Insights

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has fired the starting gun on what is likely to be a new era of industrial policy around the green transition and, set alongside the CHIPS Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, marks a wide shift in US policy. It has also triggered an anxious response from the EU with the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP), and although they are often…

In what has proved to be one of the most consequential terms in recent decades, the US Supreme Court capped its 2021-2022 term by issuing a decision in West Virginia v. EPA, a case centred around the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US power sector. The decision once again reflected the now-fully-formed…

Although the Biden administration has prioritized the US energy transition like no previous administration has, we are seeing a surge in fossil fuel extraction, export, and use. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and pandemic-related supply chain bottlenecks have inflamed US fossil usage. But the geopolitical imperative to export energy to US allies held captive to Russian…

The US oil and gas industry is no stranger to criticism from Washington, and the Biden administration has only ramped up the inflammatory attacks. At a time where the industry is desperate for a narrative change, an unlikely partner has emerged – crypto miners. For both industries, which have been unable to free themselves from the shackles of political scrutiny, this…

Lithium’s role in the United States’ renewable energy transition and technological advancements is undeniable. Lithium is crucial to a successful increase in electric vehicle production that is necessary to meet net-zero goals, while the same can be said for meeting the ever-growing demand for wearable technology and augmented reality and virtual reality. However,…

Chris Rinkus, Practice Lead, US Political due diligence; Miranda Lutz, Senior Associate; and Ben Bassett, Associate, discuss how the elections on November 2nd will affect the Biden administration’s agenda.

The November 2nd US election results represented a wake-up call to President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders, and will push near-term policy in Congress toward the moderate end of the spectrum. Tuesday’s gubernatorial races were the most impactful. In Virginia, Republican newcomer Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe by a two-point margin in a state in…

The increase in sustainable fund flows in recent years has rapidly outpaced ESG regulation. Trillions of dollars are now held in products which are marketed as integrating environmental, social and governance issues into their investment process. At the end of the second quarter in 2021, assets held by sustainable funds reached $2.25 trillion, more than tripling since…

For those who questioned the sincerity of President Joe Biden’s rhetoric around addressing climate change, his first few weeks in office has likely cast those doubts aside. Biden has signed more executive orders (over 50 as of this writing) than any president before him. The most prominent ones include re-joining the Paris Agreement and revoking the permit for the…

Debit Balances in US Securities Margin Accounts ($ in millions)

Although less than half of President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet has been announced, progressives are already becoming impatient. “Joe Biden’s Cabinet Is a Lost Cause for the Left” reads the headline of a recent article in the New Republic, a liberal-leaning magazine. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a prominent progressive, has criticised Biden’s choices as lacking a…

With President-elect Joe Biden’s transition officially underway following the certification of voting results in several key battleground states, Biden has shifted his focus to naming his Cabinet and other key advisors for his administration. Biden’s appointments can serve as barometer as to how he will balance the progressive and moderate wings of his party. Given the…

As Democrats and Republicans anxiously await the final tallies of mail-in and absentee ballots in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina to decide the closely fought US presidential election, both sides are bracing for what will come next: an onslaught of litigation that could make the controversial Florida recount during the 2000 election look like a garden…

Whatever the outcome of America’s election – which for both the presidency and Senate remained too close to call as of early Wednesday morning in the US – the blowout victory that Democrats were hoping for did not materialise. This has implications for both US domestic and foreign policy regardless of the final outcome. Both are likely to be more moderate and more…

There is no doubt that the US will be key to global decarbonisation and for the energy sector, the upcoming American elections in November will be a turning point. While it is clear that a returned President Trump would not actively seek to reduce emissions in a second term, net-zero expectations from other major states have nevertheless moved ahead without his version of…

A conversation with from a recent digital event with Frederick M. Hess, resident scholar and director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute exploring the challenges faced by the US education system and potential measures to mitigate them.

The US education system has been irrevocably altered in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic as students of all ages have been forced into remote learning environments. The nation is grappling with how to educate in this new reality and if/how to bring students back to classrooms in the autumn. In the midst of these policy discussions there are four issues that could be real…