Angola ratifies Paris Agreement promising more ambitious climate plan
The government is working to develop its climate plan in time for a UN deadline at the end of the year - leaving just seven countries to formally endorse the 2015 deal
Most of UN climate science report likely to be delayed beyond 2021 Glasgow summit
Only the first section of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, about the science of global warming, is set to be ready before the postponed Glasgow summit
Which countries have not ratified the Paris climate agreement?
More than four years after the Paris Agreement was adopted, eight of 197 signatories have not formally backed the deal. Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon ratified in February 2020
Ireland forced to strengthen climate plan, in supreme court win for campaigners
Judges ruled the government's national mitigation plan fell "well short" of what was needed to meet Ireland's climate commitments, ordering a more ambitious strategy
Cameroon Cancels Plan to Log Half of the Ebo Forest, a Key Biodiversity Hotspot in Central Africa
The Cameroon government has announced it is canceling a plan to log nearly 170,000 acres of the Ebo Forest following sharp criticism from indigenous communities, conservation groups, and scientists. The ecosystem is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and a biodiversity hotspot, harboring hundreds of rare plant and animal species, including the tool-using Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, western gorilla, and giant frogs.
Judge Overturns Trump Administration’s Rollback of Bird Protections
A federal judge in New York has struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to roll back protections for migratory birds, writing that its reinterpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) is “contrary to law,” several news outlets reported.
U.S. Commercial Rooftops Hold 145 Gigawatts of Untapped Solar Potential
Enough unused roof space exists on commercial buildings in the United States to install 145 gigawatts of new solar capacity — nearly double the country’s current total solar capacity, according to a new report by the energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. That is enough to power 28 million homes.
Backyard Battle: Helping Native Bees Thrive in a Honeybee World
Native bees are at risk across the United States. “Buzz Kill” — winner of the 2020 Yale Environment 360 Video Contest — depicts the beauty and key ecological role played by these bees and shows how industrialized agriculture and its use of honeybee colonies threatens endemic bee species.
As Record Arctic Heat Continues, Canada’s Last Intact Ice Shelf Collapses
Canada’s last fully intact ice shelf in the Arctic has collapsed, shrinking by about 80 square kilometers, or 40 percent of its area, over just two days at the end of July, according to scientists at the Canadian Ice Service. The breakup of the ice was driven by record-setting temperatures in the region, which have measured 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 30-year average this summer.
More Than 500 Dams Planned in Protected Areas Around the Globe, Study Finds
More than 500 dams are planned or already under construction within protected areas around the world, according to a new study published in the journal Conservation Letters. The study is the first of its kind to quantify the global extent of dams constructed in protected areas, which can include indigenous areas, nature reserves, and national parks.
In the Philippines, A Community Fights to Protect Its Ancestral Lands
In “This Is Our Land” — the second-place winner in the Yale Environment 360 Video Contest — a Filipino filmmaker chronicles how after years of worsening air and water pollution, Indigenous communities near the mammoth Didipio gold and copper mine decided to fight back.
Despite Decades of Cleanup, Communities of Color Still Have the Worst Air Pollution in the U.S.
Wealthy white Americans are still getting to breathe cleaner air than lower-income communities of color, despite significant nationwide reductions in pollution since the 1980s, according to a new study.
More Than 200 Environmental Activists and Land Defenders Murdered in 2019
At least 212 environmental campaigners and land defenders, 40 percent of them from indigenous communities, were killed last year as they sought to protect their territories from incursions by mining interests, agribusiness, timber companies, and oil and gas corporations, according to the international watchdog, Global Witness. That's the highest number of such killings on record for a single year.
Inside the Uphill Fight for Clean Water in California’s Central Valley
More than 1 million Californians, many living in the state’s agricultural heartland, still do not have access to clean water. “The Great Divide” — the third-place winner in the Yale Environment 360 Video Contest — examines one community’s struggle to gain access to unpolluted water.
Sophisticated Social Networks Exist Among Beluga Whales, Study Finds
Beluga whales have complex social networks similar to human societies, with close relationships outside of their immediate kin, according to new research published in the journal Scientific Reports. The study alters scientists’ understanding of the whales’ social dynamics, which they attribute largely to the beluga’s highly developed vocalizations.
For Indigenous in the Amazon, a Dual Threat: Big Oil and the Virus
The Indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon have long fought against the oil companies that seek to exploit their lands. But now these and other Amazon communities are facing new dangers, as outsiders bring coronavirus to poor and vulnerable areas that lack health care.
Scientists Develop Tiny Camera Backpack for Insects
Scientists at the University of Washington have developed a tiny, wireless camera small enough to be worn by insects. The device weighs 250 milligrams — one-tenth the weight of a playing card — and streams high-resolution video to a smartphone at up to 5 frames per second, allowing scientists for the first time to record video of what insects see in real time.
Major Portion of Brazil’s Exports to Europe Linked to Illegal Deforestation, Study Finds
As much as 22 percent of soy and 60 percent of beef exported from Brazil to the European Union is linked to illegal deforestation, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The research examined supply chains for Brazil’s major agricultural exports, tracing products back to illegal tree felling and fires in the Amazon and Cerrado regions.
Ocean Justice: Where Social Equity and the Climate Fight Intersect
Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson sees her work on ocean conservation as linked to issues of social justice and climate. In an e360 interview, she talks about the need to diversify climate science and activism and bring in the perspectives and energy of people of color and women.
