By: Karlie Rubin
Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced its agenda to reduce America’s emissions in the industrial sector. According to the fact sheet that was released by the White House, the industrial sector is key to tackling climate change issues. In addition, this Administration is looking to advance its decarbonization technologies during this period in order to get close to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Deep Decarbonization technology has been difficult to manage through different sectors, but it is the only way to help reduce the world’s carbon emissions in order to bring down atmospheric levels.
In 2019, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (“EESI”) released its own brief on legal pathways to help achieve Deep Decarbonization technologies in the United States. This brief focuses on existing United States laws and argues that some laws need to be changed to reach a pathway of 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Biden-Harris Administration seemed to have similar goals as the EESI brief to work towards Deep Decarbonization to create a more sustainable future. Likewise, the Administration aims to create more jobs in the United States economy to help combat the difficulties the supply chain is facing in implementing these technologies.
Deep Decarbonization technologies are fairly new and are quickly impacting how the current climate issue can – hopefully – be solved. Decarbonization is the process of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from human activity in the atmosphere. The main goal of this technology is to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere because they cause extreme weather events, wildfires, droughts, and negatively affect crop production. According to the World Economic Forum, the only solution for climate stabilization is Decarbonization of all our energy systems. Decarbonization technologies require different sectors such as transportation, agriculture, waste management and multiple industrial sectors–steel, aluminum, cement, oil and gas— to switch to more electric and other clean energy supply sources.
Deep Decarbonization is looked at through three pillars: energy efficiency, decarbonization of electricity, and end-use fuel switching to electric sources. For example, the transportation industry is rapidly moving into a new era of more energy efficient cars by investing more time into perfecting electrical cars. The law has already taken its own steps to help by working on adopting better fuel economy standards. Other industries don’t seem to be at the forefront of these electric technologies, but it is estimated that a reduction of the greenhouse gas can be achieved by doubling the electric supply to accommodate for increased electrification. By releasing this fact sheet the current Administration is hoping to provide manufacturers with cleaner energy and efficiency upgrades to these innovative technologies to work towards a net-zero economy.
This roadmap lays out a multitude of different techniques and funding opportunities to reduce America’s emissions such as: energy efficiency; industrial electrification; low carbon fuels, feedstocks, and energy sources (“LCFFES”); and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (“CCUS”), which all are critical to the decarbonization efforts. The Biden-Harris Administration has added around 367,000 manufacturing jobs due to these Deep Decarbonization efforts. In accordance, the White House is launching a new Initiative for Interdisciplinary Industrial Decarbonization Research, where a committee will help create strategies to bring down the industrial carbon footprint. This committee has already issued a request for information on industrial decarbonization, which is predicted to provide new technologies for the industry to adopt. These can include the clean production of iron and steel, cement, chemicals, and food and beverages.
With the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration in mind, a question of whether the economy, after the COVID-19 pandemic, can support the implementation and production of these new technologies. The Department of Energy (“DOE”) announced a $104 million funding opportunity to help advance these Deep Decarbonization techniques, but it is proving difficult for some sectors because it requires a different process. For example, transportation seems quite simple because it is switching to more electric or hybrid vehicles. Other industries, like steel, need more time, investment, and innovation to secure the steps of Decarbonization.
The impact of COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is currently hitting America by causing gas prices to rise astronomically, and has exposed many vulnerabilities in the global supply chain. The higher prices for gasoline may end up being a catalyst for efforts to Decarbonize through energy grids. In addition, people have been hesitant to rejoin the work force and the supply chain has been directly impacted by not having personnel to ramp up well digging and oil production. The Biden-Harris Administration could have been in the right place by releasing this roadmap, but ultimately, companies that adopt a low-carbon production process will most likely see a rise in cost. More incentive programs may be needed to give these corporations a reason to invest in Decarbonization production processes.
The law has pondered with implementing a national clean energy standard, but this may not be feasible for the everyday energy user. Switching to more energy efficient items may pose a financial burden on people, but on the other hand electrical bills may increase by not adopting a clean energy source such as solar panels. The question now becomes what will be more costly: buying an electrical vehicle or paying a higher electrical bill? Something to keep in mind is that the shortage of workers for the supply chain may cause a delay in the production of electric cars, but will also keep gasoline costs high without the necessary work force to drill for oil production.
The Biden-Harris Administration has high hopes that this roadmap will make new jobs in the industrial sector, but first people must be willing to accept these specific jobs. Maybe the funding opportunity through the roadmap will be what is needed for corporations to move toward Decarbonization technologies or maybe the Administration needs to administer a different method through taxes. Although this Administration has fulfilled their aggressive environmental agenda in implementing the Climate Start Farming Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and rejoining the Paris Agreement, only time will tell on whether America is able to achieve a net zero carbon emission by 2050.
Student Bio: Karlie Rubin is a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School. She is a staff writer on the Journal of High Technology Law. Karlie received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Counseling/Psychology from Lesley University.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
