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Stories for December 2021 |
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Message from the Director |
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As 2021 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on a year unlike any other in the history of the Nicholas Institute—and what's to come.
Even with the challenges of a worldwide pandemic, our team has continued to develop innovative solutions to critical environmental and energy issues by connecting Duke's rigorous research to policy makers and key partners throughout the world. I encourage you to read our annual report for in-depth stories on projects that were successfully completed over the last fiscal year and the many exciting new initiatives that are now underway.
Of course, the ongoing merger with the Duke University Energy Initiative is still on the horizon. Over the coming months, we will have more to share on how our new organization is taking shape to advance solutions for climate change and its impacts through research, education, and policy engagement. We welcome your input and support throughout this transition as we look forward to an even more eventful and productive 2022.
Sincerely,
Dr. Brian Murray
Interim Director, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and Duke University Energy Initiative
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Infrastructure Bill Gives Internet of Water
a National Role
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With one sentence, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—signed into federal law in November—will bring the Duke-based Internet of Water to the national level: “The Internet of Water principles developed by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions shall, to the extent practicable, guide any water data sharing efforts under the pilot program.”
Through the pilot program, the EPA will grant $15 million to projects aimed at more easily sharing information on water quality, water infrastructure needs, and water technology between state and local agencies. The inclusion of the Internet of Water as a guide for this program will transform an idea six years in the making into federal policy.
“Water data infrastructure is a critical part of the nation’s water infrastructure; modernization needs to start with our basic data infrastructure,” said Martin Doyle, director of the Water Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute. |
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Hear Recommendations for Reducing
Energy Insecurity at Virtual Workshop
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More than 7 million households in the Southeast spend more than 10 percent of their gross household income on energy bills. Families facing that high of an energy burden can struggle to pay their energy bills while trying to afford other basic needs.
Six working groups that have been meeting since June will present policy recommendations for reducing energy insecurity in the region during a workshop on Tuesday, Dec. 7, at 1 p.m. EST. The working groups were convened as part of the Southeast Energy Insecurity Stakeholder Initiative, a partnership of the Nicholas Institute, Appalachian Voices, and the North Carolina Justice Center. |
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Webinar Provides Snapshot of Report on
Small-Scale Fisheries
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Due out in 2022, the Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) report ties together the efforts of nearly 800 authors and experts to contribute to a more complete picture of small-scale fisheries. IHH is a global initiative led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, WorldFish, and Duke University. |
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Duke Research Brings Far-Off Carbon Offset
Closer to Home
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Duke University’s continued path to net carbon neutrality by 2024 now includes an investment in helping preserve coastal habitats more than 4,000 miles from Durham, on the western coast of Africa. The university has invested in the protection of carbon-trapping ocean mangroves along the coast of Guinea-Bissau by supporting an “avoided deforestation” project implemented by the country’s Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) with local communities.
Nicholas Institute research going back to a 2011 report, " Green Payments for Blue Carbon," has focused on establishing a market for carbon offsets such as these from coastal habitats. John Virdin, director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Program, also tipped off the university about the Guinea-Bissau project, which he worked on while with the World Bank before coming to Duke. |
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COP26 Panel Looks at COVID's Effect
on Off-Grid Energy Access
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At COP26 in Glasgow, top off-grid sector experts and players explored the impact of COVID-19 on off-grid clean energy access in the Global South. Organized by Bboxx, the panel discussed what the off-grid energy sector now needs to ensure the inclusive, resilient, and green recovery required for reaching climate-related goals, specifically SDG7—clean energy for all. |
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Sophia Hill, Kate Konschnik, Jonas Monast, and Martin Ross
Eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a market-based initiative that limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Stakeholders newer to RGGI have raised questions about the potential impacts of this program on electric reliability and about the extent to which reliability is considered in RGGI analysis. As a new wave of states consider RGGI participation, and with RGGI’s third program review just underway, this is an opportune time to consider and address these questions and to ensure that RGGI poses no threat to grid reliability.
This policy brief reviews how RGGI modeling has considered reliability issues and mines existing research on the real-world impacts of RGGI since 2008. In short, research indicates that the program’s implementation has not impacted grid reliability—and that RGGI may help to improve reliability through strategic demand-side investments—all while delivering important economic, public health, and emissions reduction benefits to consumers. Indeed, the inherent flexibility of a regional, market-based program that enables power plant operators to make efficiency upgrades, shift generation to lower-emitting options, or purchase allowances makes this policy tool a good fit with grid reliability goals.
