As the market for the electric buses, cars, trucks, and trains that help curb the climate crisis continues to grow globally, the battery supply chain faces increased scrutiny. Minerals like lithium, nickel, graphite, and cobalt are too often mined and processed in ways that contribute to harming communities and ecosystems, while the batteries often face wasteful end-of-life disposal.
To address this challenge and identify solutions, Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and ClimateWorks Foundation founded in 2022 the Global Forum for Sustainable Batteries, a worldwide network of nonprofit leaders, experts, and advocates committed to transportation electrification and mining justice.
In 2024, the Forum developed a 2040 Sustainable Battery Vision that we’re releasing publicly today, with the aim of guiding policymakers, organizations, companies, and the general public on the key elements of what a truly sustainable battery should be by 2040. The 2040 Sustainable Battery Vision covers all aspects of the supply chain and beyond, including:
- Sourcing of raw and recovered minerals and materials
- Battery manufacturing
- Battery end-of-life
- Battery value chain traceability
The Vision has received the endorsement of leading environmental and mining justice organizations from around the world, along with supportive quotes. You can view the full list of signatories and their quotes here. And if you represent an organization that would like to endorse it as well, please contact me.
Our hope is that pursuing this 2040 Vision will not only benefit affected communities and stakeholders, it holds the promise of ensuring that the world can meet the transportation electrification challenge both more sustainably and rapidly.
On tonight’s State of the Bay: could warnings on social media platforms help protect young people’s mental health? We’ll discuss with:
- James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media
- California Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda)
- Author and psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge explore the potential impact of AB 56, a new bill aiming to hold platforms accountable.
Then we’ll talk to Shomik Mukherjee of the Bay Area News Group about into Oakland’s deepening budget woes and the challenges facing its leadership.
Finally, step into the holiday season with a festive preview of the Bay Area’s beloved Great Dickens Christmas Fair, featuring insights from CEO Kevin Patterson and actor Shelby Bond!
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live tonight at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
I’m guest hosting today’s Your Call at 10am PT, when we’ll discuss what Donald Trump’s return to the White House means for US nuclear policy and worldwide anti-proliferation efforts.
The US has over 5,000 nuclear warheads, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Just one of those bombs could destroy a city. Trump’s allies want to build more.
Project 2025, the playbook led by the Heritage Foundation to guide Trump’s second term, recommends significantly ramping up the nation’s nuclear arsenal. It also wants Trump to pave the way to restart nuclear bomb testing in Nevada — something the US hasn’t done since 1992.
Our guest will be national security expert Joe Cirincione, who writes that we’re embarking on a new and dangerous nuclear era worldwide, one in which Trump will once again have “the unfettered ability to launch nuclear weapons whenever he wants, for whatever reason.”
Mr. Cirincione is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, former president of Ploughshares Fund, and author of “Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late.”
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guest? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
Trump is promising to roll back the $7500 tax credit for electric vehicles. CBS News covered the story last night, where I talked about the potential impact:
I appeared on CBS News Bay Area last week talking about what the Trump administration might do to try to gut California’s electric vehicle requirements:
And a similar story on Monday from CBS News Sacramento:
California will need a significant build-out of new high-voltage transmission lines to meet state goals for renewable energy deployment and a decarbonized grid by 2045, which requires quadrupling its current in-state solar and wind capacity. But if this new infrastructure is paid for solely through electricity rates, it could increase them significantly, when they have already increased roughly 50% over the past three years for investor-owned utility customers.
In response, UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) is releasing today the policy report Improving Transmission Financing in California: Alternative Models and Policy Strategies to Increase Affordability. It contains a variety of strategies available to policymakers for financing new high-voltage power transmission in California, with the dual goals of 1) reducing costs to ratepayers and 2) accelerating transmission development. The report was developed with the support of Net-Zero California and Clean Air Task Force.
Among the key findings:
- Some form of public-private partnership (P3) could provide significant benefits to deploying lower-cost transmission, due to cost-savings potential and the ability to leverage existing institutions and structures. A number of possibilities and considerations exist, and the form of P3 may depend on the particular transmission line, developers, and other project-specific circumstances.
- Policymakers could endow an existing entity with transmission financing and related P3 authorities, rather than create a new entity. Currently, California has multiple entities with at least some role in transmission. Creating a wholly new public entity, or endowing an existing agency, in California to finance and oversee transmission would entail administrative and procedural changes, which may be more significant for a new public entity.
- State leaders could focus on demonstrating alternative financing arrangements for four to six key transmission regions and lines in the California Independent System Operator’s 20-year transmission outlook that most stakeholders agree are essential. The Governor’s Office could designate a coordinator for high-priority lines and support a process to speed implementation and financing.
- State leaders could minimize risk for the entity or entities owning new transmission lines, including establishing a liability backstop and developing insurance, contract, indemnity, and first loss protection, and other mechanisms, subject to negotiation and legislation.
These and other findings, as well as more detail on selected financing options and their specific challenges, can be found in the new report.
To learn more, register for the CLEE webinar “Financing California’s Transmission Needs” on Wednesday, November 13, from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific. Keynote remarks will be provided by:
- Le-Quyen Nguyen, Acting Senior Advisor for Energy for Governor Gavin Newsom
- Cliff Rechtschaffen, California Air Resources Board member and former California Public Utilities Commissioner
In addition, CLEE will discuss the report findings, along with representatives from Net Zero California, Clean Air Task Force, and DH Infrastructure.
For French speakers, here’s a new Radio-Canada/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report on California’s high speed rail system, featuring an interview with moi:
Tonight on State of the Bay, we’ll celebrate female trailblazers in Bay Area sports.
First, San Francisco Giants coach Alyssa Nakken will share how she became the first on-field female coach in the MLB.
Then we’ll have a conversation with Jess Smith, President of WNBA Golden State Valkyries, and Brady Stewart, CEO of women’s soccer team Bay FC, about the future of women’s sports.
Then we’ll finish off this special episode with DJ Umami, who keeps the fans on their feet at the Giants games.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
I’ll be a guest on KQED Forum at 10am PT today for our In Transit series, this time discussing the future of Amtrak and long-distance passenger rail in California.
Amtrak reports that overall demand for passenger rail is soaring, as yearly ridership totals approach pre-pandemic levels. But here in California the story is different. Popular west coast lines are losing riders and remain challenged by underinvestment and too much track priority to freight trains. In addition, increasingly powerful storms and rising seas threaten Amtrak’s infrastructure, with Southern California’s Pacific Surfliner has repeatedly suspended service for emergency repairs.
Joining me as a panelist on the show will be Tom Zoellner, English professor at Chapman University and author of “Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World -from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief.”
Tune in on KQED 88.5 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT!
Tonight on State of the Bay, I’ll interview San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu about what the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision will mean for the legal treatment of San Francisco’s homeless population. I’ll also talk to him about his lawsuit against Oakland over its airport renaming.
Then we’ll cover the latest developments in the Oakland A’s saga with journalist Dan Moore and Jorge Leon, founder of the fan group Oakland ’68s. What’s the latest on the team’s plan to move temporarily to Sacramento and eventually to Las Vegas?
And finally, we’ll meet San Francisco artist Yunfei Ren, who uses sound, sculpture, and photography to highlight underrepresented groups and experiences. We are highlighting his exhibit called “Prevailing Winds,” which is currently at the Guardhouse in Fort Mason.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
