Remove Air Pollution Remove Carbon Dioxide Remove Fossil Fuels
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Why Were 2023 and 2024 So Hot?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Scientists are sounding the alarm because this warming is shockingly bigbigger than what we would have expected given the long-term warming trend from fossil fuel-caused climate change. Meanwhile, sharply cutting our use of fossil fuels is the best way to limit carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, the primary driver of climate change.

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Fossil Fuels Must Go: Re-inventing US Transportation

Union of Concerned Scientists

Carbon dioxide and methane (a short-lived but extremely powerful global warming gas) are emitted during the extraction, processing, storage, transportation and combustion of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum fuels used by our vehicles. We have over 284 million gasoline- and diesel-burning cars, trucks and buses on our roads.

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Making Fossil Fuels Pay for Their Damage

Legal Planet

Production and combustion of fossil fuels imposes enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn’t pay for. One option, a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, gets the most attention but seems politically impossible. A more promising alternative might be a clean-up tax on the fossil fuel industry.

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Aggregating the Harms of Fossil Fuels

Legal Planet

The decision at the Glasgow climate conference to phase down fossil fuels is an important step forward — and not just because of climate change. We think of fossil fuels as a source of climate change, but that’s only a one part of the problem. Fossil fuels are a case in point. Consider coal.

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Disinformation Alert: Fossil Fuel Interests Preparing to Deploy False Claims about New EPA Rules

Union of Concerned Scientists

Fossil fuel 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.

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Good News—and Bad—about Fossil Fuel Power Plants in 2023 

Union of Concerned Scientists

And fossil fuel power plants may not stick to their retirement schedules for a variety of reasons. In 2021 alone, the plants slated for retirement emitted more than 28,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), 32,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and 51 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), according to EIA data.

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A 100% Renewable Energy Future is Possible, and We Need It

Union of Concerned Scientists

And we’re still trying to recover from a pandemic that has made even more clear the disproportionate impacts of air pollution on overburdened communities, making them even more vulnerable to the negative impacts of COVID 19. Just as important, cleaning up the power grid can also decrease carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions.