From the Archive: When the Last Mile Turns Hot: Delivery Drivers in a Warming Climate

For the month of August, we’re highlighting episodes from the 2025-2026 season of Energy Policy Now. We’ll be back with new content, and a new season, on September the 8th. An economic sociologist discusses the growing heat dangers facing last-mile delivery drivers, and why federal protections rem…

Agriculture, Energy, and the Challenge of Resilience

The modern agricultural system delivers an extraordinary abundance and variety of food at relatively low cost, thanks in part to abundant and affordable energy. Can those benefits be preserved without creating unacceptable exposure to disruption? --- Recent disruptions to food and energy markets …

Energy and the Economics of Affordability

Can the energy choices we make today influence affordability for decades to come? --- Affordability has become one of the defining issues in American politics. Rising costs for housing, healthcare, groceries, and energy continue to strain household budgets. But economist Heather Boushey argues th…

The West’s New Electricity Markets

Southwest Power Pool’s expansion into the West marks a major step toward greater regional coordination of the electric grid. --- Earlier this year the Southwest Power Pool, the electric grid operator for much of the central United States, expanded into the Western Interconnection, becoming the fi…

Is a New Era of Electricity Prices Beginning?

For years, electricity prices broadly tracked inflation. New pressures may be changing that. --- Electricity prices have become a major political issue in the United States, with policymakers increasingly focused on rising utility bills and the costs of meeting growing electricity demand. At the …

The Fight Over the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

Clean energy funding under the GGRF remains frozen, with projects on hold and questions over federal spending authority unresolved. --- The $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back federal clean energy policy. The progra…

From Corporate Standard to Climate Policy: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the global standard for corporate emissions accounting, is increasingly embedded in policy, drawing new scrutiny of its governance. --- The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the global standard for how companies measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions. It is used …

When Geopolitics Disrupts Energy Systems

Helen Thompson, a political economist at Cambridge, examines how geopolitical conflict has shaped global oil and gas markets, with implications for the current Gulf crisis. --- Geopolitical conflict has long shaped the evolution of global energy systems. Over the past 70 years, periods of relativ…

Insurance and the Shifting Boundaries of Climate Risk

Insurance is on the front lines of climate risk, and may help shape how we respond to it. --- Insurance is one of the quiet pillars of the modern economy. It underpins where we build, how we invest, and whether communities can recover after disaster. In many ways, it defines what risks we’re will…

The Arctic and the Geopolitics of Strategic Minerals

The Arctic is emerging as a new front in the global competition over strategic minerals, raising questions about how the supply chains behind the energy transition will be governed. --- In recent months, Arctic resources have moved to the center of geopolitical debate. President Trump has publicl…