Climate Justice

Global climate change is a potentially catastrophic problem. Unchecked climate change will disrupt people’s access to the basic elements of life – food, water, shelter, and health. Because greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are nearly always the result of economic activities, economic policy will play a key role in any effort to mitigate climate change. The size and imminence of the danger from climate change calls for using all potential levers of economic policy—at all levels of government—to reorient economic activity away from GHG emissions. This transition must be guided by principles of racial equity and economic justice that protect, support, and empower working people and highly impacted communities.

Publications

Sustaining Strong Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Maryland’s Eastern Shore is a place with significant assets including natural beauty, productive farmland, and an iconic seafood industry. The region also faces significant challenges. Some of these would be familiar to residents of any other part of Maryland, such as wages that barely keep up with the cost of living and leave too many unable to afford the basics. Other challenges stem from the region’s distinctive geography and development patterns, like the long distances many residents must travel to get to a hospital…

While the threat of climate change looms over our entire state, it is already a dangerous reality for many of the Eastern Shore’s coastal communities. The region needs thoughtful solutions that balance community preservation, public health and safety, and long-term sustainability.

Modernizing Mitigation: A Demand-Centered Approach

This is a guide for practice, with relevance for technically trained staff and non-technical elected officials and other stakeholders. It is intended to inform policy around mitigating the traffic impacts from land use changes, a major factor in transportation system funding and design. It argues that conventional practice, which focuses on funding increases to roadway capacity, has created many problems and suggests that entities involved in mitigations, whether state or local governments, consider demand-side measures before resorting to roadway capacity increases. The report is general enough that it should apply to practice in most U.S. places, and to state DOTs as well as local units of government, but the reader will need to consider how the program would work in specific settings.

Building on Iowa’s smart energy leadership

Iowa has a rich history in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The 1983 requirement that investor-owned utility companies utilize renewable energy for part of their production portfolio was the first such law of the land, now known as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). “Twenty-nine states, Washington, D.C., and three territories have adopted an RPS, while eight states and one territory have set renewable energy goals.”

Another notable measure is the Solar Energy Tax Credit. Created by the Iowa Legislature in 2012, it allows those who install solar panels to recover up to 15 percent of that cost as a credit on their Iowa income taxes.

Iowa has also led in requiring utilities to assist their customers in reducing inefficient energy use. Without the 1990 Energy Efficiency Law (EE law), many new power plants would have been needed. Instead, the same level of comfort, lighting, and work has been accomplished with efficiency rather than producing more electricity and gas.

Roadmap for Opportunity: Water quality and the Nutrient Reduction Strategy

  • September 18, 2018
  • IPP staff

Environmental issues—particularly water quality—are integral to a discussion of opportunity. Both the health and the economic fortunes of Iowans depend on a healthy environment and public policy that support it. Clean and abundant water is a critical asset that helps make Iowa an attractive place for families and businesses to locate.

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) would appear to recognize this role, setting a goal to stop pollution by reducing nitrogen and phosphorus discharges by 45 percent. The NRS performance is another matter, due to policy shortcomings.