Germany, Italy moot support for gas export facility in Argentina
Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi met with Argentina's president Alberto Fernández to discuss support for new gas infrastructure on the sidelines of G7 meetings
Germany, Italy push G7 into watering down pledge to end overseas gas finance
G7 leaders pledged to end overseas public finance for fossil fuels but made exceptions for temporary gas investments deemed "necessary" to address the energy crisis
Indonesia is learning lessons from South Africa’s tough energy transition deal talks
Talks between donor countries and South Africa on a coal-to-renewables finance deal have been slow and difficult. Indonesia wants to do things differently
EU and UK will end investment protection for fossil fuels in 10 years
Under the reform, the EU will end protection for new fossil fuel infrastructure. But existing ones will remain protected for 10 years and some gas projects for even longer
Germany, Japan must not water down G7 commitment to end fossil fuel finance
There are worrying signs from Berlin and Tokyo of backsliding on a pledge to end public finance for fossil fuel projects overseas by the end of the year
Ukraine and Covid leave aid agencies struggling to respond to Bangladesh floods
At least 32 people have died and millions have had to flee their homes following severe flooding in Bangladesh in recent days. Yet, money for relief is lacking
Japanese and Korean industry push gas on Vietnam amid campaigner crackdown
An InfluenceMap report spells out foreign pro-gas lobbying in Vietnam as environmental activists face mounting threats for speaking out against the government
Ibrahim Thiaw appointed interim UN Climate Change head
The head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification will head UN Climate Change from 17 July and until a permanent replacement to Patrica Espinosa is found
It’s time to put Indigenous Peoples first at the UN biodiversity talks
As talks on a global deal to protect nature begin in Nairobi, Kenya, countries need to create a new conservation designation for Indigenous Peoples' land
Patricia Espinosa: Some rich nations felt demands on finance were ‘too strong’
Outgoing UN climate change head says finance from rich to poorer nations is what makes the international action possible - and failure to deliver is stalling progress
China rejects ‘major emitter’ label in talks to step up climate action
To bridge the 1.5C gap, countries agreed to set up a work stream to accelerate action this decade. But at Bonn climate talks, no-one can agree on what it should look like
Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti and Wanjira Maathai talk about attending Davos as a young African activist and the influence of professor Wangari Maathai on their lives and work
Tanzanian authorities seen opening fire on Maasai people in game reserve dispute
Rights NGO Survival International has accused the government of "shocking violence" and evicting Maasai people from their land to make way for trophy hunting
‘Politically motivated’: Russian authorities seek to remove climate activist’s citizenship
Arshak Makichyan has been a vocal climate and anti-war activist in Moscow. Russian authorities are accusing him of having illegally obtained his citizenship
EU must go beyond weak global rules in its regulation of shipping emissions
A proposed EU marine fuel standard would promote sales of LNG, a fossil fuel supplied by Russia, instead of the zero-emission solutions needed under the Paris Agreement
‘Furious and disappointed’: African activists excluded from Stockholm+50 summit
Several African climate activists have been unable to obtain Swedish visas for the major environmental conference despite spending time and money applying
Bringing Back the Beasts: Global Rewilding Plans Take Shape
With a growing number of studies demonstrating the importance of large mammals to healthy ecosystems, scientists are proposing concrete plans to reintroduce these animals to the wild. The return of just 20 species to native habitats, they say, could be a boon to biodiversity.
U.S. Supreme Court Limits EPA's Authority to Combat Climate Change
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday to severely restrict the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit carbon emissions.
In World First, Netherlands Caps Flights at Major Airport to Cut Pollution
The Dutch government is capping the number of flights from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 440,000, a 12 percent cut from pre-pandemic levels. The new policy, set to take effect at the end of 2023, is the world's first to limit flights for environmental reasons.
Will a Nile Canal Project Dry Up Africa’s Largest Wetland?
South Sudan is moving ahead with plans for a 240-mile canal to divert water from the White Nile and send it to Egypt. But critics warn the megaproject would desiccate the world’s second largest wetland, impacting its rich wildlife and the rains on which the region depends.
Dangerous Viruses Can Survive in Fresh Water by Clinging to Plastic Waste, Study Finds
Viruses are able to survive in fresh water by clinging to microscopic pieces of plastic, posing a potential threat to public health, according to a new study.
Honduran Power Company President Who Orchestrated Environmentalist's Assassination Sentenced to 22 Years
A Honduran court has sentenced former power company president Roberto David Castillo to 22 years and six months in prison for his role in the 2016 assassination of environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
The Living City: Weaving Nature Back Into the Urban Fabric
Urban ecologist Eric Sanderson focuses on the natural history of cities. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he explains why recovering and restoring streams, salt marshes, and woodlands should be a vital part of how cities adapt to climate change in the 21st century.
Post-Flood Yellowstone Rebuilding Could Cost More Than $1 Billion
Restoring Yellowstone National Park after recent floods washed away bridges and roads could cost more than $1 billion, and the effort could take years given the challenge of making repairs in a protected landscape.
