Covid-hit UK begins 18-month preparations for UN climate summit
The stakes of the next climate talks have been raised as countries make decisions to reboot the economy that could impact climate action for years to come
Next UN climate summit to be delayed to November 2021, UK hosts propose
The Cop26 negotiations in Glasgow, UK, are likely to be held a full year later than planned, to allow time to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control
The European Investment Bank must go further to truly become a ‘climate bank’
In its roadmap for 2021-25, the EIB should eliminate support for high-carbon activities in all sectors and make its intermediaries follow the same standards
Airlines could get free pass on climate for five years under industry proposal
The industry is lobbying to rewrite the rules of a UN aviation pact, in a move researchers say would remove pressure to invest in clean flying technology
A large-scale evacuation saved lives, but the threat of coronavirus looms in crowded cyclone shelters and repairing the damage will cost billions of dollars
President Trump To Sign Executive Order Waiving Key Environmental Laws
President Trump is expected to sign an executive order to expedite the permitting of new infrastructure and energy projects as a way to address the economic downturn driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, several news outlets report. The order will waive several long-standing environmental laws to allow for the faster approval, including the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), according to The Washington Post.
How Small Family Forests Can Help Meet the Climate Challenge
As efforts grow to store more CO2 emissions in forests, one sector has been overlooked — small, family-owned woodlands, which comprise 38 percent of U.S. forests. Now, a major conservation initiative is aiming to help these owners manage their lands for maximum carbon storage.
As Mining Continues During Coronavirus, Local Indigenous Communities at High Risk
Mining sites across the globe have become hot spots for coronavirus infections, threatening thousands of workers and indigenous and rural communities, according to a new report by a coalition of environmental watchdog groups. Outbreaks of the virus have occurred in and around mine sites in 18 countries, including Panama, Brazil, Russia, Canada, and Peru.
The Pandemic Has Taken Cars Off Urban Streets. Will It Last?
With a sharp drop in auto traffic due to the coronavirus, cities around the globe have closed streets to cars and expanded pedestrian thoroughfares and bike lanes. But as life edges back to normal, will these initiatives survive, especially if virus-wary citizens shun mass transit?
The World’s Forests Are Getting Younger and Shorter, Research Finds
Climate change is altering the age and structure of the world’s forests, driving an increase in younger and shorter trees over the last century, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Since 1900, the world has lost more than a third of its old-growth forests.
Mississippi River Delta Marshes Have Hit a Tipping Point, Study Finds
New research finds that marshes in the Mississippi River Delta have hit a tipping point and will likely drown this century due to sea level rise. The study, which examined 8,500 years of marsh paleorecords, contradicts other research that suggests Louisiana’s remaining 5,800 square miles of marshes could survive climate change.
Will Floating Turbines Usher in a New Wave of Offshore Wind?
As locations for wind energy fill up onshore and near-shore, companies are deploying floating turbines that can be sited in deep waters, out of view from the coast. Proponents contend the new technology could boost the wind industry, but daunting challenges, including costs, remain.
A Major Oil Pipeline Project Strikes Deep at the Heart of Africa
Despite the global plunge in oil prices, a major pipeline that would carry oil 900 miles across East Africa is moving ahead. International experts warn that the $20 billion project will displace thousands of small farmers and put key wildlife habitat and coastal waters at risk.
Global Emissions Fell 17 Percent Due to Coronavirus Shutdowns
Daily global greenhouse gas emissions declined 17 percent by early April compared to 2019 levels due to coronavirus-related shutdowns around the world, according to new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Daily emissions from cars and trucks fell 36 percent, and aviation emissions declined by 60 percent.
In California, A Push Grows to Turn Dead Trees into Biomass Energy
As forests in California and the Western U.S. are hit by rising numbers of fires and disease outbreaks related to climate change, some experts argue that using dead and diseased trees to produce biomass energy will help to restore forests and reduce CO2 emissions.
One Billion People Will Suffer From “Unliveable” Heat Within 50 years, Study Finds
The human cost of the climate crisis will hit harder, wider, and sooner than previously believed, according to a study that shows a billion people will either be displaced or forced to endure insufferable heat for every additional 1 degree Celsius rise in the global temperature.
To Get Covid-19 Relief, Companies in Canada Will Have to Disclose Climate Impacts
Canada announced that in order for businesses to receive Covid-19 economic aid, they will be required to disclose their climate impacts and commit to making environmentally sustainable decisions, E&E News reported. The condition is part of the country’s new Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility, which has been created to provide bridge loans to Canada’s largest employers struggling during the pandemic.
When Social Distancing Ends, Will We Rethink the World We Want?
