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The Gulf Coast is a primary hub for U.S. hydrogen due to its concentration of petroleum refining and chemical production. With Texas and Louisiana leading in refining and ammonia capacities, the region is well-positioned to transition to clean hydrogen to meet domestic needs and international demand from markets like Japan, South Korea, and the European Union.

The document outlines the six-step interconnection process for large loads (over 20 MW), detailing the progression from preliminary inquiry to the execution of an interconnection agreement. It distinguishes between customer interconnection facilities, which are typically paid for by the customer, and network upgrades, which ensure broader grid reliability and are often allocated across a service territory. The guide also describes the roles of FERC and state PUCs in cost recovery and allocation.

After a record year in 2024, the U.S. EV market experienced a 4% sales decline in 2025, driven by the expiration of federal tax credits and a volatile regulatory environment. While charging infrastructure continues to grow through private investment, nearly $20 billion in manufacturing projects have been canceled, particularly in the Midwest and South. Major automakers are shifting strategies toward hybrids and affordable models to mitigate losses, while workers face increased layoffs and production pauses. Despite these setbacks, long-term forecasts from BloombergNEF and the IEA suggest continued, albeit slower, EV adoption through 2030.

In Q4 2025, U.S. clean energy investments were characterized by significant uncertainty driven by a record 43-day government shutdown, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and Department of Energy (DOE) funding cuts. While utility-scale solar and storage remained strong, with $18 billion in actual investments, other sectors like wind, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) faced substantial project cancellations. Nuclear energy showed signs of growth through large-scale partnerships and DOE loans, while the manufacturing sector saw $8.4 billion in EV supply chain cancellations, partly due to shifting federal incentives and corporate pivots toward gas and hybrid vehicles.

The report argues that community trust is a critical lever for the success of next-generation geothermal development in the U.S., as public awareness of the technology remains low and concerns regarding seismicity and water use are prevalent. Based on research including focus groups, surveys, and developer interviews, the document outlines five core best practices: proactive and consistent communication, tailoring messages to the public's needs, addressing local priorities, maintaining transparency, and utilizing trusted messengers. It emphasizes that 'boots on the ground' in-person interaction is superior to virtual tools and that developers must be willing to adjust project designs based on community input to avoid the opposition currently facing other renewable energy projects.

As of March 30, 2026, the western U.S. is experiencing a historic snow drought, with snow water equivalent at its lowest record for April 1 and 65% below the 1991-2020 normal. This condition is attributed to a record-warm winter and a record-shattering March heat wave fueled by heat-trapping pollution. Long-term trends from 1955 to 2023 show an 18% average decline in April 1 snowpack across 652 monitoring stations, with snow droughts growing 28% longer between 1980 and 2018. These trends increase risks for water supplies, hydropower, and wildfires, with projections suggesting a further 25% decline in snow water equivalent by 2050.

Upgrading the millions of US homes relying on electric resistance heating to air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) and heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) offers significant benefits for affordability, grid reliability, and climate goals. For single-family homes, these upgrades can save households an average of $1,530 annually and reduce total carbon pollution by approximately 40%. At scale, such transitions could reduce US residential summer peak demand by 11 GW and winter peak demand by 51 GW. The report advocates for updating building energy codes to discourage electric resistance in new construction and retrofits, setting specific replacement targets, and implementing midstream incentive programs and on-bill financing to overcome up-front cost barriers.

April 2026 was the fourth-warmest month globally on record, with the contiguous U.S. experiencing its third-warmest April. The report highlights severe drought in the Southeast U.S., record-low Western snowpack, and a persistent marine heat wave off the coasts of California and Mexico. Using the Climate Shift Index (CSI), the analysis attributes springtime warming trends in 98% of analyzed U.S. cities to human-caused climate change, with exceptional warmth noted in Honolulu and San Juan. Forecasts indicate a high probability of a strong El Niño developing later in 2026, potentially driving global temperature anomalies above 1.8°C relative to pre-industrial levels by early 2027.

The report argues that subnational governments are critical to the global energy transition because extraction facilities and workforces are located within their territories. It presents a toolkit of financial, regulatory, and enabling tools to help these governments phase out production, reduce environmental impacts, and diversify local economies. The authors categorize subnational regions into four types based on their production status and reserves, noting that early movers can reduce transition risks and attract low-carbon investment. Key recommendations include developing time-bound, sequenced, and financed roadmaps and avoiding diversification into carbon-intensive downstream activities like refining or petrochemicals.

The report examines the growing influence of private equity in Michigan, where 10% of the private sector workforce is employed by private equity-controlled companies. It details how leveraged buyouts and aggressive cost-cutting strategies have led to increased bankruptcy rates, labor disputes, and reduced quality in essential services. Specific case studies highlight staffing shortages and poor rankings at Apollo-owned hospitals, rent spikes in Blackstone-owned student housing, and safety violations and child labor at Hearthside Food Solutions. The document also notes that Michigan has the second-highest number of private equity-owned manufactured home parks in the U.S., often characterized by predatory rent increases and neglected maintenance. Finally, it calls for the Michigan State Treasury and Retirement System to adopt responsible workforce and property management standards to protect public investments and residents.

