Climate Home

11/30/23, Cop28 bulletin: Welcome to Dubai

11/29/23, How can corporates ‘course correct’ on climate?

11/29/23, Four questions for Cop28 to settle about a global carbon market

11/29/23, Seven things to watch out for in world leader speeches at Cop28

11/29/23, Ten years on from Haiyan, Shell’s intimidation won’t silence me

11/28/23, The Cop28 climate summit must set us free from fossil fuels

11/27/23, Here’s how the oil-rich UAE delivers a Cop28 ‘win’

11/27/23, Leaks reveal how McKinsey drives African climate agenda

11/24/23, We need more humanists in climate campaigning

11/24/23, The ‘inevitable’ fossil fuel fight set to dominate Cop28

11/23/23, Meet the Italian fugitive advising Emirati start-up Blue Carbon

11/22/23, Fearing repression in Dubai, non-binary people stay away from Cop28

11/22/23, In numbers: The state of the climate ahead of Cop28

11/20/23, Slow start for Indonesia’s much-hyped carbon market

11/19/23, Ghana’s flood victims blame government for overflowing dam destruction

11/17/23, Oil, carbon and loss: navigating Cop28 with Climate Home News

11/17/23, OECD: Rich countries ‘likely’ to hit $100bn climate finance goal in 2022

11/16/23, ‘I hug you deep inside my heart’: In memory of Khalil Abu Yahia

11/16/23, EU law pushes foreign oil and gas producers to cut methane

11/16/23, France, Kenya set to launch Cop28 coalition for global taxes to fund climate action

11/15/23, Total is disrespecting graves in East Africa as it pursues pipeline

11/15/23, US and China promise cooperation on renewables and methane

11/15/23, Shades of green hydrogen: EU demand set to transform Namibia

11/13/23, UK aid cuts leave Malawi vulnerable to droughts and cyclones

11/10/23, Australia to accept migrants from climate-hit Tuvalu in security pact

11/9/23, China sets out methane plan, but no reduction target

11/9/23, The US and China’s resurgent climate cooperation is a big deal

11/8/23, Colombia’s big green plans run into headwinds

11/8/23, Talks to boost ‘underfinanced’ climate adaptation split over money

11/7/23, World Bank to initially host loss and damage fund under draft deal

11/6/23, Argentine rewilding debate descends into legal threats

11/6/23, The OECD must take its chance to stop funding oil and gas

11/4/23, Australia’s bid to host climate talks is welcome but must be matched with action

11/3/23, Forests, methane, finance: Where are the Cop26 pledges now?

11/3/23, Avoid our mistake: Don’t let World Bank host loss and damage fund

11/2/23, Indonesia delays coal closure plans after finance row with rich nations

11/2/23, DRC hands gas rights to Canadian start-up that failed criteria

11/1/23, Wars are closing down the window for climate action

10/31/23, Rooftop solar panels offer fragile lifeline to besieged Gazans

10/30/23, Movement mourns ‘driving force for climate justice’ Saleemul Huq

Yale Environment 360

11/29/23, Conservationists Sue to Stop the Planting of Giant Sequoias

11/28/23, Clearing Skies: Opening a New Path on Climate and the Future

11/27/23, World Appears on Track to Triple Renewable Power by 2030

11/21/23, Severe Heat Killed More Than 70,000 in Europe Last Year, Scientists Estimate

11/20/23, After the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future

11/17/23, Climate Plans That Rely Too Much on Carbon Removal Could Breach International Law

11/16/23, Shifting Political Winds Threaten Progress on Europe’s Green Goals

11/15/23, World Making Too Little Progress on Climate — Except on EV Sales, Report Finds

11/14/23, Uncounted Emissions: The Hidden Cost of Fossil Fuel Exports

11/13/23, China Could See Emissions Peak This Year, Analysis Finds

11/10/23, Greenland's Glaciers Melting Twice as Fast as They Were 20 Years Ago

11/9/23, Can 'Immortal' Sequoias Survive the Ravages of Climate Change?

11/8/23, Deforestation in Colombia Down 70 Percent So Far This Year

11/7/23, Ecosystems as Infrastructure: A New Way of Looking at Climate Resilience

11/6/23, After Salmon Deaths, EPA Takes Aim at Toxic Chemical Issuing from Car Tires

11/3/23, The Amount of Mercury in the Atmosphere Has Grown Sevenfold Over Last 500 Years

11/2/23, As Climate Talks Near, Calls Mount for a ‘Phaseout’ of Fossil Fuels

11/1/23, Europe's Liquefied Natural Gas Buildout Collides With Waning Demand

10/31/23, Without Warning: A Lack of Weather Stations Is Costing African Lives

10/30/23, As Oceans Warm, Coral Bleaching Seen at Greater Depths

U.S. Global Change Research Program

8/18/23, U.S. Global Change Research Program Welcomes Dr. Stacy Aguilera-Peterson as Deputy Director for Research

4/24/23, U.S. Global Change Research Program Welcomes Dr. Julian Reyes as Deputy Director for Services

3/27/23, U.S. Global Change Research Program Welcomes Dr. Phillip Levin as Director of National Nature Assessment

2/9/23, Department of Homeland Security Becomes 14th Member of USGCRP

11/10/22, USGCRP at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2022

11/9/22, USGCRP hosting free webinars in support of National Climate Assessment

3/8/22, Fifth National Climate Assessment Update: March 2022

8/16/21, Fifth National Climate Assessment Update: August 2021

7/13/21, USGCRP Welcomes Allison Crimmins as Director of the Fifth National Climate Assessment

5/27/21, Dr. Mike Kuperberg Returns as USGCRP Executive Director

NOAA State of the Climate updates

The Guardian

11/30/23, The climate crisis explained in 10 charts

11/28/23, Why the Guardian’s climate and nature journalism is needed now more than ever

11/24/23, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg received death threats for his work. He kept fighting anyway – video

11/24/23, East Anglian Fens were covered in yew trees 4,000 years ago, study finds

11/22/23, ‘Hope has to be a strategy’: the scientist who refused to let the climate warmongers win

11/22/23, ‘The antidote to despair is action’: Lesley Hughes on motivation through a climate crisis - video

11/21/23, The climate science is in. So why are the climate scientists down and out? | Fiona Katauskas

11/20/23, Weight of the world part 1: the climate scientists who saw the crisis coming – podcast

11/20/23, 'Frustrating as hell': Graeme Pearman’s climate research should have warned the world - video

11/20/23, ‘Where did I go wrong?’ The scientist who tried to raise the climate alarm

11/19/23, Suck carbon from the air? US facility launches novel climate solution

11/17/23, ‘Like a 40-metre pizza’: the seaweed farms that could feed us all – at a cost

11/12/23, Emmanuel Macron pledges €1bn to fund research into melting ice caps

11/6/23, ‘Everything is parched’: Amazon struggles with drought amid deforestation

11/2/23, A monster eddy current is forming off Sydney. What is it, and will it bring a new marine heatwave?

10/30/23, Climate crisis: carbon emissions budget is now tiny, scientists say

10/24/23, Scientists discover hidden landscape ‘frozen in time’ under Antarctic ice

10/24/23, Earth’s ‘vital signs’ worse than at any time in human history, scientists warn

10/12/23, Hailstorm frequency has increased by 40% around Sydney and Perth since 1979

10/12/23, Without the Southern Ocean we cannot survive on Earth. Our research must wait no longer | Nathan Bindoff

Inside Climate News

11/29/23, In California, Farmers Test a Method to Sink More Water into Underground Stores

11/28/23, COP28 by the Numbers

COP28 by the Numbers

Inside Climate News

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Six Numbers Illustrating Why COP28 Could Be a Heavy Lift for World Leaders

More than 70,000 diplomats, politicians, business leaders and environmental advocates from all around the world are expected in Dubai on Thursday for COP28, the United Nations’ flagship climate change summit.

Each year, delegates from nearly 200 nations gather at the conference to discuss how they can limit rising global temperatures through the end of the century in hopes of avoiding the most dire consequences of climate change, including upwards of three-quarters of Earth’s species disappearing for good.

But this year’s conference could be an especially important one as carbon emissions continue to reach historic highs and the planet approaches potential tipping points that scientists fear could send global warming spiraling out of control. With climate and energy experts stressing the need to immediately reduce the use of fossil fuels if nations hope to keep the Paris Agreement targets alive, and with wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, world leaders face significant challenges at the talks.

These six indicators help illustrate the extent of those challenges and what’s at stake if nations fail to reach some key agreements, including a deal to phase down fossil fuels.

1 percent

That’s how much of the global investment in renewable energy last year came from fossil fuel companies, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency, a nonpartisan energy watchdog group and one of the world’s most respected energy analyst firms.

Clean energy saw record growth last year, with new capacity increasing nearly 10 percent globally from the previous year, data shows. But 2022 was also a blockbuster year for fossil fuel companies, which took in $200 billion in profits—more than double what the industry made the prior year.

Taken altogether, the numbers show that fossil fuel companies, whose products are largely responsible for causing the climate crisis, are not taking the clean energy transition seriously and are in fact planning to dramatically expand their oil and gas production decades into the future.

That’s a major problem if nations actually want to achieve the Paris Agreement targets of limiting the planet’s average warming to at least 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with the hopes of keeping it below 1.5 degrees, the IEA’s new report said. The agency has previously said that global installations of renewable energy must triple by 2030 to keep those targets alive.

“The oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP28 in Dubai. With the world suffering the impacts of a worsening climate crisis, continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement. “Oil and gas producers around the world need to make profound decisions about their future place in the global energy sector.”

3 percent

That’s how much U.S. carbon emissions are expected to fall by the end of this year, E&E News reports, marking some positive news for climate advocates after the nation failed to reduce its emissions in 2022 and 2021. In fact, it would be one of the largest annual emission declines of the last decade.

The projection comes from two recent analyses, one from the International Energy Agency and the other from Carbon Monitor, a multi-university effort to track emissions. But the outlook also comes with notable caveats.

For one, the U.S. was already trending downwards before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the global economy, and a 3-percent drop essentially resumes that previous trajectory rather than pointing to an accelerated effort to tackle climate change. And secondly, while that reduction is historic in its own right, the U.S. would need to reduce its carbon emissions by 6 percent every year through 2030 just to keep on track with its climate goals under the Paris Agreement.

Considering the U.S. is historically the largest contributor to climate change and wields outsized influence in global negotiations, this could be an ominous signal for the climate talks this week. Surely, other nations will be watching how the Biden administration addresses this gap and whether it offers any solutions to help close it.

16 percent

That’s how much of the total carbon emissions released in 2019 globally came from just 77 million of the world’s richest people, according to a new report from the Guardian, Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute. That means the activities of a tiny fraction of the global population contributed a whopping 5.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that year—more CO2 than released by the planet’s poorest 66 percent, the report added.

It has long been known that wealthy nations are largely responsible for causing climate change, releasing far more greenhouse gas emissions than developing countries, which disproportionately bear the brunt of climate-related harms. The new report is the latest to highlight just how astonishingly wide of a gap exists between wealthy and poor individuals with regards to their carbon footprints.

This will be a key issue delegates plan to address at COP28, as they attempt to map out the details for the United Nations’ loss and damages fund. The landmark fund was established during last year’s summit, but nations have yet to decide how exactly it will operate, including who must pay into the fund and by how much. It’s a touchy subject, and wealthier countries like the United States have frequently opposed such a fund, arguing that the effort should remain voluntary.

135 million

That’s how many metric tons of methane were released into the atmosphere in 2022, according to the U.N. It’s a significant amount with serious implications considering that methane is roughly 80 times more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

That’s why nailing down a deal on slashing methane emissions will be a priority at this year’s COP, Reuters reports. While more than 150 countries have promised since 2021 to reduce their methane emissions 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030 under the Global Methane Pledge, few have detailed how they will achieve this.

Climate scientists have said curbing global warming is impossible without addressing the world’s methane emissions, and advocates are watching closely on whether nations commit to robust plans to address this critical issue.

$150 billion

That’s the annual cost to the U.S. economy due to related disasters, including hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, according to the latest National Climate Assessment released earlier this month.

The White House report said it considers that estimate to be conservative. It also said that cost would only balloon further as climate change accelerates, making extreme weather events more frequent and severe across the nation. The U.S. now experiences a billion-dollar disaster every three weeks, on average, the report said, opposed to every four months during the 1980s.

That cost includes things like water stress, agricultural loss, tourism impacts, falling real estate value and damage to property and infrastructure. As delegates at COP28 debate how to best adapt to the new climate reality, the steep cost faced by the United States alone offers a glimpse at the growing scope of the problem.