Long before the virus, Americans had become socially isolated, retreating into sprawling suburbs and an online world of screens. When we emerge from our pandemic-mandated separation, can we reconnect with each other and reconsider how the way we live impacts the natural world?
The Largest Solar Project in the U.S. Gets Green Light
The United States’ largest solar project to date received final approval from the Department of the Interior, clearing the way for the $1-billion, 690-megawatt array to break ground on federal land in the Mojave desert in Nevada, several news outlets reported. The project, which also includes battery storage, is expected to produce enough electricity to power 260,000 homes and offset the greenhouse gas emissions of about 83,000 cars annually, according to the Associated Press.
How Renewable Energy Could Emerge on Top After the Pandemic
The short-term prospects for wind and solar power look rocky amid the economic upheaval of the coronavirus. But long term, renewables could emerge stronger than ever, especially if governments integrate support for clean energy into Covid-19 economic-recovery programs.
Amid Coronavirus Lockdown, a Spike in Illegal Logging in Tunisia
Loggers in Tunisia are taking advantage of the country’s coronavirus restrictions, increasingly entering forests after a national curfew to illegally fell thousands of trees in the darkness of night. In early April, loggers in the northwest region of Ain Draham cut down 400 endangered Algerian oak trees, some more than 300 years old, to make charcoal, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported.
Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Injustice and the Coronavirus
Scientist Sacoby Wilson has long focused on health issues related to environmental injustice. In an e360 interview, he discusses how social and environmental inequality have contributed to the outsized impact of Covid-19 on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
Scientists Find Plastic Hotspots in the Deep Ocean
Scientists have discovered microplastic hotspots on the ocean floor, formed by deep-sea currents that act as conveyor belts moving tiny plastic fragments around. One such hotspot, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea, had 1.9 million microplastic pieces on just one square meter, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
Fortress Charleston: Will Walling Off the City Hold Back the Waters?
Officials in Charleston, South Carolina have endorsed a $2 billion plan to wall off the historic downtown from rising seas and surging storms. It is the latest in a growing number of extravagantly expensive seawalls and barriers being proposed to defend U.S. coastal cities.
Nearly 15,000 Miles of New Roads Will Be Built in Tiger Habitat by 2050, Study Finds
Nations are expected to build nearly 15,000 miles of new roads through tiger habitat by mid-century, driven by major infrastructure projects such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to a new analysis published in the journal Science Advances. The study also found that the 83,300 miles of roads that already cross through tiger habitat are decreasing the population and its prey by as much as 20 percent.
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 April contiguous U.S. average temperature was 50.90 degress Fahrenheit, 0.15 degress Fahrenheit below the 20th century average. The precipitation total was 2.47 inches, 0.05 inches below average.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April was 1.06 degrees C (1.91 degress Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.5 degrees C (59.9 degress Fahrenheit).
During April, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent (SCE) was 29.14 million square km (11.25 million square miles), 3.58% below the 1981-2010 average. The global sea ice extent was 20.37 million square km (7.86 million square miles), 5.43% 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.
The temperature and precipitation patterns in April 2020 were driven largely by the period April 12-20. A big ridge associated with a negative East Pacific Oscillation (EPO) brought above-normal temperatures to Alaska that drove that state's monthly mean anomalies. A trough downstream of that ridge was associated with a significant cold air event for the eastern U.S.
Snowfall at the beginning of April covered approximately 13.6 percent of the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) according to NOAA's National Snow Analysis. Snow blanketed the highest elevations of the western mountains, the northern Great Lakes, and parts of New England. On 3 April, snow fell across the Northern Rockies and Plains and parts of the northern Great Lakes bringing total CONUS snow cover to 23.7 percent.
As of April 28th, 12.33% of the Contiguous U.S. was experiencing drought conditions, 4.72% was in severe drought, 0.39% extreme, and 0.00% exceptional.
For April, 12,758 fires (2nd most since 2000) burned 159,021 acres (5th least on record), which is 12.5 acres burned/fire (3rd least on record). For January - April, 25,700 fires (4th most since 2000) burned 271,042 acres (4th least on record), which is 10.5 acres burned/fire (least on record).
There was no time to lose when Cyclone Amphan began forming over the Indian Ocean in May.
But shelters are not built with social distancing in mind in Bangladesh and the country faced a challenge: how to move 2.4 million people from the destructive path of the storm without delivering them into an even greater danger – Covid-19.
It is not enough to deal with the immediate effects of a natural disaster; communities need to be better prepared for the next storm
Football pitch-sized area of tropical rainforest lost every six seconds
Report also warns Australia will experience more extreme fire seasons due to climate crisis
The amount of pristine tropical rainforest lost across the globe increased last year, as the equivalent of a football pitch disappeared every six seconds, a satellite-based analysis has found.
Nearly 12m hectares of tree cover was lost across the tropics, including nearly 4m hectares of dense, old rainforest that held significant stores of carbon and had been home to a vast array of wildlife, according to data from the University of Maryland.
Markets not paying attention to climate crisis, IMF says
Firms should be made to disclose exposure to global heating, report suggests
Equity markets have generally ignored the increasing number of natural disasters over the past 50 years and tougher rules are needed to make investors aware of the dangers posed by the climate crisis, the International Monetary Fund has said.
Companies should be forced to disclose their exposure to climate risk because a voluntary approach does not go far enough, the IMF said in a chapter from its latest global financial stability report (GFSR).
EU's greenhouse gas emissions continue to fall as coal ditched
New figures for 2018 show 2.1% drop on previous year in switch to renewables
Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU continued their fall in 2018, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, according to a new report from Europe’s environment watchdog.
Emissions fell by 2.1% compared with 2017, to a level 23% lower than in 1990, the baseline for the bloc’s emission cuts under the UN’s climate agreements. If the UK is excluded, the decline since 1990 was smaller, standing at 20.7%.
'The human fingerprint is everywhere': Met Office's alarming warning on climate
Exclusively compiled data from the Hadley Centre’s supercomputer shows alarming climate trajectory
The human fingerprint on the climate is now unmistakable and will become increasingly evident over the coming decades, the UK Met Office has confirmed after 30 years of pioneering study.
Since the 1990s, global temperatures have warmed by half a degree, Arctic sea ice has shrunk by almost 2 million km2, sea-levels have risen by about 10cm and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 60 parts per million (17%), according to figures exclusively compiled for the Guardian to mark the 30th anniversary of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for climate science and services.
The climate crisis looms as the Coalition fiddles with fossil fuels | Greg Jericho
The government is like a smoker switching to low-tar cigarettes. Its energy policy is just a sop
We may be dealing with a health crisis, but the climate change crisis has not gone away, nor become any less urgent. In fact, the opposite.
A few conservative commentators have suggested Covid-19 shows what a real crisis looks like compared with, in their opinion, the hyperventilating over climate change.
I spent over 40 years in the Australian defence force. Our lack of preparedness concerns me | Chris Barrie
It is time Australian governments started to listen to experts when it comes to climate change and pandemics
The past 18 years has been a period of significant disengagement and disinterest by the community in Australian political affairs. The political shenanigans described in Malcolm Turnbull’s recent book A Bigger Picture ought to be a wake-up call that as our political leaders have jostled for the right to exercise power from the PM’s office, time has been a’wasting in finding appropriate solutions for the challenges Australia must face over the next three decades. It is time for us to hold our governments to account for the quality of their governance.
Until the end of last year, we had blindly turned away from doing anything to address many of the challenges that have been laid out by science and respected commentators. Bigots in our media and parliaments have held sway and prevented much from being done. The result has been a lack of preparation to deal with the serious issues we confront.
Australia’s geo-strategic future is very uncertain. Our national character and will are likely to be challenged in many new ways
The geo-strategic environment is more uncertain than it has been for many decades.
Defence needs to have confidence that its planning arrangements are appropriate for the contemporary context.
While considerable defence mobilisation has occurred at lower levels since the 1998 lead up to operation Interfet there has been limited consideration of formal planning for large-scale, (including national) mobilisation since the Vietnam era or the need to mobilise in less traditional ways.
Despite an extended period of ADF operations since the late 1990s the mobilisation impact on the Australian economy and population has been limited to a narrow element of defence industry and some employers of defence reserves.
The Guardian view on climate and Covid: time to make different choices | Editorial
Despite some fine words about the environmental crisis, ministers are pushing ahead with a trade bill that threatens to damage the planet
The dust storms that devastated the US prairie during the Great Depression were the worst ecological disaster in American history. They were also, partly, manmade. Decades of farming in the Great Plains had rid the topsoil of its native grass, leaving nothing to prevent fields crumbling to dust when drought struck in 1931. Across the Dust Bowl in midwest America, millions of acres of farmland were swept away in brown blizzards. Forced off the land, hungry families headed west in search of new jobs and lives. The dust blew so far east that it settled on the White House lawn.
Almost 90 years ago the US president’s response was not to lie about the scale of disaster or blame others. Instead, Franklin D Roosevelt launched one of his New Deal’s signature relief programmes: the Civilian Conservation Corps. Its mission was to put unemployed Americans to work. More than 3 million people planted 3bn trees, built shelter belts across the Great Plains to reduce the risk of dust storms, and created 700 state parks. FDR’s legacy survives, but his policy is venerated more in name than in deed.
