| Cutting emissions to curb the impacts of climate change is a necessity for the planet’s future. It can also help reduce our costs in the here and now. |
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THE IMPACT OF “HEATFLATION”: With annual inflation for U.S. consumers now exceeding 4 percent, prospective voters across the board are connecting the dots between rising temperatures and the rising cost of living. New research shows that this perception is grounded in reality–and that it might offer a bipartisan foundation for the fight against climate change.
According to survey data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, two thirds of registered voters agreed that global warming is affecting their own cost of living to some degree. While agreement was highest among liberal Democrats, at 88 percent, it also reached majorities among moderate/conservative Democrats (84 percent) and liberal/moderate Republicans (57 percent).
Even among conservative Republicans, a group who traditionally poll as less receptive to climate appeals, 42 percent agreed that warming was costing them money. That makes “perfect sense,” said Kimberly Clausing, a UCLA law professor, given that families in rural areas–especially in the West, the Gulf Coast, and Florida–face some of the highest bills from climate-linked wildfires and hurricanes. In a recent paper, Clausing and her co-authors found that U.S. households are paying at least $400 to $900 per year from “heatflation.” In the 10 percent of hardest-hit counties, the toll exceeds $1,300 per year.
The paper found that climate change had the most price-point impact on homeowners’ insurance premiums, adding an average of $356 annually. Given the high economic and social costs of fossil fuels versus clean energy, Speed & Scale has consistently pointed out that it’s cheaper to save the planet than to ruin it. Now it’s becoming clear that the same point applies to household finance.
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| | | 🚗 1.0 – Electrify Transportation Tariff Drift: Although Chinese automakers remain boxed out of the United States by tariffs, rules, and political resistance, Chinese-designed EVs could penetrate the U.S. market within a few years via joint ventures with U.S. automakers. While Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis are still reliant on profits from combustion cars, China is poised to dominate the global market by scaling up cheaper, high-tech EVs across Europe, Asia, Australia, and beyond (CNBC). Turbulence Ahead: Citing cost, supply, and limited infrastructure, airline executives are publicly cooling on sustainable aviation fuel as a near-term pathway for decarbonization. American Airlines used just 14 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel in 2025, as compared to 4.5 billion gallons of conventional jet fuel. As SAF scaling proves elusive, airlines are looking instead to operational efficiency, air traffic reform, and longer-term technology bets (Aviation Week). Truck Stop Swap: China is targeting 40 percent market penetration for electrified heavy-duty trucks by 2030, up from about 29 percent in 2025. The plan pairs vehicle targets with charging and battery-swapping stations and zero-carbon freight corridors. It shows how China is electrifying heavy transport by building the market and the infrastructure at the same time (Bloomberg).
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| 💡 2.0 – Decarbonize the Grid Hydro Bottleneck: The Champlain Hudson Power Express is delivering 1,250 MW of Canadian hydropower from Quebec to Queens through a 339-mile power line, a major new clean-power artery for New York City. Despite this transmission win, New York State still struggles with load growth, siting fights, and dependence on imported clean electrons, especially as drought risk threatens hydropower’s reliability (Bloomberg). China’s Solar Speed Bump: After installing 315 GW of solar in 2025, China fell off 56 percent year over year in March and 79 percent in April. The slowdown likely reflects weakened incentives and a national policy shift from raw capacity expansion toward market-driven pricing and grid integration (Carbon Brief).
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| SUNNY SIDE UP: Solar energy overtook coal last month to become the third-largest source of generated electricity in the U.S., after natural gas and nuclear, despite federal policy setbacks. The latest clean energy milestone caps off a five-year progression that has seen coal drop from 20 percent to 12 percent of the energy mix, while solar’s share has climbed from 5 percent to 13 percent.
What’s the big picture? Solar’s rise is just part of the story. In March, renewables generated more electricity than gas in the U.S. for the first time. This trend holds even greater urgency as U.S. demand for electricity–after two decades of flat consumption–is being driven up by the needs of AI data centers, industry, home heating, and EVs. Globally, renewables are projected to become the largest source of electricity within the next five years. |
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🐄 3.0 – Fix Food Beef Bug: A New World screwworm fly infestation in South Texas marks the pest’s first confirmed case in the state since 1966, raising alarms for the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry. As climate change widens the potentially deadly parasite’s warm-weather range, food system biosecurity will play a more urgent role in agricultural productivity (AP News). “Oui” to Plant-Based Meat: In France, Europe’s fastest-growing plant-based market, alternative meat sales rose by 14 percent after prices fell by nearly 3 percent–a reminder that consumer math trumps climate messaging in stimulating demand (Green Queen).
