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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.
Step 1: There is a natural greenhouse effect. This means that there is an upward surface flux of IR around (~398 W/m 2 ), while the outward flux at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) is roughly equivalent to the net solar radiation absorbed (~240 W/m 2 ). Step 2: Trace gases contribute to the natural greenhouse effect.
So this is an attempt to put all of that in context and provide a hopefully comprehensive guide to how, when, and why to properly compare the two greenhouse gases. There is also a very small impact of the CH 4 oxidation to CO 2 itself for any fossil-fuel derived methane. (a) Historical comparisons. W/m 2 for CH 4.
This trend will continue as glacial melting, decreased rainfall, and a “thirstier” atmosphere jeopardize sources of freshwater in some parts of the globe. It finds more evidence that severe weather events are linked to carbon in the atmosphere and are becoming more extreme. Heavy rainfall will also become more common and more powerful.
The term “fossilfuels”, however, is mentioned 16 times. Nevertheless, the summary for policymakers states the need for “rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade” if we want global warming to keep below 1.5°C C or 2°C since preindustrial times (p.
By Georgina Gustin The world’s oceans are massive and critical carbon sinks that absorb roughly one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions humans generate by burning fossilfuels and reshaping Earth’s landscape. Critics question whether “trawl disturbance” is different from the carbon flux that naturally occurs in oceans.
By Anders Lorenzen On the eve of the COP28 UN climate summit, The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a United Nations (UN) body, has warned that the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) is forecast to continue the trend that resulted in record-high CO2 measurements last year. Photo credit: iStock.
Heightened flood risk The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a recent outlook that about 44 percent of the United States is at risk of floods this spring, equating to about 146 million people. Fuel transport – Spring floods can hinder the transportation of fuels like coal.
It finds more evidence that severe weather events are linked to carbon in the atmosphere and that those weather events are becoming more extreme. The report stated unequivocally, for the first time, that climate change is occurring due to “human influence,” namely the burning of fossilfuels and deforestation.
by Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University Two centuries of burning fossilfuels has put more carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than nature can remove. There is so much CO2 in the atmosphere now that most scenarios… Read more →
A friend asked me if a discussion paper published on Statistics Norway’s website, ‘ To what extent are temperature levels changing due to greenhouse gas emissions? ’, was purposely timed for the next climate summit ( COP28 ). I don’t know the answer to his question. But this discussion paper is problematic for sure.
Under the LCFS each fuel pathway gets a unique carbon intensity (CI) based on a lifecycle analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of the fuel. This approach holds fuel producers accountable for reducing fossilfuel use and other global warming pollution in their supply chains.
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.
This includes loopholes related to biomethane, whereby heavily polluting fossilfuel-fired hydrogen production facilities—the very facilities the tax credit is trying to incentivize a shift away from—can cloak themselves as “clean” and reap full tax credit rewards, without having done anything but pushed around paper.
Scientists have unequivocally confirmed that human activities, primarily the burning of fossilfuels, are driving unprecedented changes to the Earth’s climate, raising fundamental questions about our responsibility to safeguard the environment for future generations.
, its district, appellate , and supreme courts decided in favor of Urgenda, an upstart environmental organization, ordering the government to more aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental Protection Agency (2007) forced the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Everyone produces greenhouse gases.
Management approved her shift in emphasis, hoping that she would prove that aerosols in the atmosphere (including those from auto exhaust) would completely offset the greenhouse gas effect. In the early 1960s, he wrote again about fossilfuels as causes of global warming. He talked her into studying climate change.
The bench trial took place last month in the state capitol, Helena, where 16 youth plaintiffs ages 5 to 22 made the case that Montana’s unwavering promotion of fossilfuels violates the state constitution’s guarantee to a “clean and healthful environment.” Whether Montana’s GHG emissions can be measured incrementally.
As in previous reports, this one also uses “Representative Concentration Pathways” (RCPs) that show how the world will respond to different trajectories for emissions of greenhouse gases. SSP5, a world of fossil-fuel based economic growth, in which global population peaks and then declines later in this century. C of warming.
In the absence of a global political consensus on phasing out coal and other industrial activities with high greenhouse gas emissions, the private sector has an increasingly important role in climate change mitigation. Removing carbon from the atmosphere will take a global effort towards significant innovation and rapid implementation.
We need big investments in the energy transition from polluting fossilfuels to clean renewable energy. Did you know that economists have a tool for calculating the cost to society of continued reliance on fossilfuels? But the cost of not taking those actions is far greater.
Most prominently, because the approach is changing from rewarding specific technologies to rewarding anything that meets the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions threshold of “clean”—hence the “tech-neutral” label—exactly how the government goes about determining whether or not something is actually eligible will be enormously important.
Switching from fossilfuels like gasoline to increasingly clean electricity sources is vital for hitting climate and air pollution goals. However the long term drop in per person gasoline use is likely due to fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards that have made gasoline vehicles more efficient over the prior decades.
