Most recent 40 articles: Climate Nexus
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Tesla seeks approval for battery-cell output at new Texas plant - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · Tesla Inc.’s new factory in Austin, Texas, won’t build only the Cybertruck: State filings suggest the company also plans to make batteries on site as part of an ambitious strategy to further integrate its supply chain.
“The facility is proposing to operate a cell-manufacturing unit to produce the battery packs that are installed in the vehicle,” says an 188-page air-quality permit application filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The documents Bloomberg reviewed were filed between July and September.
Telsa’s Cybertruck
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced during the electric-car manufacturer’s ... Read more ...
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Feds sued over no longer allowing polluters to pay for environmental projects - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · A conservation group sued the federal government on Thursday over an action taken this year to no longer allow polluters to reduce their fines by paying for projects to help the environment.
A Department of Justice (DOJ) memo issued in March said that the Special Environmental Projects (SEPs), which had been used for about 30 years, violate a law requiring money received by the government to go to the U.S. Treasury.
The memo was first reported by E&E News.
DOJ argued that SEPs could only legally be allowed with express authorization from Congress and that the projects have been “controversial for decades." It then suspended their use “both in light of their ... Read more ...
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VP debate shows we're stuck in first grade on climate change - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · Until late Sept. 2020, no one had asked a candidate at a presidential debate about climate change for 12 years.
Fox News journalist Chris Wallace ended the streak last week with surprise climate questions during the first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. But the often-ignored topic returned in the vice-presidential debate, too. On Wednesday night, USA Today journalist Susan Page allotted some 10 minutes to a topic that, year after year, is growing in salience as the planet continually warms.
Yet the questions were rudimentary or unproductive, having not progressed much beyond assessing repeatedly proven, evidence-based science. ... Read more ...
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California has a renewables curtailment problem - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · Nearly half a million clean energy workers remain unemployed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new analysis.
The analysis of unemployment filings by BW Research Partnership shows that 477,900 clean energy workers, or 14 percent of the sector’s pre-pandemic workforce, do not have jobs.
Prior to the coronavirus, the sector had been expected to add 175,000 jobs this year.
Things got slightly better for the sector in September, when 12,500 jobs were added. The 477,900 unemployment figure is down from the 594,300 jobs that had been lost in March and April.
However, clean energy job growth last month was 60 percent slower than job growth ... Read more ...
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London's Square Mile vows to eliminate carbon pollution by 2040 - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · Bicycle and pedestrian lanes in the Square Mile financial district of the City of London.
London’s financial district is planning to eliminate its carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, investing 68 million pounds ($88 million) to tackle climate change and create 800 jobs over the next six years.
The Square Mile area will see more streets dedicated to walking and cycling, new parks, timed street closures and the installation of flood-resistant road surfaces, under a plan announced Thursday by the City of London Corp. New developments will be required to have carbon-reduction plans in their designs, and green wall space that includes plants will increase by ... Read more ...
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[Permian] oil site leaked gases uncontrollably for months, group says - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · An oil well site in the Permian Basin owned by a bankrupt shale producer has spewed polluting gases into the atmosphere for 10 months, despite being investigated by Texas regulators, according to an environmental group.
Infrared video footage collected during multiple visits from November 2019 through September show “continuous intense and significant” emissions from faulty valves and tank hatches at MDC Energy LLC’s Pick Pocket location in West Texas, Earthworks said in a letter to two state regulatory agencies on Thursday. The group called on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Railroad Commission to rescind permits for ... Read more ...
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Study shows billions of government relief dollars to oil and gas amid COVID-19 - Climate Nexus (Oct 08, 2020) |
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Oct 08, 2020 · As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States, Americans were ordered to stay home and restricted from travel to stem the spread of the virus.
The mandate weakened fuel demands as more cars sat idle and fewer planes took off, and led to an historic drop in price of oil never seen before. By April, about a month after the pandemic was in full force in the U.S., the price of domestic crude plummeted below $0 per barrel – the first time in history it had fallen into negative territory.
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The drop led to shut in wells, deactivated drilling rigs, bankruptcies and layoffs from northern North ... Read more ...
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Ocasio-Cortez responds to Harris on fracking: It's 'bad actually' - Climate Nexus (Oct 07, 2020) |
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Oct 07, 2020 · Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) weighed in on the issue of fracking during the vice presidential debate Wednesday night, tweeting that fracking is "bad" as the candidates debated environmental issues.
“Fracking is bad, actually,” the New York congresswoman tweeted after Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) noted that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not seeking to ban the practice.
Ocasio-Cortez serves as a co-chair of the Biden campaign's climate task force.
President Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed that Biden would seek to ban the practice of fracking, particularly in the must-win state of Pennsylvania where it is a major industry. Vice President ... Read more ...