'I don't want to be seen as a zealot': what MPs really think about the climate crisis
In return for anonymity, MPs agreed to speak candidly about climate change. The difference between what they say in private and in public is striking – and shows us how we can make climate action central to post-pandemic politics. By Rebecca Willis
One day in the summer of 2017, I was sitting at a cafe table in the atrium of Portcullis House, across the road from the Palace of Westminster. With indoor trees and a good coffee bar, it’s a pleasant place for politicians and their staff to meet, outside their cramped offices. I was there to interview an MP for a research project, hoping to learn more about how MPs understood climate change, and how that shaped their work in parliament.
The MP arrived. She was young and, at least on the surface, full of confidence. I explained that my interviews would be anonymised, so that she and others could talk freely about how they came to their public positions on climate. She told me she regularly speaks for her party on climate change, telling people about the need for action to tackle emissions. And yet, she said, there was a catch: lots of people in the constituency she represents have jobs in an industry responsible for huge amounts of carbon pollution.
Climate change is turning parts of Antarctica green, say scientists
Researchers map ‘beginning of new ecosystem’ as algae bloom across surface of melting snow
Scientists have created the first large-scale map of microscopic algae on the Antarctic peninsula as they bloom across the surface of the melting snow, tinting the surface green and potentially creating a source of nutrition for other species.
The British team behind the research believe these blooms will expand their range in the future because global heating is creating more of the slushy conditions they need to thrive.
Dust bowl conditions of 1930s US now more than twice as likely to reoccur
Climate breakdown means conditions that wrought devastation across Great Plains could return to region
The agricultural conditions known as a “dust bowl”, which helped propel mass migration among drought-stricken farmers in the US during the great depression of the 1930s, are now more than twice as likely to reoccur in the region, because of climate breakdown, new research has found.
Dust bowl conditions in the 1930s wrought devastation across the US agricultural heartlands of the Great Plains, which run through the middle of the continental US stretching from Montana to Texas. The conditions are caused by a combination of heatwaves, drought and farming practices, replacing the native prairie vegetation.
The assembly culminates this weekend after its final meeting in March was postponed and moved online due to the coronavirus outbreak, bringing a host of logistical challenges.
How is the Covid-19 energy slump affecting the weather?
Global emissions are expected to be 8% lower this year but the long-term impact is unclear
Energy demand has plummeted during the Covid-19 crisis and global carbon dioxide emissions are anticipated to be 8% lower this year, compared with 2019. Is this affecting our weather and will it affect the global climate in years to come?
Carbon dioxide hangs around in the atmosphere for decades so it takes a long time for the impact to play out. Keith Shine, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading, estimates the Covid-19 effect might reduce warming by a measly 0.0025°C in about 20 years time. This is far below anything we can observe. If we were to sustain this 8% reduction over the coming years, Shine calculated, we would avoid about 0.15°C of warming but sadly we would still massively overshoot our Paris agreement target of 1.5°C. “This emphasises the scale of the task we have ahead of us,” said Shine.
After coronavirus, focus on the climate emergency | Letters
Signatories including Dr Wolfgang Knorrsay it is game over for preventing dangerous climate change, Colin Hines says a green infrastructure should be prioritised in a post-Covid-19 world, and Andy Radford on why we should consider permanent changes to the way we live
Last month, the Guardian quoted Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, saying if we put post-pandemic bailout money in the wrong place “we will lock ourselves in a dirtier energy system, making it much more difficult to reach our climate targets” (‘Coronavirus profiteers’ condemned as polluters gain bailout billions, 17 April).
We beg to differ. It is game over for preventing dangerous climate change now that governments are planning the cheapest and quickest return to consumption. Riding on the wave of cheap oil and fossil-fuel bailouts is incompatible with keeping the average global temperature rise below 2C, let alone 1.5C.
How did Michael Moore become a hero to climate deniers and the far right? | George Monbiot
The filmmaker’s latest venture is an excruciating mishmash of environment falsehoods and plays into the hands of those he once opposed
Denial never dies; it just goes quiet and waits. Today, after years of irrelevance, the climate science deniers are triumphant. Long after their last, desperate claims had collapsed, when they had traction only on “alt-right” conspiracy sites, a hero of the left turns up and gives them more than they could have dreamed of.
