US Climate Innovation Resource List

Fact Sheets

• Environmental Defense Fund. Why the U.S. Needs Climate Innovation. (2022) – this EDF fact sheet defines climate innovation and describes the benefits and opportunities for investment. 

• The White House. Innovation, Investment, and Inclusion: Accelerating the Energy Transition and Creating Good Jobs. (2021) – the White House Issue Brief discussing innovation in context with the energy transition and job creation. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Climate Innovation Blueprint. (2021) – recommendations to align the Department of Energy’s energy innovation priorities with progress on urgent climate goals. 

Blogs

• Deshpande, Sonali. The latest IPCC report unpacks the role of innovation. Here are five key takeaways. (2022) – an EDF blog discussing innovation in the context of the 2022 IPCC report. 

• Krupp, Fred. 5 Takes on the Future of Climate Tech. (2022) – EDF President Fred Krupp shares his view on the future of climate tech and innovation. 

• Vidangos, Natasha. Beyond R&D: Climate innovation policy can help the U.S. meet the moment. (2021) – EDF co-hosted a Climate Week 2021 event into the role of climate innovation policy in the U.S., with key takeaways from the event discussed in the blog. 

Research 

• International Energy Agency. Clean Energy Innovation. (2020) – Analysis considering the clean energy innovation requirements to achieve Net Zero objectives globally. 

• Mandt, Rebecca. Federal R&D funding: the bedrock of national innovation. (2020) – MIT paper that investigates federal R&D funding and discusses the role of federal R&D funding to help better society. While valuable for understanding the mechanism of federal R&D funding, the recent uptick in innovation spending from 2021-2022 legislation is not reflected. 

• Breakthrough Energy. Advancing the Landscape of Clean Energy Innovation. (2019) – An assessment of opportunities in Clean Energy Innovation and recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers and the private sector. 

• Columbia, SIPA. Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission. (2020) – A book articulating a federal strategy to enhance U.S. innovation.  

• National Academies of Science. Enhancing Clean Energy Innovation: Proceedings of a Workshop. (2021) – Workshop proceedings with key stakeholders discussing the future of innovation and processes to enhance its efficacy and impact 

Fact Sheets

• Environmental Defense Fund. Carbon Dioxide Removal: A Must-Have Tool for the Climate Challenge. (2021) – a high level overview of CDR including its role in reaching net zero and examples of CDR solutions. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Understanding the Differences Between Carbon Capture & Carbon Dioxide Removal. (2022) – a fact sheet explaining the difference between CDR and point-source carbon capture. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Summary for Policymakers: Carbon Management in Net-Zero Energy Systems. (2021) – An EDF-commissioned modeling study on the role of carbon management in net-zero systems finds that the US may need to deploy 400-1,100 Mt of CDR annually by 2050 to meet national climate targets. 

Research 

• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda. (2019) – report outlines federal RD&D investments that can accelerate the development of a variety of CDR solutions. NASEM released a similar report specific to ocean CDR in 2021. 

• Carbon180. Removing Forward. (2021) – a report identifying key guiding principles for supporting a more equitable and just CDR field. 

Books 

• J Wilcox, B Kolosz, & J Freeman. Carbon Dioxide Removal Primer. (2021) – an online book which goes into detail on specific CDR approaches and considerations to enable their success including resource needs, MRV opportunities, and storage capacity. 

Direct Air Capture (DAC) 

Research 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Early Deployment of Direct Air Capture with Dedicated Geologic Storage. (2021) – this report explores non-EOR options for scaling Direct Air Carbon Capture and Sequestration (DACCS) and finds significant advantages to direct federal procurement of DACCS. 

• Batres et al. Environmental and climate justice and technological carbon removal. (2021) – An outline detailing environmental and climate justice considerations for technological CDR. 

• International Energy Agency (IEA). Direct Air Capture: A key technology for net zero. (2022) – this report gives a current overview of the global DAC market and explores their potential role in a net-zero world.  

• World Resources Institutes (WRI). Direct Air Capture: Assessing Impacts to Enable Responsible Scaling. (2022) – this report explores social, environmental, and political considerations for scaling DAC responsibly. 

Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) 

Fact Sheets 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Carbon management in net-zero energy systems. (2022) – provides a summary on carbon management for U.S. policymakers.  

• Environmental Defense Fund. Understanding the Differences Between Carbon Removal and Carbon Capture. (2022) – provides a useful breakdown of how carbon removal and carbon capture compare.  

• The Congressional Research Service. Carbon Capture and Sequestration in the United States. (2022) – gives an overview of the technology with a focus in the US.  

• The Congressional Research Service. DOE’s Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Removal Programs. (2022) – gives an overview of the current R&D work being done at DOE.  

Fact Sheets

• Resources for Future. Federal Climate Policy 107: Land Use, Forestry, and Agriculture. (2021) – A review that compares federal climate policy options for land-use, forestry, and agriculture. 

Blogs 

• U.S. Department of Agriculture: Economic Research Service. Climate Change Likely to Have Uneven Impacts on Agricultural Productivity. (2019) – an article on how climate change will affect agriculture productivity differently across the country. This has important considerations for innovation and solution deployment across the country, highlighting that a blanket approach to ensuring the robustness of agriculture productivity in the face of climate change may not be suitable. 

Research 

• Breakthrough Institute. Investing In Public R&D for a Competitive and Sustainable U.S. Agriculture. (2021) – study that quantifies the environmental and food security benefits of publicly-funded agriculture R&D in the U.S.  

• Environmental Defense Fund. How climate change threatens U.S. crop production. (2022) – an interactive map of agriculture in the US and how climate change may impact agriculture production over time. 

• Gordon, Doria R. Responsible governance of gene editing in agriculture and the environment. (2021) – principles for the governance of gene-edited plants.

Blogs 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Clean or dirty: Is hydrogen the climate-friendly energy solution we need? (2022) - a blog that outlines EDF research on the climate impacts of hydrogen leakage 

• Fakhry, Rachel. Success of IRA Hydrogen Tax Credit Hinges on IRS and DOE. (2022) - an NRDC blog that unpacks the challenge of emissions accounting for grid-connected electrolyzers.  

• Rote, Morgan. 9 recommendations for getting US hydrogen hubs right from the start. (2022) – an EDF blog reviewing nine considerations for both federal and state policymakers regarding the development of hydrogen hubs. 

• EarthJustice. Reclaiming Hydrogen for a Renewable Future: Distinguishing Fossil Fuel Industry Spin from Zero-Emission Solutions. (2021) – a blog that overviews the types of hydrogen and outlines several environmental justice concerns around blue hydrogen in particular. 

Research 

• Columbia University. Green Hydrogen in a Circular Carbon Economy: Opportunities and Limits. (2021) – A paper, published as part of a Columbia carbon management research series, that explores green hydrogen’s opportunities, challenges, and deployment. 

• Energy Innovation. Assessing The Viability Of Hydrogen Proposals: Considerations For State Utility Regulators And Policymakers. (2022) – This paper examines and lays out the risks of hydrogen blending in terms of public health, safety, and costs. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Climate consequences of hydrogen emissions. (2022) – a scientific peer-reviewed paper on the climate consequences of hydrogen emissions with a cautionary tale on hydrogen leakage. 

• International Energy Agency. Global Hydrogen Review 2022. (2022) – this review delves into hydrogen's prospects with energy stakeholders in mind. 

• Rhodium Group. Clean Hydrogen: A Versatile Tool for Decarbonization. (2021) – a research memo on hydrogen and its role in a decarbonized US economy. 

• World Energy Council. National Hydrogen Strategies. (2021) – a working paper summarizing national hydrogen strategies and the global hydrogen economy’s ‘state of play.’  

Fact Sheets 

• DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). Guidance for Creating a Community Benefits Plan for the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs. (2022) - Guidance document to assist applicants for regional clean hydrogen hubs in developing a community benefits plan. 

• First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. Principles of Environmental Justice. (1991) – a document created by leaders in the environmental justice field and has been operating principles in the EJ space for decades.   

• Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ). Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. (1996) – a document created by leaders in the environmental justice field and have been operating principles in the EJ space for decades.    

• The White House. Justice40: A Whole-Of-Government Initiative. (2022) – a primer on the Justice40 Initiative. 

