This Year in Climate: 2024

2024 set new heights for extreme heat around the world in what is already the warmest decade on record. According to the World Meteorological Organization, sea-level rise and ocean heating are accelerating along with the loss of ice from glaciers. We continue to see extreme weather of all kinds wreak havoc on communities across the world. In spite of the growing disruption, countries continue to miss their self-imposed climate targets. And in November, the U.S. re-elected Donald Trump to the presidency, a move that will almost certainly slow the transition to cleaner forms of energy.

And yet, the transition continues. As the year winds down, Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious look back upon recent climate progress and pitfalls and revisit some of our most illuminating interviews of 2024.

Karen Hao

Contributing Writer, The Atlantic

Shelley Welton

Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Justin J. Pearson

District 86 State Representative, Tennessee General Assembly

Aja Barber

Author, “Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change and Consumerism”

Jamie Beard

Founder of Project InnerSpace

And more!

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Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have long sought to reform the federal energy permitting process. For three years, a bipartisan coalition led by Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) worked toward a compromise that would balance the need to streamline new energy projects without unduly favoring fossil fuels. But despite multiple rounds of negotiations, the proposed Energy Permitting Reform Act finally stalled out this week and will not pass before Congress exits for the holidays.

There are thousands of gigawatts of power waiting to be connected to the national electricity grid, the majority of which are solar, wind, and battery power. However, the federal permitting process tacks years of bureaucratic delays onto the deployment of new energy sources, as outdated regulations require approvals from multiple under-resourced federal agencies before a new power source can start providing electricity to end users. 

Republicans, who will control both chambers of Congress when January’s legislative session convenes, have pledged to push through unilateral permitting reform in 2025, but it’s unclear whether the party’s proposals will fall within the scope of budget reconciliation used to bypass the filibuster in the Senate. And some clean energy advocates are unconvinced that GOP-authored reform, which will likely prioritize fossil fuel energy sources, would represent an improvement over the status quo. In the meantime, the utility connection queue is likely to grow, with projects waiting an average of five years between requesting interconnection approval and commercial operations.

PLUS:

Since 2018, nearly 2 million home insurance policies across the United States have been canceled by the insurer. Regions in western states and along the southern Atlantic coast have been particularly affected due to intensifying wildfires and hurricanes, and the trend of policy non-renewals appears poised to accelerate as climate change worsens.

While states like California and Florida are working to implement policies-of-last-resort, the lack of access to home insurance threatens to magnify the cost of living crisis. Can anything be done to mitigate the issue? Revisit our episode Risky Business: Underinsured Against Climate Disaster to find out.

Source: The New York Times/U.S. Senate Budget Committee

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