Goodbye, January — goodbye, another heat record
If you found last month unusually balmy for the middle of winter, you’re not alone. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, January was the hottest one of its kind Continue Reading
Tackling air pollution may accidentally trigger serious health issues
Cleaning up dirty air might sometimes make things worse Imaginechina Limited/Alamy Cities tackling one major air pollutant risk inadvertently making things worse by fuelling the growth of another, potentially more Continue Reading
This Philadephia refinery is the country’s worst benzene polluter. Trump wants to keep it open.
Before it exploded last June, Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) — the largest crude oil refinery on the East Coast — was processing 335,000 barrels of oil each day. It was Continue Reading
Antarctica logs hottest temperature on record with a reading of 18.3C
Antarctica has logged its hottest temperature on record, with an Argentinian research station thermometer reading 18.3C, beating the previous record by 0.8C. The reading, taken at Esperanza on the northern Continue Reading
Bumblebee Decline Linked With Extreme Heat Waves
The the carder bee, seen here gathering pollen on an alpine silver thistle in the Austrian Alps, is one species of bumblebee that’s moving north in a warming climate. Credit: Continue Reading
Britain Is Getting Ready to Scale Up Negative-Emissions Technology
British companies are preparing for the U.K. government to decide how to spend more than $1 billion on infrastructure capable of capturing and burying millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution. The money Continue Reading
Antarctica hits hottest temperature on record at 18.3C
This week’s unusually high temperatures in the Antarctic – which surpassed those in the UK – appear to be part of a heatwave across the Antarctic Peninsula. Scientists have warned that Continue Reading
The Energy 202: 2020 Democrats play up climate plans as a way to win in New Hampshire
As Democrats running for president pivot to New Hampshire after the debacle in Iowa, they have already spent much of this week in the Granite State trading grabs over which Continue Reading
The world’s oceans are speeding up — another mega-scale consequence of climate change
Scientists are warning that all across the globe, ocean currents are speeding up their pace. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Three-quarters of the world’s ocean waters have sped up their pace Continue Reading
Deep-reaching acceleration of global mean ocean circulation over the past two decades
Ocean circulation redistributes Earth’s energy and water masses and influences global climate. Under historical greenhouse warming, regional ocean currents show diverse tendencies, but whether there is an emerging trend of Continue Reading
Sea level rise accelerating along US coastline, scientists warn
The pace of sea level rise accelerated at nearly all measurement stations along the US coastline in 2019, with scientists warning some of the bleakest scenarios for inundation and flooding Continue Reading
SUV Sales Are Soaring As Climate Crisis Escalates
The war on climate change is on, but the world’s utility-vehicle-gas-guzzling habit is preventing green measures from making enough headway. SUV sales across the globe last year reached a total Continue Reading
Ten U.S. refineries emitted excessive cancer-causing benzene in 2019: report
Ten U.S. oil refineries, including six in Texas, released the cancer-causing chemical benzene in concentrations that exceeded federal limits last year, according to government data published by the green group Continue Reading
EU power plant emissions see record decline in 2019
Greenhouse gas emissions from EU power plants declined more sharply in 2019 than in any year since at least 1990, German think-tank Agora Energiewende said Wednesday. Receive daily email alerts, Continue Reading
Is Britain’s Climate Change Plan Too Ambitious?
Great Britain’s energy regulator has rolled out a plan that would govern the nation’s net zero greenhouse emission target backed by the new prime minister. It emphasizes finding tangible, workable Continue Reading
Several Climate Change Simulations Just Snapped Into Doomsday Mode
Several models predicting the future of climate change have taken a drastic turn for the worse: multiple research teams are now forecasting that the planet will heat up more catastrophically Continue Reading
Climate Models Are Running Red Hot, and Scientists Don’t Know Why
There are dozens of climate models, and for decades they’ve agreed on what it would take to heat the planet by about 3° Celsius. It’s an outcome that would be Continue Reading
Tackling air pollution may accidentally trigger serious health issues
Cleaning up dirty air might sometimes make things worse Imaginechina Limited/Alamy Cities tackling one major air pollutant risk inadvertently making things worse by fuelling the growth of another, potentially more Continue Reading
Climate change among top concerns for Iowa Democratic caucus-goers
The night of the Iowa Democratic caucus ended in chaos and without an announced winner. One thing that is clear: Climate change was a top priority among caucus-goers. More than one Continue Reading
Where America’s Climate Migrants Will Go As Sea Level Rises
When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept through Louisiana in 2005, cities like Houston, Dallas, and Baton Rouge took in hundreds of thousands of displaced residents—many of whom eventually stayed in Continue Reading
Rex Tillerson Questions Human Role in Curbing Climate Change
“With respect to our ability to influence it, I think that’s still an open question,” Tillerson said. (Bloomberg) — Rex Tillerson, the former U.S. secretary of state under President Donald Continue Reading
Virginia has the chance to become a national leader on climate policy
THE DEMOCRATS’ takeover of Richmond promised to bring action on big problems Virginia Republicans had played down or ignored — such as climate change. Now, as the legislature approaches key Continue Reading
Climate Politics
A Slippery Slope Over the past several weeks, I’ve included clips on the efforts of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to bring House Republicans in from the cold on Continue Reading
The Auto Industry Wanted Easier Environmental Rules. It Got Chaos.
When Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. called the president last spring, he was hoping to defuse what was looking like a lengthy legal battle over the nation’s Continue Reading
US Natural Gas Prices Continue Freefall This Winter
The cold weather has simply not arrived. After the lowest summer U.S. natural gas prices since 1998, the market has continued to fall this winter 2019-2020. The cold weather has Continue Reading
Are Republicans coming out of ‘the closet’ on climate change?
