Locusts plague destroys livelihoods in Kenya but ‘biggest threat yet to come’
Wetter and hotter weather than usual is forecast until May, providing locust eggs with ideal conditions to hatch and grow. FAO says it is in a "race against time"
In Colombia and Costa Rica, where governments have imposed carbon taxes, deforestation rates are down, while revenues to fund forest restoration efforts are up
EU Parliament urges ECB to put climate at heart of strategy review
European lawmakers have endorsed a parliamentary resolution calling on the ECB to assess how the bank can contribute to the continent's climate policies
One million solar panels! If only we knew where they were…
Pinpointing solar panels and knowing exactly where the sun is shining can cut carbon emissions by reducing the need to keep fossil-fueled generators on standby
Shipping could raise ambition of 2030 climate target, study shows
Research also shows that a Japanese proposal to cut CO2 by installing engine power limitation devices on ships would not deliver meaningful emissions reduction
Campaigners urge African Union to stop fossil fuel proliferation on continent
In a communique, African civil society called on leaders meeting in Ethiopia to 'rapidly initiate a transition to clean and safe renewable sources of energy' for all
World misses symbolic February deadline to ratchet up climate action before Cop26
The 2015 Paris Agreement seeks to raise global ambition every five years. But only three nations have issued upgraded climate plans nine months before Cop26 in Glasgow
UK walks diplomatic tightrope for 2020 climate summit after shaky start
Boris Johnson officially launched Cop26 on Tuesday but gave little indication as to how the government is going to leverage the world into taking bolder climate action
After Massive Beetle Outbreaks, Some Western Forests Show Signs of Recovery
Just a few years after simultaneous bark beetle outbreaks decimated trees in the Rocky Mountains, scientists have found that large portions of these high-elevation forests are already showing signs of recovery, according to a new study of 14,000 trees published in the journal Ecology.
Salvation or Pipe Dream? A Movement Grows to Protect Up to Half the Planet
Leading scientists and conservationists are proposing that up to 50 percent of the earth’s land and oceans be protected in the coming decades. While some view the goal as unrealistic, proponents say it is essential for preserving the natural systems on which life itself depends.
Air Pollution from Fossil Fuels Costs $8 Billion Per Day, New Research Finds
The economic and health costs of air pollution from burning fossil fuels totaled $2.9 trillion in 2018, calculated in the form of work absences, years of life lost, and premature deaths, according to a new report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The cost represents 3.3 percent of global GDP, or about $8 billion per day.
How Native Tribes Are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change
With their deep ties to the land and reliance on fishing, hunting, and gathering, indigenous tribes are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Now, native communities across North America are stepping up to adopt climate action plans to protect their way of life.
Hotter, Drier El Niños Linked to Insect Decline in the Amazon, Study Finds
Scientists have found that hotter and drier El Niño events are having major impacts on biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, including causing the collapse of dung beetle populations, an important indicator species used to gauge the health of a larger ecosystem. According to a new study, dung beetle numbers in the Brazilian state of Pará fell by half following the 2015-2016 El Niño event, and stayed low for at least two years afterwards.
Ten U.S. Refineries Emit Cancer-Causing Chemical Above EPA Limits
Ten oil refineries in the United States are emitting levels of the pollutant benzene well above the federal government’s “action level” limit, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental watchdog group. Long-term exposure to benzene can cause blood disorders and leukemia, Reuters reported.
As Sea Ice Declines, Polar Bears Are Spending An Extra Month on Land, Study Finds
Rapidly declining sea ice in the Arctic is causing polar bears to spend an additional 30 days on land, fast for longer periods of time, and produce smaller litters, according to a new study published in the journal Ecological Applications that analyzed two decades of tracking data on polar bears.
Why Clouds Are the Key to New Troubling Projections on Warming
Recent climate models project that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 above pre-industrial levels could cause temperatures to soar far above previous estimates. A warming earth, researchers now say, will lead to a loss of clouds, allowing more solar energy to strike the planet.
Study Finds Link Between Flu Risk and Wild Weather Swings
Scientists have found a link between a heightened risk of flu and rapid weather swings that have become increasingly common in recent years due to climate change. The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, examined more than a decade of health and weather data in the United States, mainland China, Italy, and France.
Scientists Capture Images of the Bottom of the Thwaites Glacier
Scientists have captured the first-ever photos and video of the ocean-floor foundations of the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, a major contributor to global sea level rise. The researchers used an underwater robotic vehicle to document where the bottom of the ice meets the seafloor, an area known as the grounding line that is critical to the stability of the glacier.
Andes Meltdown: New Insights Into Rapidly Retreating Glaciers
Using satellite data, scientists are documenting the inexorable melting of South America’s glaciers and ice fields, with Andean glaciers thinning by nearly three feet a year since 2000. The loss of ice poses a threat to water supplies and agriculture from Bolivia to Chile.
Germany Aims to Phase Out Coal-Fired Power by 2038
The German government has introduced a plan to phase out coal-fired power entirely by 2038 — a target that could cut the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by a quarter, Reuters reported. The agreement includes a $44 billion fund to compensate workers, companies, and regional governments impacted by the transition off of coal.
