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The report models a hypothetical national EPR framework in the U.S. to evaluate the economic benefits of harmonization over fragmented state-level policies. Key findings indicate that such a framework could reduce municipal waste management costs by 49%–53%, generate $111 billion in economic value added over 10 years, and significantly lower producer compliance costs. The analysis also highlights job creation in recycling infrastructure and innovation, particularly in the food and beverage sector, and examines the potential for improved domestic rPET markets and rural recycling access.

Between January and May 15, 2026, over 100 companies backed by asset management firms and venture capital notified labor departments of layoffs, resulting in nearly 13,000 job losses. The report highlights how private equity models—characterized by leveraged buyouts, dividend recapitalizations, and market consolidation—contribute to plant closures and bankruptcies. Specific examples include Walgreens, where Sycamore Partners added $13.3 billion in debt, and Albertsons, where Cerberus Capital Management received a $1 billion dividend payout despite ongoing layoffs. The report also notes a high concentration of layoffs in the manufacturing sector (34%) and discusses state-level legislative efforts in New Jersey, Maine, California, and Michigan to mandate severance pay and extend notice periods.

The report analyzes the strategic use of joint ventures by private equity (PE) firms to enter healthcare markets, leveraging the reputation of nonprofit partners to scale operations. Through case studies of Lifepoint Health, Ascension, Compassus, and Ardent Health, it documents patterns such as sale-leaseback real estate transactions, the use of nonprofit referral networks, and declining care quality. It argues that current IRS and state regulations are insufficient to oversee these complex structures and recommends expanded oversight of management fees, control rights, and charitable asset transfers.

The report compares two pathways for meeting U.S. electricity demand growth through 2030: one relying on fossil fuels and another on clean energy. It finds that a clean energy scenario reduces the incremental cost of meeting demand by $5.1 billion annually in 2030 and offers greater protection against fuel price volatility. To realize these savings, the authors recommend setting ambitious clean energy targets, updating electricity system planning with market-based assumptions, reducing permitting and interconnection barriers, implementing fuel cost sharing to manage risk, improving grid utilization through technologies like surplus interconnection and high-performance conductors, and harnessing demand-side resources such as virtual power plants and distributed energy technologies.

The Multi-Family Housing Tracker documents the significant increase in private equity ownership of U.S. apartment complexes, noting that 228 identified firms own nearly 3 million units, or approximately 13% of the national total. The report highlights a heavy concentration in Sunbelt states and metropolitan areas, correlating these regions with sharp increases in 'cost-burdened' renters. It details a business model focused on rapid value increases through rent hikes and additional fees, while documenting widespread tenant complaints regarding poor maintenance, aggressive evictions, and the use of algorithmic pricing software like RealPage. The document concludes with recommendations for landlords, public officials, and institutional investors to implement rent caps, just-cause eviction protections, and responsible investment standards.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are reaching scales that rival traditional power plants, with some programs exceeding 1 GW. Despite this, the document finds that utilities often fail to properly model VPPs in integrated resource plans (IRPs) and distribution system plans (DSPs), frequently treating them as fixed load adjustments rather than selectable resources. This planning gap leads to an underestimation of VPP value and a risk of redundant infrastructure investment. The author recommends that regulators and utilities develop detailed resource attributes for VPPs, allow for their growth in models, and evaluate their benefits across both bulk power and distribution systems.

The US electric grid faces severe supply chain constraints, with lead times for large power transformers reaching up to four years and prices for power line cables doubling since 2019. Domestic production is insufficient, meeting only 20% of demand for large power transformers in 2025. To address this, the document proposes a three-pronged federal strategy: easing near-term bottlenecks through allied partnerships and production ramps; expanding domestic capacity via manufacturing tax credits and low-cost scaling capital; and promoting innovation in next-generation grid hardware. It also highlights subnational opportunities for states to attract investment through tailored workforce training and industrial clustering.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) reports on the 2026 Virginia legislative session, highlighting progress in diversifying the electricity portfolio, modernizing procurement, and improving infrastructure siting. Key achievements include the state's planned reentry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) by July 1, 2026, and the creation of a Chief Energy Officer position. CATF argues that while these targeted improvements are constructive, Virginia must further modernize its Clean Economy Act (VCEA) to better integrate clean firm resources and manage rising electricity demand from data centers and manufacturing.

The PJM region expects approximately 30 GW of new electricity demand by 2030, primarily from data centers, amid rising capacity market prices and slow interconnection timelines. In response, the PJM Board's January 2026 CIFP-LLA decision establishes a regional framework for load forecasting, 'bring-your-own resource' options, a 'connect and manage' curtailment approach, and a 'reliability backstop' capacity auction. RMI argues that states must operationalize this framework through specific retail-level actions: establishing large load tariffs (LLTs) to prevent cost-shifting, improving load forecast validation to reduce speculative requests, and implementing non-firm service tariffs to prioritize the curtailment of large loads over residential customers. Additionally, the briefing recommends that states pursue permitting reforms to accelerate new generation, deploy virtual power plants (VPPs) and advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) to expand grid capacity, and coordinate regionally to advocate for deeper PJM generator interconnection reforms.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project supports Illinois HB5000, arguing that private equity's expansion into healthcare—through leveraged buyouts, roll-ups, and joint ventures—often leads to higher prices, increased debt, and reduced quality of care. The document details specific financial tactics like sale-leasebacks and dividend recapitalizations, and highlights the growth of private equity in ambulatory surgery centers and physician practice management, urging regulators to increase oversight to protect patient access and cost.

