Advanced Search
March 7, 2016
On March 3, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached a compromise deal with the premiers of Canada's 10 provinces to put a national price on carbon. The details of the plan have yet to be worked out, but Canada will have a national carbon price. Image courtesy of Dennis Jarvis on flickr.
On March 4, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Reps. John Delaney (D-MD) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) led more than 100 Senators and Representatives in introducing a bicameral sense-of-Congress resolution that climate change will devastatingly impact the U.S. economy. The resolution calls for the United States to obtain 50 percent of its electricity generation from renewable energy by 2030. Environmental groups, including NextGen Climate, the Union of Concerned Scientists, GreenLatinos, Green for All, and Climate Hawks Vote, voiced their support for the resolution. Sen. Cardin said he had only circulated the resolution with Democratic colleagues, but he hoped some Republicans would sign on. Rep. Delaney commented, "What we're trying to do here is set a goal for the country that is both aspirational but achievable based on the current science."
For more information see:
Governors' Biofuels Coalition
On March 3, the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to grant a stay request from 20 states on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) rule, which EPA finalized three years ago to cut mercury and other harmful emissions from coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that damages the central nervous system, especially in children. The stay was denied unilaterally by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., a George W. Bush nominee to the court. While the stay request has been refused, litigation on the MATS regulation continues, with more than 20 states suing EPA over whether it appropriately considered costs and benefits when writing the rule. The EPA is currently working on a new cost/benefits analysis, which it says will be released in late April.
Washington Post, The Hill
On March 2, the Oregon Senate passed Senate Bill (SB) 1547-B on a vote of 17-12. The bill will double the state's renewable energy mandate to 50 percent renewable energy by 2040, as well as completely eliminate coal-fired electricity generation by 2035. The bill passed the Oregon House the day before, on a bipartisan vote of 38-20. "By transitioning away from a dirty, antiquated form of energy and embracing clean, renewable energy, this bill is a win-win for public health and the environment," commented Carrie Nyssen, a regional director at the American Lung Association of the Mountain Pacific. The bill now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.
Utility Dive, Portland Tribune, Portland Business Journal, East Oregonian
On February 29, a Greenpeace analysis of China National Bureau of Statistics data released the same day found that the country’s coal consumption and carbon emissions fell in 2015, for the second year in a row. Analysis has showed that China – the top emitter of greenhouse gases in the world – released 1-2 percent less carbon dioxide and burned 2-4 percent less coal last year. The country made strides in renewable energy development as well, adding a record-breaking 18.3 gigawatts of solar and 32.5 gigawatts of wind power. China is burning less coal in an effort to control its smog, which is causing health issues for its citizens. Greenpeace also warned that a "steadily worsening overcapacity problem" in heavy industry and coal power plants could hinder China's continued transition to a clean energy economy.
In related news, the China Energy Research Society released a report this week finding that China's emissions will likely peak in 2025, due to decreasing coal consumption. The report predicts a 54 percent drop in the Chinese economy's carbon intensity by 2030 from current levels. Both of these predictions put China far ahead of its international pledges for emissions reductions.
Climate Change News, Greenpeace, Carbon-Pulse
On March 3, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached a compromise deal with the premiers of Canada's 10 provinces to put a national price on carbon. The details of the plan have yet to be worked out, but many premiers said they did not want a single national price, instead advocating for a flexible price that accounts for the distinct circumstances in each province. The leaders agreed to split into four working groups (clean technology, innovation and jobs, carbon pricing, and mitigation) to work on creating a "Canadian framework for clean growth and climate change." Their findings, and the national carbon price, will be reviewed at a meeting in October. Prime Minister Trudeau commented, "The working group that we have put together will dig into the mechanisms that will be most effective, and most appropriate, for each jurisdiction, recognizing that there are areas that face greater challenges."
CBC, Canadian Reuters
On February 29, the World Bank announced it will hold a $20 million auction on May 12 for credits from projects to reduce methane emissions. The event, called the Pilot Auction Facility, is actually the second World Bank event to auction off emission reduction credits from projects designed to slash methane emissions. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas with the ability to trap 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 100 years. The bidding will start at $0.06 per metric ton, with people bidding on the premium they would be willing to pay for contracts. Winning bidders will have the option to sell off their carbon credits at the guaranteed strike rate of $3.50 per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent reduction. The strike price acts as a floor price, providing winners with a safety net in case the carbon market collapses.
Reuters
On February 28, actor Leonardo DiCaprio called for action on climate change during his Oscar acceptance speech for the Best Actor award. During the latter half of his speech, the actor highlighted man’s relationship with nature in his film The Revenant, stating that our natural world is in jeopardy from rising temperatures. DiCaprio said the film's production crew had to “move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow.” DiCaprio's speech brought his climate concerns to hundreds of millions of viewers. As DiCaprio put it, “Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
The Guardian, The Washington Post
On March 1, new research published in the Lancet revealed that climate change will limit the availability of quality food in the future, potentially causing more than 500,000 deaths a year globally by 2050. The study modeled a two degree Celsius global temperature increase to find that by 2050, there will be four percent less fruit and vegetables available, three percent less general calories available, and 0.7 percent less red and processed meat available. The reduction in calories caused more people in India and China to die, but almost the exact same number of people lived longer due to reduction in obesity from the reduced availability of red meat. The greater amount of deaths were caused by the scarcity of fruits and vegetables, which are critical in preventing heart disease and diet-related cancer. “The health burden related to climate change is much bigger than we thought,” Oxford researcher and study author Peter Scarborough said.
Guardian, Washington Post, Study
On February 29, the 124-nation Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) launched a three-year assessment of human impact on nature, to improve our understanding of anthropogenic impacts and better protect plants and animals against pollution and climate change. The study will examine how humans affect biodiversity (the range of species in an area) and ecosystem services (how humanity benefits from nature, e.g. forests absorb carbon emissions). Senior IPBES official Simon Ferrier, who works at Australia's national science agency CSIRO, commented, "IPBES's goal is to give policymakers and all of society a more complete understanding of how people and nature interact."
Democratic Party Video Slams Republican Presidential Candidates on Climate Denial
Bipartisan Carbon Capture Bill Introduced in House
Australia’s Emissions on the Rise
Osama Bin Laden Wanted Action on Climate Change
Justice Department Sends ExxonMobil Probe Request to FBI
Canada and United States Poised to Sign Climate Agreement Next Week
Warren Buffet Addresses Climate Change in Annual Shareholder Letter
Authors: Taotao Luo and Athony Rocco
Editor: Laura Small
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity