Coming back online like 👀

@climatecabinet.org, founded by Caroline Spears, MS ’17 Civil & Environmental Engineering, focuses on supporting pro-climate candidates in state and local elections rather than federal races. Emma Fisher, ’17 BS Earth System Science, is COO. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... #energypolicy #climate

Fun Fact - the Georgia seat that flipped last night is the majority maker seat in the state house. If everything more Dem than this seat were to flip, the chamber would flip.

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Climate policy 🤝 thinking about the Roman Empire

LOOK AT THIS TOOL DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I NEEDED THIS TOOL WHEN I WAS POLICY DIRECTOR AT A STATE ENERGY AGENCY LOOK AT IT YOU CAN HAVE DIFFERENT, NEW PROBLEMS THAN I DID! NO MORE OLD PROBLEMS! ONLY INFORMATION!

Want to feel hopeful about climate action? Look to local politics. 75% of the commitments that the US made at the Paris climate agreement can be reached entirely without federal support. I dug into this for @us.theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Another month of US transit data is just in, & DC's WMATA remains the fastest-growing major US transit agency, with ridership up 10% compared to last year! King County Metro (Seattle, +7%) & SEPTA (Philly, +5.3%) have performed well, while LA Metro & NJTransit have lost riders🧵

“Just a handful of races determine chamber control,” @spears.bsky.social said, “And when chambers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Virginia flipped, those chambers actually then passed 100% clean energy policies.” Could not be more proud to be a part of this team at @climatecabinet.org.

Tennessee special election: Dems continue a special election overperformance of around +10 this year. In 2017, this was around +7. Turnout was very high: Rs turned out their base to win and avoid a Georgia PSC-level rout.

Climate solutions 🤝 household bills

The House Energy Committee chairman in MA, who is attempting to roll back the state's climate mandates, received $4,100 in campaign contributions in a single day from energy industry lobbyists: (1/) commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/energ...

Great news from Allegheny County Council -- who have moved to match Air Quality Permitting fees to the impact of air pollution on residents. Additional funding goes directly to the County Health Department. triblive.com/local/valley...

@eleanorklib.bsky.social out with the story of the week.

The climate policy story of the year: ILLINOIS

Clean Energy accounted for all electricity growth this year. Gas/Coal were basically a wash and will be for years to come for electricity generation. We need to ramp up batteries because they are 90% cheaper than distribution grid upgrades which is the main reason we have rate increases.

Ugh, right after Illinois passed the best climate legislation of the year, too. Very disappointing.

Thanks Caroline, excited to be teaming up with you on this! States have the power!

Launched today: the State Economic Power Project! This dives into cost of living + climate, on 2 pillars: (1) household budgets and (2) state budgets. Thank you Sarah Bloom Raskin, @jordanhaedtler.bsky.social @kostyack.bsky.social @advitt.bsky.social climatecabineteducation.org/state-econom...

Thanks Dave!!

Extremely normal discourse about the Texas Railroad Commission, an elected office that regulates oil and gas in the state and is up for election in 2026.

Today in AI testing 🤖 I sent ChatGPT and Claude the same set of 10 blurry photos of people who have RSVP'd to our Climate + Affordability policy launch this Thursday. I asked them both to create a .csv of registrants. 💥ChatGPT got 5 registrants. Claude got.... 156 💥

Today on Volts: as you may have heard, there were some elections last week. How did they go for climate world? To find out, I did my annual check-in with @spears.bsky.social of @climatecabinet.org. I don't want to spoil anything, but folks ... they went well. Really well.

Last week’s election was big: from Georgia to Allegheny County, Dave Roberts and I broke it down on @volts.wtf. 3 big themes: 📊 Turnout: who showed up & who didn't 💸 Affordability (we have real solutions, folks) and 🍃Tea Leaves on what this means for 2026 transcripts.volts.wtf/so-there-wer...

To be honest with you, I understand about 20% of this tweet. But that's because Micheal's the transit and housing expert! You should follow him.

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My new thing is helping NY legalize balcony solar

Update - a few seats short! I can't believe this was even a question on election night.

Timeline cleanse

YOU GUYS WINS KEEP HAPPENING

Still a highlight of the night. Thanks Alex - John's an expert and thanks for getting him to the Virginia House!

This is incredible.

In a key race for energy policy, Democrats just won 2 seats on Georgia’s utility commission — changing the dynamic for first time in nearly 20 years. Here’s a quick hit on what it all means. heatmap.news/politics/ali...

Win tracker go BRRRRRRRRRR

Thank you Alex!!!

Having good transit and good housing are winning issues

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Excited by tonight's results? You can support 2026 climate champions HERE ➡️ secure.actblue.com/donate/ccaf

🚨Potential supermajority in the Virginia House of Delegates for @donscott757.bsky.social and @abigailspanberger.com. Not something I thought I'd be tracking tonight.

Checking our supermajority calculator right now.... Not something I thought I'd say tonight.

Public Utilities Commissioners are climate policymakers and we finally started acting like it

🎉 Peter Hubbard just scored a home run with his win for Georgia PSC! ⚡️Time to knock affordable energy and good jobs investment out of the park! 🌟

🏆 Victory! Alicia Johnson just brought home the win for clean energy and lower costs. Let’s keep building a brighter future at the Georgia PSC! 🌞

OMFG these Georgia numbers: ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION 2026 STARTS NOW

Seriously, Georgia voters are FED UP. Two statewide utility commission races absolutely crushing 2024 national numbers.

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