In The News

Financial Times: Sharp Drop in US Emissions Keeps Global Levels Flat

Pilita Clark March 18, 2017
The world has kept emissions that cause climate change in check for the third year in a row during a period when the prices of fossil fuels were low and global economic growth averaged about 3 percent per year. Natural gas has quickly replaced coal as an energy source, seven nuclear power plants went on line in China and renewable energies are becoming more affordable. The trends suggest “a shift...

Climate Accord Could Push A/C Out of Sweltering India’s Reach

Ellen Barry and Coral Davenport October 17, 2016
In India, a family’s first air conditioner marks upward mobility and the potential to reach the middle class. But the low-cost air conditioners usually contain hydrofluorocarbons, a “supergreenhouse gas,” report Ellen Barry and Coral Davenport of the New York Times. Negotiators from more than 150 nations have reached a global agreement to phase out use of HFCs. For countries like the United...

Climate Future Could Be Decided in the Courts

Emily Schwartz Greco July 31, 2015
Over the past thirty years, most governments have been slow in responding to the threat of climate change. So environmentalists have increasingly turned to courts for results. Much like the anti-tobacco groups of the 1990s, advocacy groups are suing governments for failing to protect constituents – and have reported successes in Washington State and the Netherlands. South Pacific groups are...

The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

Tom Randall July 6, 2015
Renewable forms of energy gain favor with investors. “Trillions of dollars will be invested over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity,” reports Tom Randall, based on a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that forecasts global power market trends through 2040: Solar prices are falling and could be competitive for most world markets...

UN: Unprecedented Climate Extremes Marked Last Decade

Alex Kirby July 3, 2013
The decade 2001 to 2010 was the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, with more temperature records broken and sea levels rising twice as fast than the previous century. The WMO report, “The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes,“ analyzed temperature levels, precipitation and extreme weather events worldwide to reach its conclusions. Correlating...

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Help Asia Roar

Will Hickey March 15, 2013
Governments have long provided subsidies, direct and indirect, on fuels for both consumers and producers. Providing subsidies on fossil fuels is costly in terms of public health and climate change. In 2009, G20 leaders agreed that subsidies should be curtailed, but Asian countries continue to fund them to support economic growth. Subsidies for consumers lead to waste, traffic and pollution. Less...

Weaning From Fossil Fuels and Growing a Green Economy

Dennis Posadas March 8, 2013
Innovation in renewable energies is taking many directions, though implementation of best practices and policies is naturally slow to follow. It may be unrealistic to expect a global treaty on climate before innovation plays out. “Worldwide implementation may require getting comfortable with many different culturally appropriate approaches,” writes Dennis Posadas, author and fellow of the Climate...