Bitcoin’s Intensive Energy Demands Are Sparking a Crypto Backlash
The enormous energy demands of Bitcoin mining are prompting some U.S. municipalities to impose moratoriums or outright bans on cryptocurrency facilities. Bitcoin mining activity, critics warn, is leading to electricity price hikes and a revival of dirtier sources of power.
Once-Common California Bumble Bees Have Gone Missing
A census of California bumble bees failed to locate several once-common species, including the formerly abundant Western bumble bee, a key pollinator for many wild plants and crops.
How Russia’s War Is Putting Green Tech Progress in Jeopardy
The European Union relies heavily on Russia to supply nickel and other metals for electric vehicle batteries and other renewable technologies. War-related price increases and shortages of these metals could hinder Europe’s drive to sharply cut emissions by 2030 and beyond.
Office Building in Australia to Be Covered in 'Solar Skin' of More Than 1,000 Panels
An eight-story high-rise planned for West Melbourne, Australia will sport 1,182 solar panels on its facade, which, along with a rooftop solar array, will provide the building with nearly all of its power.
Pollen and Heat: A Looming Challenge for Global Agriculture
Farmers and scientists are increasingly observing that unusually high springtime temperatures can kill pollen and interfere with the fertilization of crops. Researchers are now searching for ways to help pollen beat the heat, including developing more heat-tolerant varieties.
After More Than a Decade of Drought, Chile's Peñuelas Lake Has Nearly Vanished
A once-sprawling lake, the Peñuelas reservoir in central Chile has all but disappeared, desiccated by a 13-year drought. The resulting water shortage has fueled tensions over supplies needed for farming and lithium mining, and spurred the Chilean capital of Santiago to prepare for rationing.
'Superworms' Survive on Polystyrene Diet With Help of Gut Bacteria, Study Shows
The larvae of a common species of beetle are able to survive on a diet comprised entirely of polystyrene thanks to bacterial enzymes found in their gut, a new study finds.
Wrong Turn: America’s Car Culture and the Road Not Taken
With its highways and suburbs, modern America was built around the automobile and powered by fossil fuels. The oil crises of the 1970s provided an opportunity to change course and move to renewable energy, but any momentum achieved then proved to be very short-lived.
New Zealand Looks to Price Emissions From Belching Sheep and Cattle
New Zealand unveiled a proposal Wednesday to put a price on methane from belching sheep and cattle, a plan that, if enacted, would make the country the first to compel farmers to pay for livestock emissions.
Solution or Band-Aid? Carbon Capture Projects Are Moving Ahead
Long discussed but rarely used, carbon capture and storage projects — which bury waste CO2 underground — are on the rise globally. Some scientists see the technology as a necessary tool in reducing emissions, but others say it simply perpetuates the burning of fossil fuels.
After Long Decline, Eastern Monarchs Show Signs of Recovery, Survey Finds
Eastern monarch butterflies covered 35 percent more ground in the mountain forests of central Mexico this past winter than they did the year before, according to a survey from the World Wildlife Fund.
Melting Glacier in Chile Reveals Trove of Ichthyosaur Fossils
The retreat of Chile's Tyndall Glacier has revealed a graveyard of ichthyosaurs, dolphin-like reptiles that roamed the oceans more than 90 million years ago.
Through the efforts of USGCRP, authors, NOAA’s Technical Support Unit, and support staff, the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) has moved from the planning phase to putting pen to paper. Here is a look back at recent accomplishments: Gathering a diverse team of authors. In the spring and summer of 2021, the NCA5 Federal Steering Committee...
Work on the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) is underway. The Congressionally mandated report is the U.S. Government’s premier assessment of the science of climate change and its impacts on the Nation. It is written by hundreds of experts from around the country, who help ensure that the findings are accessible and useful to the widest...
The U.S. Global Change Research Program is pleased to announce that Allison Crimmins will serve as Director of the FIfth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). She is detailed to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation. As Director, Allison will oversee...
On May 19, 2021, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced that Dr. Mike Kuperberg is returning to USGCRP as Executive Director. This is his second stint in USGCRP leadership, having served previously as Executive Director from 2015 through November 2020. He is detailed from the Department of Energy’s Office of...
NASA, on behalf of USGCRP, issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) seeking author nominations and scientific/technical inputs for the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). The FRN, which opened October 15, 2020 and closed the following month on November 14, also served as a notice of planned public engagement opportunities. Prospective authors...
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, the latest in a series of spacecraft designed to monitor our oceans, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California on Saturday, November 21, 2020. The satellite will be followed in 2025 by its twin, Sentinel-6B. Together, the pair is tasked with extending our nearly 30-year-long record of global sea...
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.
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 an...
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...
The May contiguous U.S. average temperature was 61.90 degress Fahrenheit, 1.7 degress Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. The precipitation total was 3.17 inches, 0.26 inches above average.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for May was 0.77 degrees C (1.39 degress Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.5 degrees C (59.9 degress Fahrenheit).
According to data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during May, there were 210 preliminary tornado reports. This was 76 percent of the 1991-2010 average of 276 tornadoes for the month of May. Tornadoes were reported on 27 of the 31 days during the month. Many of the days reported single digit tornado counts. Only five days during May had 10 or more reported tornadoes.
