Engineering A Green Wave

This Week's Trend In Brief:

• With the 2024 campaign season beginning in earnest, last week the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, NextGen PAC, and NRDC Action Fund announced their endorsement of President Biden.
   

• Yet while presidential politics generates media coverage, much of the influence these groups will have will be down ballot, influencing local races with significant impact on the energy industry.
   

• Groups like LCV, NextGen, and Environmental Defense Fund offer significant support to preferred candidates, both through major campaign spending and institutional support like get out the vote efforts, and in many cases, the candidates themselves come from the ranks of these organizations.
   

• With activists already gearing up for 2024, industry needs to prepare now as well to educate the public and assess potential candidates, because once races and candidates get defined, it can be difficult to shift the narrative and change the outcome.
   

Digging Deeper:

 
Earlier this month, several major green groups announced their endorsement of President Joe Biden for reelection, launching climate activism back into campaign mode. Election day is still 500 days away, but with at least 15 presidential candidates already declared, the 2024 campaign is well underway. Earlier this month, four major green groups – the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, NextGen PAC, and NRDC Action Fund – jumped into the campaign themselves, announcing their endorsement of President Joe Biden’s reelection.
 

As climate groups prepare to shape the 2024 election, recent electoral history shows these groups will provide candidates up and down the ballot with significant financial and institutional support. Major climate groups like LCV, NextGen, and EDF Action have proven they can influence elections up and down the ballot and they’re already gearing up for 2024. These groups provide significant funding to their preferred candidates. In 2022, a coalition of groups including Climate Power Action, Climate Reality Action Fund, EDF Action, LCV, NRDC Action, and NextGen PAC, “invest[ed] over $100 million to elect climate champions at the federal and state level.” Beyond financial support to candidates, groups like Environmental Voter Project drive turnout among environmentally focused voters and groups like the Sierra Club, with hundreds of chapters throughout the country, offer preferred candidates on-the-ground infrastructure to rally supporters and get out the vote.
 

In many cases, the candidates themselves come from the ranks of environmental groups, or have their campaigns largely led by environmental organizations. More and more frequently, candidates are coming from the ranks of green groups or campaigning hand in hand with climate organizations. For example, Newton, MA City Councilor Emily Norton, who has helped advance gas ban policies in the town, is a former Massachusetts Chapter Director of the Sierra Club. Similarly, Baton Rouge-based activist Davante Lewis won a runoff election for Louisiana Public Service Commissioner last year on an explicitly anti-utility agenda. Lewis received more than $1 million in support from the Environmental Defense Fund, and a coalition of local environmental groups were instrumental in his election. In Arizona, former Environmental Defense Fund Attorney Priya Sundareshan, who has coordinated with LCV, won election to the state senate in 2022 and has since targeted utilities and fossil fuel use in the state. The trend has continued this year, when Memphis environmental activist Justin Pearson won a special election to the Tennessee State House in January.
 

Climate activists are already planning for the 2024 elections, and the energy industry cannot wait to begin its own preparations to protect its interests from Washington to state capitols. From educating voters and candidates on crucial issues, to identifying the potential candidates that could survive primaries, to preparing to oppose the candidates that need to be pushed back on, energy firms cannot wait to begin protecting their electoral interests.

Trends in Energy is your weekly look at key trends affecting the energy industry, brought to you by the competitive intelligence experts at Delve. As the political and regulatory landscape continues to shift, reach out to learn how our insights can help you navigate these challenges.