This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Tisha Schuller about the nature of the energy transition. Schuller, the founder and CEO of Adamantine Energy, discusses her new book, The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape, which interrogates the myth that the energy transition will be easy and inevitable. She argues that this myth has shaped political identities and has influenced how stakeholders and the general public view the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in the energy transition. Schuller points out that oil and gas companies can apply complex solutions to manage carbon emissions, and indeed that the ongoing activities of these companies and related solutions will be essential in reaching climate goals. Aiming for a balanced perspective, Schuller paints a picture of what an effective energy transition might look like.

References and recommendations:

“The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape” by Tisha Schuller; https://energythinks.com/the-myth-and-the-moment/

Energy for Growth Hub; https://energyforgrowth.org/

“Environmental Law After Environmentalism” by Ted Nordhaus; https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/environmental-law-after-environmentalism

Daniel Raimi on the “Energy Thinks” podcast with Tisha Schuller; https://energythinks.com/podcasts/trim-your-sails/

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

The Moment for Moving Forward, with Tisha Schuller

In this episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by Andy Rankin and Dave McGimpsey—both partners at Dentons, a global law firm—to explore how an overlooked tax policy in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act can spur clean energy development, to the benefit of both local communities and companies. Despite recent rollbacks of solar and wind energy tax credits, Rankin and McGimpsey insist that newly expanded Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs) provide ample opportunity for energy developers to gain a solid footing in project financing and equity growth. Unlike the original 2017 iteration of the QOZ program, new adjustments ensure that QOZ tax benefits have no sunset date in sight, hinting at a new dawn for renewable energy build-out.

References and recommendations:

“The Qualified Opportunity Zone Program and Clean Energy: A New Era for Natural Gas, Solar, Wind, Energy Storage and Nuclear Projects” from Dentons; https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2025/september/4/the-qualified-opportunity-zone-program

George F. Will op-ed writings; https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/george-f-will/

“The Water Values Podcast” with Dave McGimpsey; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/water-values-podcast/id843026539

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

A New (Qualified) Opportunity (Zone) for Clean Energy Projects?, with Andy Rankin and Dave McGimpsey

For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi sits down with David Konisky, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, to reflect on the release of Konisky’s new book, “Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition,” which Konisky wrote with Sanya Carley. Unlike previous calls for innovation-forward research on the energy transition, Konisky proposes a people-centered approach that includes examining the uneven benefits and costs that get distributed among communities that host or otherwise are affected by clean energy development. Konisky underscores that a close-up look into communities at the front lines of the energy transition can provide a heightened awareness of the local impacts of energy infrastructure and potentially facilitate sound and equitable decisions in federal energy policymaking.

References and recommendations:

“Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition” by Sanya Carley and David Konisky; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo254000286.html

“Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” by David W. Blight; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/david-w-blight

“James” by Percival Everett; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/22691

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Personal Impacts of a Changing Energy System, with David Konisky

For this week’s episode, Miyuki Hino, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins host Margaret Walls to discuss Hino’s latest research on high-tide flooding (also called “sunny day flooding” or “nuisance flooding”) in North Carolina. Hino recounts the complications of measuring increasingly frequent and disruptive floods and some innovative solutions to technical challenges—including creating water-level sensors and engaging communities to understand local geographies. By specializing data collection to suit a research area in murky waters, Hino and her research collaborators have noted more accurately the extent to which sea level rise has affected coastal communities. With improved data on hand, Hino reports that previous estimates of flood frequency are serious, but unsurprising, understatements of current realities and that updated findings can help communities better adapt to changing tides.

References and recommendations:

“Land-based sensors reveal high frequency of coastal flooding” by Miyuki Hino, Katherine Anarde, Tessa Fridell, Ryan McCune, Thomas Thelen, Elizabeth Farquhar, Perri Woodard, and Anthony Whipple; https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02326-w

Sunny Day Flooding Project; https://sunnydayflooding.com/

“Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Hang_with_Amy_Poehler

Subscribe to stay up to date on news and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Sea Level Rise and Sunny Day Flooding, with Miyuki Hino

In this episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Luisa Palacios, an adjunct senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, who breaks down the major and most recent energy developments in Venezuela. Palacios recounts the role of oil in Venezuela’s history and the implications of oil dependency as the country navigates another period of political uncertainty. Venezuela’s oil industry, Palacios underscores, is a major player in the international energy market and faces obstacles to acquiring substantial investment. Palacios draws from her expertise in emerging markets and international affairs to note the critical moves to look for as the world awaits how Venezuela could balance efforts to reduce carbon intensity with economic growth.

References and recommendations:

“Reinventing Venezuela’s Struggling Electricity Sector” by Francisco Morandi and Luisa Palacios; https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/reinventing-venezuelas-struggling-electricity-sector/

“Michael Webber on What’s Behind Rising Energy Costs” episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/michael-webber-on-whats-behind-rising-energy-costs/

“World Energy Investment” reports from the International Energy Agency; https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2025#overview

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Oil, Economics, and Geopolitics in Venezuela, with Luisa Palacios

For this week’s episode, Dan Egan, the Brico Fund Journalist in Residence at the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Pulitzer Prize finalist, joins host Margaret Walls to discuss his book, “The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance.” Through stories about the history of phosphorus—including why it earned the “devil’s element” title—Egan describes the large-scale ecological experiment in a Canadian lake that opened people’s eyes to the connections between phosphorus, agriculture, and algal blooms, also noting the challenges of reconciling business interests with environmental concerns. Despite ongoing water pollution in the Midwest, Egan’s experience as a Great Lakes journalist has shown that clearing toxins from waters is a goal within reach that has wide-reaching benefits.