May featured an active weather pattern with quickly moving systems. They spread enhanced precipitation across many parts of the country with the notable exception of the Southwest, which remains in persistent drought. Overall, the temperature patterns were consistent with the ongoing La Niña event and its associated negative phase of the PNA.
During May, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent (SCE) was 17.96 million square km (6.93 million square miles), 5.60% below the 1981-2010 average. The global sea ice extent was 22.20 million square km (8.57 million square miles), 5.33% below the 1981-2010 average.
For May, 5,722 fires (7th least since 2000) burned 799,903 acres (3rd most on record), which is 139.8 acres burned/fire (3rd most on record). For March - May, 20,959 fires (11th most since 2000) burned 1,770,459 acres (4th most on record), which is 84.5 acres burned/fire (4th most on record). For January - May, 28,046 fires (9th most since 2000) burned 1,920,233 acres (4th most on record), which is 68.5 acres burned/fire (5th most on record).
May produced four named storms globally including two that reached tropical cyclone strength (74 mph). Both numbers were near normal. The global accumulated cyclone energy (ACE: an integrated metric of the strength, frequency, and duration of tropical storms) was also near normal even though none of the storms reached major tropical cyclone strength (111 mph). The most impactful storm was Hurricane Agatha in the East Pacific. Agatha was the first named storm in the Western Hemisphere in 2022.
Climate change role clear in many extreme events but social factors also key, study finds
Professor says link to extreme weather sometimes overestimated but climate costs underestimated
Climate change is to blame for the majority of the heatwaves being recorded around the planet but the relation to other extreme events and their impacts on society is less clear, according to a study.
“I think on the one hand we overestimate climate change because it’s now quite common that every time an extreme event happens, there is a big assumption that climate change is playing a big role, which is not always the case,” said Friederike Otto, a climate change and environment professor at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, who was one of the lead authors of the research.
Truthful climate reporting shifts viewpoints, but only briefly, study finds
Researchers gauged responses to climate science versus scepticism and suggest facts bear repeating
People’s views of the climate crisis can be influenced by the media, according to new research. But accurate scientific reporting only has limited impact on people who already have a fixed political viewpoint, particularly if it is opposed to climate action.
Researchers who ran an experiment in the US to find out how people responded to media reporting on the climate found that people’s views of climate science really were shifted by reading reporting that accurately reflected scientific findings. They were also more willing to back policies that would tackle the problem.
Thirty years of climate summits: where have they got us?
Highlights and lowlights of Cop since Rio 1992, when countries set up a system to tackle climate crisis
It has been 30 years since the Rio summit, when a global system was set up that would bring countries together on a regular basis to try to solve the climate crisis. Here are the highlights and lowlights since then.
It’s not your imagination, US summers are hotter than ever before
An alarming trend shows average temperatures have increased by at least 2F since 1970, with even higher spikes in the west and south-west
From Texas to California, most of the US south-west is experiencing scorching heat this week, with temperatures soaring above 100F (38C) in dozens of locations, putting millions of people at risk of “dangerously hot conditions”.
This is part of an alarming trend. American summers are hotter than ever, according to new research, with most of the country experiencing increased summer averages over the last half century.
Australia’s east coast could be hit by a rare “triple La Niña” that brings flooding rains and cooler weather for the third summer in a row, a senior US government scientist says.
Experts say the prospect of a triple La Niña is real, but there is disagreement between different computer models and Australia could yet avoid a return of summer floods.
Global heating is turning white Alps green, study finds
Vegetated areas above treeline have increased by 77% since 1984, satellite data shows
The impact of global heating on the Alps is visible from space, with the snow-white mountains increasingly colonised by green plants, according to a study of high-resolution satellite data.
Vegetated areas above the treeline in the Alps have increased by 77% since 1984, the study says. While retreating glaciers have symbolised the speed of global heating in the Alpine region, researchers described the increases in plant biomass as an “absolutely massive” change.
Greenhouse gas removal ‘not a silver bullet to achieve net zero’
UK scientists say carbon capture is ‘hard and expensive’ and focus must be on reducing emissions
Many of the UK’s top scientists working on carbon capture technologies do not believe they will be developed and scaled up in time to reach net zero and limit global heating to 1.5C.
Experts speaking at a Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub event in London warned that these techniques, including direct air capture, biofuels, biochar, afforestation and enhanced weathering, are not a silver bullet and should make up just a fraction of the efforts to decarbonise.
‘World is at boiling point’: humanity must redefine relationship with nature, says report
Stockholm institute calls for ‘bold science-based decision-making’ to tackle climate, social and economic crises
The world is at “boiling point” and humanity needs to redefine its relationship with nature if it is to address a web of crises, from rising prices to extreme heat and floods, according to a report released ahead of a landmark UN conference.
The research from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Council on Energy Environment and Water says the solutions to the interlinked planetary and inequality crisis exist, but calls for “bold science-based decision-making” to “completely rethink our way of living,”.
Replacing GDP as the single metric to measure progress and instead focus on indicators that take “inclusive wealth” and the caring economy into account.
