Key Issue Areas and Questions for Consideration Flourishing Lands, Communities, and Resources 1. 21st Century Agricultural Opportunities: America’s food system is at risk. Farming practices and business models that worked for decades are struggling to keep up with modern economic realities. Farmers now rely on a variety of income sources to make ends meet and continue to provide the agricultural products that our communities and economy need. New technologies, practices, and strategies, such as innovative insurance design and risk exposure mitigation, will help manage landscapes, increase efficiencies, and support economies of scale to meet today’s challenges. Farmers are the backbone of our country, and policies are needed to not only support them, but empower them to grow our economy. a. What policies should Congress adopt to help develop economic opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and natural resource managers? b. What policies or programs have successfully helped farmers and ranchers diversify income and build resilience? c. How can Congress better support small, developing farms and ranches? d. What role should federal crop insurance play in building a modern agricultural economy and supporting sustainable agricultural practices? e. What technologies and/or practices should Congress support to improve soil health, water conservation, and yields? f. What, if any, existing incentive structures for farmers require reform? How so? g. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? 2. Growing Rural Economies: Rural communities are facing unprecedented challenges, including natural disasters, high costs of equipment and labor, lack of economic mobility, limited broadband access, water quality and accessibility challenges, and more. These challenges can be leveraged into opportunities tied to manufacturing, advanced technology development, and new agricultural-based revenue streams. Technologies to limit costs while improving output and resilience will spur new development across these communities. a. What are the biggest economic barriers facing rural communities, and how can Congress help overcome them? b. What role can clean energy and advanced manufacturing play in rural economic development and how can Congress help communities leverage these opportunities? c. What do rural communities most need to reduce disaster risks and losses, and grow resilient rural economies? d. What types of infrastructure and/or technology investments would most benefit rural economic mobility? e. How can Congress better support or empower local leaders and organizations to address community-specific challenges? f. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? 3. Thriving, Affordable, Resilient Communities: Communities are the lifeblood of the American economy and bedrock of family life. From urban neighborhoods to rural areas, economic headwinds paired with increasingly severe and frequent climate threats are placing new and continued challenges directly on the doorsteps of all Americans. Overcoming these new, but growing, challenges present wide-ranging opportunities across a multitude of sectors, including adaptation and resilience, insurance, wildfire prevention, environmental justice, housing security and affordability, transportation, and more. a. How are natural hazards and disasters compounding threats to affordable housing and public safety across the country? b. What innovative resilience finance models exist to help states, local governments, Tribes, and territories pay for projects that will build community resilience before disasters strike? c. What successful models exist for integrating housing, transportation, and climate adaptation planning, and how can federal policy elevate them? d. How can Congress help communities develop resilience, particularly in the face of extreme weather events? e. How can Congress drive adaptation and resilience as key factors in future development? f. How can the federal government and states better leverage insurance, zoning, and disaster recovery to support community resilience? g. How can Congress ensure that challenges faced by frontline, disadvantaged and underserved communities are prioritized as integral to community resilience, adaptation, and preparedness? h. Where do you see opportunities to integrate clean energy solutions, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and battery storage, into community disaster resilience and preparedness programs and activities? i. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? 4. Safe, Clean, and Prosperous Ecosystems: Our nation’s natural resources are our greatest assets. They provide sustenance, economic opportunity, and hold the key to critical protections from a rapidly changing climate. National parks and other public lands are some of the most important economic drivers across the country, providing opportunities for outdoor recreation, like hunting, fishing, hiking, playing, rock-climbing, wildlife watching, and more – but they cannot be taken for granted. From the oceans to public lands, and everything in between, responsible stewardship, rooted in science and undertaken collaboratively as these are shared resources, helps maintain a healthy environment and growing economy. a. How can Congress improve federal conservation and natural resource policies to better support both economic growth and ecological health? b. How can Congress better ensure adequate freshwater resources and the ecological health of inland water systems around the country? c. What role should public lands and outdoor recreation play in local and regional economic strategies? d. How can the federal government better partner with tribal nations, states, and local communities to protect natural ecosystems? e. What innovative models exist for ecosystem restoration or climate-smart natural resource management and how can Congress integrate these models into federal policy? f. How can federal policies and practices better account for the services that intact and healthy ecosystems provide in pollution attenuation, disaster risk reduction, and thriving tourism and recreation economies? g. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? Securing American Energy Future 5. Cheap, Abundant, and Clean American Energy for All: A growing economy must have the tools and infrastructure required to meet increasing electricity demand. It currently takes longer to connect energy resources to the grid than it did for the U.S. to enter, fight, and win World War II. Streamlined and forward-thinking growth policies, centered around communities’ needs, are integral to allowing American industry to meet the moment and deliver on the economy promised to all Americans. Improved federal and state processes, novel approaches such as expanded grid and load flexibility, and technological advancements in grid digitalization and intelligent systems for interconnection queues and for grid efficiency, flexibility, and resilience will maintain an affordable energy supply without compromising or inhibiting economic and demand growth. Increased electricity demand will also pull forward commercialization of clean, firm power technologies. Smart policies are needed to ensure ratepayers benefit from all of these changes. a. What are the key barriers to delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy across the country? b. How can Congress help accelerate grid modernization, interconnection, and permitting for energy generation and transmission infrastructure? c. How can Congress ensure that communities play a larger role in shaping energy development and infrastructure planning? d. How can Congress ensure energy affordability and equitable access while meeting growing demand? e. How can Congress support grid digitalization and the use of intelligent systems in the energy sector to lower costs, increase reliability and efficiencies, and support sustainable growth? f. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? 6. Next-Generation Energy Technology Researched, Developed, and Built in America: Technology is the cornerstone of clean energy development and implementation. For over a century, American technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation have pushed boundaries and led the world. The transition to a sustainable economy can, and should, be no different. Fostering an innovation ecosystem will drive technological advancement across the economy, including in artificial intelligence for scientific research and manufacturing, next-generation power technologies like fusion, and industrial decarbonization of energy-intensive trade-exposed sectors like steel and cement. a. What technologies hold the greatest promise for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and how can Congress help increase their supply and availability? b. How can Congress best support U.S.-based innovation, commercialization, and manufacturing of clean energy technologies? c. What financing barriers impede the development of emerging technologies and how can Congress help remove those barriers? d. What role does insurance play in the development and deployment of new technologies and how can Congress help improve federal policy in this area? e. How can Congress help scale and de-risk emerging technologies, like advanced nuclear, long-duration energy storage, and clean hydrogen? f. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? 7. A Nationally Secure, Globally Competitive Energy Sector: America cannot be energy secure if it continues to be reliant on foreign competitors. Critical mineral supply chains are disproportionately controlled by China and other adversaries, creating significant energy security concerns across American industry. Onshoring supply chains, strengthening relationships with allies and strategic partners, and expanding domestic resources are key parts of securing America’s energy future. a. What Congressional actions are most urgently needed to secure critical mineral supply chains and reduce dependence on foreign supply chains? b. What opportunities exist to expand domestic mining, processing, or recycling in a way that safeguards the environment, and how can Congress drive these objectives? c. How can the U.S. partner more effectively with allies to build secure, transparent energy and materials supply chains? d. What workforce development strategies should Congress enact to support a resilient energy and manufacturing sector? e. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? Financing the Energy Future 8. Accessible, Low-Cost Finance for a Clean Energy Future: Financial systems need to work both today and for the economy of the future. Access to low-cost and flexible financing can unlock economic growth in communities from the ground up. Financial policies, such as carbon credits, carbon pricing, growth-focused tax credits, and conduit financing, are just a few examples of how the financial institutions of today can be leveraged to empower sustained economic growth now and into the future. a. Identify the most important green financing gaps in America today and how Congress can help fill those gaps. b. Which financial products (e.g. tax credits, guarantees, grants, debt/equity, etc.) and institutions (e.g. green banks, CDFIs, credit unions, etc.) have proven most effective in accelerating clean technology deployment and lowering costs for consumers, and how can Congress support them? c. Which emerging technologies require investment from Congress to help ensure their long-term commercial viability? How can the government best reduce the risk profile of emerging technologies to help them reach commercial scale faster? d. How have recent legislative and regulatory changes affected the ability to finance clean technology innovation and deployment at scale? e. How can Congress help integrate natural assets (e.g., forests, water, ecosystems) into investment decisions? f. What challenges exist in applying insurance and other risk-management tools to de-risk projects and unlock private capital into clean energy and resilience projects, and how can Congress help overcome those challenges? g. Are there models or tools implemented at the state or local level or internationally that should inform federal climate finance policy? h. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? Building Government for Today 9. Government that Delivers: The federal government is a vital partner in unlocking an economy that drives growth while protecting consumers. But the challenges the government faces today are different and new. Creating efficient institutional systems that serve the people and enable forward-looking, adaptive policy development and implementation is a key component of achieving climate-ready, clean energy and economic goals. a. What barriers exist within federal institutions that prevent efficient, adaptive policymaking and service delivery? b. What models or reforms could Congress enact to improve public-sector delivery of infrastructure, permitting, or community support programs? c. How can Congress help ensure that the federal government better coordinates across agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors to achieve integrated solutions? d. What capacity-building investments should Congress make to help agencies respond to 21st-century economic and climate challenges? e. What lessons can be learned from prior efforts to have the government partner with the private sector to unlock growth and achieve clean energy goals? f. What other information would you like us to understand and consider for this section of the Thriving Economy Project? | 
