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In 2021, a record-breaking heat dome enveloped Oregon , tragically claiming the lives of 72 people. In response, Multnomah County, which includes Portland, filed a lawsuit for over $51 billion against major fossilfuel entities–one of the largest claims for a climate case to date. This case is just one of dozens in the U.S.
To adjust the focus of this picture a little closer, just our passenger cars and light trucks contribute to a whopping 58 percent of total transportation emissions, placing our car-centric society in the fossilfuel spotlight. percent in 2021 to about 16 percent in 2050. Since vehicles are the largest sources of PM2.5
This year has brought new evidence of what major fossilfuel companies knew and when about the role their products play in climate change, as well as what they did in spite of what they knew. They enable us to strengthen our balance sheet and high grade or diversify our portfolio.
While at least one event provided a platform for oil and gas industry greenwashing, others centered people directly affected by fossilfuel-driven climate change who are holding bad actors accountable. I had the honor of moderating one of the latter events, Scientists & Activists vs. FossilFuel Finance.
Earlier this year, The Guardian ran a powerful article exposing the ties of Elsevier, one of the world’s largest academic publishing companies, to the fossilfuel industry. The article caught my attention because I’d never considered the ways in which an academic publisher might be perpetuating and enabling a fossilfuel economy.
Last week, I joined my colleagues at COP28 in Dubai , as negotiators and civil society push for a fossilfuel phaseout to meet climate goals. The industry is pushing a narrative that misleadingly calls out emissions , not fossilfuels as the problem. Source: IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
In a new study released today, UCS attributes substantial temperature and sea level rise to emissions traced to the largest fossilfuel producers and cement manufacturers. Every delay in phasing out fossilfuels will burden future generations who need to adapt to rising seas and recover from loss and damage due to sea level impacts.
Replacing fossilfuels with renewable energy from wind and solar will depend on upgrading the electric power grid, which is currently plagued by planning delays and gridlock. The 2021 law allows, but does not require, PJM to plan ahead because various fossilfuel plants must reduce and then cease emissions by a specific date.
Fossilfuel power plant owners are facing increased accountability for their air and water pollution, including from a new round of environmental and public health protections that are being rolled out by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We’ve heard these lazily disingenuous narratives before.
Utilities and grid operators prepared for the storm as it was coming down the pike, but they still underestimated the energy demand it would trigger, as well as the number of outages at fossilfuel power plants—mainly natural gas-fired, plus some coal-fired plants. Where do we go from here?
GW record from 2021. And fossilfuel power plants may not stick to their retirement schedules for a variety of reasons. Note: this is adjusted for inflation to 2022 dollars and is based on the amount those plants emitted in 2021, the EIA’s most recent year of finalized data. A bit more on those reasons later.
For almost two year now the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is under revision and negotiations shall finish in 2021. The aim of the EU is to try to stop fossilfuel companies suing states over climate action. Then a further round is already planned for February or March 2021.
Investor-owned utilities want to protect the bottom line of their fossilfuel power plants and stave off competition from low-cost renewables that would be aided by transmission, even if those cleaner solutions would help ratepayers and boost grid reliability.
Gas plants failed at a scale that jeopardized grid reliability for large regions of the United States during severe winter storms in 2011 , 2014 , 2018 , 2021 , and 2022. Even with the clean energy transition well underway, gas plants will be around for a while as we phase out fossilfuels.
The Illinois energy landscape Illinois passed the landmark Climate and Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) in September 2021. Among many other provisions, CEJA includes carbon emission limits for coal and fossil gas plants that phase in over several years, starting in 2030.
This unprecedented warming, which began in the 19th century and has so far reached around 1.31.4C , is almost entirely driven by human activity – primarily the burning of fossilfuels. km over the past 140 years and the thawing of permafrost above the city of Huaraz in Peru.
It also will save US consumers money because they will spend less on fossilfuels. First, decarbonizing the electricity sector mainly with wind and solar to replace coal and fossil gas. Second, replacing fossilfuels with clean electricity in the transportation, building, and industrial sectors. Your thoughts?
The report stated unequivocally, for the first time, that climate change is occurring due to “human influence,” namely the burning of fossilfuels and deforestation. The post What’s Up With Water — August 16, 2021 appeared first on Circle of Blue. The report, while grim, does offer hope.
In 2021, 9 percent of US electricity came from those graceful kinetic sculptures, up from less than 3 percent in 2011. Wind power generation will continue to rise, including in the near term as a result of one of the US wind industry’s best years ever in 2021. Eight states generate more than 25 percent of their electricity from wind.
New analysis from Environmental Defence reveals that despite federal government promises, funding to the fossilfuel and petrochemical industries remains high Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – New analysis released today by Environmental Defence reveals Canada’s federal government provided at least $18.6
Communities rich and poor bore witness to horrific devastation in 2021. The events of 2021 are likely to be a prelude for tougher tests ahead. Fossilfuel subsidies could be lowered. The post What’s Up With Water – December 13, 2021 appeared first on Circle of Blue.
For years, fossilfuel companies have socialized the costs of their pollution while privatizing the benefits. Since local and state governments are on the frontlines of paying for worsening wildfires, they should also be on the leading edge of holding fossilfuel companies accountable.
SSP4: A divided world A highly unequal world where some adopt clean technology while much of the population remains dependent on fossilfuels. SSP5: Taking the highway A scenario driven by economic growth and high fossilfuel use, leading to rapid warming.