Establishing a regular UN forum on sustainable lifestyles.
A global campaign on nature-based education for children.
Transforming people’s everyday relationship with nature by integrating it in cities; protecting animal welfare and shifting to more plant-based diets. It also says policymakers should draw on indigenous local knowledge.
Critical climate indicators broke records in 2021, says UN
World Meteorological Organization says extreme weather wreaked heavy toll on human lives
Critical global indicators of the climate crisis broke records in 2021, according to a UN report, from rising oceans to the levels of heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere.
The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said these were clear signs of humanity’s impact on the planet, which was bringing long-lasting effects. Extreme weather, which the WMO called the day-to-day face of the climate emergency, wreaked a heavy toll on human lives and led to hundreds of billions of dollars in damages, the agency said.
Shut down fossil fuel production sites early to avoid climate chaos, says study
Exclusive: Nearly half existing facilities will need to close prematurely to limit heating to 1.5C, scientists say
Nearly half of existing fossil fuel production sites need to be shut down early if global heating is to be limited to 1.5C, the internationally agreed goal for avoiding climate catastrophe, according to a new scientific study.
The assessment goes beyond the call by the International Energy Agency in 2021 to stop all new fossil fuel development to avoid the worst impacts of global heating, a statement seen as radical at the time.
Caesar’s favourite herb was the Viagra of ancient Rome. Until climate change killed it off
Perfume, tonic – even love potion – silphium was prized by the ancient Romans, but in its success lay the seeds of its own downfall
Of all the mysteries of ancient Rome, silphium is among the most intriguing. Romans loved the herb as much as we love chocolate. They used silphium as perfume, as medicine, as an aphrodisiac and turned it into a condiment, called laser, that they poured on to almost every dish. It was so valuable that Julius Caesar stashed more than half a tonne in his treasury.
Yet it became extinct less than a century later, by the time of Nero, and for nearly 2,000 years people have puzzled over the cause.
‘Pee for the peonies’: researchers say urine fertilizers encourage blooms – and there’s never a shortage
But environmental engineering professors Nancy Love and Krista Wigginton ask garden visitors not to drop their drawers
A pair of University of Michigan researchers are putting the “pee” in peony. Rather, they’re putting pee on the vivid spring blooms.
Environmental engineering professors Nancy Love and Krista Wigginton are regular visitors to the Ann Arbor school’s Nichols arboretum, where they have been applying urine-based fertilizer to the heirloom peony beds ahead of the flowers’ annual spring bloom.
South Africa’s April floods made twice as likely by climate crisis, scientists say
Brutal heatwave in India and Pakistan also certain to have been exacerbated by global heating, scientists say
The massive and deadly floods that struck South Africa in April were made twice as likely and more intense by global heating, scientists have calculated. The research demonstrates that the climate emergency is resulting in devastation.
Catastrophic floods and landslides hit the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape on 11 April following exceptionally heavy rainfall.
Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown
Exclusive: Oil and gas majors are planning scores of vast projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burns
The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.
The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating. Their huge investments in new fossil fuel production could pay off only if countries fail to rapidly slash carbon emissions, which scientists say is vital.
The dozen biggest oil companies are on track to spend every day for the rest of the decade $103m
“Simply put, they are lying and the results will be catastrophic,” said Guterres. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”
Climate limit of 1.5C close to being broken, scientists warn
The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, up from 20% in 2020
The year the world breaches for the first time the 1.5C global heating limit set by international governments is fast approaching, a new forecast shows.
The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, scientists led by the UK Met Office found. As recently as 2015, there was zero chance of this happening in the following five years. But this surged to 20% in 2020 and 40% in 2021. The global average temperature was 1.1C above pre-industrial levels in 2021.
Matt Canavan declares net zero policy is ‘all over’, opening rift in the Coalition – video
Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan has declared net zero by 2050 'all over bar the shouting' only hours after Scott Morrison attempted to hose down internal divisions – insisting the mid-century target was 'absolutely' Coalition policy. The comments have prompted other National party members such as Michael McCormack and Michelle Landry to tell Canavan to 'pull his head in'. Canavan's comments came after the Liberal National candidate for the Queensland seat of Flynn, Colin Boyce, said there was 'wiggle room' in the commitment to net zero, calling it a 'flexible plan' that was not legislated
Twitter uses Earth Day to announce ban on climate denialism ads
The platform has been a source of a growing wave of climate misinformation and said denialism ‘shouldn’t be monetized’
Twitter chose Earth Day to announce it will ban advertisements that deny the scientific consensus on climate crisis.
“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the company declared on Friday.
Using geoengineering to slow global heating risks malaria rise, say scientists
Technique of reflecting sunlight back into space found to be likely to cause increase in population of disease-carrying mosquitos
Geoengineering to prevent the worst impacts of climate breakdown could expose up to a billion more people to malaria, scientists have found.
The report, published in Nature Communications, is the first assessment of how geoengineering the climate could affect the burden of infectious diseases.