Marine Heat Wave Linked to Sharp Increase in Whale Entanglements
An ocean heat wave off the U.S. West Coast from 2014 to 2016 drove humpback whales into a narrow band of cooler water, leading to a dramatic increase in whale entanglements with crab-fishing gear, according to a new study.
Deep Decarbonization: A Realistic Way Forward on Climate Change
Global emissions have soared by two-thirds in the three decades since international climate talks began. To make the reductions required, what’s needed is a new approach that creates incentives for leading countries and industries to spark transformative technological revolutions.
World Consumes 100 Billion Tons of Materials Every Year, Report Finds
The amount of material consumed by humanity has passed 100 billion tons every year, a report has revealed, but the proportion being recycled is falling.
Scientists Pinpoint Sites Key for the Protection of Loggerhead Turtles
Loggerhead sea turtles tend to visit the same three feeding grounds year after year, traveling to the Adriatic region, Tunisian Plateau, and the eastern Mediterranean, according to a new study that examined 25 years of satellite tracking data. As threats to the species increase, scientists say the findings offer policymakers and conservation groups much-needed guidance as to which marine sites should be prioritized for protection.
As Climate Risks Worsen, U.S. Flood Buyouts Fail to Meet the Need
The U.S. approach to buying out properties vulnerable to flooding is rife with uncertainty and delays. Now, as climate change drives more extreme coastal storms and precipitation events, the system must undergo a drastic overhaul or risk stranding millions in flood-prone homes.
Climate Refugees In Imminent Danger Cannot Be Deported Home, Rights Committee Rules
Governments must take into account the risks of climate change when considering a refugee’s claim for asylum, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled in a landmark case. The decision could protect refugees from climate change-stricken nations from being deported back to their home countries.
How Thawing Permafrost Is Beginning to Transform the Arctic
The frozen layer of soil that has underlain the Arctic tundra for millennia is now starting to thaw. This thawing, which could release vast amounts of greenhouse gases, is already changing the Arctic landscape by causing landslides, draining lakes, and altering vegetation.
Study Finds Link Between Deadly Heatwave Exposure and Redlining Housing Policies
Deadly urban heatwaves disproportionately affect underserved neighborhoods because of the legacy of racist housing policies which have denied African Americans home ownership and basic public services, a landmark new study has found.
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.
By Dr. Tamara Dickinson and Dr. Michael Kuperberg Re-posted from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blog. This and previous Administrations have periodically conducted congressionally mandated National Climate Assessments to assess and inform the Nation about the impact of climate change . The U.S. Global Change Research
The January contiguous U.S. average temperature was 35.51 degress Fahrenheit, 5.39 degress Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. The precipitation total was 2.70 inches, 0.39 inches above average.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for January was 1.14 degrees C (2.05 degress Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.5 degrees C (59.9 degress Fahrenheit).
During January, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent (SCE) was 46.38 million square km (17.91 million square miles), 1.06% below the 1981-2010 average. The global sea ice extent was 18.16 million square km (7.01 million square miles), 6.49% below the 1981-2010 average.
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.
January 2020 was notable for being the fifth warmest on record over the Contiguous U.S. (CONUS). That warmth was largely consistent with a strongly positive Arctic Oscillation (AO). The positive AO is associated with an enhanced cyclonic circulation around the North Pole, which tends to concentrated the coldest air in the Arctic. That pattern tends to result in warmer temperatures for most of the midlatitudes including the CONUS.
Fourty-one percent of the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) was covered by snow at the beginning of January according to NOAA's National Snow Analysis. Much of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges as well as the northern and central Plains, Great Lakes and much of the Northeast were blanketed by snow. By January 7, nearly 13 percent of the snowcover melted, yielding the minimum CONUS coverage of 28.1 percent for the month.
As of January 28th, 9.20% of the Contiguous U.S. was experiencing drought conditions, 2.01% was in severe drought, 0.04% extreme, and 0.00% exceptional.
The insects have been swarming across East Africa in numbers not seen for decades – and the phenomenon may be more common in the future
Last week, the UN issued a warning about the numbers of desert locusts currently swarming through much of East Africa; they have now reached Uganda and Tanzania. The outbreak is the largest for decades and has already devastated crops in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, countries with fragile food security. The problem is not confined to Africa, with swarms also occurring in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
‘Air is cleaner than before the Industrial Revolution’: a best case scenario for the climate in 2050
The Future We Choose, a new book by the architects of the Paris climate accords, offers contrasting visions for how the world might look in thirty years (read the worst case scenario here)
It is 2050. We have been successful at halving emissions every decade since 2020. We are heading for a world that will be no more than 1.5C warmer by 2100
In most places in the world, the air is moist and fresh, even in cities. It feels a lot like walking through a forest and very likely this is exactly what you are doing. The air is cleaner than it has been since before the Industrial Revolution. We have trees to thank for that. They are everywhere.