Planet of the Humans, whose executive producer and chief promoter is Michael Moore, now has more than 6 million views on YouTube. The film does not deny climate science. But it promotes the discredited myths that deniers have used for years to justify their position. It claims that environmentalism is a self-seeking scam, doing immense harm to the living world while enriching a group of con artists. This has long been the most effective means by which denial – most of which has been funded by the fossil fuel industry – has been spread. Everyone hates a scammer.
Australia has found common ground to respond to Covid-19. We can do the same for climate change | Cassandra Goldie, Innes Willox, Emma Herd
After all we have already endured in 2020 we should know that stopping an emergency is far better than responding to one
In just a few short months, many more people in Australia have faced greater adversity in 2020 than in the decade since we emerged from the global financial crisis.
The bushfires that affected the health of millions, claimed lives and livelihoods, blighted our landscape and destroyed communities were unprecedented in size and intensity. Now the acute shock of the Covid-19 pandemic has also taken lives and left many more living in fear, while throwing hundreds of thousands out of paid work, shattering businesses and leaving us facing an unstable new world.
We created the Anthropocene, and the Anthropocene is biting back | Alastair Gee, Dani Anguiano
It’s clear from a recent litany of disasters – from the coronavirus pandemic to America’s deadliest wildfire in a century – there are forces that cannot be domesticated
About 12,000 years ago, human domestication of the natural world began in earnest with the intentional cultivation of wild plants and animals. Fast forward to today and our dominion over the planet appears complete, as 7.8 billion of us multiply across its surface and our reach extends from the deep-sea beds, which are being mined, to the heavens, where we are, according to Donald Trump, dispatching a space force.
Yet as has been made clear by a recent litany of disasters – from the coronavirus pandemic to America’s deadliest wildfire in a century – there are forces that cannot be domesticated. Indeed, our interference with the natural world is making them more liable to flare up into tragedy. We created the Anthropocene, and the Anthropocene isbiting back.
School has resumed after the holidays, and it will not be as any student has experienced before. But this isn’t the first time we have sacrificed our education to flatten a curve for the greater good. We’ve been doing it since 2018 when we decided to forego school classes on Fridays to bring attention to the climate crisis and the exponential curve of fossil fuel emissions that, according to the World Health Organisation, kills seven million people a year.
As young people locked in our houses with endless video calls for uni and work, we are worried. Are we the first generation to watch the world go through two exponential crises? One of medical concern, threatening the lives of millions and locking down countries. And the other a climate crisis that is already affecting billions and could end life on this planet as we know it.
The facility would turn ethane from fracking into more than a million tons of plastic pellets a year.
By James Bruggers
The same economic forces that are delaying construction of a plastics plant in Ohio will make another one under construction in western Pennsylvania less profitable and riskier to shareholders, an economic think tank warns in a new report.
One of the big debates in the regulation of renewable energy is about how best to compensate owners of rooftop solar for electricity they sell back to the grid. This fight over “net metering” is playing out across the country, with utilities often trying to make rooftop solar less of a financial winner for customers.
In Arkansas, solar advocates are feeling a sense of relief after state regulators ruled on Monday that utilities must keep the current net metering system in place until at least the beginning of 2023 for systems that are less than 1 megawatt. That means no additional fees and no changes to rates that now pay rooftop solar owners the full retail price of electricity for any excess electricity they sell to the grid.
Arkansas is one of a band of states in the South that have an abundance of sun but have been slow to develop solar power. The state ranks 31st in the country in installed solar, with 220 megawatts. If the United States is going to move swiftly on the transition to clean energy, these sunny Southern states must play a part.
Gary Moody, the National Audubon Society’s national director of state and local climate strategy, told me that if the Arkansas decision had gone a different way, “it could have been the end” of rooftop solar in the state.
“I’m feeling really good,” said Moody, who is based in Arkansas. “The mood is really positive.”
The ruling says that utilities can propose changes to the net metering rates for solar systems larger than 1 megawatt, which are large commercial and industrial systems. But smaller systems would retain the current rates until 2023 at the earliest.
Utilities such as Entergy have said they need to impose new charges on owners of solar systems to cover a portion of the utilities’ costs to maintain the grid. This is a familiar argument by the utilities, which solar advocates say is part of an attempt to restrain solar’s growth.
The ruling in Arkansas follows the passage last year of a state law that allows new options for customers to finance solar projects, and says that regulators can consider whether the current methods of compensating rooftop solar owners are appropriate. The law was a compromise between utilities and businesses that want to expand solar.
Lawmakers gave regulators—in this case the Arkansas Public Service Commission—the leeway to settle some of the toughest disputes, and the commission responded by mostly maintaining the status quo.
Moody and other environmental advocates say the state may be primed for a solar boom, and they are pleased that regulators are not standing in the way.