With 1.5C of heating now all but inevitable, scientists say the focus must turn to mitigation measures
Reaching 1.5C of global heating is now pretty much inevitable, and we will reach it somewhere around 2035, no matter what we do. That’s the conclusion from the latest climate projections, which suggest even if we reach net zero emissions within the next 30 years, we will be stuck with at least that level of heating until 2070 or so.
“Staying below 1.5C of global warming is currently not plausible,” says Jochem Marotzke, from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.
World on 'fast track to climate disaster', says UN secretary general – video
António Guterres says the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveals 'a litany of broken climate promises' by governments and businesses, and accuses some of them of lying in claiming to be on track to limiting future heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. In a strongly worded rebuke, he says: 'It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unliveable world'
Three years after a fire and explosion shuttered what was once the East Coast’s largest refinery, toxic benzene continued leaking well into the cleanup.
By Victoria St. Martin
One minute, the 3-year-old was playing tag in the grass—her braided hair bouncing with each step—while the hulking remains of a 150-year-old oil refinery loomed nearby. Then, suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.
The original bill called for up to $30 billion in funding for the Corps. But whether it will remain in the slimmed-down version of the bill, expected to be brought to the floor this month, remains to be seen.
By Samantha Hurley
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On a hot day in early June, a group of nearly 100 young adults toiled together under the sun in Fort DuPont Park to remove wisteria—an invasive vine that crowds and shades out native trees and shrubs—and clear the trails of debris that had accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Untreated human sewage spews from the city’s two wastewater treatment facilities into rivers and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, where 2025 pollution targets have been jeopardized.
By Aman Azhar
Sara Bundy, her husband and 12-year-old son moved to Sparrows Point near the Back River in Baltimore County four years ago for the allure of a waterfront home.
In a finale to a Supreme Court term that radically reshaped American law, the court throttled the U.S. government’s power to act on the climate crisis. But it could take many more lawsuits—and possibly years—to see whether the Environmental Protection Agency can find some leeway to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. With its authority now limited by the court’s ruling Thursday in West Virginia v. EPA, the agency could write new carbon regulations requiring technologies like carbon capture that would be far more expensive than the approach the court rejected. Or, the new principles laid out by the court could go even further in eroding the power of the EPA and any other federal agency to address climate change or any of society’s biggest issues.
Also this week, a new study concludes the burgeoning space tourism industry could soon fuel significant global warming while also depleting the protective ozone layer that is crucial for sustaining life on Earth. The findings raise additional concerns about the “billionaire space race” fueled by some of the world’s richest men. A key focus of the study was emissions of black carbon, or soot, from the combustion of rocket fuel. When black carbon is ejected into the stratosphere by a rocket launch, it can be nearly 500 times worse for the climate than similar emission on or near the surface of the Earth, the study found.
Space Tourism Poses a Significant ‘Risk to the Climate’ BY PHIL MCKENNA Rockets launched by billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson emit black carbon in the stratosphere, where it is 500 times worse for the climate than it is on Earth. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rockets burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen and pose a lesser climate threat.
These Clergy Are Bridging the Gap Between Religion and Climate BY JAMES BRUGGERS In an effort launched last year, a Rabbi and a Protestant minister offer clergy suggestions for how to engage their congregations in helping to solve the climate crisis.
A column highlighting climate-related studies, innovations, books, cultural events and other developments from the global warming frontier.
By Katelyn Weisbrod
During last year’s record-shattering late June heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, hundreds of people died and thousands more suffered from heat-related illnesses as temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle, 116 in Portland and over 120 in parts of British Columbia.
But Alexandra Rempel was able to keep the temperature in the lower level of her Oregon home in the mid-70s without using any a
The president’s campaign promise to end fossil fuel development on public lands was thwarted by US courts, high gas prices and Russia’s domination of western European energy.
By Nicholas Kusnetz
This week, the Biden administration took two of its biggest steps yet to open public lands to fossil fuel development, holding its first onshore lease sales and releasing a proposed plan for offshore drilling that could open parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet to leasing through 2028.
Today's Climate - Deep-Sea Mining Could Help the Clean Energy Transition. But Is It Worth the Risk?
Today's Climate - Deep-Sea Mining Could Help the Clean Energy Transition. But Is It Worth the Risk?
A twice-a-week digest of the most pressing climate-related news, released every Tuesday and Friday, written by Kristoffer Tigue.
Deep-Sea Mining Could Help the Clean Energy Transition. But Is It Worth the Risk?
Three Pacific island nations announced this week that they had formed a new alliance calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining until the environmental risks of the nascent industry are better understood and appropriate regulations are put in place. Whether countries should be allowed to extract minerals from the seafloor has become an increasingly important debate as countries race to find the metals needed for batteries that will power the clean energy transition.
Government mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the growing popularity of electric vehicles have driven a figurative gold rush in recent years for lithium, cobalt, nickel and other relatively rare metals used to manufacture long-performance batteries. In fact, demand for those minerals could increase sixfold by 2040, according to projections from the International Energy Agency.
Hoping to cash in on the burgeoning market, several countries and private prospectors are now racing to find new sources of the materials, including at the bottom of the ocean. The United Nations body charged with regulating deep-sea mining in international waters is expected to ratify rules for the industry as early as next year, and nations have already issued dozens of licenses to companies to explore potential mining spots.
