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Clothing, tech giants set carbon-slashing goals
Brand-name businesses — including clothing companies Nike Inc., Gap Inc., Guess and Levi Strauss & Co., and tech firms Adobe Systems, Nokia Corp. and HP Inc. — are setting the goals as part of a partnership launched by the United Nations and environmental groups. The initiative, Science Based Targets, prods companies to establish plans to slash heat-trapping gases from their operations to help stave off devastating global warming. It says more than 300 businesses have committed to the program, including 50 U.S. companies. [ read more … ]
Grid talks expose mistrust between coal and solar states
California greens and Rocky Mountain coal interests don’t share much in common, except this: Both are wary of efforts to form an electric grid encompassing much of the western United States. A bill that would have kick-started the expansion of California’s grid operator to cover some six Western states faltered last week, but those who support the idea of empowering an entity to oversee the West’s sprawling transmission aren’t giving up hope. They face opposition from within and out of the Golden State. [ read more … ]
Perry disputes grid models, denies renewable regs pre-emption
Energy Secretary Rick Perry told Senate lawmakers that his agency would not pre-empt state renewable portfolio standards and questioned models of high levels of wind and solar energy for the electric grid, according to documents obtained by E&E News and submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. In questions for the record obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request, Perry pushed for everything from cutting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to shifting DOE programs to “early stage” research. [ read more … ]
Quiet Energy Revolution Underway in Japan as Dozens of Towns Go Off the Grid
A northern Japanese city’s efforts to rebuild its electric power system after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami mark a quiet shift away from the country’s old utility model toward self-reliant, local generation and transmission. After losing three-quarters of its homes and 1,100 people in the March 2011 temblor and tsunami, the city of Higashi Matsushima turned to the Japanese government’s “National Resilience Program,” with 3.72 trillion yen (24.60 billion pounds) in funding for this fiscal year, to rebuild. [ read more … ]
How California — yes, California — could make a Trump reelection more difficult
This move also could boost potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders from California, such as Sen. Kamala D. Harris and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. It could also thrust issues that are more popular on the left onto the national stage. Imagine candidates hopping from the Iowa State Fair, talking ethanol, to an art festival in Orange County, where they’re asked about their plans to combat climate change. [ read more … ]
Trump Adviser Tells Ministers U.S. Will Leave Paris Climate Accord
Gary D. Cohn, the top White House economic adviser, told ministers from several major allies on Monday that the Trump administration was “unambiguous” about its plans to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change unless new terms were met. [ read more … ]
Trump is making deals, but one on climate is unlikely
President Trump has made himself clear on climate change: He doesn’t believe humans have much, if anything, to do with it. No number of hurricanes appears able to alter that. He’s been just as fixed on other issues, like immigration, before making a sudden course change. The question grappled with by some observers is whether Trump could be coaxed into ditching his view that warming is a hoax, for a political payday. [ read more … ]
The Real Unknown of Climate Change: Our Behavior
Dr. Shepherd and his colleagues have spent their careers issuing a larger warning, one that much of the public still chooses to ignore. I speak, of course, about the risks of climate change. Because of atmospheric emissions from human activity, the ocean waters from which Harvey drew its final burst of strength were much warmer than they ought to have been, most likely contributing to the intensity of the deluge. If the forecasts from our scientists are anywhere close to right, we have seen nothing yet. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.