Climate Change
Chasing Ice, For Now
Last night I watched glaciers more than 30,000 years old break open and crash into the ocean – disappearing in mere seconds. In photographer James Balog’s new documentary, Chasing Ice, he and a small team embark upon a multi-year “Extreme Ice Survey” to document 18 glaciers in remote regions of the world, including Iceland, Greenland and Alaska. …
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CONTINUE READINGRenewing Britain’s Clean Energy Vows
The British are ramping up their efforts on renewable energy. The NY Times reported a few days ago that the new plan will “gradually quadruple the charges levied on consumers and businesses to help support electricity generation from low-carbon sources, to a total of about £9.8 billion, or $15.7 billion, in the 2020-21 fiscal year, …
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CONTINUE READINGHeating Up the Eurozone
The EU has issued a new report about climate impacts. The picture is mixed, with some good news (warmer winters in the Northern and Eastern Europe) but bad news in other respects. The report has this to say about some disaster risks: Increases in health risks associated with river and coastal flooding are projected in …
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CONTINUE READINGHighly Uncertain But Not in Doubt
It seems paradoxical to say that climate change is uncertain but not in doubt. At this point, we can be highly confident that greenhouse gases are disrupting the climate system and that the disruption will be very serious unless we act. But there’s considerable uncertainty about the magnitude of climate change and its local …
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CONTINUE READINGGiving Thanks to Whom? And How?
Thanksgiving is often thought of as America’s unique secular holiday. That’s somewhat ironic, because the very name of the day suggests an external power, force, or being to whom we give thanks. But Thanksgiving also carries with it important environmental implications, because we are also celebrating the bounty of the earth. In a recent essay, …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia electricity consumers may receive cap-and-trade dividend
As I mentioned on Monday, the 23.1 million greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances (current-vintage) sold at the cap-and-trade auction on Monday were all consigned to auction by utility companies. The $233 million generated by that sale must now be used by those utilities to the benefit of ratepayers. Last Friday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued its …
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CONTINUE READINGSuperfund and climate change
Over the last several years, it’s become fashionable in some circles to suggest that environmental law today reduces to climate change law. I’ve resisted that framing because I think it’s important to remember that “conventional” environmental problems still exist, still matter, and must be addressed by strategies beyond climate mitigation or adaptation. But the fact …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia raises almost $300 million in its first cap-and-trade auction
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the results from its first auction of greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances today. It sold all of the approximately 23 million current allowances (2013 vintage) at $10.09. It sold 14% of the approximately 39.5 million advance allowances (2015 vintage) at $10.00. As I discussed last week, the unsold advance …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate is a Security Issue
The National Research Council (NRC) has recently released a study called Climate and Social Stress: Implications for Security Analysis. The security implications of climate change have been discussed in other, similar studies in the past, and this one is largely consistent with what has come before. The central message is that the changing climate will …
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CONTINUE READINGCap-and-Trade: Why Auctions are Better than Give-Aways
Earlier this week California began auctioning off greenhouse gas emissions allowances, and the sky has not fallen. But is an auction really the best way to distribute the allowances? The California Chamber of Commerce says no. Its lawsuit—discussed in recent posts by Ann, Rhead, and Sean—doesn’t challenge the State’s authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions, …
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