New research from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) confirms renewables are continuing to outpace fossilfuels on cost. They found that the share of renewable energy that achieved lower costs than the most competitive fossilfuel option doubled in 2020. C climate pathway. C climate pathway.
Having gained its status as an autonomous region, the fledgling Bangsamoro government has invited investors to drill under the Liguasan Marsh for fossilfuels. By Laura Gersony, Circle of Blue — November 1, 2021. Local representatives estimate that the fossilfuels underneath the marsh are valued at as much as $1 trillion. .
Here’s a taste: Wind power , the largest single source of renewable electricity in the country, grew the most of any renewable energy source in overall generation from 2021 to 2022. Gas generation, after dropping in 2021, bounced back to its highest level yet in absolute terms, and accounted for 38 percent of US supply. It supplied 10.5
3) ExxonMobil predicted the possibility of linking rising temperatures to fossilfuels ExxonMobil researchers accurately predicted when it would become possible to attribute changes in climate to human activity. Such a constraint would clearly place a limit on the amount of fossilfuels ExxonMobil could extract, produce and market.
According to the Energy Information Agency , South Korea’s power sector is heavily reliant on fossilfuels. Two thirds of generation capacity is based on fossilfuels, split evenly between coal and natural gas, with 17% nuclear, and 14% hydro and other renewables. 50% coal, 26% gas, and 25% nuclear.
Communities and ecosystems continue to suffer the consequences of human-caused climate change , primarily from the burning of fossilfuels across our economy. The case for phasing out of fossilfuels and making a just and equitable transition to clean energy has never been more clear. comes from burning fossilfuels.
Fossilfuels are the root cause of climate change, of long-standing environmental injustices, and are also frequently connected to geopolitical strife and violent conflicts. Other countries are dependent upon these fossilfuels, they don’t make themselves free of them. This is a fossilfuel war.
The air quality for this report was calculated using data reviewed by EPA from 2020, 2021, and 2022. That means it includes the extreme wildfires exacerbated by the fossilfuel industry that burned more than 4% of California in 2021 and 2022. come from burning fossilfuels and pesticide use, and ultrafine particles (PM0.1)
Their efforts have paid off: The 27 resolutions demanding increased disclosure that went to a vote in 2021 averaged approximately 40 percent support, according to investment management firm Boston Trust Walden. ExxonMobil also funded the Consumer Energy Alliance , a pro-fracking front group run by PR firms on behalf of fossilfuel companies.
Minnesotans are facing concurrent crises of climate change, high energy prices and inflation, and the inequitable public health impacts of fossilfuel air pollution. Renewable energy will help with all of that—but we need a grid that is designed for wind and solar instead of having to rely on expensive coal and gas plants.
The shift from fossilfuels in the 100-percent RES scenario reduces the amount of toxic power plant air pollution much more than what we called a “no-new-policy,” or business-as-usual, scenario. And what about fossilfuel-dependent workers and communities? Our analysis also demonstrates renewables’ power.
This year will see a smaller jump in carbon dioxide emissions from fossilfuels compared with 2021, driven partly by the continuing recovery of aviation following covid-19 travel restrictions
Many of my colleagues have already described the various ways we’ve gotten into this elevated fuel price mess, why doubling down on fossilfuels at this moment is a horrible idea, and why doing so would not improve our current or future economic, geopolitical or environmental problems. How Did We Get Here?
A new report released today by Environmental Defence – Buyer Beware: FossilFuel Subsidies and Carbon Capture Fairy Tales in Canada – reveals that despite promises to phase out fossilfuel subsidies, the federal government provided the fossilfuel sector with at least $8.6 billion in 2021. .
That would be the straw man erected by defenders of the fossilfuel industry who claim that facing climate change is a doctrinaire liberal policy. One group that has filed resolutions in the past is the far-right National Center for Public Policy Research, which fossilfuel companies including ExxonMobil have funded.
This year, over 40 million doctors, nurses, health ministers, and other health professionals came together to call for robust action to phase out fossilfuels and work towards a healthier future for those most affected. By contrast, this year there was an unprecedented number of fossilfuel lobbyists in attendance.
Wind power costs fell by half from 2008 to 2021. Cheaper renewable energy attracts private investment and makes limits on fossilfuels more feasible. We will still need major efforts to phase out fossilfuels and create the physical and institutional infrastructure for a net-zero economy.
The November 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL, includes an $8 billion “regional clean hydrogen hubs” program that charges the Department of Energy (DOE) with the development of at least four hydrogen hubs to advance the nation’s clean hydrogen sector.
This assessment wasn’t ExxonMobil’s idea, but was compelled by a successful shareholder resolution that was part of a 2021 investor revolt against the industry’s climate inaction that ultimately displaced several members of ExxonMobil’s Board of Directors. ExxonMobil’s withdrawal from IPAA is certainly a positive development.
Drawing on research by the Union of Concerned Scientists and others, the commission report found that fossilfuel companies fully understood their products’ impact on climate as early as 1965, when their own scientists discovered them. The industry’s actions, the CHR report said, were driven “not by ignorance, but greed.”
There is still much we can do to bend that emissions curve sharply within this decade—but only if world leaders, especially leaders of richer countries and major emitting nations, take responsibility to act together quickly and fossilfuel companies are held accountable for their decades of obstruction and deception.
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