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Policy Recommendations

Driving Private Sector Investment and Domestic Manufacturing

Recommendation: To ensure business confidence in announced investments and the long term stability necessary to grow American manufacturing in the battery and EV industries, Congress should maintain clean energy and clean vehicle tax credits, specifically 45X, 30D, and 45W.

Increasing Investment Certainty in the Critical Mineral and Material Market

Recommendation: To derisk new critical mineral projects, Congress should appropriate funds for the Department of Energy to investigate which mechanisms best support private offtake agreements for new projects. The mechanisms should be determined in consultation with industry stakeholders and include options such as contracts-for-difference, and offtake backstops.

Creating Circularity in the Battery Industry

Recommendation: To increase the ability of dismantlers and recyclers to safely remove, handle, and recycle batteries, Congress should direct and appropriate funds for EPA to convene a coalition of industry stakeholders to develop a roadmap for best practices on battery design for efficient removal from a vehicle by dismantlers and recovery of battery materials by recyclers.

Improving Community Engagement in Project Development

Recommendation: To help companies and communities engage earlier and more comprehensively in the leadup to large project development, the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s Coordinating Council for Economic Development should provide a statewide fund to establish a community benefits agreement council that can be included in the negotiation process with companies looking to site projects in South Carolina.

Developing the Workforce for South Carolina’s Advanced Energy Future

Recommendation: To increase the enrollment of students into technical college programs in fields of need as identified by supply gap analysis conducted by the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce, the South Carolina Legislature should appropriate funds to expand the SC WINS scholarship program to cover the full cost of tuition for positions of high need.

Recommendation: To ensure that recent graduates have immediately applicable and transferable skills in high demand employment contexts, the SC technical college system should foster partnerships between individual local colleges and nearby companies to develop curriculums that will train workers for available jobs and incorporate statewide skill needs analysis into their curriculum.

Conclusion

The growing market share of electrified options within the automobile industry offers both a challenge to incumbent manufacturers to diversify their production and an opportunity for South Carolina to position itself to enhance growth and resilience in its economy. C2ES’s roundtable in Columbia, South Carolina, provided an opportunity to bring together a wide-ranging group of battery and EV industry stakeholders to discuss how the state can strengthen those aspects of the supply chain that might pose a risk to the long-term resilience of the industry. In-depth discussions among stakeholders on the topics of critical mineral supply chains, battery circularity and recycling, community engagement, and workforce development provided the foundation for a set of policy recommendations aimed at bolstering these aspects of South Carolina’s battery and EV industries. In the near term, ensuring announced projects begin production is key to realizing the economic potential of the industry. State and federal policymakers should work to preserve the incentives that are powering the growth of these industries in the state, ensuring that businesses have the policy certainty they need to bring projects, jobs, and economic development to both South Carolina and the nation.

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Policy Recommendations

Educate businesses, policymakers, and communities about LDES technologies and use cases.

• DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy should include messaging on LDES as one of its “emerging clean energy strategies” through the Clean Energy to Communities program administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
• Utilities, regional transmission organizations (RTOs)/independent system operators (ISOs), consultants, energy modelers, and indirectly, solution providers should educate utility commissioners on the full value of long-duration energy storage resources outside their value as a capacity resource, by providing them with a report of use cases and examples of successful LDES demonstrations and deployments. This report could be modeled after the Virginia Energy Storage Task Force’s Final Report published in 2021.
• The Virginia Department of Energy should conduct a study on the education gaps among policymakers, companies, workers, and the general public, including: potential use cases; economic impacts; and geographic limitations of long-duration energy storage in the state.
  • Informed by the study’s results, Virginia Energy should create an independent organization, modeled after the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium, to address public awareness gaps and serve as an educational resource on LDES in the state.
  • This independent organization could also provide guidance to counties on the development of ordinances relating to energy storage to support standardization across the state.

Engage communities proactively, transparently, and comprehensively

• Local governments interested in deploying long-duration energy storage should host collaborative sessions with stakeholder groups to identify their needs, concerns, and interests in the technology, which can help inform permitting decisions and project development processes.