Drones organised along aerial corridors are now delivering packages, further reducing the need for vehicles
‘The only uncertainty is how long we’ll last’: a worst case scenario for the climate in 2050
The Future We Choose, a new book by the architects of the Paris climate accords, offers two contrasting visions for how the world might look in thirty years (read the best case scenario here)
It is 2050. Beyond the emissions reductions registered in 2015, no further efforts were made to control emissions. We are heading for a world that will be more than 3C warmer by 2100
The first thing that hits you is the air. In many places around the world, the air is hot, heavy and, depending on the day, clogged with particulate pollution. Your eyes often water. Your cough never seems to disappear. You think about some countries in Asia, where, out of consideration, sick people used to wear white masks to protect others from airborne infection. Now you often wear a mask to protect yourself from air pollution. You can no longer simply walk out your front door and breathe fresh air: there might not be any. Instead, before opening doors or windows in the morning, you check your phone to see what the air quality will be.
Melting permafrost releases ancient microbes today’s humans have never been exposed to and have no resistance to
My colleague Alan Rodger, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was not just a brilliant space scientist but, in his various roles for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), was also a wise and generous manager, mentor and educator.
When it comes to the effects of climate change, Antarctica is the canary in the coalmine, and Alan’s insight increased understanding in the environmental science community of the challenges posed by global warming.
The real problem with your Netflix addiction? The carbon emissions | Arwa Mahdawi
Questions are being asked about the energy consumption of streaming services – which is why we should all pay more attention to our digital footprint
Binge-watching Netflix doesn’t just fry your brain; it may also be frying the planet. The streaming service’s global energy consumption increased by 84% in 2019 to a total of 451,000 megawatt hours – enough to power 40,000 average US homes for a year.
Netflix disclosed these figures in its inaugural environmental, social and governance report, noting it matched 100% of its 2019 non-renewable power use “with renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets”. While these may help the brand, they don’t address the inconvenient fact that our love of streaming has unfortunate side-effects – most of which we are only starting to comprehend.
Democrats are reaching farmers with an exciting message: green agriculture | Art Cullen
Every leading Democratic candidate supports a form of conservation that can reduce greenhouse gases and create jobs in rural America
Something you might have missed amid all the horserace and app-failure coverage of the Iowa caucuses: a deep discussion took place over the past year about the climate crisis and agriculture that could change the way our food system operates.
Every leading Democratic campaign now endorses an aggressive approach to conservation that could dramatically reduce greenhouse gases, improve water quality and enhance rural prosperity.
The gig is up on the last 50 years of chemical- and export-driven food production
Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times in north-west Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer prize for editorial writing. He is author of the book Storm Lake: Change, Resilience, and Hope from America’s Heartland, recently released in paperback
Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe
Without urgent action, rising sea levels by end of century could leave cities under water
A series of detailed maps have laid bare the scale of possible forest fires, floods, droughts and deluges that Europe could face by the end of the century without urgent action to adapt to and confront global heating.
An average one-metre rise in sea levels by the end of the century – without any flood prevention action – would mean 90% of the surface of Hull would be under water, according to the European Environment Agency.
UK unprepared for COP 26 conference, warn climate leaders
Former UN climate envoy joins list of experts frustrated at Britain’s lack of leadership
The UK is showing a “lack of coherence” in its leadership of vital UN climate crisis talks this year and giving the damaging impression that the talks are not a high priority, one of the world’s leading voices on the climate crisis has said.
Mary Robinson, a former UN climate envoy and Ireland’s first female president, also said the perception that major British politicians, including the ex-prime minister David Cameron and former foreign secretary William Hague, were unwilling to take on the role of leading the COP 26 summit was damaging.
This is the age of the megafire – and it’s being fuelled by our leaders | Tim Flannery
In the face of the climate disaster it helped create, the Australian government has given us only lies and denial
Unprecedented wildfires have recently devastated California, the Amazon, southern Europe, Siberia and Australia. It’s safe to say that we’ve entered the era of the climate-fuelled megafire. But because fire conditions depend on local vegetation, topography and climate, each of these great conflagrations is different.
Australia’s bushfires of the last four months have been true megafires, creating their own weather and becoming so vast in their impact that more than half of all Australians have been directly affected by them. As I write, fires continue to burn around Canberra, and though rain has begun to fall in northern New South Wales, 17 are “yet to be contained” according to the fire service. Meanwhile, what is traditionally the worst part of the fire season for Victoria and South Australia is just commencing. Conditions have been so severe that firefighters have often been unable to stop fires joining up, generating massive dry thunderstorms that spread fire with thousands of lightning strikes.
Bumblebees' decline points to mass extinction – study
Populations disappearing in areas where temperatures are getting hotter, scientists say
Bumblebees are in drastic decline across Europe and North America owing to hotter and more frequent extremes in temperatures, scientists say.
A study suggests the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in any given place has declined by 30% in the course of a single human generation. The researchers say the rates of decline appear to be “consistent with a mass extinction”.
Humanity under threat from perfect storm of crises – study
Climate, extreme weather, biodiversity, food and water crises could lead to ‘systemic collapse’
The world is facing a series of interlinked emergencies that are threatening the existence of humans, because the sum of the effects of the crises is much greater than their individual impacts, according to a new global study.
Climate breakdown and extreme weather, species loss, water scarcity and a food production crisis are all serious in themselves, but the combination of all five together is amplifying the risks of each, creating a perfect storm that threatens to engulf humanity unless swift action is taken.