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Lauren A. Patterson and Martin W. Doyle
The cost of providing water services is increasing, placing greater financial burdens on individual households and utilities. Five metrics were calculated at multiple volumes of water usage and were applied to 1,791 utilities, estimating bills from 2020 rates data, to gauge financial burdens in four states. More than a fifth of the population in 77% of utilities was experiencing poverty, suggesting widespread poverty is a major contributor to utility financial capability challenges. The Income Dedicated to Water Service metric was developed to understand how many households share a similar financial burden, exploring both the depth and prevalence of affordability challenges. Depending on water use, a tenth to a third of households work more than a day each month to afford water bills. This approach and an interactive visualization tool bring greater transparency to understand the scale of affordability and financial capability challenges (https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/water-affordability/water-affordability-dashboard).
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Alfred DeGemmis, Danielle Claar, Emily Corcoran, Chuck Cooper, Simon Cripps, Emily Darling, Thomas Dallison, Gabriel Grimsditch, Stacy Jupiter, Sue Lieberman, Lisa Schindler-Murray, Francis Staub, and John Virdin
Ocean ecosystems play a key role in maintaining the integrity of our biosphere, but vary widely with respect to their biodiversity attributes, their relationship with the atmosphere and climate change processes, and the ecosystem services that they provide to humans. Coral reefs and ecologically associated coastal ecosystems, such as intertidal mangrove forests and seagrass meadows, are complex systems that are often managed together but are also subject to different governance frameworks. The implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Agreement and development of global biodiversity goals and targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity offer examples of these governance challenges, but they also offer significant opportunities to maximize biodiversity outcomes while building on increasing support support for nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This whitepaper summarizes the scientific and policy consensus at the ocean-climate nexus, specifically with respect to the role of coral reefs and closely associated tropical coastal ecosystems in climate change processes, and explicitly identifies gaps within key intergovernmental climate and biodiversity policy frameworks that must be addressed to maximize their potential as nature-based solutions during a key decade of conservation action. It concludes with recommendations for national governments and other stakeholders.
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Carrie Jenks, Kate Konschnik, Abby Husselbee, and Hannah Perls
In the months leading up to the UN climate conference in Glasgow (COP26), the United States and the European Union made a global methane pledge to reduce their collective methane emissions 30 percent from 2020 by 2030. In November, with the COP26 underway, the U.S. took a big first step in achieving that commitment with a regulatory package for methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
EPA’s proposal is broader than the 2016 rule’s requirements in terms of scope and stringency. It looks to reduce emissions from several potentially emitting components and activities not previously regulated in the oil and natural gas production sector and identifies numerical or work practice standards for each. And, for the first time, EPA will limit methane from existing oil and natural gas infrastructure, including approximately one million producing oil and gas wells, 1,400 compression stations located along natural gas transmission lines, and 650 natural gas processing facilities. Ultimately, each state will be required to design and implement standards for this existing infrastructure, which must be at least as stringent as the federal emissions guidelines.
There are many areas where public comment over the next 60 days could inform EPA’s final rulemaking. In this paper, we focus on those areas that could enable a regulatory framework to use advanced methane monitoring technologies and methods. We highlight key areas on which stakeholders may want to provide EPA comment to support a final rule that achieves significant emission reductions through the deployment of cost-effective technologies and approaches.
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Sustainable Infrastructure: Equity, Inclusiveness, and Empowerment (Principle #6). This webinar will explore the sixth principle from UNEP's International Good Practice Principles for Sustainable Infrastructure. Part of the monthly "Sustainable Infrastructure: Putting Principle into Practice" series. Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1—2:15 p.m. GMT.
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Public Acceptance and Governance in Energy Policy. Kate Konschnik (Duke University) will be among the panelists in this conversation about conflicts and consensus building around energy policy decisions and infrastructure projects. Hosted by the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law and the Environmental Defense Fund. Thursday, Dec. 16, 10:30–11:30 a.m. EST.
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Professional Opportunities |
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