With world leaders, companies and investors coalescing around net-zero emissions commitments to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, the energy sector is finally getting the long-term signals it has craved, a US Department of Energy official said May 6.
But as politically challenging as getting to that consensus was, those signals "in many ways are the easy part."Ambitious emissions-reduction targets made of late around the world, in many cases, extend well beyond the tenure of the leaders that made them, DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk said at the US Energy Association's annual meeting and public policy forum.
President Joe Biden has committed the US to an irreversible path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with an intermediate goal of a 50%-52% reduction by the end of this decade. The EU put forth a similar target, and the UK has said it will reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 with net-zero targets beyond that. Japan and China have also stepped up with long-term commitments.
"It's much easier to put a long-term commitment on the table," Turk said. "The hard part is actually doing the work to fundamentally transform our energy economies. And while we've made significant progress, including and especially in the US where we're leading some of these clean energy revolutions, we still have a long way to go."
GAME PLANTurk shared his thoughts on a game plan for the US moving forward, underscoring that the success of this plan hinged on USEA members, which represent a broad spectrum of the energy sector including oil, gas, coal, nuclear and renewable energy companies and associations, leading the way.
His three-pronged plan calls on the US to frame the task before it appropriately; get its own domestic act together; and win the global competition to lead the clean energy revolution.
On the first prong, Turk said not just science, but common sense is forcing the public to realize that the climate is changing and that subsequent adverse impacts such as more frequent and severe storms will only get worse if action is not taken to mitigate global warming. But an accurate framing of the situation must also "recognize that these actions to fundamentally transform our energy economies are not just to avert a crisis ... but they're really to seize an opportunity," as clean energy is set to spur a $23 trillion global market and massive job creation, Turk said.
Framing this in a smart, strategic way also entails recognition of the global community, which is "aggressively courting these new market opportunities around the world," and realizing that this is a competition in which the US will need to put its best foot forward if it wants to take advantage of these opportunities, he said.
The second prong, arguably the most important, according to Turk, requires the US "to get [its] own house in order," with regards to infrastructure and investment needed to seize on the opportunities of a clean energy economy.
"In the coming days and weeks, you'll certainly be hearing more from [DOE] about how we are going to organize ourselves better so we can be more coherent with a hydrogen strategy, with a long-duration storage strategy, with a correct carbon capture strategy," Turk said, as he also noted the need for more renewables capacity, nuclear energy, transmission and grid security. "And importantly, as the president has laid out, we need to make sure that we bring all our communities, all our workers together as we do this kind of thing."
FOLLOW OR LEADThe third prong of the game plan entails using the "full range of federal levers ... [and] departments" as well as partnerships with industry to compete with China, Europe and Japan in the clean energy and emissions-reducing technologies space.
"Let us know what you need to succeed internationally," he told USEA members. "If there are certain programs, certain authorities, certain funding streams that are important to you, [DOE is] very eager to hear that to make sure that we have a coherent, robust international game plan so that we can take advantage of these opportunities and win this global competition."
Turk said how Congress responds will determine whether the US is reactive and follows or is proactive and leads.
"There are particular moments in time where these big issues, these big opportunities present themselves, and this is one," he said. "And we either take advantage of that in Congress and do something significant in a way that will have benefits for us, our companies, our communities, our workers for years and years, or we'll waste that opportunity and in two or three years down the line, we'll be wishing we would have taken more advantage of that opportunity when it was in front of us."