Julie Bishop: Coalition should lead world on climate despite 'missteps' on bushfires
Chancellor of Australian National University puts experts at government disposal to provide ‘evidence-based’ solutions
Australia “needs action on several fronts” following a catastrophic bushfire season, including leading international efforts against climate change and cutting emissions beyond the electricity sector, Julie Bishop has said.
Bishop, the incoming chancellor of the Australian National University, made the comments to Guardian Australia, offering to put the university’s disaster management experts and more than 300 climate scientists at the federal government’s disposal to provide “evidence-based” responses to the bushfires.
Hazard reduction burning had little to no effect in slowing extreme bushfires
Forest scientists say prescribed burning is best used in a targeted way to help protect assets
31 ex-fire and emergency bosses say royal commission a waste of time if it doesn’t examine climate change
Hazard reduction burning had little to no effect in slowing the most severe fires that devastated more than 5m hectares across New South Wales this summer, an analysis has found.
Forest scientists from the University of Melbourne said initial results suggested hazard reduction was best used in a targeted way around assets to help protect them from less intense fires.
When it comes to climate hypocrisy, Canada's leaders have reached a new low | Bill McKibben
A territory that has 0.5% of the Earth’s population plans to use up nearly a third of the planet’s remaining carbon budget
Americans elected Donald Trump, who insisted climate change was a hoax – so it’s no surprise that since taking office he’s been all-in for the fossil fuel industry. There’s no sense despairing; the energy is better spent fighting to remove him from office.
Canada, on the other hand, elected a government that believes the climate crisis is real and dangerous – and with good reason, since the nation’s Arctic territories give it a front-row seat to the fastest warming on Earth. Yet the country’s leaders seem likely in the next few weeks to approve a vast new tar sands mine which will pour carbon into the atmosphere through the 2060s. They know – yet they can’t bring themselves to act on the knowledge. Now that is cause for despair.
Bill McKibben is an author and Schumann distinguished scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College, Vermont. His most recent book is Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
Liberal MP John Alexander says 'these fires are climate change' – video
Liberal MP John Alexander has directly attributed the bushfire crisis in Australia this summer to climate change in a condolence speech delivered at Parliament House. The member for Bennelong's comments come at a time when climate change policy continues to divide the governing Coalition. 'These fires are not a warning about climate change. They are climate change,' Alexander says.
Global heating a serious threat to the world's climate refuges, study finds
Biodiversity hotspots with millions of years of climate stability could be among the world’s hardest hit regions
Biodiversity hotspots that have given species a safe haven from changing climates for millions of years will come under threat from human-driven global heating, a new study has found.
Species that have evolved in tropical regions such Australia’s wet tropics, the Guinean forests of Western Africa and the Andes Mountains will come under increasing stress as the planet warms, the study finds.
Bruno Latour: 'Trump and Thunberg inhabit different planets'
The French philosopher is making a drama out of a social, cosmic and climate crisis in his new show, Moving Earths
The philosopher Bruno Latour is a showman of difficult truths. In his strange performance-cum-lecture Moving Earths he depicts “social and cosmic order lurching towards a parallel political and ecological collapse”. Latour has extensively used theatre to communicate arguments concerning microbiology, political speech, geology, cosmology, democracy, theology and all the aspects of existence that – he states in this show – are “trembling” to their roots because of the climate crisis.
Equal parts spectacle, sermon, experiment, hypothesis and incantation, Moving Earths relates Galileo’s heretical heliocentric beliefs to James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis of a self-regulating, dynamic, intimate Earth. It concludes with two stark images: a Last Supper-like shot of the Biarritz G7 climate summit table, with an empty chair for Trump-Judas; and the iconic glimpse of Greta Thunberg scowling as Trump eclipses her at the UN. For Latour, these two protagonists “inhabit different planets – Trump’s is without limits, and Greta’s is trembling and terribly finite; we realise we hardly know it, and it is changing out of control.”
Moving Earths is at the Collège des Bernardins, Paris, on 6 February. Then touring.
Saving the planet: UK role vital if COP 26 climate talks to succeed
As PM announces Glasgow plan, much diplomatic work remains to be done
Boris Johnson’s first steps on the international stage after Brexit will be to hail Britain’s role in forging a new global consensus on the climate crisis – although he has not yet said who will lead that charge.
The UK will host the crunch UN climate talks, COP 26, this November in Glasgow, in what experts say is the last chance for international cooperation on the crisis. The prime minister, in launching the UK’s strategy for the talks on Tuesday, stops short of promising to “get climate done”, but in making his own involvement clear he will at least reassure climate activists and governments concerned at a hitherto confused and chaotic start to the UK’s presidency.
This week, meet Boston University environmental scientist Nathan Phillips, whose recent hunger strike against the construction of a compressor station illustrates the conflict many scientists are struggling with between being neutral observers and activists. At the polls, New Hampshire primary voters kept climate near the top of their concerns while selecting their preferred candidates for the Democratic nomination. The first-in-the-nation primary was in a state where the impacts of climate change have already begun, from tidal surges to a plunging moose population.
Plus, don’t miss ICN’s debut edition of the Inside Clean Energy newsletter. Dan Gearino talks to energy experts about staying positive in a world full of negative climate change news, and takes a closer look at the net-zero emissions pledges from BP and Dominion.