Investment in Offshore Wind Skyrockets Despite Coronavirus Economic Shock
Global investment in offshore wind more than quadrupled in the first half of 2020, with financing approved for 28 new offshore wind projects totaling $35 billion, according to a new report by Bloomberg NEF. The investment — more than what was approved in all of last year — comes despite the economic shock caused by the coronavirus.
How Overreach by Trump Administration Derailed Big Pipeline Projects
The demise or delay of several major oil and gas pipelines in recent weeks, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, demonstrate how the Trump administration’s zeal for fossil fuel projects and flaunting of environmental laws has backfired and handed key victories to environmentalists.
Deforestation in Brazil Continues to Surge, Up 10.7 Percent in June
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose 10.7 percent last month compared to June 2019, the 14th consecutive month of worsening tree loss, according to new data from the country’s national space research agency, INPE. In the first half of 2020, deforestation was up 25 percent, for a total 1,184 square miles, compared to the same period last year.
Six in 10 Fish Species Could Face Reproductive Failure As Temperatures Rise, Study Finds
An estimated 60 percent of fish species will struggle to reproduce in their current spawning habitats by 2100 under worst-case climate scenarios, according to a new study of nearly 700 salt and freshwater species published in the journal Science. The research argues that previous studies, which focused solely on adult fish, underestimate the impact climate change will have on economically and ecologically important species.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program extends our condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Mike Freilich, a widely respected geoscientist and former director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, and shares the loss of a longtime member of the USGCRP family.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program will be presenting at the American Geophysical Union 2019 Fall Meeting from December 9-13 in San Francisco, CA. We hope you will join us for the following talks, sessions, and activities: All Week: Visit us at Exhibit Booth #512 All times local (Pacific Standard Time) Monday [1:40 - 6:00 PM] GC13E Advancing
Dr. Anthony Janetos, a longstanding member of the USGCRP community and Director of Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, passed away on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. He was 64 years old. Dr. Janetos dedicated his career to interdisciplinary, policy-relevant global change science. Prior to the Pardee
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is pleased to announce the release of Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) and the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2). NCA4 Vol II NCA4 Vol II, Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States , assesses a range of potential climate change -related impacts, with
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) Vol. II remains on track for a December delivery in fulfillment of the Congressional mandate. NCA4 Vol. I, the Climate Science Special Report, is available at science2017.globalchange.gov. Final agency review and comment. Authors have been revising chapters and responding to comments submitted in the
It’s been a while since our last update, but rest assured that we’ve been hard at work on Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4 Vol. II) in the meantime. Here’s a brief rundown of the goings-on: Public review and comment. This winter (November 3, 2017 through January 31, 2018), the public had the chance to weigh in on the draft
On behalf of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, we are pleased to announce major milestones in the timelines of three important reports. The first of these is the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR), which represents Volume I of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4). The final version of CSSR is released today as a step toward
Let’s start with the big news: As of last week, first drafts of all 28 chapters and five appendices of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) were submitted and are now in the hands of the editorial team at the Technical Support Unit (TSU). A huge thank you goes out to our volunteer author teams for their dedication and hard work over the
NCA4 author teams, staff, and regional collaborators have been hard at work gathering input from stakeholders across the country through regional engagement workshops, webinars, and other public events. Chapter teams have received extensive training on chapter development, scientific resources and tools, and assessment writing through a chapter leadership meeting and regular webinars with all authors. Development of full, first order chapter drafts for interagency review in June is underway and on-schedule.
Building on the success of the third, and most recent, National Climate Assessment , production of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) is now underway and is expected for release in late 2018. Recent efforts are laying the foundation for a robust, inclusive assessment process that responds to information needs across the country.
The July contiguous U.S. average temperature was 75.67 degress Fahrenheit, 2.06 degress Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. The precipitation total was 2.93 inches, 0.15 inches above average.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for July was 0.92 degrees C (1.66 degress Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.5 degrees C (59.9 degress Fahrenheit).
The atmospheric circulation in July was dominated by a wavetrain featuring a ridge near the Alaska Peninsula, a trough near the Pacific Northwest, and a ridge near the Great Lakes. The trough in the Northwest was associated with milder temperatures across the Intermountain West. It also weakened the North American monsoon and contributed to drier than normal temperatures across the western U.S.
This analysis is based on preliminary data available from the Storm Prediction Center. Final tornado counts published by the Storm Prediction Center and NCEI's Storm Events Database might differ from this report. For a more detailed climatology, please visit our tornado climatology page.
The Atlantic continued to be significantly more active than normal in July. Five tropical storms formed with two of them becoming hurricanes (Hanna and Isaias). The five named storms tied 2005 for the most in any July. Thanks to an active May and June, however, 2020 broke records for the earliest named storm for each letter E–I. The 2020 record of nine named storms through July dwarfs the normal count of less than two (1.9).
As of July 28th, 27.41% of the Contiguous U.S. was experiencing drought conditions, 11.78% was in severe drought, 2.43% extreme, and 0.00% exceptional.
For July, 7,576 fires (9th least since 2000) burned 630,571 acres (3rd least on record), which is 83.2 acres burned/fire (4th least on record). For January - July, 31,632 fires (3rd least since 2000) burned 2,052,246 acres (5th least on record), which is 64.9 acres burned/fire (8th least on record).