But a growing chorus of world leaders and scientists, particularly from island nations that depend on the ocean for food and income, say that the ecological threats from deep-sea mining are too great and are urging the international community to slow down.
“We know that deep-sea mining compromises the integrity of our ocean habitat that supports marine biodiversity and contributes to mitigating the impacts of climate change,” Palau President Surangel Whipps said at the United Nations Ocean Conference, which began on Monday and is being hosted in Portugal. “We believe it is not worth the risk.”
Palau was joined by Fiji and Samoa in the new alliance. A separate petition, also calling for a temporary ban on deep-sea mining, was circulated at the conference and has so far been signed by more than 70 individuals from 35 countries. And more than 600 scientists and policy experts from around the world have made a similar declaration, warning that mining the seabed could result “in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that would be irreversible on multi-generational timescales.”
While the processes for deep-sea mining are still being developed, the leading idea involves using specialized vehicles to rake the ocean floor for potato-sized nodules that contain metal ores, which then get sucked up by a vacuum onto a ship. And although research on deep-sea mining is scarce—largely due to the cost and risk associated with conducting studies thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean—scientists say the evidence gathered so far is alarming.
Specifically, most researchers point to a test conducted in 1989 by German scientist Hjalmar Thiel, who dragged an 8-meter-wide rake across the ocean floor and observed the results. Sediment stirred up by the plowing buried almost everything, including the animals and plants living on the seabed, within nearly 7 square miles—far further than researchers at the time had imagined. And 26 years later, when scientists revisited the test site, the creatures that had once inhabited the area still hadn’t returned.
Scientists also warn that deep-sea mining could kill microbes that help absorb carbon dioxide, increasing global warming, and that the noise from the machinery could impair animals that use sound to avoid predators or find prey.
Deep-sea mining isn’t the only solution being explored. As my colleague Dan Gearino reported earlier this year, there’s a burgeoning battery recycling industry that aims to salvage rare materials from old waste rather than buying virgin metals.
Still, some countries—such as the small island nation of Nauru, just north of Australia—are pushing for an acceleration of the ocean mining business. And top energy experts have said that failing to quickly address the skyrocketing demand for rare minerals could jeopardize global climate goals. Complicating matters further is the fact that many of the metals needed for batteries are coming from only a handful of countries, with just three accounting for more than 75 percent of the total supplies, according to a 2021 IEA report.
In 2019, some 70 percent of cobalt and rare earth elements came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 60 percent came from China, that report found. And Australia was responsible for more than half the world’s supply of lithium.
“Today, the data shows a looming mismatch between the world’s strengthened climate ambitions and the availability of critical minerals that are essential to realizing those ambitions,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said in a press release for the report. “Left unaddressed, these potential vulnerabilities could make global progress towards a clean energy future slower and more costly—and therefore hamper international efforts to tackle climate change.”
That’s it this week for Today’s Climate. The newsletter will take a break next Tuesday in observance of Independence Day, but I’ll be back in your inbox next Friday.
Today’s Indicator
That’s about how many metric tons of carbon dioxide scientists believe the ocean absorbs every year, based on a 2020 study out of the United Kingdom that found the previous estimate of 2 billion metric tons was likely falling short.
With the Supreme Court curtailing the authority of federal regulators to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, and overall action to tackle the climate crisis stalling on the national level, cities and states are accelerating their own local efforts to fill in the gap.
The global economy won’t reach net-zero carbon emissions without putting an end to deforestation. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the United Nations-backed Race to Zero campaign, which pushes companies and investors to reduce emissions.
As part of a publicity stunt meant to pressure governments to act more forcefully on climate change, two environmental protesters glued their hands to the frame of Vincent van Gogh’s “Peach Trees in Blossom."
The decision in West Virginia v. EPA could result in more expensive and restrictive carbon regulation—or the erosion of agencies’ ability to address society’s most pressing needs.
By Marianne Lavelle
In a finale to a Supreme Court term that radically reshaped American law, the court throttled the U.S. government’s power to act on the climate crisis.
New research shows that the shade from solar panels leads to a brighter green color for broccoli crops, reduced evaporation and increased income for farmers.
By Dan Gearino
Despite being “yucky” according to some picky eaters, broccoli is well-suited to grow alongside solar panels, according to a new study.
Yes, There Are Benefits of Growing Broccoli Beneath Solar Panels
Yes, There Are Benefits of Growing Broccoli Beneath Solar Panels
Clean energy stories behind the headlines reported by Dan Gearino
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Despite being “yucky” according to some picky eaters, broccoli is well-suited to grow alongside solar panels, according to a new study.
The research from Chonnam National University in South Korea is part of the growing field of “agrivoltaics,” in which agronomists and energy experts look for opportunities for solar power and agriculture to exist on the same land in an effort to meet the world’s needs for both energy and food.
The findings, published in the journal Agronomy, show that shade provided by solar panels helps to make broccoli a deeper shade of green, which makes the vegetable more appealing for grocery stores and consumers without a significant loss of the crop’s size or nutritional value.
