Climate and Advanced Energy

The 2020 US elections delivered some notable state and city-level wins for clean energy across the United States, notably in Nevada, Colorado, and Ohio. However, even in states that delivered victories for clean energy, utilities will still play a key role in driving—or stalling—the clean energy transition. The complex history of clean energy policy in each of these states points to the divergent paths both cities and states can take to decarbonize and the importance of striking a delicate balance between government, utilities, and public interests.

The incoming Biden Administration offers an opportunity for the United States to shift from its pursuit of energy independence and the fiction of a US energy market insulated from the vagaries of global market shocks and geopolitics. Instead, the new administration should strengthen US relationships with partners and allies to ensure import security for energy products and materials and guarantee export markets for US energy.

The operational and information technologies responsible for running energy systems today were never engineered to be secured in a digital environment, posing a technical challenge tough to solve and difficult for small and mid-sized operators to afford. New developments in artificial intelligence-based solutions can help all energy companies put defenders ahead of attackers, while adapting to the changing energy landscape.

Japan’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 presents an opportunity to expand the robust US-Japan energy partnership into additional clean energy areas. But with a stark divide on energy policy in the United States, how can the US-Japan energy partnership appeal to disparate visions of the energy transition and is politically durable? In the wake of Japan’s net-zero announcement, the Global Energy Center is launching this new report, “Enhancing US-Japan cooperation on clean energy technologies,” which explores how the United States and Japan can increase the politically durable foundation for clean energy cooperation to their already robust energy partnership.

In the seven months since the publication of the Atlantic Council’s issue brief, “Election 2020: What’s At Stake For Energy,” the social and political landscape of the United States can hardly have changed more dramatically. This issue brief updates the Atlantic Council’s prior analysis and considers the new context surrounding a Trump re-election scenario and a Biden election, and the consequences for the energy sector.

Transatlantic cooperation is essential to European energy security, which is and should remain a key national security priority for the United States. European energy security is crucial for the maintenance of a strong European economy and for European political stability, both of which are in the best interests of the United States. This report recommends that the United States and the EU focus their energy cooperation in several areas that will benefit the EU’s efforts to meet climate targets and that, at the same time, will also bolster energy security.