Research 

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Making Justice40 a Reality for Frontline Communities. (2021) – a report that explores the Justice40 Initiative by reflecting on state approaches to climate and clean energy investments. 

Blogs

• Environmental Defense Fund. EDF analysis finds American fleets are embracing electric trucks. (2021) – this analysis finds that there has been nearly an “8,500% increase in zero-emission fleet deployments and commitments since 2017.”  

Research 

• Environmental Defense Fund. The Opportunity For Near-term Electrification Of Medium- And Heavy-duty Vehicles. (2022) – a white paper published by EDF that includes analysis of EPA standards, and estimates emission reductions, health benefits and economic and health related savings of EPA finalizing performance-based pollution standards. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Medium and Heavy-Duty Electrification Costs for MY 2027- 2030. (2022) – an EDF report that finds that "when considering upfront purchase price alone, by 2027 electric freight trucks and buses will be less expensive than their combustion engine counterparts”  

Research 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Lessons from Other Sectors for Enabling the Deployment of New Low Carbon Technologies in Shipping. (2018) – a report discussing the deployment of low carbon technologies in shipping. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Shipping Can Reduce Climate Pollution and Draw Investment into Developing Countries. (2019) – an EDF report that analyzes the potential for production and use of green ammonia to help decarbonize global shipping. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Shipping Industry and Ports Susceptible to Billions of Dollars in Damage, Disruption from Climate Change. (2022) – this report analyzes the costs associated with climate change at ports, providing an introduction to cost of inaction for global shipping.  

• Getting to Zero Coalition. Five percent zero emission fuels by 2030 needed for Paris-aligned shipping decarbonization. (2021) – an insight brief that projects the adoption rate of zero emission fuels by the shipping industry to meet Paris Agreement goals.  

• Getting to Zero Coalition. Mapping of Zero Emission Pilots and Demonstration Projects. (2021) – report that has mapped out 106 zero emission pilots and demonstration for the maritime industry in the second edition of the report.   

• Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. Fuel Pathway Maturity Map. (2022) – a map that details fuel readiness for shipping based on current technological and regulatory maturity levels.   

• Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. Industry Transition Strategy. (2021) – this presentation provides an overview of the current obstacles and landscape of the maritime industry, including discussions on technology and fuel innovation.  

• Nature Energy. Rapid battery cost declines accelerate the prospects of all-electric interregional container shipping. (2022) – this research paper discusses the relationship between cost of batteries and the possibility for electric container shipping.  

• Environmental Defense Fund. The High-Integrity Sustainable Aviation Fuels Handbook. (2022) – a resource that can help fuel producers, airlines, policymakers, and investors identify, support, invest in and transition to high-integrity sustainable aviation fuels. It provides clear guidance and insight on some of the thorniest obstacles that stand in the way of decarbonizing the way we fly. 

Fact Sheets 

• Resources for the Future. Methane Fees' Effects on Natural Gas Prices and Methane Leakage. (2021) – a brief to discuss the effects of methane fees on reducing methane leakage in the natural gas sector. 

Blogs 

• Environmental Defense Fund. How reducing methane emissions creates jobs. (2022) – a blog post which shows how reducing methane can increase job creation. 

• Environmental Defense Fund. Reducing methane will help hit the brakes on runaway global warming. (2022) – blog post on the need to reduce methane and some of the solutions we can turn to. 

Research 

• Environmental Defense Fund. A decade of discovery leads to our methane moment. (2022) – a timeline of work to reduce methane, including the use of innovative technology such as satellites to monitor methane. 

• International Energy Agency. Methane Tracker Data Explorer. (2022) – an interactive database of country and regional estimates for methane emissions and abatement options.  

• Mohlin, Kristina, et al. Policy instrument options for addressing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. (2022) - Overview by EDF economists of the different regulatory and policy options available to strengthen incentives to address methane emissions in oil and gas producing or importing jurisdictions. 

• Ocko, Ilissa. The fastest way to slow climate change now. (2021) – a TED Countdown talk by EDF scientist Dr. Ilissa Ocko, discussing how cutting down on methane emissions is the fastest way to slow climate change right at this present moment.