But the greatest financial benefits for farmers come from producing energy. Income from solar was about 10 times the income from broccoli, which indicates that farmers already growing the vegetable are missing out on an opportunity by not having solar panels in the same fields, according to the study. The authors include Kang Mo-Ku, a horticulture professor.
The paper is “a great case study,” said Jordan Macknick, a lead analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, whose work deals with agrivoltaics.
His main caveat is that the results only apply to one crop being grown in one region. He said the paper provides evidence that should encourage additional research in other places and with other crops.
He would know. His team at NREL has several projects involving solar alongside carrots, chard, kale, peppers and tomatoes, among others.
One of the problems with agrivoltaics may simply be the term “agrivoltaics,” which can sound off-putting to some people, especially those who aren’t energy researchers or in energy industries.
Macknick hears this a lot.
“It sounds sort of jargony, and it sounds a little intimidating,” he said. “And, Microsoft Word doesn’t recognize the spelling of it or think it’s a real word.”
But the underlying concept—that farms can produce energy and food on the same acres, as opposed to having to choose one or the other—is vital for the transition to clean energy, he said.
So far, combining solar and agriculture has worked best with solar arrays of just a few acres, with the electricity mostly consumed by the farm. It doesn’t yet make sense economically in super-sized projects that take up hundreds or thousands of acres.
Researchers are looking at ways to expand the crops that can be grown with solar, and the scale on which solar and agriculture can coexist.
But those efforts won’t matter much unless researchers can sell farmers on the merits of solar and crops working together. And that could be a tough sell. For example, maneuvering farm equipment between rows of solar panels can be complicated, Macknick said. Also, the income from solar is so much higher than the income from most crops that many farmers may not want to bother with crops on land with solar at all.
But there are exceptions, like organic produce sold at farmers markets and restaurants, which sell for higher prices than crops sold to food companies.
Jack’s Solar Garden, near Boulder, Colorado, has become a leading example of a business that combines solar and agriculture, with partners that include NREL. Jack’s gardens include areas for growing wildflowers and other plants that help foster a habitat for bees, which is a common area of focus for several of the pioneering agrivoltaics businesses.
Macknick has learned from working with Jack’s and others that the crops that work best with solar can vary a lot depending on the local climate.
So, farmers may be able to grow big green heads of broccoli under solar panels in South Korea, but tomatoes may work better in Colorado; researchers and farmers are working together to figure out what works where.
Photo Credit: Werner Slocum / NREL
Other stories about the energy transition to take note of this week:
Climeworks Building Giant Carbon-Sucking Plant in Iceland: Climeworks AG has begun construction on what may be the largest “direct-air capture” plant in the world, a facility that sucks carbon dioxide from the air and stores it underground. The plant in Iceland will be online in 18 to 24 months and have capacity to remove 36,000 metric tons of carbon per year, Kate Abnett reports for Reuters. The capacity is 10 times that of the company’s existing plant in Iceland, which is currently the world’s largest. Climeworks, based in Switzerland, is one of the leaders in a growing carbon-removal industry.
Offshore Wind Installations Surged Threefold Last Year: In 2021, countries connected 21.1 gigawatts of offshore wind energy to the grid, which was triple the amount in 2020, according to a new report from an industry group. The growth in offshore wind is happening as countries adopt clean energy policies to support development and as equipment costs decline, as Maria Gallucci reports for Canary Media. The growth in 2021 brought the cumulative total to 56 gigawatts, less than 1 percent of which is in U.S. waters. China was the leader in new construction last year, while the United States has many big projects in various phases of development, but has yet to complete any of them.
The Netherlands Bets on a Nuclear Revival: The Netherlands plans to build at least two nuclear reactors in the near future, an approach to energy and climate change that is in contrast to its neighbors Germany and Belgium. Leaders in the Netherlands view nuclear as an important part of making a transition away from fossil fuels and while also meeting the needs of the population, as Alexander C. Kaufman reports for HuffPost, a story that also touches on the global debate over the safety and affordability of nuclear power.
Rooftop Solar Incentive Is Expiring in Indiana: Solar net metering is about to expire for Indiana consumers served by the state’s regulated utilities, which reduces the financial benefits of rooftop solar. The July 1 expiration means that rooftop solar owners will get a lower rate for the excess electricity that they sell back to the grid, as Sarah Bowman reports for The Indianapolis Star. The policy change is the result of a 2017 state law that began a phaseout of net metering in response to concerns from utility companies that the growth of rooftop solar would lead to a shift in costs of maintaining the grid to non-solar customers, since solar customers are paying much lower bills. The law affects customers who are newly installing solar panels, since people who already have solar will continue to receive the previous rates. Clean energy advocates say the new rules will not kill the solar market, but they will make rooftop solar less affordable for consumers.
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.
Rockets launched by billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson emit black carbon in the stratosphere, where it is 500 times worse for the climate than it is on Earth. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rockets burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen and pose a lesser climate threat.
By Phil McKenna
The burgeoning space tourism industry could soon fuel significant global warming while also depleting the protective ozone layer that is crucial for sustaining life on Earth, a new study concludes. The findings, published Saturday in Earth’s Future, raise additional concerns about the “billionaire space race” fueled by some of the world’s richest men.