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This year has seen a record number of climate disasters costing $1 billion - Climate Nexus (Oct 07, 2020) |
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Oct 07, 2020 · Storms, fires, and droughts have already cost the country at least $50 billion - and there are still three months left in 2020.
A shattered storefront after Hurricane Delta struck in Cancun, Mexico, on Oct. 7.
A shattered storefront after Hurricane Delta struck in Cancun, Mexico, on Oct. 7.
The U.S. in 2020 has already seen 16 climate-related disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage each, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That ties the record shared by 2011 and 2017—after only nine months. The annual average for 2015 to 2019 was 13.8 billion-dollar events a year, more than double the ... Read more ...
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Biden considering new White House office on climate change - Climate Nexus (Oct 07, 2020) |
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Oct 07, 2020 · Democrat Joe Biden is considering creating a special White House office led by a climate “czar” to coordinate efforts to fight global warming if he is elected president, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
Among the candidates being discussed to head the operation are former Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped broker the landmark Paris climate accord, and Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington who ran for the Democratic nomination on climate issues, according to the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss non-public deliberations. John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, has also been ... Read more ...
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Biden would face hurdles undoing Trump environmental rollbacks - Climate Nexus (Oct 07, 2020) |
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Oct 07, 2020 · If Democratic nominee Joe Biden is elected president, his administration will likely take aim at the Trump administration’s rollbacks of many major environmental protections.
Biden’s climate plan lays out actions he would take on Day One like implementing “aggressive” methane pollution limits from the oil and gas sector and developing “rigorous” fuel economy standards.
Environmental advocates say the former vice president should target rules that have the biggest effects on climate change and those that are most harmful to marginalized communities.
Yet because of complexities in the rulemaking process - along with structural changes implemented by the Trump ... Read more ...
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Hydrogen double-decker buses arrive in Europe's top oil city - Climate Nexus (Oct 07, 2020) |
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Oct 07, 2020 · The world’s first double-decker hydrogen buses will arrive in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Wednesday, a city best known as a base for some of the world’s top oil companies.
The 15 buses are made by Wrightbus Ltd., a Northern Irish firm bought by Jo Bamford, the son of JC Bamford Excavators Ltd. chair Anthony Bamford. The deliveries will give Aberdeen one of the world’s biggest fleets of hydrogen buses.
Britain wants to be at the forefront of the hydrogen industry, and the government says it will outline its strategy for the sector next year as well as present a plan to create a hydrogen transport hub. The fuel is seen as key to slashing harmful emissions ... Read more ...
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Under Pressure To Act On Climate, JPMorgan Says It Will Push Clients To Cut Pollution: - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning to set emissions targets for its financing portfolio, joining other massive banks in bringing climate goals to its lending activity.
The biggest U.S. bank will establish goals to be achieved by 2030 for each each industry in its portfolio, starting with oil and gas, automotive manufacturing and electric power, according to a statement Tuesday. It will begin announcing the targets next year.
JPMorgan is also working to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint for its own operations starting this year as part of a broader commitment to align its activity with the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Morgan Stanley had pledged to eliminate the net ... Read more ...
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Siemens and Macquarie form calibrant energy to tackle distributed energy market - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · The two are joining up on a distributed energy venture to sell an energy-as-a-service concept.
The joint venture will specialize in onsite energy in the U.S.
Macquarie Capital and Siemens have formed a joint venture to finance and build distributed energy projects, joining an increasingly competitive landscape in the growing corporate renewables market, the two companies announced this week. The partnership, called Calibrant Energy, will initially focus its energy-as-a-service model in the United States, where commercial and industrial (C&I) customers have become heavyweight renewables buyers as they seek to reach decarbonization goals.
Calibrant will offer a range ... Read more ...
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China's building new mega refineries just as fuel demand stalls - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · China is investing tens of billions of dollars in new mega-refineries even as its fuel demand is expected to peak within five years, raising the risk it will flood the region with cheap exports.
At least four projects with about 1.4 million barrels a day of crude-processing capacity, more than all refineries in the U.K. combined, are under construction. That’s after the country already added 1 million barrels since the start of 2019. All that capacity will add more petroleum products and plastics just as China National Petroleum Corp. sees fuel demand peaking in 2025 as electric vehicles sap consumption.
The mismatched building boom underscores how rapidly clean ... Read more ...
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Democrats allege EPA plans to withhold funding from 'anarchist' cities - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · Senate Democrats’ top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) watchdog is warning that the agency plans to withhold funds to clean contaminated land and drinking water sources in Seattle, Portland, New York and Washington, D.C., citing a directive from President Trump to withhold federal funds from “anarchist” jurisdictions.
“We have learned that EPA, in its internal meetings related to the policy, has begun to identify funding sources that could be subject to the directive, some of which are vital for the provision of safe drinking water and the remediation of contamination,” Environmental and Public Works Committee ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) wrote in a letter to EPA ... Read more ...
