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No. 151: Climate Policy Rollback

Once a global leader pushing for ambitious climate policies, Sweden is retreating from environmental commitments in ways that echo broader backsliding in the European Union and United States.

No. 151: Climate Policy Rollback
Photo by Thomas Richter / Unsplash

The playing field for climate policy is changing, and countries that once led the way are backsliding. This week, we're talking about the current state of climate leadership in the European Union and United States: a rightward shift and retrenchment of legacy energy policy, but an overall trajectory that remains optimistic.

If women's health resonates with you, keep an eye out for the featured job this week. There's an especially unique job opportunity scoped like a request for proposal, so if you prefer project-oriented work, be sure to take a look. I'm also connecting you to a slew of job opportunities related to voting rights and election reform, because believe it or not, political parties are already fighting over midterm elections. Deep breaths, people.

Lastly, a quick note on the programming front: I'll be out of town next week, so be on the lookout for issue No. 152 on August 20th. I'll have more social impact news and job opportunities on the way before you know it!

~ Greg

What we're reading

Once a global leader pushing for ambitious climate policies, Sweden is retreating from environmental commitments in ways that echo broader backsliding in the European Union and United States. (Inside Climate News)

  • The numbers tell a sobering story about Sweden's environmental about-face:
    • Fossil fuel emissions increased by the largest amount seen in 15 years, and forest carbon absorption dropped by half over the same period.
    • Sweden used to claim the top spot in the Climate Change Performance Index, but it has fallen to 11th overall. It is projected to hit only one of its 16 national environmental targets by 2030.
    • If you'd like to take a quick detour, you can see how the U.S. fares in the CCPI here. Spoiler alert: not well.
  • Sweden's transformation from climate champion to climate laggard reflects a broader pattern among formerly-ambitious nations as climate policies shift to the right.
    • Five of the six countries leading the way on green policy – the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Austria, and Sweden – have scaled back their climate policies. The sixth, Denmark, has maintained its goals.
    • The idea that climate policy follows the whims of political parties is nothing new: in researching this topic, I found a paper from 1998 where Denmark was leading, Sweden was ascending, and Germany was considered the country losing ground. The playing field is different today.
  • Despite this rollercoaster we've been riding, I feel like we've made measurable progress. The conversation 30 years ago seemed to be focused on the environmental impact. That's still the foundation today, but the most astute countries have recognized the economic incentives of investing in climate-related industries and their underlying supply chains.
    • I don't see that trajectory changing anytime soon. We talked recently about how China's dominance in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and rare earth minerals has positioned it to capture the financial benefits of the climate transition.
  • I'm reminded, however, of how quickly political winds can shift our environmental priorities, even in countries with strong reputations.
    • Sweden's retreat suggests that climate leadership isn't just about having the right policies – it requires sustained political will.
    • There's a certain peer pressure to these policy swings. If everyone is on board to target climate change, people tend to stick with it. When major players start to bow out, it gives everyone else a pass.
  • Sadly, no one gets a pass on climate change – we're in this together.

Job of the week

What do you get when you mix women's healthcare with sustainability? You might end up with Saalt: a Certified B Corp that specializes in reusable period care.

I've shared a variety of job opportunities from Saalt over the years, but this is a particularly good one. They're looking to hire a Vice President of Finance in Boise, ID to lead their financial operations, and it seems like an excellent opportunity for someone in the middle of their finance career to make a difference.

If finance isn't your thing and you're looking for something especially unique, you might want to check out the Saalt College Ambassador Program as well. I've never seen a job opportunity structured this way: it's a part time role, but it's set up like a request for proposal where you present your project idea to help Saalt build relationships with college students. It doesn't specifically mention freelancing, but it reminds of that process – an opportunity to consider if you're in the market for a part time role specifically.

Community roundup

  • Florida installed more utility-scale solar capacity than California for the first time last year, and Texas continues to see significant growth as well. Despite the climate change stigma in those states, Florida has policies that make it easier to begin solar projects, and utilities like Florida Power & Light are driving investment. (CNBC)
    • Florida's consumer solar trend is a different story: rooftop solar is expected to drop by more than 40% over the next five years due to the loss of tax credits.
  • Chinese scientists led an expedition to an ocean trench in the Pacific Ocean that captured the deepest marine vertebrate life since 2023, 5.3 miles below the surface. (BBC)
    • Naturally, they discovered never-before-seen species at those depths. One thing that always surprises me is how "squishy" life is beneath the surface given just how high the pressures are – you might remember a submersible that didn't fare too well a few years ago.
    • There's a video in the BBC article that's worth watching if you want to see what the ocean floor looks like – it's richly populated in a way I wasn't expecting.
  • Scientists have found that roughly 5% of children who take antiretrovirals to treat HIV in the first six months of life end up suppressing the number of cells containing HIV to negligible levels. (Ars Technica)
  • EVgo announced a $225 million loan to expand their DC fast charging network with 1,500 more stations in the United States. (Electrek)
    • They already have one of the largest networks, but 1,500 chargers would more than double their capacity.
    • The major banks behind the loan are based outside the U.S., which is notable – it signals that even if America isn't investing in its own EV transition, other markets see an opportunity to make a buck.
  • Officials have found at least four wasp nests with radioactive contamination near a nuclear storage site in South Carolina. (WaPo)
    • The site has a history of leaks from the oldest storage tanks, but no leak has been detected yet. The Savannah River Site stores 34 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste – the equivalent of a pool the size of a football field and 17 feet deep.

