Climate Change

[On climate change and the challenges in reaching the Paris Agreement goals] From a modeling point of view, the reason we see so much carbon capture and storage is because models see the existing energy system, and they see this incredible heroic goal. So they move all the chips on the board into these deep reduction technologies: carbon capture and storage, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage … and they do all that because they can’t solve the equation. They literally can’t get there from here. We need to grapple with the reality that we’re not going to meet the goals that we’ve talked about.

We are seeing shallow decarbonization in the power sector with the big shift to gas and away from coal. But in a few years that well runs dry and EIA projects that electricity emissions will stop falling. That will be a watershed for the U.S.A. because the one sector that accounts for nearly all of the progress the country has made on emissions — however scant — has been from the power sector.

The movement against climate cooperation is just raising the level of difficulty. The animating force for a lot of the populism today comes from political groups that are seeing globalization producing outcomes they don't like.

[On renewable energy siting in the United States] In most state energy laws, they don't address [siting issues] at all. I get it, but I think if we ignore this, it's at our peril. And it could come back to bite us.