References and recommendations:

“The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance” by Dan Egan; https://wwnorton.com/books/the-devils-element

“The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea” by Jeffrey Marlow; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/652987/the-dark-frontier-by-jeffrey-marlow/

“A Terrible Country” by Keith Gessen; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545063/a-terrible-country-by-keith-gessen/

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance, with Dan Egan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding is drawing sharp rebuke from scientists and environmental advocates, but the decision may not withstand challenges in the courts. That’s the assessment offered by Jody Freeman, the Archibald Cox Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, in the newest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

Read a transcript of the podcast: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/jody-freeman-podcast-transcript-march-2026.pdf

Law Professor Jody Freeman Unpacks the EPA's Decision to Rescind the Endangerment Finding

For this week’s podcast episode, host Kristin Hayes chats with Resources for the Future (RFF) Fellow Milan Elkerbout alongside Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor and RFF University Fellow and Board Member Catherine Wolfram to make sense of the significant new global launch of the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets at last year’s 30th Conference of the Parties. In accordance with a key tenet of the Paris Agreement, the declaration of the Open Coalition establishes formal—and actionable—intent for the participating countries to align on a shared global framework for carbon markets. Elkerbout and Wolfram characterize this initiative as a sign of adapting to new dynamics that have been governing international climate negotiations, with strong possibility of more countries joining. With this momentum, Elkerbout and Wolfram note progress toward emissions reductions and climate cooperation.

References and recommendations:

“Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development” by Catherine Wolfram, Joseph Aldy, Candido Bracher, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Kimberly Clausing, Christian Gollier, Frank Jotzo, Marcelo PL Medeiros, Athiphat Muthitacharoen, Axel Ockenfels, Mari Pangestu, Daouda Sembene, E. Somanathan, Dustin Tingley, Jennifer Winter, Simon Black, and Carolyn Fischer; https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/building-a-climate-coalition-gcpp-flagship-report/

“Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare” by Edward Fishman; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726149/chokepoints-by-edward-fishman/

“The Old World Order Is Dead” by Paul Musgrave; https://musgrave.substack.com/p/the-old-world-order-is-dead

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Climate Coalitions at the Conference of the Parties, with Catherine Wolfram and Milan Elkerbout

For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Deputy Executive Director of the Energy for Growth Hub Katie Auth to examine the significance of shutting down the Power Africa program, which had been sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), along with related implications for international energy development and energy access. Auth notes how the sudden shuttering of Power Africa (and USAID) has weakened US credibility and raised confusion for countries that had been promised energy assistance via Power Africa. Auth identifies a chance for the international-development community to not simply rebuild this and other programs in coming years, but to move forward by emulating the positive, collaborative elements of Power Africa in future energy development. 

References and recommendations:

“High Energy Planet” podcast from the Energy for Growth Hub; https://energyforgrowth.org/article/high-energy-planet-all-episodes/

“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/barbara-kingsolver

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Pulling the Plug on Power Africa: Understanding the Consequences, with Katie Auth

In this episode, host Kristin Hayes sits down with Resources for the Future (RFF) Senior Fellow Bryan Hubbell to look back at Hubbell’s public-service career at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As an environmental economist, Hubbell led efforts to integrate the social sciences into EPA’s environmental policy research and establish methods to calculate the benefits of clean air. Under his leadership, EPA developed the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program, which has provided an accessible and rigorous way to evaluate the impacts of air-pollution regulations. The quantification and monetization of air-quality benefits are foundational to benefit-cost analyses, which Hubbell stresses are crucial to well-informed policy decisionmaking. Hubbell maintains that recent  efforts to remove benefit calculations from federal benefit-cost analysis practices do not stack up against the years of stringent testing and research invested into creating these measures.

References and recommendations:

“If/Then: Ignoring the Benefits of Air Pollution Regulations Will Lead to Worse Policy Decisions” by Bryan Hubbell and Alan Krupnick; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/ifthen-ignoring-the-benefits-of-air-pollution-regulations-will-lead-to-worse-policy-decisions/

“How the US Environmental Protection Agency Got It Wrong About Monetizing Benefits of Air Pollution Regulations” by Bryan Hubbell and Alan Krupnick; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/how-the-us-environmental-protection-agency-got-it-wrong-about-monetizing-benefits-of-air-pollution-regulations/

“Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act 1990–2020” from the US Environmental Protection Agency; https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/benefits-and-costs-clean-air-act-1990-2020-report-documents-and-graphics

“Estimating the Public Health Benefits of Proposed Air Pollution Regulations” from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/10511

“Particles of Truth: A Story of Discovery, Controversy, and the Fight for Healthy Air” by C. Arden Pope III and Douglas W. Dockery; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771621/particles-of-truth-by-c-arden-pope-iii-and-douglas-w-dockery-foreword-by-gina-mccarthy/

“The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet” by Jeff Goodell; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jeff-goodell/the-heat-will-kill-you-first/9780316497558/

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

Exploring Recent Changes to Federal Benefit-Cost Analysis, with Bryan Hubbell

Resources Radio is a weekly podcast by Resources for the Future. Each week we talk to leading experts about climate change, electricity, ecosystems, and more, making the latest research accessible to everyone.

Personal Impacts of a Changing Energy System, with David Konisky

Resources Radio

Related tracks