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The fossilfuel industrys role in driving climate change is undeniable, yet corporate accountability remains a contested space. As the scientific evidence strengthens, courts around the world are increasingly considering the role of major fossilfuel companies in climate-related damages.
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. Petroleum has accounted for more than 90 percent of transportation energy in the last 50 years.
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. Global net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions 1990–2019.
The decision at the Glasgow climate conference to phase down fossilfuels is an important step forward — and not just because of climate change. We think of fossilfuels as a source of climate change, but that’s only a one part of the problem. Fossilfuels are a case in point. Consider coal.
The destruction caused by climate change is directly linked to human activity, primarily burning fossilfuels. There are multiple realistic, tangible solutions that would rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, yet policy addressing anthropogenic climate change remains slow and insufficient.
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.
And so just by hearing it , members of the Supreme Court seemed to tip their hand, signaling a majority actively on the hunt for a chance to slash away at the government’s ability to advance vital environmental and public health safeguards. Unfortunately, those ominous signs were right on the mark. But that’s about where the good news ends.
Earlier this month at COP28 countries committed to transitioning off of fossilfuels and massively scaling up renewable energy instead. So you’re excused if, like me, you’re baffled by Minister Freeland’s first move in the wake of COP28: a giant new fossilfuel subsidy, via the new Canada Growth Fund.
After 30 years of international negotiations failing to mention the root cause of the climate crisis, the acknowledgement that we must phase out all fossilfuels and massively scale up renewable energy in order to effectively tackle the climate crisis, was both long overdue and extremely significant.
State of Montana, a Montana trial court ruled that the state Constitution’s guarantee of a healthy and clean environment prevails over Montana’s longstanding fossil-fuel-based state energy system. The first legal challenge mounted by Our Children’s Trust was Juliana v. United States. The August 14th Held v.
As of 2021, 30 emissions trading systems were in force globally, covering 16 – 17 % of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. California’s system uses revenues from auctioning allowances to fund its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) and to limit cost increases to electricity users. Carbon markets are at a crossroads.
That would be the straw man erected by defenders of the fossilfuel industry who claim that facing climate change is a doctrinaire liberal policy. This year, many on the far-right are attempting to rebrand Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing as “woke capitalism.”
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.
The key word here is “ intensity :” Fossilfuel companies often focus on emissions intensity, meaning emissions per barrel of oil, rather than absolute emissions, which is a set number measured in metric tons. That means Exxon still plans to spend the vast majority of its funds on fossilfuel exploration and production.
Working Group 3: Mitigation of Climate Change Evaluates pathways for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable development strategies, and the role of finance, technology, and policy in achieving net-zero emissions. Fossilfuels, which are central to mitigation discussions but were largely avoided, reflecting ongoing political tensions.
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
Working Group 3: Mitigation of Climate Change Evaluates pathways for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable development strategies, and the role of finance, technology, and policy in achieving net-zero emissions. Fossilfuels, which are central to mitigation discussions but were largely avoided, reflecting ongoing political tensions.
County of Monterey –a major case involving the authority of California local governments to limit oil and gas development within their borders. County of Monterey case raises important and difficult questions for both the justices and the Executive Branch of California state government.
There are undoubtedly those in Alberta who are thrilled with the governments recent announcement on buffer zones and viewscapes for renewable energy development. Many are abandoning their previous net-zero commitments and going all in on greenhouse gas-producing fossilfuels. But can they?
In December, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations governing implementation of the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit , passed as part of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. In particular, emissions loopholes related to biomethane and fugitive methane (i.e.,
Vanuatu and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) asserted that these legal consequences are governed by the general law of State responsibility. Micronesia , Ghana , and Saint Lucia also emphasized that cessation and non-repetition would involve reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cutting fossilfuel subsidies, and phasing out fossilfuels.
Adaptation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and accounting for climate damages will be prominent topics at the UN climate convention in November. It’s also an essential consideration as countries plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris agreement. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue.
Almost all plastic is made from fossilfuels. In fact, plastic and petrochemicals (chemicals made from oil and gas) have been called the fossilfuel industry’s Plan B – a way to prop up demand for oil and gas as the world stops using it for transportation and energy in order to meet climate commitments.
