Press Release

ARPA-C, Same as ARPA-E

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has proposed a number of policies and initiatives to combat climate change, including a new agency focused on driving innovation. The proposed new agency, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C), would duplicate many of the efforts of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), observes AAF’s Director of Energy Policy Ewelina Czapla. It is worthwhile to present policies that address climate change, but it is unnecessary to create a government agency with the same mission as one that exists, Czapla writes.

An excerpt:

Despite proposing a historically high $1.7 trillion climate plan, Biden has been criticized by some organizations, including the Sunrise Movement that supported Bernie Sanders campaign, for not doing enough to address environmental injustice. In response, Biden has assembled a taskforce, including a Sunrise Movement co-founder, to refine his climate policy and address these concerns. While the threat of climate change has grown since the founding of ARPA-E, it is not helpful to create another agency with seemingly the same mission as one that already exists.

Read the analysis.

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