1.8°C

That’s how much hotter the month of September was compared to pre-industrial levels, scientists announced last month, a stunning revelation that one researcher described as “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.”

Scientists now say there’s no doubt that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. Still, September was an especially notable month, shattering the previous record by half a degree Celsius, the largest year-to-year jump in monthly temperatures ever observed by humans.

The outcome of COP27 last year was widely viewed by climate advocates as underwhelming. With 2023 turning out to be a record-breaking year on several climate fronts, September’s outlandish temperatures may offer the best representation to date of what’s at stake if COP28 follows suit.

More Top Climate News

UAE Planned to Use COP28 Climate Talks to Make Oil Deals: Leaked briefing documents reveal that the United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of the United Nations COP28 climate talks, which start Thursday, as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, Esme Stallard reports for BBC News. The documents, obtained by BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting, include notes prepared for meetings between UAE and at least 27 foreign governments to discuss potential deals for new oil and gas development, including liquified natural gas projects in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.

Biden Missing COP28 Could Raise Concerns Among Young Voters: President Joe Biden is not expected to attend the opening of the global climate summit in Dubai this week, with other officials, including Special Envoy John Kerry set to take his place, CNN reports. While it isn’t uncommon for a president to skip the summit, the move has the potential to frustrate climate advocates both at home and abroad at a time that Biden faces low approval ratings, especially among young voters who have accused the president of balking on key climate commitments.

People Are Buying Bigger Cars and Erasing Gains from Clean Tech: A new report from the Global Fuel Economy Initiative suggests that the world’s appetite for big cars is driving up global carbon emissions substantially, Alexa St. John reports for the Associated Press. Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, now account for more than half of all new car sales worldwide, the report said, resulting in a more than 30 percent increase in tailpipe emissions between 2010 and 2022 than if people had bought smaller cars like sedans. Transportation is responsible for roughly one-quarter of global CO2 emissions.

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11/28/23, “Carbon Cowboys” Chasing Emissions Offsets in the Amazon Keep Forest-Dwelling Communities in the Dark

11/27/23, A New Law Regulating the Cosmetics Industry Expands the FDA’s Power But Fails to Ban Toxic Chemicals in Beauty Products

11/26/23, Black Women Face Disproportionate Risks From Largely Unregulated Toxic Substances in Beauty and Personal Care Products

11/25/23, A Walk in the Woods with My Brain on Fire: Autumn

A Walk in the Woods with My Brain on Fire: Autumn

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In the 11/25/2023 edition:

A Walk in the Woods with My Brain on Fire: Autumn

A Walk in the Woods with My Brain on Fire: Autumn

A wildlife sanctuary holds up a mirror to the climate crisis, war and dispossession.

By David Sassoon

One of our readers recently asked us if we might write something about war and climate. Many thoughts came to mind. The first: that the biggest wars are fought over the geopolitics of fossil energy, often in disguise. There’s also the Paris climate accord, which fails to require the reporting of military emissions in national greenhouse gas inventories: The rain of exploding bombs and missiles, the tanks and trucks that guzzle diesel, the fighter planes that burn jet fuel, the forward bases and supply lines that swallow gasoline by the tanker. As if they don’t count. It’s permission to continue waging war on the natural world, turning a blind eye to all the casualties of the future.

11/24/23, What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

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In the 11/24/2023 edition:

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

Offshore wind projects cropped up all over the Great Lakes region in the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, all but one were gone. Developers, though still drawn to the lakes’ powerful winds, have been reluctant to return.

By Nicole Pollack

At the tail end of the aughts, as it became clear that the United States would need to create much more renewable energy, fast, many believed the transition would be bolstered by the proliferation of offshore wind. But not off the coasts of states like Massachusetts and California, where it’s best positioned today. They thought the industry would emerge, and then take hold, in the Great Lakes.

11/23/23, What’s That on Top of the Building? A New Solar Water Heating System Goes Online as Its Developer Enters the US Market

What’s That on Top of the Building? A New Solar Water Heating System Goes Online as Its Developer Enters the US Market

Clean energy stories behind the headlines reported by Dan Gearino

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The solar water heating system at Creighton University absorbs heat and then transfers it to a water storage tank in the building. Pictured is one of two groups of solar collectors on the roof. Credit: Naked Energy

From a distance, the energy system on top of a college residence hall in Omaha, Nebraska looks like photovoltaic panels.