Inside Clean Energy: The Case for Optimism BY: DAN GEARINO I spend just about every day talking to the researchers, entrepreneurs and advocates behind the transition to clean energy. Their enthusiasm, plus the evidence of their progress, makes me feel like I'm covering the story of our lifetimes.
Trump May Approve Strip Mining on Tennessee’s Protected Cumberland Plateau BY: JAMES BRUGGERS, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS, AND TYLER WHETSTONE, KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
The Obama administration designated 75,000 acres “unsuitable” for coal mining at the state’s behest four years ago. Now, Trump officials may be making an exception.
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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 was approximately 30 percent larger than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday. The study found that large portions of the Gulf of Mexico were exposed to "invisible and toxic oil that extended beyond the boundaries of the satellite footprint."
The Earth had its hottest January in recorded history last month, continuing an alarming upward trend as the climate crisis accelerates, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Global land and ocean temperatures in January hit 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.13 degrees Celsius, above the 20th century average.
In the first installment of Inside Clean Energy, InsideClimate News' Dan Gearino discusses the energy transition that may offer reason for optimism; net-zero announcements by BP and Dominion and the rising budgets but shrinking head counts at the federal clean energy office.
Nearly a year after EPA head Andrew Wheeler said the agency would roll back President Barack Obama's stringent fuel efficiency standards, the plan has made little to no progress. That's because the new auto pollution rule lacks the detailed technical analysis required by law and would therefore likely fail against court challenges.
President Trump on Thursday announced the nominations of two officials to become the deputy chiefs of the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department. Both nominees are former energy company lobbyists.
As the coronavirus outbreak spreads in China, the International Energy Agency projects that global demand for oil in the first quarter will drop for the first time in a decade. The impact of the virus on the oil industry will be significant, experts say, as China's oil demand is responsible for more than three-quarters of oil demand growth in the past year, AP reports.
Around the world and particularly across much of the United States, a question has emerged: What happened to winter? A shift in the jet stream could help send the U.S. toward the warmest winter in the country's recorded history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An environmental group is trying to block one of President Trump's most far-reaching environmental rollbacks from taking effect, arguing the administration has not provided proper access to public documents on a new rule that would limit the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act.
From carbon pricing schemes to fracking bans to tree planting, a wave of legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions has emerged in Congress in recent weeks, indicating climate change is taking up significant political bandwidth from both parties ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
A group aiming to spur climate change legislation that would tax carbon emissions stepped up efforts by issuing a blueprint on Thursday after previewing it with a group of bipartisan U.S. senators earlier this week. The plan aims to halve carbon emissions by 2035 from 2005 levels with a tax starting at $40 per ton.
After BP announced this week that it would become the first major oil company to zero-out the emissions from all its operations by mid-century, the oil giant began expanding its team working on carbon capture and storage projects as part of that ambition.
With President Trump having repeatedly called climate change a hoax and his administration working to suppress research, some in the science community have felt forced to take an unorthodox step of becoming activists. This Boston University environmental science professor just wrapped up a 2-week hunger strike.
We've relaunched our Clean Economy Weekly newsletter with a new name and fresh look. For our debut edition, ICN's Dan Gearino talks to energy experts about staying positive in a world full of negative climate change news, as well as takes a closer look at the net-zero emissions pledges from BP and Dominion.
The House passed legislation aimed at providing additional protections for more than 1 million acres of public land on the West Coast on Wednesday. The package would designate roughly 1.4 million acres in Colorado, California and Washington State as federally protected wilderness, granting it the highest level of protection possible.
Even as the nation's demand for coal tumbles, the Trump administration is considering a permit that would allow strip mining on protected ridgelines in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau over the objection of environmental groups and the state's Republican attorney general.
Midwest states are the biggest exporters of air pollution, a new study found, sending much of that pollution into the Northeast. In fact, more than four in 10 deaths in the U.S. associated with air pollution can be attributed to emissions that came from states other than where the deaths occurred, it said.
New York's Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Florida's Rep. Darren Soto, both Democrats, officially introduced in the House a bill that would ban fracking nationwide, which was announced late last month and would accompany a Senate version introduced by Vermont's Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
As the climate warms, billions of acres of once cold and inhospitable land will become suitable for farming. But if that happens, it could unleash more carbon dioxide than the U.S. will emit in nearly 120 years at its current rate, a new study warns.
Bernie Sanders wasn't the only victor in New Hampshire on Tuesday. At the first-in-the-nation primary, climate change rose from obscurity to a place among the top issues for Democratic voters. Exit polling showed that 28 percent of Tuesday's voters said climate change was the most important issue, second only to health care.
After weeks of devastating bushfires that killed dozens living in Australia and displaced thousands more from their homes, an Australian fire service announced Thursday that all wildfires in the state of South Wales were contained.
The Obama administration designated 75,000 acres “unsuitable” for coal mining at the state’s behest four years ago. Now, Trump officials may be making an exception.
By JAMES BRUGGERS, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS, AND TYLER WHETSTONE, KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
LAFOLLETTE, Tennessee—Even as the nation's demand for coal tumbles, the Trump administration is considering a permit that would allow strip mining on protected ridgelines in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau over the objection of environmental groups and the state's Republican attorney general.
Midwestern states are the biggest exporters of air pollution, while Northeastern states are the leading importers.
