December 2020 Public Policy News: Public Transit, Carbon Offsets, and More

Photo by Oliver Cole

Here’s the best of what we’ve read over the last month.

“How the Nature Conservancy, the world’s biggest environmental group, became a dealer of meaningless carbon offsets.”
— These Trees Are Not What They Seem (Bloomberg Green)

“Incoming President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the NEC, Brian Deese, may also reveal the next president’s economic priorities. Deese is a managing director at investing firm BlackRock, responsible for overseeing the giant money manager’s “sustainable” investing strategy. That suggests climate policy will be a top Biden priority, and he’s likely to pursue market-based solutions. That would be a letdown to more liberal Democrats who support the Green New Deal, which calls for extensive government intervention in the energy and transportation sectors. But it would also fit with Biden’s description of himself as a moderate unbeholden to liberal Dems such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
— What Brian Deese reveals about Biden’s climate plan (Yahoo Finance)

“Now Sony is at the top of The Wall Street Journal’s list of the 100 most sustainably managed companies in the world. This ranking was produced by the Journal’s environment, social and governance research analysts, who assessed more than 5,500 publicly traded businesses based on sustainability metrics in such areas as business model and innovation, external social and product issues, employee and workplace issues, and the environment.”
— The 100 Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World (The Wall Street Journal)

“Trains and buses carry the office workers, shoppers and tourists who will help revive stores, restaurants, cultural attractions, hotels and other key businesses that have been battered by the outbreak. The financial collapse of transportation agencies would especially hurt minority and low-income riders who tend to be among the biggest users of subways and buses.”
— ‘Existential Peril’: Mass Transit Faces Huge Service Cuts Across U.S. (The New York Times)

“The nation remains under siege by the coronavirus, which is, as we know, a deadly respiratory and vascular disease. So naturally, the Trump administration thought this would be the perfect time to reject science-based restrictions on a deadly air pollutant known for lodging itself deep in the lungs and infiltrating the bloodstream.”
— Trump's EPA channels Big Tobacco in a decision that will make Covid worse (MSNBC)