Today we officially announced the launch of the Clean Energy Transition Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and analysis organization that provides a clearinghouse for information on decarbonization and facilitates conversations among stakeholders about how to accelerate a rapid and equitable shift to a low-carbon economy.

‍Northwest Deep Decarbonization Pathways Study

‍With the generous support of the Stolte Family Foundation, the Institute has commissioned Evolved Energy Research to develop a Northwest Deep Decarbonization Pathways study to provide guidance for Washington and Oregon policymakers on how the Northwest can cost-effectively decarbonize buildings, transportation, and the electricity grid between now and 2050 with today’s technology.

The pathways study will be released this November. To understand the context of and develop the focus for this study, the Institute analyzed the key decarbonization studies produced since 2010, providing a useful reference on the evolution of low-carbon pathways work globally and in the United States.

Urban Climate Action and Clean Energy Jobs

‍During the first quarter of 2018, Institute Board member Ross Macfarlane and I co-taught a course on the Low-Carbon Pathways for Northwest Energy Systems at Western Washington University’s Institute for Energy Studies, presenting on the low-carbon pathways; climate and clean energy policy; city-led clean energy; advocacy and public opinion; and developing a clean energy workforce.

I invite you to browse through the Clean Energy Transition Institute blog to see a wide range of material created from that course, highlights of which include:  

• A four-part series on how cities apply a decarbonization framework; understand sources and uses of energy; create emission-reduction strategies; and adopt best practices;  
• An examination of why it is critically important to clean the electricity grid and switch as many processes as possible to electricity in Why Electrify Everything?;  
• Details on how clean energy jobs are driving job creation in the United States in Clean Energy Driving Job Growth and Counting Clean Energy Jobs;  
• Guest blogs on the ethical imperative for corporations to help displaced coal workers learn new skills and coal-dependent communities succeed in the clean energy transition: Why Coal County Must be Part of the Clean Energy Economy and The Great Coal Cleanup is Everybody’s Business (with Opportunity for All); and  
• Various timelines: Chronicling Global Warming describing major milestones in the evolving scientific understanding of the warming Earth from 1827-2018; Efforts to Address Carbon Emissions looking at key global climate action efforts; and Tackling Climate Action at the City Level charting city-led climate action from 1992 to the present.

I also guest-lectured at Portland State University on the Cascadia region’s low-carbon assets; conducted a webinar for San Luis Obispo, CA on city-led clean energy innovation; and presented to Seattle’s Rainier Club public affairs committee on the City of Seattle’s climate action plan.

In addition to various presentations and reports, we have posted reading lists and resources for reference.

‍Clean Energy Transition Institute in the News

‍Late in 2017 and throughout 2018, the Institute was in the news. Last November, City of Seattle Mayor-Elect Jenny Durkan tapped me to join her Transition Committee to help set the Durkan administration's environmental priorities. In January of this year, local National Public Radio affiliate KUOW Radio interviewed me twice about how Seattle plans to achieve its carbon reduction goals.

In February 2018, Mayor Durkan asked me to co-chair the Search Committee to choose a new Seattle City Light General Manager/Chief Executive Officer and in April, the Deutschland Alumniportal profiled me for the paper and presentation I had developed at the request of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation in May 2015.

‍Shout-Outs

‍I want to express my gratitude to the Clean Energy Transition Institute Board of Directors—Jabe Blumenthal; Marc Daudon; Ross Macfarlane; and John McGarry—for being willing to assume fiduciary responsibility for the Institute. I also thank Climate Solutions for being willing to serve as the Institute’s fiscal sponsor while the IRS reviews our nonprofit application.

Finally, I want to acknowledge Caleb Smith, who works part-time as the Institute’s Digital Communications Manager, without whom the website would not function as well as it does, and this newsletter would not be delivered.

‍Looking Forward

‍I head to San Francisco next week to participate in the Global Climate Action Summit convened by California Governor Jerry Brown and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I will be participating in a wide range of events on accelerating decarbonization, urban clean energy, and a clean energy workforce and will report back on all that I learn. You may follow my observations in real-time on Twitter @evquigley.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have about the Clean Energy Transition Institute or how we can achieve a deeply decarbonized economy equitably in the United States, as well as any climate and clean energy-related topics you might want to see the Institute address.

Thank you very much for your support and your commitment to addressing climate change.

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Eileen V. Quigley

Executive Director, Clean Energy Transition Institute

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