Value the benefits of long-duration energy storage in policy incentives and markets.

• States setting energy storage procurement/portfolio requirements should differentiate between short- and-long duration energy storage.
• States procuring renewable electricity like offshore wind should procure storage in parallel to support grid reliability as the share of renewable energy increases. Before issuing a request for proposals, the state should conduct a commensurate study to determine the type of storage and timing of deployment to identify the most cost-effective solution.

Conclusion

As Virginia looks to scale up its clean energy resources and energy storage capacity, long-duration energy storage provides a unique opportunity to bridge the intermittency of renewables like solar and wind to provide firm, dispatchable, reliable power to the Commonwealth. Growing electricity demand from data centers and other large industrial customers, alongside increasing risks of extreme weather exacerbated by a warming climate, also create an opportunity for LDES to provide additional benefits. Additionally, production of components and construction of projects could create large-scale employment opportunities for Virginia’s skilled workers. However, many policymakers, regulators, developers, and communities remain unfamiliar with the nuances of the technology and opportunities to deploy it locally. Significantly more education about the barriers and opportunities of this technology can help position Virginia to meet and exceed its ambitious energy storage goals.

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Recommendations

• The Department of Transportation’s Center for Transportation Workforce Development should create a national EV workforce moonshot with clear roles for each level of government. This includes fewer restrictions on federal investments, as well as technical support, state convening, and supporting programs, with an eye toward leveraging local knowledge to drive more effective implementation. As an intermediate step, the federal government should invest in capacity building for states to support local governments applying for federal funding related to workforce development programs.
• Michigan should help support applications for federal funding applications, similar to the EPA’s Technical Assistance Hubs. These programs provide capacity for frontline communities to navigate and access the historic level of resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. Michigan should have a program that also provides technical assistance to communities looking to access resources for workforce development programs.
• The state should create an “anchor” organization that coordinates and is supported by employers to create an inclusive workforce. This “anchor” organization should serve as a central and neutral convenor to bring all stakeholders together, create a forum for sharing and understanding all stakeholders’ unique needs, and create an organized path forward for the EV workforce. It should engage companies throughout the supply chain, education providers, workforce development agencies, economic development organizations, labor, and state government.
• The state should lead a marketing campaign for jobs and careers in the future mobility industry to make these careers attractive to prospective workers. This marketing campaign should target Michiganders broadly, with specific focus on secondary educators including: guidance counselors, career advisors in vocational/technical schools, and teachers—particularly of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) classes. Outreach and marketing materials should demonstrate the possibilities of a career in the future mobility industry, as well as highlighting the kinds of skills that are needed to thrive.
• The state should invest in placemaking to build a community of support for a person’s full day, including wrap-around services like housing, public transit or alternative modes of transportation, and childcare. Building on the baseline data in the 2023 Growing Michigan Together Council Report, state agencies should identify neighborhoods with lower labor force participation and their barriers to working. Once these are identified, the state should create and fund employment hubs to provide the necessary support to pursue employment opportunities.
• The state should provide funding and technical assistance to communities, whether municipal governments or local economic/workforce development organizations, to identify barriers to enter the workforce, make a plan to address these barriers, and seek resources for these solutions.
• The city of Detroit, with funding and policy support from the state, should invest in its transportation infrastructure to attract and retain residents. In addition to investing in public transportation infrastructure to better connect the city, and to connect neighborhoods where people live and work, the city should invest in electric mobility solutions like public EV charging infrastructure. The city government should work collaboratively with the automotive industry to highlight future mobility industry opportunities in the city and attract investment.

Conclusion

Throughout the February 2024 convening, participants representing key companies, economic development organizations, NGOs, and communities demonstrated that Michigan has the potential to lead the development of the future mobility industry, and showed excitement around developing the next steps necessary to succeed. Building on the state’s existing investments in EV workforce development, additional policy and programmatic initiatives can augment federal and private sector resources to support the recruitment, training, retention, and prosperity of workers across the future mobility industry in Michigan.