But as you get closer, it becomes clear that this is something different, with rows of vacuum-sealed glass tubes that are collecting heat, as opposed to light, from the sun.

The project, which went online this summer at Creighton University, is a carbon-free system for heating the water used by the 400 or so freshmen who live inside.

The system is an example of solar thermal energy, something at the fringes of today’s market that will need to grow a lot in the coming decades if the world is going to make a transition away from burning fossil fuels for heating.

“It’s very visible,” said Andrew Baruth, Creighton University’s director of sustainability and a physics professor. “You can’t walk down our central mall without seeing it. And so it gets students curious, it gets students thinking, it gets them to ask people like me, ‘What are those things?’”

The United States had 373,055 solar thermal systems in operation at the end of 2021, according to the International Energy Agency, which isn’t a lot considering the country’s size. For perspective, that’s less than one-tenth the number of solar photovoltaic systems in the country.

The system at Creighton, made by Naked Energy of the United Kingdom, absorbs heat from the sun and uses the heat to increase the temperature of a liquid. The liquid circulates in a closed loop between the roof and a water storage tank in the building. The process transfers heat to the water, which is then used in sinks and showers.

This is Naked’s first project in North America, a showpiece that the company plans to use to attract other customers.

The use of solar energy for water heating reduces the building’s need for natural gas, which is the backup heating source. The avoided emissions are about 40 metric tons per year for this project, which is like taking nine cars off of the road.

One reason I wanted to write about the Omaha project is that it provides an excuse to talk about solar thermal energy, which is an old technology that could be an important part of reducing emissions.

Global energy consumption for heating and cooling is about 50 percent of all energy consumption, and the share hasn’t changed much in recent years, according to the IEA.

There are many approaches to reducing emissions from heating and cooling. Often, the most cost-effective option is to get rooftop solar and pair it with a heat pump, which is an electric heating system.

The low cost of rooftop solar has helped it to grow globally, while solar thermal systems have had sluggish growth.

But there are some buildings, depending on their location and their patterns of energy use, where solar thermal makes economic sense, said Max Lainfiesta, a Guatemala-based program manager for RMI, the clean energy research and advocacy group.

He views solar thermal as a “sleeping giant” in the race to decarbonize heating. His larger point is that everyone is better off if there is competition and innovation in a variety of zero-emission heating technologies.

While I’m mostly talking about solar water heating, solar thermal also can provide space heating, although that’s not a common use in the United States. Most of the solar thermal systems installed here in 2021 were for heating swimming pools.

China leads the world in solar thermal by a long stretch, followed by India and Turkey. The United States ranks fifth.

But it’s more instructive, I think, to look at the per-capita leaders. Cyprus is first, followed by Israel and Greece. These are places that get a lot of sun and where the markets for solar thermal have built momentum over time. They also tend to have high energy costs, which makes solar water heating more attractive.

“In Israel, you won’t believe it, you will see these things on top of every single house and building,” Lainfiesta said. (He’s exaggerating, but you get the point.)

Households in the United States can buy solar water heating systems from familiar brand names like Rheem, and from companies that specialize in the technology, like AET. The costs start at between $1,000 and $2,000, and can go much higher depending on size and features. This doesn’t include installation, which can add several thousand dollars.

As with buying rooftop solar, one of the key considerations is how much the system will reduce your energy cost and how long it will take for those savings to cover the equipment and installation.

Buyers of large solar water heating systems, like the one at Creighton, go through their own versions of this analysis.

It may seem random for a U.K.-based company like Naked Energy to make its North American debut in Omaha, but it makes sense when looking at who helped to put the project together.

The building is called Graves Hall, after Lee and Judy Graves, who made a major donation to Creighton. Lee Graves is founder and chairman of ELM Solar, which has a partnership with Naked Energy that includes manufacturing the systems for the North American market.

ELM worked with the university to make climate-friendly technologies part of the project, including the solar water heater. Neither Naked nor ELM would say how much the solar water heater cost.

Creighton has a goal to cut emissions 50 percent from 2010 levels by 2028, which would be in time for the university’s 150th birthday celebration.

As of last year, the university had cut emissions by 38 percent. The new building should help to increase that number in 2023, but it’s too soon to say how much, according to Baruth, the sustainability director.

Naked Energy is a small company, with just 20 employees, and it is young, having completed its first installation in 2018.

The partnership with ELM, which has about 1,200 employees across several U.S. divisions, gives Naked Energy the ability to make a strong push to build a following here.

I asked Frank Bruce, who leads Naked’s marketing, what’s appealing about the North American market.

One of the big factors, he said, is the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that has incentives for opening factories for clean energy components and for customers who buy the finished products.

“It’s a huge incentive for businesses and communities to decarbonize,” he said.

His company’s decision to begin operating here is one of many examples of how the law is having its intended effect.

Other stories about the energy transition to take note of this week:

New York’s South Fork Offshore Wind Project Installs First Turbine:The South Fork offshore wind project had begun erecting turbines in the sea, with the first of 12 turbines rising into the sky east of Long Island, as Sherin Elizabeth Varghese and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru report for Reuters. The project, developed by Denmark’s Orsted and the utility Eversource Energy, is beginning this phase of construction at a time when other projects, including several involving Orsted, have been scrapped because of a surge in costs. South Fork, which will have 132 megawatts of capacity, was further along in its timeline than other projects and has been able to remain on track. This sign of progress is welcome at a time when some people are questioning the economic viability of offshore wind.

Pumped Storage Hydro Could be Key to the Clean Energy Transition, But It Needs Lots of Water: A proposal for the 1,000-megawatt pumped storage hydropower project in Nevada is receiving pushback in the local community because of concerns about disruption of the environment and the need for vast quantities of water, as my colleague Wyatt Myskow reports. The project is one of several examples across the country in which a desire for a robust energy storage resource is running up against fears about water scarcity. I expect to hear a lot more about this in the coming years.

DOE Proposes Easing Environmental Reviews for Certain Storage, Solar and Transmission Projects: The Department of Energy wants to make environmental reviews less stringent for certain solar, energy storage and transmission line projects on federal land, as Ethan Howland reports for Utility Dive. The proposal, published this week in the Federal Register, will now go through a review period. If the rule takes effect, developers of some clean energy projects would no longer require an environmental impact statement, which would reduce the cost and time needed for development. I’m curious to see how strong the opposition to this will be, considering that many people don’t like the idea of large energy projects in their communities.

The UAW Ratifies a Contract That Has Helped Make Labor Much Better Off in the EV Transition: The UAW strike is officially over after ratification votes by workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, as Katie Myers reports for Grist. This is a labor action that I expect will be studied for how it sought to make sure that the transition to electric vehicles is not harmful to workers, and Myers speaks with experts who are trying to make sense of what just happened.

How Solar Sales Bros Threaten the Green Energy Transition: The rapid growth in rooftop solar is attracting some companies and individuals who are part of an aggressive sales culture that stretches the truth and leaves problems in their wake, as Alana Semuels writes for Time. Many of the hard sell tactics are familiar from other industries that rely on door-to-door sales. I don’t agree with the story’s headline that the sales practices are a threat to the green energy transition, but Semuels has assembled evidence that calls for increased regulation and consumer education.

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.

Go Deeper

As New York Officials Push Clean Hydrogen Project, Indigenous Nation Sees a Threat to Its Land

Dirty Water and Dead Rice: The Cost of the Clean Energy Transition in Rural Minnesota

Fulcrum Bioenergy, Aiming to Produce 'Net-Zero' Jet Fuel From Plastic Waste, Hits Heavy Turbulence

11/22/23, As New York Officials Push Clean Hydrogen Project, Indigenous Nation Sees a Threat to Its Land

As New York Officials Push Clean Hydrogen Project, Indigenous Nation Sees a Threat to Its Land

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In the 11/22/2023 edition:

As New York Officials Push Clean Hydrogen Project, Indigenous Nation Sees a Threat to Its Land

As New York Officials Push Clean Hydrogen Project, Indigenous Nation Sees a Threat to Its Land

The Tonawanda Seneca see the industrial development next door as a threat to the woods they depend on for game and medicines, and the failure of the company and permitting agencies to consult them as another assault on their treaty rights.

By Nicholas Kusnetz

When Chief Roger Hill speaks about the clean energy project going up along the border of the Tonawanda Indian Reservation, he turns quickly to the past. Hill’s Seneca ancestors once controlled a large territory across the rolling, wooded hills in what is now western New York, but most of their lands were taken through a series of treaties that shrank the reservation to its current size.