissions out annually by 2030. That includes the impact of the carbon pricing regime to be phased in at increments of $10 per tonne starting next year, reaching $50 per tonne by 2022. Poor odds for success The government anticipates other measures committed to prior to the framework, such as Alberta's phase-out of coal-powered electricity plants and Saskatchewan's renewable energy target, will cut emissions by 89 megatonnes a year. The rest of the road to 523 will come from investments in public transit and green infrastructure, clean technology and stored carbon in forests, wetlands and soils. Michael Cleland, chair of the board at the Canadian Energy Research Institute, said he pegs the odds of those cuts materializing by 2030 at "zero." "I don't see events or forces in the offing that are likely to change that in the next couple of years," said Cleland. He said the climate change framework will get Canada closer, but the trajectory of emissions just won't change fast enough to cut emissions by more than 27 per cent in 13 years. Carbon pricing Cutting coal-fired electrical plants, something Ottawa wants done by 2030, will eliminate 61 million tonnes, but three of the four provinces that still generate electricity by burning coal haven't committed to that yet. Cleland said there will be incremental growth in electric vehicles and more efficient buildings, but both are only happening "bit by bit." "I don't see evidence we're going to see a massive shift in the next 10 years," said Cleland. He said the government deserves recognition for its carbon price plan and "there is no question in my mind it will have an impact on people's decisions." But he said it's hard to know whether that plan will actually play out given the differences among the provinces, and the current lack of buy-in from at least two: Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Dale Marshall, national program manager at Environmental Defence, is more optimistic.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/emissions-target-deadline-looming-1.4094682