Today's Climate - Blaming Russia’s War, G7 Leaders Rescind Another Global Climate Pledge
Today's Climate - Blaming Russia’s War, G7 Leaders Rescind Another Global Climate Pledge
A twice-a-week digest of the most pressing climate-related news, released every Tuesday and Friday, written by Kristoffer Tigue.
Blaming Russia’s War, G7 Leaders Rescind Another Global Climate Pledge
Leaders of some of the world’s most wealthy nations say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the strain it’s causing to the global energy market, is forcing them to walk back a recent promise to stop funding overseas fossil fuel projects. It’s the latest climate pledge to fall victim to the war, which has upended global geopolitics and threatens to derail an already fragile international effort to tackle the climate crisis.
In May, members of the Group of Seven—a coalition of the world’s largest developed economies, known as G7 for short—pledged to stop funding fossil fuel projects in other countries by the end of the year, saying such development was out of sync with the Paris Agreement. The group’s members consist of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
But at a G7 summit in Germany that began over the weekend, most of the coalition’s members supported nullifying that promise as they scramble to replace ubiquitous Russian fossil fuels amid sky-high energy costs and rising global inflation, according to several news reports. Germany, France and Italy all lobbied for the move during the event, which took place at a remote castle in the Bavarian Alps.
“In the present situation we’ll have short-term needs that will require large investments in gas infrastructure in developing countries and elsewhere,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said during the talks Sunday, adding that he believed “short-term needs” could be balanced with “long-term climate needs” by later replacing natural gas with carbon-free hydrogen gas.
If adopted by the group, the change would mark the latest climate pledge to be nixed by G7 members since Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago. Germany, for example, has already walked back its promise to stop burning coal for electricity. And several G7 nations, including the United States, are reportedly lobbying to postpone fulfilling a pledge to deliver $100 billion in annual aid to help developing countries mitigate the effects of global warming, including rising sea levels and more frequent and severe extreme weather and drought. Many of those developing nations have contributed very little to the climate crisis yet face the greatest harm because of it.
In many ways, the weekend meeting offered an early and ominous glimpse of the steep challenges countries will likely face in November as they meet in Egypt for the United Nations’ highly anticipated climate summit. Many climate activists now worry that as the U.S. and other wealthy Western nations ramp up domestic production of oil and gas to replace lost fuel supplies from Russia, it’s sending the global climate fight in the wrong direction and risks sabotaging the chances of meeting key targets set by the Paris Agreement.
Earlier this month, U.S. government scientists announced that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had reached a record-high of nearly 421 parts per million. Exports of liquified natural gas from the United States to Europe have nearly tripled since March, according to a joint statement released Monday by the White House and the European Commission. And a new study found that global methane emissions have climbed a “worrisome” amount this year, despite 110 countries vowing last November to cut their emissions of the potent greenhouse gas by 30 percent over the next eight years—marking yet another potentially broken promise.
On Sunday, the G7 coalition announced they were making $600 billion available to help developing nations fund their infrastructure projects, with at least half of that pool going toward efforts to transition countries away from coal, the most carbon-intensive and polluting fossil fuel. Many countries, however, are moving away from coal by switching to gas rather than more climate-friendly sources like solar and wind. And on Tuesday, G7 members also announced the formation of a new global “climate club,” which is aimed at speeding up efforts to tackle global warming, in part by making it more financially attractive for companies and governments to decarbonize their industries.
As world leaders flit about in private helicopters over the weekend and enjoyed the quaint charms of their mountain retreat, including a wood-fueled fire at the Bavarian castle where they’ve held the conference since Saturday, a much different scene played out on the streets. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched on Munich, demanding far more be done to protect the world’s most vulnerable communities and transition the global economy away from planet-warming fossil fuels.
“We have a war in Ukraine, a climate war, a fossil-fuelled war, which is happening because of the same reason of the climate crisis. And they’re just continuing to spend on it. And they’re just accelerating the destruction,” Ilyess El Kortbi, a Ukrainian climate activist told POLITICO as he joined the ongoing protests outside the summit Monday. “How are G7 leaders different from Putin if most of them think of profits?”
Thanks for reading Today’s Climate, and I’ll be back in your inbox on Friday.
Today’s Indicator
That’s how much money each of the 133 community members of Coatitila, Mexico, were paid to protect their local forests for two years as part of a carbon offset program funded by oil giant BP. Critics say the meager wages revealed how offset programs can exploit poor communities for big corporate profit.
Global warming is increasing the likelihood of multiple extreme weather events occurring at once, according to new research published this month in Geophysical Research Letters. In some cases, these events could even create feedback loops and work to amplify conditions.
For a second day in a row, climate protesters in Sydney, Australia, faced arrest as they jammed traffic on a popular suburban road to draw attention to the climate crisis and demand their government do more to address it.
The increased frequency of drought and severe weather around the world is contributing to a shortage of beloved food items and condiments, including iconic sauces like Sriracha, as well as increased costs for staples like coffee and wine, researchers say.
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