Last decade was Earth's hottest on record as climate crisis accelerates
2019 was second or third hottest year ever recorded
Average global temperature up 0.39C in 10 years
The past decade was the hottest ever recorded globally, with 2019 either the second or third warmest year on record, as the climate crisis accelerated temperatures upwards worldwide, scientists have confirmed.
Every decade since 1980 has been warmer than the preceding decade, with the period between 2010 and 2019 the hottest yet since worldwide temperature records began in the 19th century. The increase in average global temperature is rapidly gathering pace, with the last decade up to 0.39C warmer than the long-term average, compared with a 0.07C average increase per decade stretching back to 1880.
Sea-surface temperatures were the second warmest on record last year, surpassed only by 2016. The heating up of the ocean and melting of glaciers caused global sea levels to hit a new high point of 3.4 inches above what they were, on average, 30 years ago.
Greenhouse gas levels hit their highest level ever recorded in 2019. Concentrations of these planet-warming gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, are now higher than any period measured by modern instruments or ice cores dating back 800,000 years.
The polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctic experienced their second hottest year on record. The loss of ice from the poles is helping push sea levels upwards, imperiling coastal cities around the world.
The consequences of the climate crisis are being felt around the world, including recent widespread flooding across east Africa and wildfires in Australia, the Amazon and Siberia.
'As the tundra burns, we cannot afford climate silence': a letter from the Arctic | Victoria Herrmann
I study the Arctic. The decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord is reprehensible – but we can’t give up hope
When you stand facing an exposed edge of permafrost, you can feel it from a distance.
It emanates a cold that tugs on every one of your senses. Permanently bound by ice year after year, the frozen soil is packed with carcasses of woolly mammoths and ancient ferns. They’re unable to decompose at such low temperatures, so they stay preserved in perpetuity – until warmer air thaws their remains and releases the cold that they’ve kept cradled for centuries.
Dr Victoria Herrmann is the president and managing director of the Arctic Institute
Kiribati's president's plans to raise islands in fight against sea-level rise
Exclusive: Taneti Maamau says Kiribati will seek support from China and other allies to elevate islands from the sea, partly through dredging
Kiribati will raise its islands above the ocean as part of its fight against sea-level rise, seeking help from its new diplomatic partner China to secure the archipelagic nation’s future, the country’s newly re-elected president has said.
In his first in-depth interview since his resounding election win in June, Taneti Maamau told the Guardian international co-operation would be on Kiribati’s terms: he said he would not accept large loans “from any country”, and would not allow China to build a base on Kiribati’s strategically significant Christmas Island, south of Hawaii.
False Alarm by Bjorn Lomborg; Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger – review
Two prominent ‘lukewarmers’ take climate science denial to another level, offering tepid manifestos at best
It is no longer credible to deny that the average temperature around the world is rising and that other phenomena, such as extreme weather events, are also shifting. People can now see with their own eyes that the climate is changing around them.
Nor is it tenable to deny that the Earth’s warming is driven by increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting from human activities, such as the production and burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Such denial is only now promoted by cranks and conspiracy theorists who also think, for instance, that the Covid-19 pandemic is linked to the development of the 5G network.
Shellenberger claims that windfarms might be responsible for an alarming decline in insect populations in Germany
We cannot afford to delay the deployment of today’s alternatives to fossil fuels
In tackling the global climate crisis, doom and optimism are both dangerous | Zeke Hausfather and Richard Betts
Overheated polemics won’t solve this emergency – and the apocalypse is a needlessly high bar for action
Protesters march in the streets in an “extinction rebellion” against the climate crisis, with some (but not all) of their leaders claiming that climate tipping points could kill billions in the coming decades. Others dismiss the importance or reality of the crisis, while new books loudly proclaim “apocalypse never” and “false alarm”.
The popular discourse around the climate emergency all too often highlights fringe voices that predict the end of the world or suggest that there is little to worry about. But as the climatologist Steven Schneider presciently remarked a decade ago, when it comes to the climate “the end of the world” and “good for us” are probably the two least likely outcomes.
Julia Gillard says her government's carbon price proves climate policy isn't 'all too hard'
Former prime minister says ‘helplessness’ is no answer and warns against increasing nationalism during coronavirus pandemic
Julia Gillard has warned against a feeling of “received helplessness” that policies to reduce greenhouse gases are “all too hard”, citing the carbon price legislated by her government as proof climate policy “can get done”.
Gillard, the former Australian prime minister and current Beyond Blue chair, made the comments on Wednesday in an Australia Institute webinar about the mental health impact of Covid-19 and the need to “build back better” with more early intervention on the other side of the pandemic.
Letter from economists: to rebuild our world, we must end the carbon economy
The carbon economy amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable future
From deep-rooted racism to the Covid-19 pandemic, from extreme inequality to ecological collapse, our world is facing dire and deeply interconnected emergencies. But as much as the present moment painfully underscores the weaknesses of our economic system, it also gives us the rare opportunity to reimagine it. As we seek to rebuild our world, we can and must end the carbon economy.
In its first year of existence, XR transformed the global conversation around the climate crisis. But then it was gripped by internal conflicts about its next steps. Can the movement reinvent itself for the post-pandemic world? By Matthew Taylor
In November 2017, Roger Hallam looked up from his cup of tea in a central London cafe and made a bold prediction. He had been walking me through the principles behind a new air pollution campaign he was organising, which involved small groups of activists blocking some of London’s busiest junctions, when he paused, mid-sentence. “Of course, this is just small-scale stuff compared to what is coming,” Hallam said. “The scale of the ecological crisis is a different thing. It is going to change everything.”
