Financial Opportunities For Climate, Energy – Heather Boushey, White House Council of Economic Advisors & Chief Economist of Invest in America Cabinet
Release Date: 08/20/2024
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Many countries are looking to lead on AI and embed it in as many aspects of our lives as possible. But right now we do not have an electricity grid that is built for this purpose. We also need to think about the fuel needed to power up this grid.” Dr. Stephanie Hare on Electric Ladies Podcast We’re putting artificial intelligence (AI) to work for a variety of our problems on a daily basis -including climate change. How? In more ways than you might think, though it’s the amount of electricity, water and fuel it requires that raises tough questions. Listen to Dr. Stephanie Hare, a...
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“Resilience is a team sport. You cannot build resilience in insolation. I cannot emphasize how important multi sector action and teamwork is. So let’s understand that and work together.” Lauren Sorkin on Electric Ladies Podcast To kick off the first interview of 2025, we’re diving into a topic that affects us all: Can the cities we live in truly provide what we need to thrive? With over half of the global population now living in urban areas – a figure projected to hit 70% by 2050 – cities are at the forefront of the climate transition. Join me as I talk with Lauren Sorkin,...
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“If you want to get something done in this world that transcends what’s already happening, you have to be willing to listen to the people that are trying to hold dearly to how it has been. Become a master bridge builder. Be committed to asking questions such that you understand where the commonality is. Find the common points.” Jennifer Hough on Electric Ladies Podcast At the end of a year where every country and neighborhood seems more divided than ever, and many of us feel like we’re walking on eggshells in every conversation, we’ve found ourselves in uncharted terrain....
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“Today we are talking about accelerating the clean energy transition, including government policy, lowering costs, and decarbonization...The new 2024 Energy Fact book (by BCSE & BNEF)… found that the energy transition is in full swing with ‘record breaking’ public and private sector investments in clean power and renewable energies showing cost competitiveness even without government subsidies…But the two key pieces we're going to talk about today are… the grid and storage.” Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast Between market forces, government incentives and funding,...
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“Women make up 80% or more of the garment industry workers. Women garment workers make meager wages and work excessive working hours, 14 to 16 hours a day…Fashion is ranked as the second most polluting business in the world by the UN, 7% of the landfill is garments. The garment industry emits 8 to 10% of global CO2 and 500,000 tons of micro plastics are dumped into oceans each year.” Joan Michelson at UN Climate Week SDG Media Zone The fashion industry faces the twin problems of being an environmental disaster, and treating their majority female workforce very, very badly, even...
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“1% for the planet is really set up as a way to sort of break it down, and create a pathway to action that kind of gets us through the overwhelm. So, the way it works is that we have businesses who are our members, and they're actually supporting environmental partners at the level of 1% of revenues….You invest in the things that matter and the planet matters. …(The point is to) drive impact at scale. And so, in terms of that scale, last year we certified US$100million of support going from these companies to environmental partners….When a company joins, they pay a dues fee to us, but...
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“Carbon Recycling International was founded around the idea of taking something which was waste, like CO2 and turning it into some valuable product…(Today they are) converting CO2 into sustainable methanol…(W)e have technology, which takes CO2 as a waste, and it takes hydrogen and turns it into methanol…and it is used today both like into chemicals. So, the chemical sector is a big consumer of methanol, which is a very large known product in the world today. …(and into) a sustainable fuel...playing a pretty big role in the energy transition.” Bjork Kristjansdottir on Electric...
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“It's really that investment to transition from a legacy industry into a future industry…that is aiming to drive more sustainability and manufacturing processes and products overall…One of the things that we fundamentally see as being important in this economic shift, and we say it in this Practical Guide to the Green Economy, is that this transition we believe will favor places that make things.… and we want to make them better and more sustainable.” Bethia Burke on Electric Ladies Podcast Green jobs, economic development from growing these new energy and sustainability sectors....
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“You need to be looking 360 in terms of industry, what's developing, what's coming down the pike from a technology standpoint, from a risk standpoint. You should be educating yourself constantly and stretching yourself to go into a new area. Don't just be content to sit and do the same thing….Push yourself to do something a little different, stretch…because that broadens you as a professional, first of all. It's just so much more interesting than doing the same thing every day. But, it also makes you a better professional… because you are seeing things that the other people who are...
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How Climate Policies Boost Economic Opportunities – Gina McCarthy, Fmr. White House National Climate Advisor & Head of the Climate Policy Office (Biden Admin.), Fmr. EPA Administrator (Obama Admin.) “(People) just have to work with their own local communities….We are talking about $400 billion of investment in the Inflation Reduction Act already captured. That's just two years. This is a 10-year bill…To me, what's most exciting is that the opportunities are real, and you can grab them.…Already 3.4 million families have grabbed Inflation Reduction Act tax breaks, and put solar...
info_outline“Much of our infrastructure isn't built to withstand certain kinds of flooding or certain levels of heat. And yet, as the climate changes, so many of the things… that we did know in a world with a stable climate, those are now being upended. And all of that affects costs fundamentally… So, we need to transition to net zero…The three pieces of (federal) legislation are all about investing in America and making sure that from the innovation to commercialization pipeline, we are helping those goods get to market at scale, at prices consumers can afford.” Heather Boushey on Electric Ladies Podcast
New research finds that 52% of voters in this 2024 election want "historic investments in 21st century sustainable infrastructure projects," according to Data For Progress, presented at the Democratic National Convention this week. The Biden-Harris administration has made historic investments already and homeowners, communities and businesses can seize them to increase their resilience to climate change and reduce their energy costs. How?
Listen to Heather Boushey, Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors and Chief Economist of the Invest in America Cabinet, in this exclusive and rare interview by Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast explain how we can economically do this transition and how this federal funding reduces our risks and costs to do, while also expediting this transition to help avert even far worse effects of climate change. (This episode aired originally in September 2023.)
You’ll hear:
- How climate change affects the economy, and key sectors specifically.
- Resources in the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment Act & CHIPS & Science Act to help homeowners, businesses and investors make these changes at reduced risks and lower costs.
- Where the opportunities – and jobs – are in this transition, including for women.
- The impact on women specifically and resources available
- Plus, insightful career advice, such as…
“For me, the key to my career was being clear on what my mission is….I feel so enormously fortunate that I found a president to be able to work for who shares that goal….So I think the lesson in that is either be the leader that you want to believe in, or find that leader and attach yourself to them and see what amazing things you can do together. But, for me, it's been about being clear on what it is that I wanted to achieve.” Heather Boushey on Electric Ladies Podcast
Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.
You’ll also like (some may have been recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):
- Erin McLaughlin, The Conference Board on new economic research on buildings, energy and climate and the federal and state incentives
- Anna Siefken, Deputy Director, Federal Energy Management Program, Dept. of Energy, on how the federal government reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of its 350,000 buildings.
- Rachel McCleery, Senior Advisor, Treasury Dept. Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to leverage the IRA to save money reducing a building or business’s energy use and carbon footprint.
- Rachel Frazin, Environment & Energy Reporter at The Hill, on Project 2025 and climate change.
- Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations, Ceres, on business supporting the Inflation Reduction Act
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