By Neela Banerjee
More than four in 10 deaths in the United States associated with air pollution can be attributed to emissions that came from states other than where the deaths occurred, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Crops grown on this land could feed a growing population. But if these soils are plowed, they could unleash as much carbon as the U.S. emits in more than a century.
By Georgina Gustin
As the climate warms in the decades ahead, billions of acres, most of them in the northern hemisphere, will become suitable for agriculture and could, if plowed, emit a massive, planet-altering amount of greenhouse gases.
Sanders and Buttigieg aggressively touted plans to combat climate change, but even more motivating for voters: Trump’s fossil fuel agenda.
By Marianne Lavelle
Bernie Sanders wasn't the only victor in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Amid the over-the-top politicking that has come to define the first-in-the-nation primary, climate change rose from obscurity to a place among the top issues for Democratic voters. That marks a win for activists and several extraordinary campaigns in New Hampshire to elevate the recognition of climate as a crisis requiring political action.
Nathan Phillips, who just ended a 14-day hunger strike, said he was compelled to action by dissatisfaction with academia’s passivity and the fervor of his students.
By Phil McKenna
BOSTON—A broken solar panel that once hung in the window of Nathan Phillips' Boston University office now serves as a message board, propped against the wall next to the professor's desk. Taped to the panel are faded yellow pages from The Daily Free Press, the university's student newspaper—articles from the spring of 1986, when BU student Yosef Abramowitz staged a 14-day hunger strike demanding that the university divest from companies operating under South African apartheid.
Clean energy stories behind the headlines reported by Dan Gearino
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Starting this week, the Clean Economy Weekly newsletter has a new name, Inside Clean Energy, but it remains your place for weekly coverage of renewable energy, technology and politics by reporter Dan Gearino.
You might say I’m the climate change therapist in my neighborhood. When people find out that I write about climate change and clean energy, they often react with some version of a despair story.
And that’s when I launch into my case for optimism. It goes like this:
I spend just about every day talking to the researchers, entrepreneurs and advocates behind the transition to clean energy. Their enthusiasm, plus the evidence of their progress, makes me feel like I’m covering the story of our lifetimes.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hand-waving and talking about how markets and innovation will solve everything, although both of these things are crucial. And I’m not minimizing the reality that the U.S. and most countries are way behind in cutting emissions enough to stave off the worst effects of climate change, or the fact that there are many bad actors. The negative indicators, from melting arctic ice to the wide-ranging effects of extreme heat, are often terrifying.
But I’m optimistic, largely because of the big changes happening in the ways we produce and consume energy.
Wind and solar are now the least expensive electricity sources in much of the world, and battery storage—with applications for the electric grid and for electric vehicles—is also becoming affordable. For example, silicon solar panels cost an average of 23 cents per watt last year, down from about $80 per watt in 1976, according to BloombergNEF.
Another big part of the equation is that we have gotten much better at conserving energy through efficient building methods and advances in appliances and lighting. Since the 2008 recession, U.S. energy consumption has been essentially flat, despite growth in the population and the economy.
This is good news for fighting climate change, because the lack of growth in electricity demand helps to hold down electricity prices, which in turn puts pressure on old power plants to close.
Considering all these indicators, a transition to clean energy is “extremely plausible,” said Joshua Rhodes, an energy analyst for Vibrant Clean Energy, a Colorado consulting firm. “I’m optimistic that we will rise to the challenge, eventually.”
The “eventually” is important, because it’s his way acknowledging that the U.S. is not acting as quickly as it could or should, and that federal policy is often impeding progress.
“It’s important that we view this as something we can do,” he said. “If we take a defeatist mentality, then how do you motivate anyone to do anything?”
Rhodes wants people to come to terms with the challenges and opportunities of the transition to clean energy, a recurring theme when I talk to the professionals who deal with these issues.
“I don’t know that I would label myself as a natural optimist,” said Ashlynn Stillwell, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I’m a mom, so I worry. That’s what we do.”
Her research focuses on how climate change affects water resources. I asked her how she maintains her sunny outlook.
“I’m in a classroom full of Generation Z students who are the future engineers who are going to tackle these challenges,” she said. “This generation gives me a lot of hope because they don’t just take things as they are. They’re out there learning about different engineering systems and learning about solutions to big, gnarly problems and how they can make a difference.”
For many people who want to work in fields related to climate change and clean energy, the question is not whether they are optimistic or pessimistic, but whether they can make a difference.
Gabriel Chan, of the University of Minnesota, does research that focuses on the intersection of earth science and public policy. This is how he explains his attitude and that of many of his students:
“I feel like I have agency, and I guess that’s the thing a lot of people struggle with, is the feeling that they don’t have agency in the climate problem because it’s so big and the news is so bad on the impacts side that it feels hopeless.”
Chan often works to bring together academics and the companies that are implementing the transition to clean energy. He thinks the two sides can teach each other about the opportunities and how to overcome practical obstacles. A great example is right in his city: Xcel Energy was the first large U.S. utility to commit to getting to net-zero emissions.
“It definitely won’t be me alone, but if I build the right kinds of partnerships and community around this, then we can do this together,” he said.
The work of these researchers is an essential part of the story of the response to climate change, and that’s the part of the story I’m telling.