And it’s been one month since the Montana First District Court determined that the state of Montana had indeed violated Montana youth’s right to a “clean and healthful environment” by collaborating with the fossilfuel industry. But the historic decision is still reverberating around the country, and I am still reflecting on it.
If people everywhere stopped burning fossilfuels tomorrow, stored heat would still continue to warm the atmosphere. Historically, the first climate models represented only the atmosphere and were greatly simplified. Today’s models can more explicitly represent the behaviour of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide.
The burning of fossilfuels and other human activities are continuing to cause rapid temperature rise. Achieving global climate goals will require rapid and dramatic greenhouse gas emissions reductions, along with the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Together, these samples could help answer one of the most important questions facing the planet: why is there so much methane in the atmosphere? Inside each is a sample of air, taken from one of a chain of 50 monitoring stations that spans the globe.
By Anders Lorenzen In recent years, a series of large and small fossilfuel companies have publicly signalled net-zero commitments while continuing business-as-usual investments in fossilfuels. Around 75 out of 112 of the largest fossilfuel companies have committed themselves to reach net-zero.
Methane has a comparatively short life in the atmosphere (about 12 years, as opposed to 100 years or more for CO2) and high potency (84 times stronger than CO2, averaged over 20 years). There are many possible emergency actions. Thus, reducing methane emissions today can quickly and dramatically impact the trajectory of the climate crisis.
Any day now, Minister Freeland is expected to introduce a giant new fossilfuel subsidy called the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) investment tax credit. The government is breaking their own rules The government introduced new rules to end fossilfuel subsidies this summer. Let me tell you why.
To give the Commission credit where due — and it is due in many places — on one point closely related to these projections, they were uncommonly and admirably frank: Noting the risks and the stark tradeoffs posed by aerosol pollution in the lower atmosphere. Current and coming advances in carbon-free technology will help, of course.
Last week world leaders gathered in New York for the UN Climate Ambition Summit where countries shared concrete action they’ve taken to phase out fossilfuels. There, the conversation was grounded in science, with leaders such as California’s Governor Newsom saying “The climate crisis is a fossilfuel crisis.
With the federal government and state of Maryland each having announced within days of each other, the mandated disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we have received, maybe not surprising, many calls in the last two weeks inquiring “what are GHGs?” Simply put, gases that trap heat in the atmosphere (.
Human activity adds more than 50 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. What if scientists could turn back the clock on greenhouse-gas emissions – just a little? What if scientists could turn back the clock on greenhouse-gas emissions – just a little? Large-scale solutions are urgently needed. By Dr Kate Moran.
On Tuesday, May 9, the Sabin Center and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment launched Transferred Emissions are Still Emissions: Why FossilFuel Asset Sales Need Enhanced Transparency and Carbon Accounting. Fossilfuel asset sales do not just shift greenhouse gas emissions, but may increase them.
The promise from many nations is to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 (or earlier) and interim targets are essential. But the United Nations has just said that the latest commitments of the 192 parties of the 2015 Paris agreement will equate to a 16% rise in global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2030 compared to 2010.
LNG emits about as much greenhouse gas (GHG) as coal. Methane from the production of fossil gas may make LNG about as bad a greenhouse gas emitter as coal. But a key study industry cites only looked at emissions from burning the two fuels, not at the whole process, including the extraction, refining, and shipping.
The UN body the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) explained that the economic downturn brought on by nationwide lockdowns only caused a temporary downturn in emissions and was not enough to reverse the rising levels of greenhouse gasses (GHG) in the atmosphere. Not going in the right direction.
Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through burning fossilfuels and traps heat in the atmosphere. A panel representing the ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub project in the tri-state area will give a presentation of its associated CCS plans.
The fossilfuel industry has been a major player in generating interest in hydrogen, particularly for technology that produces hydrogen from fossilfuels. Electrolysis is currently the only means of creating hydrogen without emitting greenhouse gases, but it’s inefficient. The distinction here is important.
Ebel, the CEO of Enbridge, to our list of infamous Climate Villains – powerful people with fossilfuel interests holding Canada back from effective climate action. The executives behind the fossilfuel industry often avoid public scrutiny, which is why we’re shining the spotlight on their activities.
The most high-stakes and controversial of these is solar geoengineering, which would make the Earth a little more reflective to incoming sunlight, most likely by spraying a fine mist of reflective aerosols in the upper atmosphere. Potential solar geoengineering methods. Source: Carbonbrief.
Some in the industry see the warming as an opportunity, as passages through the Arctic open for longer periods, even going so far as to claim there will be lower overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the shorter voyages. Warmer water also expands and raises sea levels as well as holds less oxygen.
Among those contradictions is the need to wean society off fossilfuels versus the desire for short-term economic gain. That draft called on “Parties to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossilfuels.” It is significant, however, that “fossilfuels” and “coal” finally survived in a COP text.
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