Photo Credit: Dennis Schroeder/NREL
China’s Path to Clean Energy May Be Smoother than We Previously Thought
For the world to stave off the most damaging effects of climate change, China—the world’s leading source of carbon emissions—is going to need to stop its expansion of fossil power and dramatically increase renewables.
While many forecasts have been pessimistic about the chances of China making the necessary changes, a new paper in the journal Nature Communications says the probable reality is much better than we previously thought, largely because of falling costs of wind, solar and battery storage.
The co-authors of the study developed a model that projects that by 2030, 62 percent of China’s electricity generation will come from sources other than fossil fuels. This is much more than the 45 percent by 2030 that is shown in a “business as usual” scenario similar to widely cited forecasts.
Gang He, a co-author of the report, told me the results of the research “are exciting and did offer me some optimism.” He teaches at Stony Brook University in New York and is a visiting faculty member at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The key factor is that wind, solar and battery storage costs are plummeting to an extent that will reshape China’s energy economy more than other forecasts have shown, the paper says. China produces 28 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, more than any other country, and double the share in the United States.
The main problem with many of the other models, He said, is that they have been slow to account for how quickly costs are decreasing for renewables, and they do not account for how new technologies are making it easier to integrate wind and solar into a reliable grid.
I wrote last year about how another forecast—from the U.S. Energy Information Administration—has a track record of underestimating the growth of renewables and overestimating the staying power of fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency also has been slow to change its forecasts to account for the rapid growth of renewables.
Of course, any forecast is going to be wrong in some way because we don’t know all the factors, or how much each will matter. But when it comes to predicting changes to our energy system, some forecasts have missed the mark by miles.
While the paper gives us reason for optimism, He reminded me that the transformation of China’s electricity sector is just one part of reducing carbon emissions. The electricity sector is responsible for roughly half of China’s emissions, with the rest coming from transportation, heating and other sources.
“Climate change is such an enormous challenge that we need systematic change and integrated solutions,” He said. “Not just the supply side, but also the demand side—energy efficiency, behavior change and just transition.”
Photo Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Memphis Considers Ditching TVA and Sees Possibility of Savings and Cleaner Energy
Memphis remains one of the last cities in Tennessee to resist renewing its contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority, and a new study says consumers can save money if the city ends its contract and invests in renewable energy.
The study, commissioned by Memphis’s city-owned utility and conducted by Siemens Management Consulting, found that the city could save at least $120 million per year on its current $1 billion annual power bill.
And, Memphis could achieve net savings of $1.9 billion between 2020 and 2039 by generating some of its own power and purchasing the rest from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, according to the report.
Four previous studies found that leaving TVA and investing in renewables could foster economic development in Memphis and lower energy costs by hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
The Siemens report, which determined that the lowest-carbon energy sources would offer the highest savings, comes as other Tennessee cities are pushing TVA to transition more quickly to renewable energy generation. The state lacks renewable energy portfolio standards and has plenty of room for solar growth.
My colleague James Bruggers has written about how TVA, the federally owned power producer, has seen nearly all the cities it serves sign new 20-year contracts, lengthened from the five- and 10-year contracts of the past under the assumption that a transition to using more renewables takes time. Many cities only accepted the longer contracts after TVA committed to investing in solar and other alternative energies, though some clean energy advocates say the transition is still too slow. Knoxville was reluctant to move to a 20-year commitment, but signed on in March after TVA agreed to help the city build a 212-megawatt solar farm.
Memphis’ utility is TVA’s biggest customer and comprises about 10 percent of its yearly revenue. Ahead of the Siemens report’s release, TVA’s top executive, Jeff Lyash, highlighted already-low electricity costs in Memphis and said that TVA expects to be able to save Memphis $37 million per year through a combination of reduced rates and expanded renewables.
Last Friday, Lyash questioned the clarity of risks and benefits outlined in the Siemens report. “I didn't see anything in the Siemens study that shakes my belief that TVA still provides the best overall value proposition for Memphis,” he told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Photo Credit: Visions of America/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
We Have Iron in the Water!
I wrote in March that the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project was on track to begin installation in May. The developers of this two-turbine project reported this week that they hit that mark, installing the base of the first turbine on May 25 and the base of the second one on May 30.
The 12-megawatt project will be the second offshore wind farm in the United States, following the Block Island Wind Farm off of Rhode Island, which went online in 2016.
This was supposed to be a big year for offshore wind in the United States, with many projects moving forward, but coronavirus and regulatory delays have meant that there is likely to be much less progress.
So if you’re looking for a tangible sign that offshore wind is on the rise, this photo from Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind may have to suffice for now, showing “iron in the water” as workers place the first turbine.