Civic corner

  • New York has become the first state to adopt an all-electric building standard, where new commercial and industrial buildings constructed after December 31st must forgo fossil fuel infrastructure. (Canary Media)
    • Smaller buildings will make the transition first, and larger buildings will transition in 2029. There are carveouts for businesses that can prove their demands cannot be met by an all-electric power strategy, and the law that underpins the new building standard has been facing legal challenges.
  • The government is partnering with private industry to launch a health tracking system that is supposed to make it easier to share health records and monitor wellness. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will maintain the system, and patients would need to opt in first. (AP)
    • One of the potential positives is getting these companies to speak the same language, such that there's a universal way of moving information between all of a patient's stakeholders. I continue to be dismayed by how often we need to take personal responsibility for healthcare bureaucracy – like following up on bills, making sure medical records are sent to the correct places, and so on – almost like we're an extension of the companies' workforces that provide healthcare.
    • The concern is what happens to all that data. It is no doubt more efficient to work with centralized data, but we're talking about some of our most personal data, and there's no guarantee that it will remain isolated to this part of the government. Forgoing the likelihood that this data could be sold in some way – that's why we read the terms and conditions – the current government has shown a willingness to take data from one agency and provide it to another, like how CMS provided data to deportation officials.
  • President Trump signed an executive order focused on homelessness that includes moving people with mental illness into psychiatric hospitals, defunding "housing first" policies that prioritize moving people into stable housing, and targeting "safe consumption sites" for possible violation of Federal law. (The Marshall Project)
  • The Department of the Interior has rescinded the designation of 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters for offshore wind development, effectively delaying leases to the next presidential administration. (Canary Media)
    • The designation process takes years, essentially starting from broad areas of the oceans and researching the best places to designate as wind energy areas based on stakeholder feedback.
    • One of the potential risks of this decision could be the need to restart the designation process once the political winds change again – no pun intended – instead of reinstating the designated areas from before.
  • The U.S. is poised to announce plans to develop a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 to compete with other nations looking to build permanent habitats. (BBC)
    • This is far from the first time NASA has researched nuclear technologies, but since we've discussed the challenges of building nuclear reactors on Earth, it seemed only fair to highlight a literal moonshot.
    • I'm not sure how frivolous this is – there are no cost estimates here other than some $5 million design contracts from past efforts, which is a drop in the proverbial bucket – but designing for space often yields benefits for us on Earth. For one, I would anticipate a much smaller footprint compared to what we normally associate with nuclear power. How might that be adapted to off-grid energy for example?

Hot job opportunities

Resource of the week

In case you missed it, the red states and blue states are fighting over gerrymandering efforts to secure an edge in next year's midterm elections. Political engagement isn't for everyone, but it is impactful – if you want to make a career out of voting rights or election reform, take a look at the Democracy Jobs board.

Democracy Jobs curates job opportunities at organizations like GoodParty, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Carter Center, all of which have appeared in the One Work newsletter before. There are over 100 job opportunities today, but if you don't see your dream job yet, keep your eye out for more options soon – I tend to see an increase in election-related roles every other year, and we're coming up on that inflection point.

Test your knowledge

San Diego ushered in the modern light rail era when the San Diego Trolley entered service in 1981. Most U.S. cities had abandoned their trolley networks in favor of buses and automobiles, and the San Diego Trolley represented a turning point because it was so popular with riders. California was a pioneer in this area in general: four of the first six modern light rail networks originated there.

You might be wondering why light rail is a social impact topic, but if you look at the technologies that have changed civilization, you can often point to movement: of people, of information, of resources. Light rail is a part of that story.

This week, we're looking out for our furry friends:

Which organization became the first humane society in the United States when it was founded in 1866?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I took my first EV road trip this weekend to check out LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma. They had floor after floor of classic cars, and I was surprised to see an exhibit that showed the evolution from internal combustion to alternative fuels to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. For a museum focused so much on preserving the history of automobiles, I was impressed to see so much effort put into promoting its future.