The air pollution campaign, Stop Killing Londoners, had yet to gain traction with politicians or the media, but Hallam didn’t seem too concerned. He explained that it was partly being used to “road-test” civil disobedience tactics. “Within a year or so we will have thousands of people on the streets, blocking large parts of central London for days on end,” he said. “Hundreds will be arrested and the government will be forced to sit down and tell the truth about the climate emergency.”
The four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them all | Damian Carrington
The shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological fool: each distorts the urgent global debate in their own way
A new book, described as “deeply and fatally flawed” by an expert reviewer, recently reached the top of Amazon’s bestseller list for environmental science and made it into a weekly top 10 list for all nonfiction titles.
How did this happen? Because, as Brendan Behan put it, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. In an article promoting his book, Michael Shellenberger – with jaw-dropping hubris – apologises on behalf of all environmentalists for the “climate scare we created over the last 30 years”.
How Red Sea 'supercorals' are resisting the climate crisis – podcast
Ian Sample speaks to marine biologist Prof Maoz Fine about his surprising research on the relationship between increasing ocean temperatures and the Red Sea’s coral reefs
Almost 3 billion animals affected by Australian bushfires – video report
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT OF DEAD ANIMALS
Nearly 3 billion animals have been killed or displaced by the devastating 2019-2020 bushfire season, according to scientists who have revealed for the first time the scale of the impact on the country’s native wildlife. An estimated 143 million mammals, 180 million birds, 51 million frogs and a staggering 2.5 billion reptiles were affected by the fires that burned millions of hectares across Australia
Youth climate activists are to advise the UN secretary general on the climate emergency as part of a new effort to bring young people into decision-making and planning on the crisis.
Seven young people, aged between 18 and 28, will take on roles to “provide perspectives, ideas and solutions” to the secretary general, António Guterres, aimed at helping to scale up global climate action in the recovery from the coronavirus crisis and ahead of a crunch summit next year on the climate.
What the US exiting the Paris climate accord means
Donald Trump is taking the US out of the global pact on 4 November – so how will this affect the rest of the world?
The world will be watching the US presidential election on Tuesday 3 November, but just 24 hours later is another hugely consequential news event when the US will formally leave the Paris climate agreement.
The Trump administration set the withdrawal in motion with a letter to the UN, and, in a coincidence of timing, the US will exit the day after the election, joining Iran and Turkey as the only major countries not to participate in the agreement.
Seas could rise an average of 56cm, or nearly 2ft.
30m people in coastal areas could be flooded each year by 2055.
Thirty-seven per cent of the population could face a severe heatwave at least every five years.
388m people could be exposed to water scarcity and 195m will be exposed to severe drought.
The US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord is a racist act | Adrienne Hollis
The Paris agreement threw a lifeline to millions of people of color facing a premature death. Trump is tearing that away
It’s official – in 100 days the United States will formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. The impact of Donald Trump’s decision, taken three years ago, is already being felt by environmental justice communities.
Racism is the driving force behind why certain people and places face disproportionate environmental exposure to toxic substances, adverse climate change effects, Covid-19 infections and deaths. This raises the question: was withdrawing from the Paris agreement also a racist decision? How will this morally incomprehensible policy change affect Black, Latinx, Indigenous and other communities of color?
Global heating: best and worst case scenarios less likely than thought
Uncertainty over climate outcomes reduced but experts warn urgent reduction in CO2 levels is essential
Doomsayers and hopemongers alike may need to revise their climate predictions after a study that almost rules out the most optimistic forecasts for global heating while downplaying the likelihood of worst-case scenarios.
The international team of scientists involved in the research say they have narrowed the range of probable climate outcomes, which reduces the uncertainty that has long plagued public debate about this field.
Greta Thunberg donates €1m prize money to climate groups – video
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been awarded the Gulbenkian prize for humanity for the way she 'has been able to mobilise younger generations' and has announced she will donate the prize money to climate groups.
The €1m is the largest prize won by the 17-year-old environmental campaigner who has also won Amnesty International’s top human rights prize and the Swedish Right Livelihood award, often presented as an alternative Nobel prize
Red Sea corals' heat tolerance offers hope for climate crisis
Reefs from Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea survived rise of seven degrees, say marine scientists
The scientists cranked the heat above the lethal threshold, and waited for the corals to die.
“We were heating the water one degree above the summer maximum temperature,” says Anders Meibom, a researcher with the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Lausanne. “On the Great Barrier Reef, after a couple of weeks of that they’d start dying.”
Most polar bears to disappear by 2100, study predicts
Melting Arctic sea ice could cause starvation and reproductive failure for many as early as 2040, scientists warn
Scientists have predicted for the first time when, where and how polar bears are likely to disappear, warning that if greenhouse gas emissions stay on their current trajectory all but a few polar bear populations in the Arctic will probably be gone by 2100.
By as early as 2040, it is very likely that many polar bears will begin to experience reproductive failure, leading to local extinctions, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
Negative emissions tech helps, but it's no magic bullet for the climate crisis | Tamsin Edwards
Sprinkling rock dust on fields can suck up some carbon − but reducing emissions must be the mainstay of our efforts
What should we do? The world is rapidly approaching 1.5C of warming above pre-industrial levels − the target limit of the Paris agreement − and is on track for 3C unless we take action. So what is the best action to take?
