Since the collapse of climate legislation, advocates have issued a number of post-mortems and ideas for moving forward.  One of the leading commentators on this front is Andrew Revkin — the lead New York Times environment reporter from 1995 through 2009 — and today at NYT Dot Earth he defined what he calls “The Technology Imperative for Energy and Climate“:

“If you care about fostering prosperity in poor places while limiting the buildup of greenhouse gases in the globe’s shared atmosphere, it’s time to recognize the technology imperative that lies behind the world’s entwined climate and energy challenges… Without greatly intensified work to advance and disseminate energy choices that don’t come with heat-trapping emissions, there’s no smooth path as human populations and appetites crest in the next two generations.”

As an example of what the next agenda might look like, Revkin republishes our op-ed from last week at the National Journal Energy Expert Blog.  In the article, we argued that the United States must quickly pivot from pollution regulation to an aggressive clean energy competitiveness and innovation agenda, including robust and targeted federal support for clean energy research and innovation, manufacturing, and domestic market demand, as well as infrastructure, education, and industry cluster formation.

This builds on the ongoing leadership of groups like Breakthrough Institute, Brookings Metro Policy Center, ITIF, Third Way, American Energy Innovation Council, Bipartisan Policy Center, and others who are helping define a new and robust energy and climate agenda.  We encourage you to follow their work in the months ahead, as well as Andrew Revkin’s commentary at Dot Earth.