Photo Credit: John Moore/Getty Images
BP and Dominion Join the Club of Companies with ‘Net Zero’ Goals. Here’s Why.
Investors are ramping up the pressure on energy companies to have a plan for navigating the energy transition, a shift underscored by CNBC’s Jim Cramer last week when he said, “I’m done with fossil fuels.”
“You’re seeing divestiture by a lot of different funds,” he said. “It’s going to be a parade. It’s going to be a parade that says, ‘Look, these are tobacco and we’re not going to own them.’”
At the same time, investors are likely to reward energy companies that come up with thoughtful plans for how they will be able to transform themselves to prosper in a world where carbon emissions need to get to near zero.
This is some of the context that helps explain BP’s announcement on Wednesday of “a new ambition to get to net zero” carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The company, one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world, says it is ready to transform itself by investing in clean energy and dramatically reducing the carbon emissions of its core businesses.
The company also said it would advocate for policies that would lead to net-zero emissions for the world, and would be willing to support a tax on carbon.
“The world’s carbon budget is finite and running out fast; we need a rapid transition to net zero,” said Bernard Looney, BP’s CEO, in a statement. “We all want energy that is reliable and affordable, but that is no longer enough. It must also be cleaner.”
Analysts will need some time to digest this announcement and get an idea of what it means for BP and how it compares to other fossil fuel companies’ talk of cutting emissions, such as Shell saying it wants to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2050. BP says it will provide more details in September.
My first impression is that the word “ambition” stands out, making clear that this is an aspiration rather than a firm plan. If the company’s ambition turns into a firm plan, then this could be one of the most consequential changes in corporate climate policy we’ve ever seen.
Also this week, Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based electricity and natural gas utility, announced a plan to get to net-zero emissions across its operations.
While it is a fraction of the size of BP, Dominion is a giant in the world of U.S. utilities, serving 7 million customers, most of them in Virginia and South Carolina.
The company joins Xcel Energy, Duke Energy and DTE, among other large U.S. utilities, in pledging to reach net-zero for electricity generation by 2050. Net-zero usually means that emissions would be offset by removing greenhouse gases.
Will Cleveland, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, says he is pleased to see Dominion making this commitment, but has many reasons to be skeptical that the utility will deliver on its promises.
He notes that this is the same company that’s behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project that would ship gas from shale formations in West Virginia to markets in Virginia and North Carolina. He sees that project, opposed by many environmental groups, as incompatible with the idea of reducing emissions to net-zero.
It probably isn’t a coincidence that Dominion is releasing its plan the same week the Virginia House and Senate each passed versions of bills that would require utilities to move to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050. Democrats control the Virginia governor’s office and the legislature and have said they intend to pass clean energy legislation.
Cleveland thinks Dominion executives “see the writing on the wall on climate issues.” The same could be said about BP.
Photo Credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Budgets Are Rising But Head Counts Are Shrinking at Federal Clean Energy Office
The Trump administration this week proposed a 74 percent budget cut to the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. It’s a familiar pattern in which the Administration proposes a big cut to the office that is then followed, at least in previous years, by Congress passing a budget with little or no cutback.
The office, usually known by the initials EERE, is vital for funding clean energy research at national laboratories and in the private sector. A cut on the scale the administration has proposed would be devastating, as I wrote last year when we last went through this routine.
While this budget dance takes place, there is evidence that the administration is letting EERE wither away, by not spending money that already has been budgeted.
A House sub-committee held a hearing about the situation last week, with testimony from Daniel Simmons, who is in charge of EERE, and from three people who testified that the office is being mismanaged.
The Natural Resources Defense Council put together a chart showing how the office’s budget has increased every year since 2014, but its staffing has decreased. The head count was 707 in 2014, and by 2019 had dropped to 553, according to the office’s most recent tally.
The result is that people are overworked and often doing multiple jobs, said Anthony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents many of the workers. He was one of several people at the hearing who criticized a slow hiring process, in which political appointees must approve just about every new hire, which he said is a change from the previous administration.
Simmons said he is well aware that the office is understaffed and said the agency is working on a plan to get the head count up to 625, adding that EERE “cares deeply about its staff.”
The Democrats who run the committee said they intend to hold EERE accountable to bring hiring in line with the approved budget. I’ll be watching to see if that happens.
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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Typically when the EPA makes a large proposal, its independent Science Advisory Board is asked to weigh in and give nonpartisan, empirical feedback. But the agency is now proposing to centralize that input process to the board's chair and cut out the other roughly 40 members, raising alarm bells with lawmakers who see the move as retaliatory.
BP, Shell, Chevron and Exxon have made almost $2 trillion in profits in the last three decades from their exploitation of oil, gas and coal reserves, as fossil fuels have endangered the planet, an analysis for the Guardian revealed.
Bernard Looney, BP's CEO of just a week, has set out the boldest climate plan of any major oil company, pledging to eliminate almost all of the carbon emissions from its operations and the fuel it sells to customers. BP is now the only major oil company to promise to zero-out all its emissions.
Some of the world's largest financial institutions, including The Hartford and BlackRock, said they would no longer fund oil production in the Canadian province of Alberta, home to one of the world's most extensive, and also dirtiest, oil reserves. They're the latest in a flood of banks pulling support from fossil fuels to fight climate change.