In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that to have a good chance of limiting heating to 1.5C, we should reach net-zero CO2 emissions by around 2050, give or take five years. In fact, for any stable climate we’ll need to reach net-zero emissions at some point in our future.
The best-known negative-emission technology? A tree
Africa can become a renewable energy superpower – if climate deniers are kept at bay
Nigel Lawson’s thinktank is pushing dirty energy on the continent with the greatest capacity for creating clean fuel
The power of climate science denial in the UK, thankfully, has been in retreat over the past decade. Nigel Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) may still boast a prime Westminster address, but its influence has waned. In fact, its decline aptly mirrors the fortunes of the coal industry, including US titans such as Peabody Energy, which saw its share price plunge 99% between 2008 and 2016 before filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
With countries rightly phasing coal out of their energy mix, the GWPF has turned its sights on Africa to peddle its misinformation about the merits of burning fossil fuels. It has published a new report, derisively titled Heart of Darkness: Why Electricity for Africa is a Security Issue, and launched a glossy website for “energy justice”, which uses the language of climate justice campaigners to try to undermine renewable energy.
No continent suffers more from global heating than Africa, yet nowhere has done less to cause it
Firefighters across three Western states are battling wildfires that have destroyed more than 90,000 acres, CNN reports. More than 100 homes have been evacuated after officials in California, Oregon and Colorado issued orders to do so. The Lake Fire north of Los Angeles has already burned over 11,000 acres, fire officials said, and was 5 percent contained as of Thursday evening.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a long-anticipated rollback of methane emission regulations for the oil and gas industry on Thursday, marking the Trump administration's latest attack on federal climate policy. The move comes at a time when global methane emissions from human activity are already rising and could result in a catastrophic increase of the climate "super-pollutant."
The world's largest listed oil companies have wiped almost $90 billion from the value of their oil and gas assets in the last nine months as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates a global shift away from fossil fuels, The Guardian reports. Seven major oil firms, including Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, have reported downgrades totaling $87 billion on the value of their assets.
Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, the earliest date on record for the formation of a J-named storm, another sign the Atlantic hurricane season is more active than usual, forecasters said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting as many as 25 named storms this season, the highest in the agency's history.
The climate science community is mourning the loss of a pioneering climate scientist and glaciologist, Konrad Steffen. Koni, as he was known to his friends and colleagues, apparently fell to his death in a deep opening in the ice called a crevasse on Saturday while doing research in Western Greenland. He was 68 years old.
Artificial light at night has long been suspected to disturb ecosystems on land and affect human health. Light from cities and ships also repels or attracts many species of fish, stresses coral reefs and disrupts the circadian rhythms of wood lice on sandy beaches. A new study published in Scientific Reports is the first to quantify how much light pollution reaches the seafloor near coastal cities, researchers say.
Several oil and gas giants opposed loosening restrictions on the ‘super-pollutant,’ a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet.
By Phil McKenna
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a long-anticipated rollback of methane emission regulations for the oil and gas industry on Thursday, marking the latest in a long series of attacks on federal climate policy by the Trump administration.
Stark warnings by federal scientists and wildlife experts about the grave threat posed by Donald Trump's border wall to rare and endangered species were repeatedly ignored by the Department of Homeland Security, the Guardian reports. Experts warn that rare desert springs and streams, which provide the only U.S. habitat for the endangered endemic Río Yaqui fish, are in danger of drying up.
We're in the midst of a big moment in the clean energy transition, but you might not have noticed. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden recently proposed a climate and clean energy plan that aims to get the country to net-zero emissions by 2050—something that in the past would have generated significant backlash. It shows just how far the idea has permeated mainstream politics.
Antarctic ice shelves have lost nearly 4 trillion metric tons of ice since the mid-1990s, a new study analyzing satellite data from 1994 to 2018 found. Ocean water is melting them from the bottom up, causing them to lose mass faster than they can refreeze, it says, spelling bad news for the hundreds of glaciers along the Antarctic coastline and raising the threat of global sea level rise.
Prior to Covid-19, the term "zoonosis" was unfamiliar to many people. But these animal-transmitted illnesses make up more than 70 percent of new infectious diseases in humans and are becoming even more common. Experts warn that if we don't change the reasons for their rise, including climate change, more pandemics are just around the corner.
The pandemic has exacerbated already severe energy and economic inequalities in Indian country, such as inefficient energy infrastructure, high costs and a lack of funding for new projects, The Guardian reports. In the face of these challenges, Native people are turning to renewable energy to help their tribes achieve energy and economic independence.
Humble dirt could pack an unexpected climate punch, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. An experiment that heated soil underneath a tropical rainforest to mimic temperatures expected in the coming decades found that hotter soils released 55 percent more planet-warming carbon dioxide than did nearby unwarmed areas.
The Trump administration is moving to loosen environmental standards for showerheads following a string of public complaints from the president about low-flow fixtures designed to save water. The proposal, which drew swift criticism from consumer groups, would change the definition of a showerhead, allowing quicker water flow than current standards permit.
Wind turbines and solar panels produced a record 10 percent of the world's electricity in the first half of 2020, while coal-power declined, but steeper change is needed to meet targets set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a new report from an independent think tank said.
