Where Climate and Clean Energy Policy Should Go Next

Two new perspectives on industrial policy

It’s been a hot summer, and the question still remains: How can policymakers coordinate a whole-of-government response to urgent needs like the clean energy transition? Two recent Roosevelt reports examine the impacts of the Biden administration’s climate legislation and provide lessons to improve upon future industrial policy.

Diana Hernández, sociologist and 2023–24 Roosevelt fellow, and Lauren Ross, research director at Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, zoom in on one structural harm that may require a coordinated government response: energy insecurity, which is experienced in some form by one-third of US households. That might look like air conditioning units in disrepair, utility bills taking up too much of the monthly budget, or even ovens being used to keep warm in the winter.

• In the report, Hernández and Ross explore how the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law addressed energy insecurity, and how to carry that work forward even after the Trump administration has dismantled much of it.
• Read the report: Tackling Energy Insecurity amid Federal Climate Policy Shifts: Lessons Learned and Pathways Forward

Senior Fellow Betony Jones identifies three obstacles to successful industrial policy—capital market failures, labor market failures, and governance failures—and provides 15 concrete proposals to solve these challenges.

• The policy changes would unlock long-term industrial finance, build and retain manufacturing skills, and improve government coordination, allowing the US economy to reach its full potential.
• Read the report: The Three Failures Threatening America’s Clean Energy Industrial Strategy and How to Fix Them

What else we’re up to

• Just how stretched thin are parents of young kids? Well, very. Economist Sarah Jane Glynn spoke to The 74 about families’ various childcare arrangements and the consequences of a patchwork system.  
  • More than one in four mothers are caring for children under 5 while also busy with work or school. “That’s a lot to be juggling at the same time,” Glynn says. “You’re doing something else that requires your full attention and you’re taking care of a baby, a toddler, a preschooler.”
  • For more insights from Glynn’s research, read the brief: Who’s Minding the Kids These Days?: An Analysis of Children’s Care Arrangements
• Don’t believe the lies—we don’t need Social Security cuts. “Congress has the authority and overwhelming public support to strengthen Social Security without cutting benefits,” Roosevelt’s Rey Fuentes writes on Linkedin. The program—which has been amended throughout the past—can thrive as long as policymakers raise the revenue needed to keep this critical part of the safety net alive.
• “We have the opportunity, and responsibility, to re-architect the regulatory system.” Asad Ramzanali, director of AI and tech policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, discusses what he’s learned about regulating Big Tech throughout his career, and where policymakers should go next with AI, in the latest Roosevelt Society Q&A.

What we’re talking about