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Exxon, oil rivals shield their carbon forecasts from investors - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · Big Oil provides forward guidance on production and earnings, but not on emissions.
Flames come from the flarestack at ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran plant in Cowdenbeath, Scotland on Oct. 4, 2020.
Flames come from the flarestack at ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran plant in Cowdenbeath, Scotland on Oct. 4, 2020.
A giant oil company like Exxon Mobil Corp. will publicly disclose forward-looking numbers on production forecasts, earnings potential and capital expenditures. But the biggest fossil-fuel producers don’t provide short-term guidance to investors on the metric that’s become existentially important: carbon-dioxide emissions. Read more ...
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Failure to tackle climate change suppresses rates, ECB study says - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · Slow progress in reducing carbon emissions risks putting pressure on central banks to keep interest rates low, according to a European Central Bank working paper.
“Climate risk reduces the natural rate of interest,” researchers Ghassane Benmir, Ivan Jaccard, and Gauthier Vermandel wrote in a study published Tuesday. “The reason is that households become more risk averse when firms fail to internalize the damage caused by their emissions.”
Uncertainty, in turn, increases precautionary savings, lowering overall demand in the economy.
The authors of the paper concluded that a carbon tax for companies determined by the market price of ... Read more ...
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The one-stop rebuilding shop for wildfire victims - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · Richard Hicks hoses down the grounds in front of his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., in preparation for evacuating during the Glass Fire on Sept. 28.
Homebound wants to help people construct new houses quickly after a blaze. But is rebuilding in fire-prone areas the answer?
California is on fire. Already this year, thousands of people have lost their homes, and communities are struggling to figure out how to rebuild. Nikki Pechet wants to be the person they turn to.
Pechet co-founded Homebound Inc. in 2018 after the Tubbs Fire destroyed 4,600 homes in Northern California, envisioning the company as a more efficient general contractor for rebuilding disaster zones. ... Read more ...
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India may close its dirtiest coal plants as green focus grows - Climate Nexus (Oct 06, 2020) |
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Oct 06, 2020 · India is considering a proposal that may force some of its dirtiest coal plants to close, as policy makers in one of the world’s top polluters increasingly focus on climate change.
The plan under consideration by the power ministry would cap plants’ so-called heat rate, which is a measure of how much coal energy is needed to produce each unit of electricity, according to people with knowledge of the issue.
Power stations totaling 10 gigawatts have been identified as breaching the proposed benchmark and more could be added, said the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions are ongoing and no policy has been finalized. That would account for ... Read more ...
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More than 60 Democrats ask feds to reconsider Tongass logging plan - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · More than 60 Democrats are asking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to reconsider a plan that would open up previously protected parts of the Tongass National Forest to logging.
The Forest Service issued a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) last month laying out its intention to open up more than 9 million Tongass acres to the timber industry.
The move doesn’t allow logging at this time in the Alaska forest, which scientists say mitigates climate change by storing more carbon than any other forest in the country, but it brings the administration one step closer to an official approval.
In their letter, the 60 lawmakers from both the House and the Senate ... Read more ...
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Oil pipeline operators offer new discounts as demand craters - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · U.S. oil pipeline operators are slashing fees to encourage customers in Texas to keep using their networks to ship barrels to the Gulf Coast as the pandemic wreaks havoc on profits.
Kinder Morgan Inc. is offering discounts of about 50% on the Eagle Ford pipeline for some existing customers, according to people familiar with the matter. Magellan Midstream Partners LP is negotiating lower tariffs on the Permian’s BridgeTex system for certain users whose contracts are up for renewal at the end of 2020, they said. Energy Transfer LP plans a volume incentive program for those who qualify on its Permian Express 2 and 3 pipelines.
The discounts reflect efforts by ... Read more ...
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Bernhardt says a land use plan focused on oil, gas development near Chaco won't be delayed - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · FARMINGTON - U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said he will not be delaying a land-use plan that opponents say will lead to thousands of new oil and gas wells being drilled in the Greater Chaco region.
The comment period ended on Sept. 25 after Bernhardt extended it from its original May deadline.
Opponents say the conditions with the COVID-19 pandemic that led Bernhardt to extending the comment period once before have not changed and that the plan should be placed on hold until there can be in-person meetings once again
But during his visit to Farmington on Oct. 5, Bernhardt said the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will go ... Read more ...
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Report questions feasibility of LNG industry - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · A new report released Monday questions not only the environmental impact, but also economic feasibility of the liquid natural gas industry based mostly on the U.S. Gulf Coast — including three proposed and existing facilities in Southeast Texas.
In the report “Troubled Water for LNG,” the Environmental Integrity Project tracks the environmental toll of additional releases from LNG facilities and what it characterized as a volatile marketing that has led to 10 proposed projects being delayed by a year or indefinitely while still being approved by the federal government.