Click here to learn more about our Regional Roundtable Program.

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The post Scaling Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Factsheet) appeared first on Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Washington state has demonstrated leadership in bringing together stakeholders across the aviation industry to study, plan, and address the barriers to scaling the production of sustainable aviation fuels within the state. Building on insights from over more than a decade of state-level progress, this brief offers recommendations to federal policymakers to scale sustainable aviation fuel developed in a C2ES roundtable convening hosted in Seattle in April 2024.

Policy Recommendations

• Congress should extend tax credits to cover at least 10 years from when a SAF production facility is placed in service.
• Congress should provide not less than $244,500,000 annually for FAST-SAF.
• Congress should direct the Federal Aviation Administration to allow SAF purchasing and investments in SAF infrastructure as an appropriate use of airport revenue.
• Congress should direct federal agencies administering SAF-related funding to require applicants to consider how the project will support equitable workforce development.

Read the factsheet for this brief for a summary of the recommendations.

About Regional Roundtables

Efforts to accelerate the transition to the low-carbon economy of the future are accelerating across all sectors of the economy. To chart a pathway to sustainable, long-term prosperity, communities must be able to leverage their particular strengths and capitalize on emerging economic opportunities, while addressing barriers that are often unique to their communities. To that end, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) is hosting a series of regional roundtables to bring together local, state, and federal government, businesses of all sizes, community organizations and nonprofits, academics and issue experts, trade associations, investors, philanthropy, economic development organizations, and individuals working across sectors. These conversations are meant to elevate the perspectives of a diverse set of stakeholders who are deeply embedded in their communities and uniquely positioned to speak to the needs of their states and regions. They are also meant to create opportunities to integrate local perspectives into state and federal policy decisions and identify concrete steps to better align the long-term prosperity of these communities with the urgent task of reaching net-zero emissions economywide.

The post Scaling Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Recommendations to Federal Policy Makers from Washington State appeared first on Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Policy Recommendations

Facilitate recycling, improve recyclability, and promote second-life applications

• Congress should direct U.S. EPA to commission a study to explore the implications of enacting federal-level extended producer responsibility for electric vehicle batteries. This report should identify essential elements of policy design, including whether battery manufacturers or automakers should be responsible for battery recycling or safe disposal, and to what extent responsible parties should fund collection and recycling. The study should include an advisory group with representation from battery manufacturers, automakers, recyclers, and community leaders.
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) should enact transparent national minimum safety standards for workers interacting with, repairing, and dismantling electric vehicle batteries and other mobility related high voltage batteries. These should build upon NHTSA’s Battery Safety Initiative and be enforced across the United States.
• U.S. EPA should enact minimum recyclability standards for EVs that support consistent design and ease of battery removal. In the absence of standards developed directly by U.S. EPA, the agency should support the development of a third-party multi-stakeholder consensus-based standard that both the federal government and industry can use.
• Congress, through the Federal Trade Commission and in consultation with U.S. EPA, should create an official minimum definition of “recycled content” as it applies to components within EV batteries.
• In the next revision of Ohio’s Learning Standards, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should build competencies on recycling and waste management into science standards at every grade level. Building on the high-school level environmental science standard GP.9, “Waste management (solid and hazardous),” science concepts based on identifying waste and recyclable materials and correctly sorting and disposing of them should be integrated to “Nature of Science” standards for each grade level.[i]
• The Ohio state legislature should direct and fund Ohio EPA to provide guidance to municipalities on best practices for reducing waste and growing the circular economy, periodically updated to include best practices from municipalities across the state.
• Ohio EPA should offer grants to community organizations to support outreach and education of consumers on proper recycling best practices.