Young climate activists outside the White House in September. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Bruce Westerman, a Republican congressman from Arkansas, has a plan to help save the planet — one Continue Reading
Steven Mnuchin is wrong about climate economics
US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has often been seen as a moderating influence, even a voice of reason, inside Donald Trump’s administration. The American economy has generally performed well under Continue Reading
LLNL report lays out technology pathways for California to become carbon-neutral and then -negative by 2045; 3 pillars of negative emissions
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have identified a suite of technologies to help California to become carbon-neutral—and ultimately carbon-negative —by 2045. To achieve the goal of carbon-neutrality, California will Continue Reading
U.S. environmental groups plan to sue Trump administration on airplane emissions
Environmental groups said on Thursday they planned to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate aircraft emissions after a 2016 agency determination that those emissions pose a Continue Reading
Worst climate scenario probably won’t happen, scientists say
One of the most fundamental questions in climate research asks the following: What will the world look like when we reach a certain point of warming? How will it change Continue Reading
Temperatures at a Florida-Size Glacier in Antarctica Alarm Scientists
Scientists in Antarctica have recorded, for the first time, unusually warm water beneath a glacier the size of Florida that is already melting and contributing to a rise in sea Continue Reading
Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows
Further loss of land to rising waters there “threatens to drive further social and political instability in the region, which could reignite armed conflict and increase the likelihood of terrorism,” Continue Reading
New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding
Driven by climate change, global mean sea level rose 11–16 cm in the twentieth century1,2. Even with sharp, immediate cuts to carbon emissions, it could rise another 0.5 m this century3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. Under Continue Reading
Weathercasters are talking about climate change — and how we can solve it
Elisa Raffa, the morning meteorologist at KOLR 10 in Springfield, Missouri, presents a climate solutions segment. For many years, as the science of human-caused climate change grew ever clearer, TV Continue Reading
We may avoid the very worst climate scenario. But the next-worst is still pretty awful.
The year is 2100, and the world’s 12 billion people are still burning fossil fuels with abandon. Compared with preindustrial times, the planet has warmed by 4.5 degrees Celsius, or Continue Reading
Hydrogen needs to replace fossil fuels in industrial applications to meet climate goals: report
Replacing the fossil fuels used in industrial processes with hydrogen will be essential to achieve the net-zero emissions required by 2050 to keep climate warming to 2 degrees Celsius, according Continue Reading
Unprecedented data confirms that Antarctica’s most dangerous glacier is melting from below
Warm ocean water has been discovered underneath a massive glacier in West Antarctica, a troubling finding that could speed its melt in a region with the potential to eventually unleash Continue Reading
If the U.S. doesn’t change course, carbon emissions will rise again in the 2030s
Absent any major policy shift in this decade, the amount of carbon dioxide the United States adds to the atmosphere each year is projected to begin rising by the 2030s, according Continue Reading
Carbon emissions will fall just 4 percent by 2050, according to government projections
Carbon emissions will fall just 4 percent by 2050, according to government projections U.S. carbon emissions are expected to fall just 4 percent by 2050, according to data released Wednesday Continue Reading
Is Natural Gas Really Helping the U.S. Cut Emissions?
Although natural gas produces about half the carbon dioxide emissions when burned than coal does, studies show methane leaks and flaring throughout the supply chain release far more greenhouse gas Continue Reading
Gas price concerns rise as Pennsylvania considers a regional climate pact for cars
Pennsylvania state senators on Wednesday raised concerns that a possible multistate initiative to reduce emissions of climate warming gases from cars and trucks will drive up fuel prices in the Continue Reading
Tears for the Magnificent and Shrinking Everglades, a ‘River of Grass’
For years, whenever I found myself in Miami with an afternoon to spare, I sneaked off west to where a road abruptly separates the urban grid from the Everglades. Depending Continue Reading
UK Oil & Gas Industry Embraces Net Zero Emissions Plan By 2050
The UK’s oil and gas industry plans to become a net zero oil and gas basin in terms of own production emissions by 2050, as the UK North Sea operators Continue Reading
Analysis: UK Low-Carbon Electricity Generation Stalls in 2019
The amount of electricity generated by low-carbon sources in the UK stalled in 2019, Carbon Brief analysis shows. Low-carbon electricity output from wind, solar, nuclear, hydro and biomass rose by Continue Reading
Socialism, Capitalism and the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels
Students are back at school, and preparing for another wave of Friday strikes in protest at politicians’ failure to tackle global warming. Shocking images of floods in Indonesia, wildfires in Continue Reading
Dwindling Arctic Sea Ice May Affect Tropical Weather Patterns
The rapid decline of Arctic sea ice during the last couple of decades has spurred climate scientists to study how that meltdown influences the rest of the planet, and a Continue Reading
Will Davos save the world, or put it out of its misery?
When this hot planet finally begins to evict us en masse, the global elites might seek refuge up here in the Alps, in the highest town in Europe — if Continue Reading
As Climate Change Hits the Southeast, Communities Wrestle with Politics, Funding
Hurricane Florence flooded out a contaminated Superfund site in Cheraw, South Carolina. Credit: The State Like hundreds of other cities, Louisville, Kentucky, is searching for a path to address climate Continue Reading
Caught Off Guard: The Southeast Struggles with Climate Change
Like hundreds of other cities, Louisville, Kentucky, is searching for a path to address climate change. To get there, however, city officials need the cooperation of the region’s electric utility, Continue Reading
Climate change: UK has ‘one shot’ at success at Glasgow COP26
The Scottish Events Campus includes the Armadillo and the SSE Hydro If the Glasgow climate conference fails to deliver, it could mark the end of the global approach to tackling Continue Reading