Photo Credit: Dominion Energy
Reporter Nicole Pollack contributed to this story.
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.
From Minnesota to Kentucky; from California to New York, climate activists are joining the protests denouncing the nation's ongoing racial disparities sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Marching against police brutality and racial violence is integral to climate activism, not separate issues, said environmental justice activist Elizabeth Yeampierre.
Flooding in the U.S. disproportionately harms African American neighborhoods, an analysis of federal flood insurance payments shows. Aging sewer infrastructure and less porous surfaces often make urban flooding more damaging, highlighting how climate change-related factors could exacerbate ongoing racial disparities in the country, E&E News reports.
As protests and violence erupt in cities, the United States faces a new threat: The country is running out of blood, the New York Times reports. Several months of social distancing and stay-at-home orders have resulted in fewer people donating or needing blood. But as states reopen and hospitals resume elective surgeries, increasing the demand, the rate of blood donations has yet to bounce back.
The Interior Department is struggling to fill top positions at the Bureau of Land Management despite assurances from officials that the agency's relocation from Washington to Colorado is helping recruit top talent, according to an analysis by The Hill. Just a month before it plans to finish the relocation, BLM has yet to hire four of the agency's seven division directors.
Air pollution in China has climbed back to pre-pandemic levels, and scientists say Europe may follow suit, The Guardian reports. At the height of the country's coronavirus response in early March, nitrous oxide levels were down by 38 percent from 2019 and concentrations of fine soot pollution—or PM 2.5—were down by 34 percent. Both are now back to 2019 levels.
Police stormed a dozen sawmills in Brazil's Amazon rainforest on Tuesday, arresting about 30 people accused of involvement in an illegal logging ring that was responsible for cutting down some 9,000 trees in a span of 10 months, Reuters reports. Deforestation hit an 11-year high in 2019, and about 99 percent of deforestation in Brazil last year was illegal.
Germany's government has set a target to expand offshore wind power capacity by 2040 to 40 gigawatts from 15 gigawatts currently, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday. By 2030, the government aims to add 20 gigawatts in capacity as part of a wide-ranging climate package enacted last year. The revised targets could potentially help the ailing wind power sector.
Friends of the Earth tweeted #BlackLivesMatter, and the head of the NRDC promised “to be fully and visibly committed to the fight against systemic racism.”
By ILANA COHEN, EVELYN NIEVES, JUDY FAHYS, MARIANNE LAVELLE, JAMES BRUGGERS
When New York Communities for Change helped lead a demonstration of 500 on Monday in Brooklyn to protest George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis, the grassroots group's activism spoke to a long-standing link between police violence against African Americans and environmental justice.
The EPA on Monday finalized a rule change that limits states' ability to block the construction of energy infrastructure projects, part of the Trump administration's goal of supporting fossil fuel development. The rule curtails Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act, which has been used by New York to block a natural gas pipeline, and by Washington state to oppose a coal export terminal.
Man-made global warming is driving more frequent extreme rainstorms in North America, a new study found, backing up past findings that such storms have become more common across the Northern Hemisphere. At the current warming trajectory, the continent could experience 100-year rainstorms as often as every 2.5 years by the end of the century.
Volkswagen, the German automaker that paid more than $20 billion in federal criminal and civil penalties for cheating diesel emissions tests in the U.S. and elsewhere, could now face a "staggering" volume of claims from local governments after a federal appeals court ruled on Monday that counties in Florida and in Utah could impose local pollution laws on the manufacturer.
A Tallahassee judge on Monday ordered the dismissal of a climate change lawsuit brought by eight children who wanted to argue that the governor and other top state leaders have promoted pollution that imperils their chances of living in Florida in the future. The case is one of several similar suits filed in seven states across the country, our own reporting found.
Destruction of tropical forests worldwide increased last year, led again by Brazil, which was responsible for more than a third of the total loss, and where deforestation of the Amazon through clear-cutting appears to be on the rise under the pro-development policies of the country's president, the New York Times reports.
Climate group Ceres, along with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, has laid out a plan that they say is necessary for financial markets and regulators to adequately cope with the threats of climate change. The U.S. has lost nearly $1.8 trillion from climate-related extreme weather events since 1980, and markets must focus on the climate moving beyond Covid-19 recovery efforts, the report says.
The Murray-Darling Basin is supposed to be Australia's agricultural heartland, named for two of the continent's most important rivers. But over the last several years, the region has been engulfed in drought so severe, farmers have resorted to pulling out once-profitable crops and pumping illegally from depleted stocks, Bloomberg reports.