Promote data transparency and information sharing

• Congress should require EV batteries sold in the United States to include a digital battery passport indicating battery composition, recycled content, and pertinent information for safe dismantling. Further, Congress should require U.S. EPA to facilitate this data sharing through a secure platform. Congress should provide funding to U.S. EPA to support the development and administration of this program, and to explore alignment with the EU Battery Pass initiative.
• When providing guidance for EV battery collection and labeling, as directed by the IIJA, U.S. EPA should include guidelines for identification of proper battery dismantling procedures based on the location of key components in the battery.
• U.S. EPA should renew and expand the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities program to provide funding for additional communities to develop accessible recycling infrastructure and data collection. Congress should expand this program, authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to include specific funding for end-of-life battery collection and recycling.
• Congress should provide funding through U.S. EPA to support the development of materials marketplace programs, similar to the Ohio Materials Marketplace convened by Ohio EPA, across all 50 states, as well as coordination among the programs via U.S. EPA.

Support innovation & attract investment

• Innovate Ohio should lead an effort to convene utilities, startups, and battery manufacturers to identify opportunities for end-of-life EV batteries to serve as grid storage resources.
• JobsOhio should add critical materials recycling and circular economy to the targeted industries included covered under its R&D Center Grant program.
• Congress should increase funding for Battery R&D within the Vehicle Technologies Office, to include, at a minimum, the new research priorities identified in DOE’s FY 2025 budget request.
• Cities and counties across Ohio should set sustainability targets, including emissions reduction and recycling goals. These goals help guide companies and communities toward sustainability improvements and make federal grant applications more competitive (especially under the IRA/BIL). Having sustainability targets can inform a city’s economic development plans and support alignment with local businesses. Additionally, a sustainable purchasing policy can demonstrate leadership and kickstart both emissions reductions and demand that can help scale emerging industries locally.

Onshore Critical Materials Capacity

• The Ohio state legislature should create a tax credit for battery manufacturers to use recycled content in their products.
• Ohio EPA should partner with big box retailers and auto mechanics to create accessible, visible collection points for end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, including those in small electric mobility devices like scooters and e-bikes, and electric vehicles.
• Congress, through DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, should support the development of critical materials recycling hubs, similar to other models like hydrogen hubs and tech hubs, promoting the geographic co-location of collection, recycling infrastructure, processing, and utilization. Building on the work of the Critical Materials Innovation Hub, these hubs could provide targeted financial support to develop the industry in tandem with the battery production industry, reducing costs and spurring development. The geographic locations of these hubs should be selected through a competitive process prioritizing key metrics such as the presence of existing recycling infrastructure, processing, utilization, and/or manufacturing capacity.
• Local economic development organizations should facilitate partnerships between companies to enable economical end-of life collection, transportation, dismantling and recycling of EV batteries.
• The Ohio state legislature should establish a tax rebate for the recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries equivalent to the average estimated value of the critical minerals contained within it.

Comprehensively and Proactively Engage Communities

• Congress should create a funding program through the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to support municipalities’ capacity to facilitate community engagement. This program should support additional staffing or contract support for municipal governments to conduct community outreach and engagement activities with developers ahead of new projects.

Promote Workforce Development and Safety

• NHTSA and OSHA should set minimum safety standards for battery collection, transport, dismantling, disposal, repair, and processing. These should be consistent for workers across the industry and trainings for certifications in these standards should be widely accessible.
• Companies should offer workforce development programming, including recruitment and training of new entrants to the field; safety training for workers in adjacent industries to be prepared to safely service, remove, and dismantle EV batteries; and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to support workers of all backgrounds.

Conclusion

This is a pivotal moment for Ohio’s automotive industry, as companies make plans to build electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities and grow the EV supply chain in the state and across the Midwest. Ohio is poised to become a leader on battery recycling, with benefits to both the state’s economic competitiveness and the nation’s ability to secure a domestic supply of critical materials. Participants in our December 2023 regional roundtable were optimistic about this opportunity, while emphasizing that much more work is necessary to truly take advantage of its offerings. They highlighted the need for expanded collection, transport, and recycling infrastructure; significant levels of consumer, business, and policymaker education; investments in worker safety and training; research and development initiatives to improve the economics and recyclability of batteries; and policy development to incentivize and coordinate recycling practices across the industry.

Click here to learn more about our Regional Roundtable Program.

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