, 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.
Unless the government adopts a similarly holistic perspective when implementing the tax credit, though, the incentive could wind up doing more harm than good. Furthermore, it goes out of its way to provide a definition by reference for “lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions” that unambiguously includes indirect emissions impacts, too.
Yesterday, Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer issued a report detailing how “to implement the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s whole-of-government approach to addressing the climate crisis.” Publish an annual report card on the Commonwealth’s progress to achieve mandated greenhouse gas emission reductions.
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about geoengineering – the various scientific theories and governance ideas that could eventually lead to technological interventions to help cool the planet. How will governments deal with private startups if they continue to perform unscientific, unregulated experiments? A weather balloon.
They called expert witnesses to calculate the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by activity in Montana, a major gas and coal producing state, and connected that to tangible impacts on ecosystems and humans in the state. The state failed to show that the MEPA limitation serves a compelling government interest,” the decision reads.
Smoke screens for oil and gas UCS has documented how ExxonMobil and other major fossilfuel companies hide behind trade associations and front groups to do their lobbying and disinformation dirty work, and EID is a prime example.
Energy use accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions. The key to getting climate change under control is to rapidly decrease the user of fossilfuels. The resulting government policies are forcing radical change on the energy system of a kind not seen in a century or more. Climate change.
Burning fossilfuels, cutting down forests, raising livestock, making cement, and using synthetic fertilizers are among the actions that have increased the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere to the point that the planet’s basic functions are coming undone. We’re Making Them Worse.
In the United Kingdom, government leaders are hoping to solve two problems with one effort. The UK government has allocated 4 million pounds for a test run of the concept. government scientists just declared as the hottest on record. Transcript. I’m Eileen Wray-McCann. The rapid melting event occurred in a month that the U.S.
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.
Our national overreliance on gas is evidently undermining energy access, not strengthening it, as some fossilfuel industry players would want you to believe. These claims just add to the deluge of greenwashing and disinformation from the fossilfuel industry. Don’t believe the industry spin.
This included a bill that would have started a statewide conversation about the diminished role fossilfuels should play in Maine’s energy system as the state strives to meet its climate and clean energy commitments. Gas is primarily composed of methane—a fossilfuel with extremely high global warming potential.
A new report released by Oil Change International reveals that governments worldwide have already wasted over $40 billion on carbon capture and hydrogen projects. Even worse, these governments are gearing up to waste billions more – over $300 billion more! Why is government spending on carbon capture & hydrogen a problem?
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. She and another GM scientist published their work and presented their findings to GM’s VP for government relations (a/k/a “head lobbyist”).
The case concerns the scope of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossilfuel power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Read the brief here.
California’s LCFS is causing problems for other states and the federal government. The LCFS is designed to hold fuel producers accountable for their supply chain emissions The LCFS and related Clean Fuel Standard policies are performance standards for transportation fuel based on lifecycle analysis.
For more than a century, the United States has recognized this, and maintaining roads and bridges has been a core function of federal, state, and local governments. The federal government embraced a role in supporting transit in the 1970s, but this was cut back for the past 40 years and didn’t rebound until the pandemic.
CNX did not comply with Act 14 notification requirements to local governments, failing to provide updated notices to affected townships. -- Environmental Concerns: The Chapter 102 Erosion and Sediment permit states that 30.9 acres will be disturbed, contradicting the Project Limit of Disturbance (LOD) of 228 acres.
The Halton Hills Generating Station in Halton Hills, Ontario (Photo by Ian Willms) The “Clean Energy Advantage” In the budget, the government boasts about Ontario’s “clean energy advantage” even though it is actively whittling away at it. The current government acts like it’s somehow responsible for this feat.
On 15 October, the port in Shandong was certified as carbon-neutral by the China Classification Society Quality Certification Company, according to a government statement. Weifang Port’s “zero-carbon” certification was primarily achieved by transitioning away from fossilfuel use, according to China Electric Power News (CEPN).
Exxon , the cities and towns allege that the fossilfuel companies were liable because they knowingly produced and marketed products that have caused climate change harms, while concealing and misrepresenting the associated dangers. have filed more than twenty cases seeking damages from fossilfuel companies for climate harms.
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