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🌳 4.0 – Protect Nature El Niño Everywhere: The expected return of El Niño looms as another macroeconomic stress test, with risks running through agriculture, hydropower, global health, shipping, and energy demand. As climate change multiplies risk of extreme weather events, it gets harder for markets and governments to distinguish temporary shocks from a warmer baseline (Wall Street Journal). Small Fires, Giant Bills: While total global burning was relatively small in 2025, the Los Angeles-area blazes helped to make it the costliest wildfire year on record. Fire risk is hinging less on raw acreage and more on location, assets, insurance markets, and inadequate resilience (The New York Times).
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| 🧱 5.0 – Clean Up Industry Heavy Money Moves: Global clean industry investment is accelerating despite geopolitical headwinds, with 2026 on track to be the strongest year ever. With China and India leading the way, new clean industry value chains are nearing the $5 trillion mark, while “Final Investment Decisions” are coming in at double last year’s pace. Takeaway: The case for resilient, low-carbon materials, fuels, and chemicals has grown stronger amid repeated fossil fuel price shocks (Mission Possible Partnership).
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| 🧹 6.0 – Remove Carbon Sea Change: Despite challenges in scaling, marine carbon removal is moving from research labs into advanced purchase commitments, as startups and other early buyers test ways to use the ocean’s chemistry and native plants to draw down carbon. While the opportunity is enormous, the field has yet to resolve issues of cost, durability, ecological safety, and policy frameworks (Reuters). Removal Mix: Toronto-Dominion Bank signed a 10-year agreement with Climeworks for a portfolio of high-durability carbon removals, including enhanced rock weathering, biochar, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and future credits for direct air capture. The deal points to a maturing buyer strategy to diversify across a range of removal pathways while reserving exposure to DAC as the technology moves toward commercial scale (ESG Today).
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| 🏛️ 7.0 – Win Politics And Policy Battery Backlash: Battery energy storage systems are running into local bans and moratoriums just as grids need more flexibility in absorbing renewables and managing peak demand. While legitimate fears around lithium-ion fires justify safety standards and first-responder planning, blanket opposition could jeopardize one of the cheapest tools for cutting fossil fuel dependence (NBC5). Heat Plan Lag: Europe is entering another dangerous summer with insufficient safeguards against extreme heat. As of 2024, only 21 of 38 European countries had heat-related health action plans. Barcelona’s 400-plus climate shelters show that modest local investments can save lives, But northern Europe’s poorly cooled buildings and shelters that close at night–or fail to open before June–still trail the risk curve (The Guardian).
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| 🏃 8.0 – Turn Movements Into Action Climate Confidence: Six in 10 Americans doubt the world will do enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change, while only a quarter trust the global response. The sharpest signal is not of fading concern but falling confidence. While climate is still seen as a significant issue by most, public faith in institutions and technology to address the problem is thinning (Bloomberg). Smoke Signal: The last decade of wildfires has reversed four years of U.S. progress in improving air quality through tighter tailpipe emissions standards. The rise of fire-linked surface ozone levels has been linked to more than three hundred additional premature deaths per year since 2013 (Inside Climate News).
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| ⚡ 9.0 – Innovate! Ferries Find a Charge: A new generation of electric and hybrid ferries is moving into service, including New York’s $33 million Harbor Charger and San Francisco’s planned high-speed, fully battery-electric passenger ferry. The Harbor Charger is 66 percent faster than its predecessor and is expected to cut at least 600 tons of CO2 a year (WIRED). Underground Math: Burying power lines is one of the surest ways to prevent storm outages, but it’s not cheap. In urban areas in Michigan, local utilities say costs can range up to $3 million per mile. To maximize the benefit-to-cost ratio, the practical play may be to prioritize new lines in high-risk corridors rather than retrofitting existing ones at ratepayer expense (Grist).
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| 💰 10.0 – Invest! Giving Intelligence: The coming wave of AI IPO wealth could create a new pool for climate philanthropy as data centers draw scrutiny for power demand, water use, fossil fuel reliance, and inflation of local electricity prices. Heatmap pointed to Speed & Scale’s action plan as a tool for helping innovators see where climate capital and new technology can make the greatest impact (Heatmap News). Capital Current: Global clean energy investment is on track to reach $2.2 trillion in 2026, nearly double the $1.2 trillion flowing into oil, gas, and coal, according to IEA data. Despite bottlenecks in project financing and stubborn government subsidies for fossil fuels, the surging spending gap is driven by security concerns and the falling costs of renewables and storage (Forbes). Gulf Goes Green: The war-driven disruption to the Strait of Hormuz has pushed Gulf states to hedge their energy strategy and accelerate planned investments in overseas renewables. Notable commitments include a $2.2 billion joint venture between the United Arab Emirates’ Masdar and France-based TotalEnergies for onshore wind, solar, and storage projects, and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund’s $325 million stake in Orsted’s Hornsea 3, an offshore wind farm (Fortune).
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