President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, which will be livestreamed for public viewing on Thursday (Earth Day) and Friday. Why it’s worth watching: This is the president’s first major climate-focused event, and will be his attempt to demonstrate that the United States is prepared to lead internationally to keep the planet’s warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius (as compared with pre-industrial levels). Biden has made it clear that he intends to reset climate diplomacy more broadly, and has invited leaders with whom the United States has historically had a complicated relationship, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Also on Earth Day, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg will testify before Congress during a House Oversight Committee’s Environment Subcommittee hearing titled “The Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Action on the Climate Crisis.” Why it’s worth watching: This is the subcommittee’s first hearing of the 117th Congress, and will examine how federal subsidies for fossil fuel companies have had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities. Thunberg has been a vocal opponent of the fossil fuel industry (and last testified before the U.S. Congress on the subject in September 2019) and Subcommittee Chairman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has been a champion of the Green New Deal.
On Monday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will participate in an AFL-CIO virtual forum co-chaired by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka titled “Accelerating the Energy Transition to Deep Decarbonization: Infrastructure, Jobs and Equity.” Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will also be in attendance, as well as Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.). Why it’s worth watching: Job creation has been the linchpin of the Biden administration’s approach to the climate crisis and energy transition, and the event will explicitly engage the country’s unions on the subject. I will especially have my eye on the closing conversation, which will engage Manchin and Castor on the subject of “building broad coalitions,” as Manchin especially will be a crucial figure in how and if Biden’s infrastructure plan makes its way through the Senate.
Also on Monday, the group E2 will publish its annual “Clean Jobs America” report, which will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the clean energy industry and explore the potential impact of the Biden administration’s American Jobs Plan on employment in wind, solar, energy efficiency, clean vehicles and more. Why it’s worth reading: As I have reported throughout the pandemic, clean jobs employment in the United States took a major hit last spring, with more than 600,000 jobs lost during the nadir in May 2020. This report will give an overview of how much ground was lost in total, and how far the industry has to go to make up for a year of crisis.