The document reports that 2024 was the warmest year on record, marking the first calendar year where global surface air temperatures exceeded pre-industrial levels by 1.5°C. It details a surge in weather-related disasters, with 62% of all such events since 1984 occurring after 2004, and notes that over 240 million internal displacements occurred between 2013 and 2023 due to natural disasters. The text emphasizes that atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached record highs in 2024, hitting 426.7 ppm in May, which underscores the failure of current global policies to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement targets.

In 2025, the U.S. generated a record 853,210 GWh from solar and wind, accounting for 19% of total electricity generation. This represents a more than threefold increase since 2016, with solar generation growing more than seven-fold and wind doubling. Despite this growth, the document notes that the U.S. faces new challenges, including the repeal of clean energy tax credits via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 and the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2026. These policy shifts, combined with rising electricity demand from data centers, are projected to increase heat-trapping pollution and raise average annual household energy costs by over $280 by 2035.

The report advocates for reconductoring as a primary solution to the U.S. energy grid's capacity crisis, which currently stalls 2,500 GW of clean energy projects. By replacing traditional steel-core cables with advanced composite conductors, the grid can double its transfer capacity at less than half the cost of building new lines, with installation times of 18-36 months compared to 10-15 years for new construction. The document highlights the potential for $180 billion in system savings by 2050 and a 3-4% reduction in wholesale electricity costs. It details technical improvements, such as trapezoidal wires and carbon-fiber cores, and cites successful implementations in Texas, Nevada, California, and Minnesota, as well as international adoption in Europe and Asia. The report concludes by urging policymakers to support legislation like the High-Capacity Grid Act and the REWIRE Act to incentivize the adoption of these technologies.

The report analyzes a record-shattering heatwave in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico in March 2026, finding that such an event would have been virtually impossible without anthropogenic climate change. Using a combination of observation-based data and climate models, the study estimates that the intensity of 1-in-100-year March heat events has increased by 2.6°C and their likelihood has increased by a factor of approximately 800. The document highlights the extreme vulnerability of non-acclimatized populations and the risk of accelerated snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada and Colorado mountains.

Between December 2025 and February 2026, human-caused climate change significantly influenced global temperatures, with more than one in six people daily experiencing temperatures at least twice as likely due to climate change. In the United States, a sharp divide occurred: western states saw record-breaking warmth, with nine states experiencing their warmest December-February on record and Casper, Wyoming, recording the highest temperature anomaly globally among 960 analyzed cities. Conversely, the eastern U.S. faced below-average temperatures and cold snaps that the Climate Shift Index (CSI) indicates were made less likely by climate change. The record warmth in the west has led to low snowpack in Oregon, Colorado, and Utah, threatening water supplies and increasing wildfire risks.

The Cities4Forests initiative mobilized $115 million to restore 320,000 acres of forests and watersheds across 15 US states, utilizing innovative financial tools like the Forest Resilience Bond and green bonds. These efforts aim to mitigate the $900 billion in annual losses caused by wildfires, which now burn over 7 million acres annually. Key projects include restoration in the Tahoe National Forest, the Upper Weber River watershed, and around Lake Maumelle, collectively supporting 260 jobs and avoiding over 10 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

March 2026 was the warmest March on record for the contiguous U.S., characterized by a historic snow drought in the West and extreme heat that increased cooling energy demand. Globally, the month was the second-warmest on record, with Arctic sea-ice reaching a near-record low maximum. In the U.S., severe drought affected 77% of the contiguous region, while Hawaii experienced record-breaking precipitation due to Kona lows.

The document outlines a structured approach to the global transition away from fossil fuels (TAFF), emphasizing that current production and consumption plans are misaligned with 1.5°C pathways. It proposes that effective TAFF roadmaps must be anchored in science, justice, and national ownership, while integrating elements such as subsidy reform, economic diversification, and decommissioning. The guide highlights the necessity of international coordination between producer and consumer countries to manage systemic risks, reform global finance, and ensure a just and orderly transition.

Mighty Earth is campaigning for the reintroduction of mountain lions, known locally as catamounts, to Vermont to restore ecological balance to Eastern forests. The organization is advocating for a feasibility study, for which they have identified philanthropic funding to cover the estimated $200,000 cost, to avoid taxpayer expense. While the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has expressed sympathy for the goal, it has requested further research before initiating the study. The campaign draws on successful historical reintroductions of beaver and wild turkey in Vermont, as well as current coexistence models in California.

The Private Equity Bankruptcy Tracker reports that private equity firms were involved in 54% of the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcies (liabilities $\ge$ $1 billion) and 51% of large bankruptcies (liabilities $\ge$ $500 million) in 2025. The report argues that the private equity model, characterized by leveraged buyouts and aggressive value extraction, increases bankruptcy risks, particularly in the manufacturing, healthcare, and consumer discretionary sectors. These financial failures led to at least 36,802 layoffs across 13 PE-backed bankruptcies in 2025 and disrupted essential services, such as healthcare. The document also notes a trend toward 'distressed exchanges' to circumvent formal bankruptcy, with PE-backed firms accounting for 41% of these events according to S&P Global data.