The Trump administration has opened up 461 million acres of public land—four times the size of California—to drilling from oil companies, a plan that threatens to entrench the industry at the expense of other outdoor jobs, while locking in enough emissions to undermine global climate policy.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil production on public lands hit more than 1 billion barrels last year, a nearly 30 percent increase over production at the end of the Obama administration. The billion barrel figure for fiscal 2019 is the highest the Department of the Interior has seen over the last decade.
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday will propose legislation setting a goal for the United States to plant a trillion trees by 2050 to fight global warming, a plan intended to address climate change by sucking carbon out of the air instead of by cutting emissions, which critics say is the far more important goal.
A rare policy enacted in 2018 under President Trump to address climate change by offering a lucrative tax break for companies that use carbon capture technology has remained blocked for two years, as the Internal Revenue Service struggles to explain how the credit can be claimed.
U.K.'s government could ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars in the country by 2032, three years earlier than previously suggested, the country's transport secretary Grant Shapps said in a radio interview Wednesday.
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After two years of increase, global carbon dioxide emissions from power production flattened last year to 33 gigatonnes even though the world economy expanded, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The trend was largely led by growth of renewable energy and natural gas replacing coal use.
President Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 calls for significant reductions to environmental programs at federal agencies, including a 26 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency that would eliminate 50 programs in the agency.
Global temperatures broke records in 2016 and 2019, respectively, the two hottest on record. A new study now says that trend will probably continue through 2028, with every year having a high chance of ranking among the planet's 10 hottest in recorded history.
As climate change fuels bigger, hotter wildfires across the world, communities are starting to reckon with a complex, expensive aftermath: fire's threat to their drinking water.
A new bill introduced by two Democrats in Congress on Tuesday aims to hold the plastics industry, beverage makers and other companies financially responsible for dealing with the waste they create. And while the bill has little chance of passing, the effort shows the growing movement to take on the world's plastic waste problem.
The flat, rural expanses of land surrounding Cincinnati make it a perfect place to install vast quantities of solar panels. Now after receiving a $2.5 million grant, the city is on its way to have the largest city-established solar farm in America by 2021.
After three years of destructive wildfires that pushed utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric into bankruptcy, California's utilities have filed plans with the state's public utility commission that aim to mitigate the risk of wildfires in their service areas and are anticipated to require billions of dollars of investment.
The number of chinstrap penguins in some colonies in Western Antarctica has fallen by as much as 77 percent since the penguins were last surveyed in the 1970s, say scientists studying the impact of climate change on the remote region.
The BBC will produce a series about 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, the studio's science unit announced Monday at its BBC Showcase trade show. The young activist recently made a video appearance at Sunday's 92nd Academy Awards with iconic British documentarian David Attenborough.
From bacterial infiltration to debris to leaching of man-made pollutants like plastics and chemicals, the aftereffects of fire can be long-lasting and expensive.
By Neela Banerjee
Even as bushfires push into new swaths of Australia, the communities close to and within the nearly 30 million acres that have already burned are starting to reckon with a complex, expensive aftermath: fire's threat to their drinking water.
Four hurricanes and a major flood in five years have swamped South Carolina, killing more than 30 people and causing billions of dollars in property damage.
By Sammy Fretwell, The State
After keeping a climate study secret for nearly two years, South Carolina's wildlife agency publicly released the report in the spring of 2013 amid criticism that it had bottled up the information for political reasons.
The Justice Department has dropped its antitrust inquiry into four automakers that had sided with California in its dispute with the Trump administration over reducing climate-warming vehicle pollution, deciding that the companies violated no laws, The New York Times reports.
After three years of sidelining climate change research and thinning its roster of scientists, the USDA announced a new, five-year scientific plan this week to help American farmers cope with the worsening effects of the climate crisis. Critics are dubious.
Since 1960, census counting in Alaska Native villages took place in January, when the frigid weather made it more likely that villagers would be home rather than out hunting and fishing. But as temperatures in Alaska climb faster than in any other state and twice as fast as the global average, counting has become more complicated.
The Trump administration last week finalized plans to open up 2 million acres of land in southern Utah that was formerly protected as national monuments to drilling and mining. But the more pressing climate impact may be how the move reduces the capacity for that land to act as vital carbon sinks.
After the second major wildfire hit Sonoma county in three seasons, no one was ready for the weeks of power shutoffs that followed. Business owners, still reeling from the canceled bookings and loss of business during peak tourism season in the fall, are now struggling more than ever to get through the winter.
A series of detailed maps from the European Environment Agency reveal the frightening scale of possible forest fires, floods, droughts and deluges that Europe could face by the end of the century, without urgent action to adapt to and confront global heating—with some cities possibly under water.
The heaviest rainfall Sydney, Australia, has seen in 30 years has helped extinguish the country's raging bushfires, with only 17 still burning across the state. But the rain also brought widespread and dangerous flooding, leaving 100,000 homes without power.
Africa is experiencing bigger and more frequent thunderstorms as global temperatures rise, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University. The continent already has many of the world's lightning hot spots, with storms that can be extremely destructive and, sometimes, deadly.