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 document argues that heat pumps are a cost-effective alternative to gas heating due to their superior energy efficiency, which allows them to overcome higher electricity costs. In the residential sector, heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces for four consecutive years. In the industrial sector, they are particularly viable for low-temperature processes (under 200°C), with the potential to increase U.S. GDP by over $42 billion by 2030. The briefing concludes that other alternatives, such as hydrogen and renewable natural gas, are less scalable and more expensive than heat pumps.

Earthjustice reports that the EPA has proposed a rule to gut the 2015 and 2024 coal ash regulations, which would exempt hundreds of dumps from regulation and allow companies to delay or avoid cleaning up toxic contamination. The briefing details specific proposed rollbacks, such as removing safety standards for waste piles and permitting higher levels of heavy metals in contaminated water. Earthjustice intends to challenge these actions in court and urges members of Congress to oppose the proposal.

The Centre for Environmental Rights and Natural Justice, representing several community and environmental networks, submitted formal objections to the Scoping Report for the Motuoane Production Right application. The project proposes hydrocarbon exploration and extraction over approximately 14,400 hectares in the Free State Province, involving up to 43 production wells and associated infrastructure. The objectors argue that the Scoping Report is deficient in its assessments of air quality, climate change, hydrogeology, and social impacts, and that the public participation process was not meaningful.

The Private Equity Manufactured Housing Tracker identifies 23 private equity firms and hedge funds owning over 1,900 manufactured home parks and 400,000 lots in the U.S. It argues that institutional investors capitalize on the limited mobility of residents to increase rents and fees, often with financing from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The report details specific instances of rent hikes, poor maintenance, and unjust evictions, while calling for government intervention to preserve affordability and protect residents' rights.

A two-year initiative involving three elementary schools in Rockbridge County, Virginia, found that while diversion interventions did not reduce the total amount of food students discarded (plate waste), they successfully diverted nearly 100% of uneaten entrées, fruits, and vegetables from landfills. The project utilized on-site composting via Earth Cubes and off-site diversion to a local farmer for chicken feed. Over two school years, the program diverted 14,221.50 lbs of food, resulting in a reduction of 42.17 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) and $388.34 in avoided landfill fees.

The review finds that neonicotinoid seed treatments (NSTs) often fail to provide statistically significant increases in yield or profitability for North American farmers, particularly in colder regions like the Midwest and Northern U.S. where early-season pest pressure is lower. While some positive returns on investment (ROI) were observed in the U.S. South due to milder winters and higher pest pressure, these results were inconsistent year-to-year. The document highlights significant ecological harms, including the reduction of predator insect populations, damage to pollinators, and disruption of soil decomposition. It argues that a shift from prophylactic use to an 'assess-and-decide' approach based on actual pest pressure would save farmers money without reducing yields.

The report critiques the 'firm fixation' approach where utilities meet surging data center demand by adding gas plants or refurbishing coal units. It identifies six defining features of data centers—agency, clustering, consumption profiles, flexibility, backup requirements, and modularity—that make them unsuitable for simple one-to-one matching with firm power plants. Instead, the author advocates for a 'system of systems' approach combining clean energy portfolios, battery storage, and demand-side flexibility. Key recommendations for policymakers include using the interconnection process as leverage to ensure cost causation and exploring demand-side resources, such as sponsoring household energy upgrades, to free up grid capacity.

Private equity firms have invested nearly $200 billion in data center-related industries since January 2022, driving a strategy of acquiring vertically integrated retail energy utilities and fossil fuel power plants to secure power for AI infrastructure. BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has acquired ALLETE Inc. and is pursuing a $38 billion takeover of AES, while Blackstone has invested in the Potomac Energy Center and is seeking to acquire TXNM Energy. The report argues that this expansion risks creating stranded high-emitting assets if AI demand is overestimated, while already causing increased electricity costs for ratepayers—rising up to 267% in some data center hubs—and significant environmental degradation. Organized community resistance has already delayed or blocked $64 billion in data center projects across 24 U.S. states.

The document argues that fusion energy is transitioning from laboratory research to commercial viability, with many U.S. startups projecting grid connection by the first half of the 2030s. It outlines how states can create competitive advantages by implementing specific regulatory reforms, such as becoming an NRC Agreement State to manage radiological licensing, and by adopting legislative tools like explicitly defining fusion as a clean energy source in state statutes. The brief also suggests financial mechanisms including state-level investment tax credits, the creation of dedicated fusion energy funds, and the repurposing of retired fossil fuel sites—termed "fusion brightfields"—to leverage existing grid infrastructure. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of developing specialized workforces and innovation hubs around universities and national laboratories to support the industry's growth.