The current warming trajectory could bring 100-year rainstorms as often as every 2.5 years by 2100, driving calls for improved infrastructure and planning.
By Bob Berwyn
New research showing how global warming intensifies extreme rainfall at the regional level could help communities better prepare for storms that in the decades ahead threaten to swamp cities and farms.
The likelihood of intense storms is rising rapidly in North America, and the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, projects big increases in such deluges.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which federal scientists expect to bring more frequent and severe storms than normal, starts today. As coastal states plan for hurricanes, they are confronting new complications because of the coronavirus pandemic, including public confusion over whether it would be safer to evacuate or stay at home.
From a first-of-its-kind underground flood wall in Connecticut to a new community for people forced to flee Louisiana's coast, climate-related projects in 13 cities and states are now in jeopardy because of Covid-19, the New York Times reports. The projects, which were created under the Obama administration, will likely get sidelined unless Congress saves them.
Amid growing concerns that its fumes may be harming locals, a company that owns petroleum storage tanks in South Portland, Maine, showed drastic cuts in their emissions over the course of a year not by changing its practices, but by altering a key part of its emissions calculation. Reporter Sabrina Shankman looks at the company's questionable math in the latest installment of this ongoing investigative series.
Surviving a hurricane was not something Hal Summers ever hoped to have to do. But when Hurricane Michael became a Category 5 storm, it was already too late for him to evacuate. This is part of our American Climate series documenting how climate change is impacting people across the country.
The Trump administration is proposing to fast track logging on public lands, introducing two proposals last week that would limit the environmental review of new projects. The Bureau of Land Management argues that its proposal to eliminate a 15-day public comment period on the agency's decisions would eliminate redundancies. Others say the move further cuts the public out of the conversation.
As countries begin rolling out plans to restart their economies after the brutal shock inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic, the three biggest producers of planet-warming gases—the European Union, the United States and China—are setting courses that push humanity in very different directions, the New York Times reports.
The official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which forecasters anticipate to be above-average, could signal more steep losses for insurers and reinsurers already battered by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their underwriting and investment positions.
One of the coldest regions on Earth has been experiencing a record-breaking heat wave in recent weeks amid growing fears about devastating wildfires and melting permafrost, NBC News reports. A town in Siberia's Arctic Circle registered highs of over 80 degrees Fahrenheit this week, far above the 59 degrees Fahrenheit historical average, as the whole of western Siberia basked in unseasonable warmth.
In Florida, officials fear widespread confusion when stay-at-home policies conflict with evacuation orders, and they worry about coronavirus spreading in shelters.
By JAMES BRUGGERS, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS AND AMY GREEN, WFME ORLANDO
ORLANDO, Florida—Robin Rokobauer doesn't like to chance it. When there's a hurricane, she almost always evacuates.
Rokobauer lives in Cocoa Beach, on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and 153-mile-long Indian River Lagoon. Her mother is 93.
"She's got to have flushing toilets," Rokobauer said of her mother. "She's got to have fresh water. She's just got some physical needs that require that."
For over a year, this Maine city has worried about toxic fumes from a tank farm. But figuring out whether they’re harming people is not an easy task.
By Sabrina Shankman
Episode 9: The Fumes in South Portland. The ninth in an ongoing first-person series by InsideClimate News reporter Sabrina Shankman about the growing fears of residents in South Portland, Maine, as they try to solve a mystery: Are the fumes emanating from the storage tanks of the nation's easternmost oil port harming their kids? The series is funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
James Enstrom shocked public health experts when he published a study concluding that there was no link between fine soot air pollution and premature death. His findings contradicted decades of previous research and the consensus of scientists.
So why is the EPA relying on his work?
In a new investigation, our reporter Marianne Lavelle reveals how Enstrom's research has helped the Trump administration's wide-ranging assault on environmental protection.
The work of contrarians like Enstrom has helped make the case in agencies, in Congress and in the courts, for fossil fuel industries to maintain their way of doing business despite the mortal threats posed by climate change and fine particle air pollution.
At InsideClimate News you’ll find important stories you won’t read elsewhere.
Enstrom’s journey to influence is a crucial part of the story of the Trump administration's dangerous campaign to remake the rules of scientific evidence. It could undermine U.S. environmental protection for years to come.
Hal Summers thought he and his cat could wait out the storm inside his parents’ stone home. He was wrong.
By Katelyn Weisbrod
MEXICO BEACH, Florida—Waiting out a Category 5 storm was not on Hal Summers' bucket list.
But in the days leading up to Oct. 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael did not seem like it would turn out to be the first storm of such magnitude to hit the Florida Panhandle, where Summers had lived in Mexico Beach for 11 years.
