carbon emissions
Counting the Climate Costs of Warfare
There are calls for nations to disclose their military-related greenhouse gas emissions as researchers try to tally the climate impacts of war in Ukraine and Gaza.
What if I told you that nations around the world were ignoring a significant amount of their greenhouse gas emissions by omitting an entire dirty sector from their tally? Would you be horrified? Would you want to close that loophole so that parties to international agreements are required to report these hidden emissions as part …
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CONTINUE READINGEmissions by the Big Utilities: Where They Are, What They’re Aiming For
Almost all the top ten utilities are big emitters today but looking to cut back.
There’s a lot of discussion of how the private sector is supporting renewable energy, but it’s almost all about power consumers like Apple and Walmart. But what about the companies who are selling the power? As a first step to getting a better sense of where the utility industry is going, we accumulated some basic …
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CONTINUE READINGPollution Control as Climate Policy
Tightening air quality standards will also reduce carbon emissions.
The Biden Administration is slowly grinding away at an important regulatory task: reconsidering the air quality standards for particulates and ozone. Setting those standards is an arduous and time-consuming process, requiring consideration of reams of technical data. For instance, a preliminary staff report on fine particulates (PM2.5) is over 600 pages long. When the process …
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CONTINUE READINGShort and Simple Climate Legislation
With a few sentences, Congress could do a lot to fix the law.
The last time Congress tried to pass climate change legislation, the bill was about 800 pages long. That bill, the Waxman-Markey Act, tried to adopt a comprehensive set of emissions reduction measures, which is a complicated business. But a much simpler law could allow the U.S. to move forward quickly with less ambitious but still …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate’s Future in the Face of COVID
Even as emissions decrease, climate activists shouldn’t get comfortable
As many have pointed out, air and water pollution have plummeted because of COVID-19. My colleague Ben Harris wrote about the many positive environmental impacts that global-scale quarantine has caused – and they’re truly inspiring. Some have pointed to this massive pollution reduction to illustrate that “we are the virus”. Perhaps the pollution reduction is …
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CONTINUE READINGDriving away gasoline for good
Senator Chuck Schumer’s proposal is “Cash for Clunkers” again, at unprecedented scale
Last week, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer published an op-ed in the New York Times describing a new federal proposal for replacing all gasoline-powered vehicles in the U.S. with zero emission vehicles by 2040. This is a laudable goal and a great opportunity – comprehensive federal policy to replace all gasoline-powered vehicles with zero-emission …
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CONTINUE READINGWatered Down Standards at the TRUMP CAFÉ
Here are the FAQs about Trump’s proposed rollback.
Trump is proposing to gut CO2 standards for cars, freezing 2020 CAFE fuel-efficiency standards in place for years to come. Without the freeze, the standards would automatically ramp up. He also wants to eliminate California’s ability to set its own standards, which many other states have opted to adopt. Here are seven key questions about …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Dubious Bailout
It’s unlikely that a bailout will have more than a temporary effect. Assuming it holds up in court, that is.
Trump plans to use national security powers to prop up uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. Rick Perry says the government is trying to figure out the cost of this effort – but he doesn’t seem to care what that cost would be. After all, he says, “You cannot put a dollar figure on the cost to keep …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy in the Land of 10,000 Lakes
What is “Lake Wobegon” doing about climate change?
Minnesota has had climate change legislation on the books since 2007, when the Next Generation Energy Act was signed by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. The 2007 law called for the state to reduce its emissions 15 percent by 2015 and 80 percent by 2050. At the time, Pawlenty saluted the bill, saying,”The nation has been …
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CONTINUE READINGWhen Trump’s Name is Forgotten, His Carbon Will Remain
Much of the carbon from his policies will remain in the atmosphere for centuries.
Given Trump’s desire to increase the use of fossil fuels, it’s no surprise that his presidency will result in increased carbon emissions. Some of the carbon will remain in the atmosphere for centuries, an enduring monument to his presidency and his rejection of scientific facts. Before the election, I took a stab at estimating that impact, based …
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