Region: International

How Major Corporate Fleets Can Drive Responsible and Sustainable EV Battery Supply Chains

New CLEE/Ceres report released today with recommendations for corporate EV fleet managers

The electric vehicle (EV) market is growing rapidly, but with this growth comes public pressure to ensure supply chains for EV batteries are sustainable. The soaring demand for batteries relies heavily on the extraction and refinement of critical minerals, processes that have far-reaching environmental and social impacts. Moreover, the global distribution of these operations leaves …

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Is Capitalism to Blame?

Some people think we need to abolish capitalism to save the environment.

Bernie Sanders has a  book called It’s OK to be Angry at Capitalism.  There are certainly a lot of people across the political spectrum who feel that way. Capitalism is blamed for environmental destruction by many of the more radical segments of the Left. That’s not too surprising given the historic connection between the more …

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A Montana Victory for the Youth Climate Movement

Held v. Montana shows climate science can win in a courtroom. But one decision is just the beginning of a long legal fight.

A state court judge in the ‘Last Best Place’ just gave the youth climate movement a shot in the arm with the first decision of its kind that directly connects specific state actions to global climate change and then to injuries suffered by young people. It’s a decision worth reading, as U.S. courts have not …

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Not Just About the Climate

The benefits of the energy transition transcend climate.

The main reason to control carbon is to protect the climate. But cleaning up the energy system has plenty of other benefits. Those benefits will flow to people in rural areas as well as urban ones, to national security and international development, and to nature itself. To begin with, there are the health benefits of …

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Technology’s Role in Governing Sustainable Food Systems

Digitalization is altering how we understand the environment and act upon issues of sustainability.

This article is a summary of the third interview in a three-part interview series that explores how digitalization is reshaping environmental governance. I spoke with Sake Kruk who’s a Ph.D. researcher at the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands. His research examines how digital technologies are ushering in a new form of environmental …

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The Riddle of the Maldives

The Maldives is one of the nations most vulnerable to rising sea levels. So, why is climate change not a topic of discussion here?

It was the site for one of the most iconic climate policy photos. In the run-up to the Copenhagen climate negotiations in 2009, President Mohamed Nasheed held a cabinet meeting in scuba gear 20 feet underwater to show what awaited the low-lying island nation of the Maldives if serious action were not taken to reduce …

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Measuring Tropical Forests and Deforestation from Space

Remote sensing is one important tool in the toolbox of forest governance for monitoring, measuring, and reducing deforestation

In a world where a swipe on a smart phone enables navigation from one part of the globe to another, many technology companies, investors, environmental organizations, community groups, and policymakers are looking to remote sensing data and platforms to increase transparency, accuracy, speed of decision-making, and reduce costs of monitoring land-based activities at scale. Advancements …

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The Farm Is Not An Algorithm

The inaccuracies of precision agriculture carry socio-environmental risks and produce inequalities.

This article provides an overview of the second interview in a three-part interview series that explores how digitalization is reshaping environmental governance. I spoke with Oane Visser, an Associate Professor in Agrarian Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies. Visser earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from Radboud University, Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. His research …

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Accelerating Freight Decarbonization

A Guide to Zero-Emission Zones in Cities

The Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA) is a collaboration among countries, cities, regions and companies with the goal of accelerating the global transformation of the transport sector towards a net-zero emission mobility system by 2050. CLEE is actively supporting California Air Resources Board (CARB) with its TDA presidency through research and strategic coordination. Together with various …

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Digitalization and Predictive Policing in Conservation

Does technology shift focus toward “green policing” and away from integrated conservation and development?

Digitalization is reshaping environmental governance in profound ways. As environmental degradation and climate change intensify, society increasingly turns to digital technologies to live more sustainably and protect biodiversity and other natural resources, such as land, water, and energy. Digital tools are transforming who is involved in environmental decision-making, how environmental problems are understood and assessed, …

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