carbon emissions

oil pipelines/shutterstock

Absent a federal effort to manage carbon emissions, there will be a pitched battle over every new pipeline and every new coal-burning power plant. We could keep fighting like this forever. Or we could work together on a federal climate policy.[read more]

US carbon emissions

Besides further increasing renewable energy supplies and increasing energy efficiency, can U.S. total carbon emissions be substantially reduced without increased lower carbon natural gas?[read more]

carbon emissions

Carbon emissions stopped rising in 2008 and 2009, but rebounded so strongly in the past couple years, that emissions have reached the level to which they were headed before the crisis.[read more]

The general scientific consensus is that the average global temperature cannot be allowed to warm more than two degrees Celsius [3.6°F] in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. In fact, a two degree rise alone would threaten the water supplies of hundreds of millions of people, lead to global crop declines, bleach coral reefs around the world, and drive up ocean acidification.[read more]

Liquid hydrocarbons account for about one third of fossil carbon dioxide emissions, and while transition to electric vehicles is possible for some passenger transport, it is simply not feasible to substitute for liquid fuel in most long haul transport, aviation, or agricultural and industrial prime movers. Yet, if we are to combat climate change, we must address this issue.[read more]

In previous posts we’ve discussed the urgent need to create an effective and positive narrative to motivate action on climate change. Achieving such a narrative isn’t about facts – facts don’t matter – because we are a species driven by narrative, by a compelling story. Last summer Climate One convened three experts in human behavior,...[read more]

Industrial Pollution via Shutterstock

The full U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today rejected petitions from industry and state challengers to revisit a three-judge panel’s unanimous ruling last June, in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark endangerment finding and its first carbon pollution limits for...[read more]

From many perspectives, China is a global powerhouse. China is the world’s second largest economy in terms of GDP, the world’s largest energy consumer, and a global leader in renewable energy investment. China is also the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It is no surprise, then, that when it comes to global climate change negotiations, many nations are looking for China to step up and play a role more in line with its global economic and emissions status.[read more]

The UN climate talks currently taking place in Doha will decide the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which is the world’s only legally binding climate treaty.  Although the protocol’s impact on global emissions has been limited, it is still necessary to keep the policy infrastructure associated with it intact.  CAP has been...[read more]

The Australian government is working toward a strategic policy framework for future energy supply. It does not include nuclear energy despite goals to lower carbon emissions and keep energy affordable. Should nuclear power be in the the strategic plan?[read more]

A new report from RFF points out that despite the absence of cap-and-trade legislation, the United States is on course to reach the same emissions reduction goal – 17 percent fewer emissions from 2005 levels by 2020 – that would have been mandated under the Waxman–Markey cap-and-trade proposal [H.R. 2454], if it had become...[read more]

Highway via Shutterstock

Congress included an innovative program in the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) that for over 20 years has helped clean up the environment by providing funds for transportation projects designed to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ)...[read more]

Every year, Americans are inundated with new fad diets and weight-loss programs that can supposedly help shed 20 pounds or more in just a week. As any credible health professional will tell you, the only way to realize and sustain healthy weight loss over the long-term is with discipline, a balanced diet, and a consistent regiment of exercise. Are the same forces underway in the U.S. energy sector?[read more]

One of the first questions anyone seeking to understand global warming should ask is this: how do emissions decline in the real world?The short answer is that they mostly don't. As nations develop, emissions go up. The one major exception is during economic recessions and depressions, when energy use temporarily declines before...[read more]

Germany’s rail operator Deutsche Bahn is under pressure: With the imminent abolition of nuclear energy in Germany new concepts for railway power are needed. This is why Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Chief Executive of Deutsche Bahn, and Dr. Jürgen Großmann, CEO of the important German energy provider RWE, signed a contract for the supply of...[read more]