Three-quarters of emerging illnesses come from animals and a new report identifies climate change as a primary driver of many of them.
By Anna Belle Peevey
As the new coronavirus continues to turn the world upside down, crashing economies and overextending health care systems, epidemiologists and infectious disease experts are increasingly focusing on how to prevent the next pandemic, rather than solely reacting to the current one.
We’re in the midst of a big moment in the clean energy transition, but you might not have noticed.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden recently proposed a climate and clean energy plan that aims to get the country to net-zero emissions by 2050. Although there was predictable opposition from the Trump administration and fossil fuel interests, there was little backlash to speak of otherwise.
The lack of broad-based objection to the plan shows that the idea of net-zero emissions by 2050 has gone from the fringes to near the mainstream of U.S. politics.
How did that happen?
I asked experts at two leading energy policy nonprofits: Sonia Aggarwal, vice president at Energy Innovation in San Francisco, and Carla Frisch, a principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado.
The big change has been the growing competitiveness of clean energy, demonstrating that the clean energy transition is a boon to the economy, Aggarwal said.
“We are just in such a different place with technology readiness and cost than we were in the last go-around,” she said.
She told me that some of the most striking contrasts were between the way politicians talk about the energy transition today and the way they did in 2009, when Congress was debating the Waxman-Markey bill, which would have started a national carbon-trading system. The bill passed the House but never came up for a vote in the Senate.
In that debate, supporters of the bill said the long-term benefits of carbon trading outweighed the costs of not addressing climate change, but they had to concede that there would be substantial costs in the short-term.
Today, the economics have changed so much that this debate would be different in fundamental ways. Utilities have shown that replacing old fossil-fuel plants with wind, solar and battery storage can lead to a net savings for consumers. State and local policies also have changed substantially, with about 1 in 3 Americans living in a state or city that has adopted a plan to get to 100 percent carbon-free electricity.
“We can decarbonize while also delivering incredible economic benefits,” Aggarwal said.
Frisch said one of the key factors is that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change much more than before, with extreme heat and weather, which makes the issue seem more real to them.
“We know there will be more extreme weather, more extreme storms, more extreme impacts,” she said.
While the federal government has done little to act on climate change during the Trump administration, others have risen up to fill the void.
Cities, states, corporations and churches have become the leaders in addressing climate change, she said, many with commitments to get to 100 percent renewable energy and net-zero emissions. Those commitments have helped to push the idea of net-zero emissions into the mainstream to the point that Biden’s proposal isn’t nearly as controversial as it would have been a few years ago.
When Trump talks about energy, he tends to focus on preserving fossil fuel jobs and he often makes unsubstantiated claims about the perils of wind energy.
Biden is “against God, he’s against guns, he’s against energy, our kind of energy,” Trump said last week in Ohio.
In addition to being nonsensical—Biden isn’t “against energy”—it’s notable that Trump is framing this as a matter of tribal loyalty rather than a pocketbook issue. It shows how the pocketbook arguments against renewable energy have mostly vanished.
Aggarwal was co-author of a June report that showed the policies that would support moving the economy to 90 percent clean energy by 2035. A companion report from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, found that this transition could be done with no increase in costs for consumers.
The findings in those reports help to explain why Biden can say that his $2 trillion climate plan will lead to a net financial benefit for consumers, in addition to benefits for the climate and environment.
This doesn’t mean climate change and clean energy are top-tier issues for the candidates.
But it is remarkable how the playing field has shifted to now favor the clean energy transition.
Photo Credit: Mark Makela/Getty Images
Does Tesla Really Want to be a Leader in Rooftop Solar?
This summer, we’ve seen the top two rooftop solar companies—Sunrun and Vivint—join forces in a proposed merger, and the third-leading company, Tesla, announce a new strategy that focuses on having the lowest costs.
Tesla is betting that a shift to offering the lowest prices will be enough to appeal to customers and make up for a lack of spending on sales staff and customer outreach.
Analysts are questioning whether Tesla’s plan will give the company what it needs to increase market share and compete, now that its two leading rivals have joined forces. Tesla became a player in rooftop solar in 2016 with the acquisition of its sister company, SolarCity, but then saw its market share fall every year since then.
Wood Mackenzie took a critical look at Tesla’s strategy in a recent report to clients, and I traded questions and answers with two analysts at Wood Mackenzie to try to figure out what Tesla is doing.
I started by asking whether Tesla is in danger of being an “also-ran” in the solar business.
“At the end of the day, the extent of ‘danger’ depends on what Tesla wants out of its solar business,” said Molly Cox, a Wood Mackenzie analyst. “Its quarterly installation numbers are trending at about a tenth of its peak in pre-acquisition SolarCity days. If the goal is to continue to operate as a distant second or third largest installer, then we don’t think its solar business is in any significant danger of losing that spot. But if its ambitions are to recover some of the lost market share ground, that has become harder with the proposed Sunrun/Vivint acquisition.”
Ravi Manghani, global head of solar research for Wood Mackenzie, said he has doubts about Tesla’s strategy because it relies on cutting costs on the sales side by expecting customers to pick their own systems online, rather than being led through the process.
“Solar customers today require more attention than Tesla anticipates,” he said. “Steering customers to Tesla’s website to purchase a new solar system with a click of a button may not yield success in the near term, even with the reduced price tag.”
This leads to a big question: Why isn’t Tesla dominating rooftop solar? The company has the resources and brand awareness to be a much bigger player, but it’s chosen not to.
“We can only speculate, honestly,” Cox said. “We don’t have any definitive answer. One theory is that Tesla considers its solar business is a cost center only to help grow its broader energy business.” The broader energy business includes manufacturing and selling the Powerwall battery system, among other products that Tesla sells and that are also sold by others, including Sunrun.
Tesla, which did not respond to my request for comment, has repeatedly proven doubters wrong on its automotive side, but we are still waiting for that to happen in the company’s solar business.
Photo Credit: CoCreatr/flickr
Railroads and Oil and Gas Pipeline Routes Could Also Carry Electricity
One of the nagging limitations in the clean energy transition is the difficulty of building transmission lines, the heavy duty power lines that act as interstate highways for electricity.
The country needs new transmission lines to deliver wind and solar power from rural areas to population centers.
But developers who want to build the lines face years of regulatory hurdles and legal challenges because of opponents who don’t want to look out their backyard windows at giant power lines.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has delivered a report to Congress that talks about the many challenges, along with an intriguing opportunity: building power lines in the rights of way now used by railroads and oil and gas pipelines.
The idea is that building alongside or under existing infrastructure would make for a speedier process, require fewer regulatory approvals and lead to less local opposition.
Just the existence of the report is a step in the right direction, said Rob Gramlich, executive director of the nonprofit Americans for a Clean Energy Grid.
“This report starts a national conversation to begin assessing what corridors are available out there that could potentially be used and what if any barriers stand in the way,” he told me.
Gramlich said projects that build in existing rights of way are more likely than they were before because of falling costs for building underground lines. Also, the idea of leasing space is becoming more attractive to railroad companies, because they are seeing a drop in income from shipping coal as coal-fired power plants close.
So far, there is just one major power line project proposed along a railroad line, the SOO Green project, would run underground for about 350 miles from Mason City, Iowa, to Plano, Illinois. I don’t know of any major project that would be along the route of an oil or gas pipeline.
The project, which is still in the early stages, would transport wind energy from Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas to be sold in the PJM Interconnection electricity market, which runs from Chicago to the East Coast.
The FERC report shows that the SOO Green project may end up being a trend-setter, and that would be a good thing for the clean energy transition, giving owners of wind farms and solar arrays access to more places they can sell their power.
Photo Credit: Stephan Schulz/picture alliance via Getty Images
Rural Texas Still Loves Oil, But Renewables Are Increasingly Paying the Bills
Renewable energy continues to rise in Texas, providing desperately needed incomes for land owners and local governments at a time when the oil industry is faltering.
Texas is the nation’s leader by a mile in wind energy, and also is among the top five states for installed solar power capacity. Two new reports this week help to explain what’s happening and how locals benefit.
“For ranchers, renewables can act basically as a kind of insurance,” said Joshua Rhodes, author of a report by IdeaSmiths, a Texas-based research firm. “It’s a diversification of their investment in their land. I was told point blank that this is a drought-proof source of revenue.”
His report looks at how wind and solar energy are helping the finances of local people and governments, with an estimated 70 percent of taxes and landowner payments going to rural counties.
He found that existing solar and wind projects in the state will pay landowners between $4.8 billion and $7.3 billion over the lifetime of the projects.
The report was financed by two groups—Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation and Powering Texas—that advocate for expanding renewable energy. While the sponsors clearly have an agenda, the findings are well-documented and Rhodes is a well-known writer and researcher.
The second report comes from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, focusing on how the wind industry has helped Nolan County, Texas, in a way that is much more dependable than the booms and busts of the oil and gas industry.
Wind farms are six of the top 10 property tax payers in this rural county and the county seat, Sweetwater, has attracted new businesses in renewable energy. Texas State Technical College in Sweetwater now has a program to train wind turbine technicians, with 50 to 75 graduates per year.
Rhodes told me that Texas can be looked at as an energy state, and wind and solar are part of that to an extent that is not widely appreciated. He doesn’t expect income from wind and solar to surpass oil and gas any time soon, but he expects to see a gradual shift as more people in the state realize what they have and can build upon in renewable energy.
Photo Credit: Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis via Getty Images
The Covid-19 Resurgence Put the Brakes on Recovery of Clean Energy Jobs
The recovery of U.S. clean energy jobs slowed almost to a stop in July, which is not a surprise considering the surge in coronavirus cases.
The clean energy sector added 3,200 jobs for the month, according to the new edition of a monthly report from BW Research Partnership, issued on Wednesday.
After five months of chaos across the economy, the clean energy sector has had a net loss of 511,075 jobs, or 15 percent.
California, the country’s leader in clean energy jobs, gained 723 jobs, or 0.2 percent, in July. The state’s total over five months is a loss of 89,158 or 16.2 percent.
This follows large gains across the country and in California in June, following job losses in March, April and May. But even as some jobs returned, analysts were saying that the recovery was likely going to happen in fits and starts.
“The economy is currently reacting to viral resurgence as well as the drag from extended unemployment and related economic losses,” said Philip Jordan, of BW Research, in a memo.
“The continued viral spread, reversal of travel advisories and reopening plans, and the exhaustion of many programs from earlier stimulus have added to this volatility,” he said.
The clean energy sector was a fast-growing source of jobs before the pandemic, and it can be an important part of the recovery. But at this point, it’s anyone’s guess when the recovery will begin in earnest.