Locally, the Golden Pass LNG and Port Arthur LNG projects — both planned for ... Read more ...
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Americans poised to set new rooftop solar record despite virus - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · America’s residential-solar industry is on the verge of a record-breaking year after overcoming a bruising due to the coronavirus pandemic.
BloombergNEF now forecasts 3 gigawatts of residential-solar installations in 2020, topping the previous high of 2.8 gigawatts set last year, according to a report released Monday. BNEF expects another 3.6 gigawatts to be installed in 2021. And it’s not just residential solar seeing growth -- onshore wind and utility-scale solar are also having a robust year.
U.S. residential-solar installations are poised to hit a record this year
Note: 2020 and 2021 are forecasts
Demand for residential solar has rebounded ... Read more ...
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Green ammonia for fertilizer planned by giant wind farm builder - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · The Orsted A/S Borssele offshore wind farm near the Sluiskil plant, off the coast of New Zealand.
Orsted A/S
The Orsted A/S Borssele offshore wind farm near the Sluiskil plant, off the coast of New Zealand.
Orsted A/S
Orsted A/S, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind farms, plans to use its latest Dutch installation to make green ammonia for use in fertilizer.
The Danish utility will work with the fertilizer giant Yara International ASA to use wind power to create hydrogen and turn it into ammonia. The project could produce about 75,000 tons of green ammonia a year, cutting Yara’s carbon footprint.
But as with most ... Read more ...
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Groundwater depletion in US High Plains leads to bleak outlook for grain production - Climate Nexus (Oct 05, 2020) |
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Oct 05, 2020 · The depletion of groundwater sources in parts of the United States High Plains is so severe that peak grain production in some states has already been passed, according to new research. An international team of scientists, including experts from the University of Birmingham, has extended and improved methods used to calculate peak oil production to assess grain production in three US states, Nebraska, Texas and Kansas. They related the levels of water extraction from the Ogallala aquifer, one of the largest underwater reservoirs in the High Plains, over the past five decades, to the amounts of grain harvested in each state and used this model to predict future trends. Their results ... | By University of Birmingham Read more ...
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New York confirms plan for 1 GW-plus offshore wind solicitation in 2020 - Climate Nexus (Jan 10, 2020) |
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Jan 10, 2020 · The Empire State's second offshore wind procurement targets 1 gigawatt of capacity — "and perhaps substantially more."
Greentech Media
Ørsted and Equinor took home 1.7 GW of capacity in New York's first offshore wind solicitation last year.
The offshore wind solicitation "is expected to yield at least an additional 1,000 megawatts of clean power, and perhaps substantially more," according to a detailed document (PDF) laying out the various plans in Cuomo's 2020 State of the State.
The new capacity will come on top of the 1.7 gigawatts of capacity the state awarded in its first offshore wind solicitation last summer to developers Ørsted and ... Read more ...
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Trump administration sued for failing to protect green sea turtles from climate change - Climate Nexus (Jan 09, 2020) |
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Jan 09, 2020 · Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming several agencies in the Trump administration have failed to protect green sea turtle habitat as required by the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says the turtles' nesting beaches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as their ocean habitat, face threats from sea level rise brought on by climate change and plastic pollution, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.
Other plaintiffs are the Sea Turtle Oversight Protection and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The ... Read more ...
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New school prepares youth for climate change - Climate Nexus (Jan 06, 2020) |
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Jan 06, 2020 · #videoDetails .video-title { @apply --display-2; } .sponsored-video h1 { color: var(--color-type-branded-content, #7a7a7a); } #video-details, #videoDetails { margin-left: var(--one-column, 8.33333333%); margin-right: var(--one-column, 8.33333333%); margin-bottom: var(--spacer-twentyfour, 24px); } #videoDetails .detail-text { @apply --display-6; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: var(--spacer-four, 4px); } #videoTimestamp { color: var(--color-type-tertiary, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.60)); transition: all var(--speed-fast, 0.25s) ease-out; width: var(--twelve-column, 100%); } .media-image-credit { @apply --display-7; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: var(--spacer-twelve, 12px); } ... Read more ...
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Climate coverage is improving, but challenges abound heading into 2020 - Climate Nexus (Jan 03, 2020) |
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Jan 03, 2020 · Climate journalism had a breakout year in 2019
Marked by innovative initiatives and high-quality reporting, 2019 was a breakout year for climate journalism. But there is still work to be done. Broadcast and cable TV news are still greatly underreporting catastrophic extreme weather, failing to cover the crisis on the Sunday shows, and ceding discussion of proposed climate solutions to right-wing media.
But the efforts of climate activists, scientists, and journalists have helped to raise public awareness of the climate crisis and pushed the media to do a better job reporting on the threat of climate change and potential solutions to the crisis. Below are some examples ... Read more ...
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