Inside Clean Energy is ICN’s weekly bulletin of news and analysis about the energy transition. Send news tips and questions to dan.gearino@insideclimatenews.org.
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A U.S. District Court deemed the Trump administration's efforts to roll back a 100-year-old rule that protected migratory birds unlawful, calling the rule "unambiguous" in its language, which prohibits killing protected birds. Migratory birds are threatened by a number of environmental issues, including climate change.
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As Joe Biden’s running mate, the California senator will draw in the activist community that Biden hopes to have behind his candidacy.
By Marianne Lavelle
In choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden put a spotlight on two key elements of his climate policy: environmental justice for minority communities and accountability for the oil and gas industry.
Arctic sea ice could disappear as soon as 2035, a new study warns, as mounting levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases punch holes in the ice, leading it to crumble at a rapidly increasing rate. Researchers blame melt ponds, which they found are forming earlier in the year and persisting longer than usual.
More than one million homes and businesses are without power across the Midwest after a wall of lightning, hail and deadly winds ripped through Chicago and elsewhere, tearing apart trees and homes. The line of storms, 160 miles wide, cut a path of destruction across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana on Monday—with wind gusts in some places clocking upwards of 100 miles per hour.
Joe Biden has won the backing of one of the nation's largest, oldest and most influential environmental organizations—the Sierra Club. The endorsement was widely expected, but still shows how Biden has consolidated environmentalists' support. It could also signal more support from youth voters, who are more likely to rank climate change as their top priority, our own reporting found.
Rising seas, storm surges and coastal flooding are displacing communities from Alaska to Louisiana to Maryland, and it's time for Congress to get serious about helping them find higher ground, a new report from the Government Accountability Office says. That includes identifying and providing assistance "for communities that express affirmative interest in relocation as a resilience strategy."
Grand Junction, Colorado, officially became the headquarters for the Bureau of Land Management on Monday, capping a move that has cost the agency nearly 70 percent of its Washington, D.C.-based employees. The Trump administration argues the move brings the headquarters closer to the land it oversees. Critics argue it distances the agency from the country's power brokers.
Delta Air Lines, widely considered by analysts as one of the best-run airlines in the country, is facing criticism for its decision in 2012 to purchase an oil refinery meant to offset fuel costs. The refinery, which has hardly been a money maker, is now a liability for the airline as the pandemic continues to pummel both the aviation and oil industries, The New York Times reports.
A coalition of environmental and other groups on Monday threatened to sue the Department of Energy over missed deadlines to update energy efficiency standards for products such as appliances. A notice of intent to sue filed by the organizations says they will take legal action against the agency in 60 days over its failure to update 26 standards.
A Japanese ship that ran aground on a reef off Mauritius two weeks ago has now stopped leaking oil into the Indian Ocean but the island nation must still prepare for "a worst case scenario", Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said late on Monday. Conservationists said they were starting to find dead fish as well as seabirds covered in oil, increasing fears of an ecological catastrophe.
A new study describes the role of melt ponds in the disappearance of Arctic sea ice 130,000 years ago, and how they could make the ice vanish again as soon as 2035.
By Bob Berwyn
The thickening atmospheric stew of greenhouse gases is punching holes in Arctic sea ice, leading it to crumble at a rapidly increasing rate. Last spring, ponds of meltwater on the ice sped the melting of the glossy shield that reflects incoming heat from the sun back to space. By July, the ice had dwindled to a record low extent for that month.
As Virginia Attorney General a decade ago, Ken Cuccinelli fought climate science in the courts and lost. Now as President Trump's Homeland Security deputy, he's playing a key role delivering the president's law-and-order message, including in the recent clashes between federal officers and protesters in Portland, Oregon.
It was only back in January when the world's largest asset manager declared climate change was redefining its business model and reshaping the industry. Then the pandemic hit, and analysts assumed investors would walk back their newfound commitment to safeguarding the environment. Instead, it drove the financial world to further move away from fossil fuels.
As climate change exacerbates toxic algal blooms around the world, scientists have been busy studying Lake Erie, where particularly bad blooms have proliferated for years. Today that work has helped researchers better predict and prevent future blooms, and they're hoping to apply those lessons to other bodies of water across the country.
A ship that ran aground off Mauritius leaking tons of oil into the ocean is cracking up, the country's prime minister has said, threatening an even greater ecological and economic disaster for the island nation. Already more than 1,000 tons of fuel has spilled from the ship, threatening coral reefs, white-sand beaches and pristine lagoons that lure tourists from around the world.
Hot and dry conditions on Sunday exacerbated the challenges faced by crews trying to control the very active Pine Gulch fire burning north of Grand Junction, Colorado Public Radio reports. The fire, which is burning in Mesa and Garfield counties, grew about 2,000 acres overnight Saturday to a total of about 37 square miles. The spread prompted fire officials to encourage some residents to evacuate.
As economies reopen, traffic has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels in the nation's large cities, with traffic actually getting worse in many states, the Washington Post reports. Experts now warn that climate change will exacerbate gridlock as increasingly frequent extreme weather events push the country's transportation infrastructure to its limit.
Since President Trump took office, his favorite Super Pac, America First Action, has raked in millions of dollars from a fossil fuel industry that has enjoyed three plus years of environmental deregulation, The Guardian reports. In June, Trump's campaign took in $10 million from a fundraiser hosted by oil pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren.
