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April 11, 2016
The Arctic's winter sea ice extent for 2016 hit its maximum on March 24 and was the smallest ever, edging out 2015's record. This year Arctic winter sea ice extended for 5.607 million square miles, 431,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average extent (equivalent to the combined size of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and almost all of Louisiana). The National Snow and Ice Date Center (NSIDC) reports that "back-to-back winters have now seen the lowest ice cover extents of the past 37 years." Image courtesy of climate.gov.
On April 5, Secretary of State John Kerry pointed out the trillions of dollars in economic opportunities offered by clean energy to business and policy leaders attending the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York. Kerry said that while government has provided "the structure, the incentives, the framework," for clean energy, "it's the private sector that will ultimately take us to the finish line." Kerry called for the acceleration of clean energy power generation in order to "stave off the worst impacts of climate change," and cited the potentially devastating consequences of inaction on climate, such as human health impacts and sea level rise. “It took us decades to understand that what can seem like the cheapest sources of energy in the short term actually . . . [have] insurmountable costs in the long term,” Kerry said.
For more information:
CNBC, Huffington Post, Bloomberg
On April 7, Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), met with Catherine McKenna, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change in Canada, to discuss methane emissions reductions. McCarthy stated that the talks would examine ways to cut methane emissions from the entire oil and gas sector, including pipelines and wells, and that they would look at both new and existing infrastructure. McKenna commented, "I'm a realist on this. There are a lot of people who have lost jobs in Alberta. . . I think we need to be thoughtful of how we move forward." Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
For more information see:
The Guardian
On April 4, the White House released a report assessing climate change-related public health risks over the next century. The research found that climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and extreme weather will lead to greater air pollution, more premature deaths from heat waves, longer seasons for tick and mosquito-borne illnesses, increased exposure to water contaminants, greater food insecurity, and associated depression and stress. These effects are worse for the world’s vulnerable populations – children, older adults, pregnant women, immigrant groups, some communities of color, those with chronic medical conditions and low-income communities. Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said this report is the most comprehensive scientific study yet of climate change’s human health impacts.
The Hill, The White House, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Global Change Research Program
On April 6, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Included in the bill were extensions of tax benefits for a small suite of renewable energy technologies: fuel cells, geothermal, and biomass. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), ranking member on the committee, announced that morning that an agreement had been reached to include the extenders, which legislators said were unintentionally omitted from a tax extension package that was passed late last year with support for solar and wind power. The bill will now go to the full Senate for approval.
The Hill, EAA
On March 4, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) signed into law The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2016. The bipartisan law sets a target to cut statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 40 percent below 2006 levels by 2030, making Maryland one of the most ambitious states in the country on GHG emissions reductions. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) estimates that the new law will create 26,000 to 33,000 new jobs and add $2.5-$3.5 billion to the economy, by 2020. MDE Secretary Ben Grumbles applauded the action, stating, “The bill reflects Governor Hogan’s commitment to finding common ground for the common good . . . When we do this right, we create a climate of opportunity for balanced environmental and economic progress that also boosts energy security and community resilience.”
Washington Post, Natural Resources Defence Council, Press Release, CBS
On April 5, Bangladesh police charged 3,200 anti-coal protesters in the village of Gandamara with vandalism and assault, after an incident where the police killed four protesters by gunfire. The protesters had been convening for several days to protest a $2.4 billion project to build two coal-fired power plants, which they said would increase local pollution, when violence broke out. The Guardian reports that 100 were injured, 11 of whom were police. Ted Nace, editor of Coal Swarm, commented, "[This incident] is the worst overall loss of life in anti-coal protests worldwide since the killings of six people in Jkarkhand, India, at two protests in April 2011." SEPCOIII Electric Power and HTG, two Chinese firms, are backing the 1,224 megawatt coal project.
Tribune, Guardian, Think Progress
On April 1, the Saint Leo University Polling Institute released the results of a national online survey showing that 75 percent of Americans are either "somewhat" or "very" concerned about climate change, a similar percentage to last year's findings. A parallel survey which focused on Florida’s peninsula found that 81.3 percent of residents were "somewhat" or "very" concerned, a notable increase from 2015’s poll when 67 percent held the same opinion. Leo Ondrovic, a science faculty member at Saint Leo University, commented, "I think what these numbers are telling us is that awareness of global climate change is growing.”
PR Newswire, News 4 Jax, Saint Leo University Polling Institute
On April 4, a panel of 20 scientists convened by the California Ocean Science Trust released a report warning that carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying waters off the North American West Coast, and if the process isn't slowed there will be "devastating ecological consequences" in the coming decades. When carbon dioxide reacts with seawater, it forms carbonic acid, lowering the water's pH, and reduces the concentration of carbonate ions, which are critical to the construction of some marine organisms' shells and skeletons. The report found that ocean circulation in the Pacific leads to disproportionately high levels of acidic seawater along the West Coast, causing high mortality in shellfish and hurting associated industries. The report highlights five local and regional approaches that can help, although it states the problem is global and "will require global solutions."
The West Coast Ocean Acidification & Hypoxia Science Panel
On March 4, a new study by the London School of Economics was published in Nature Climate Change, showing that if the world continues along a "business-as-usual" emissions pathway without significant reductions, $2.5 trillion of global financial asset values could be gone by 2100. The study notes that there is also a small chance (in the 99th percentile) that up to $24.2 trillion in asset values are at risk. According to the study, climate change-exacerbated droughts, floods, heatwaves and related damages and dislocation will decrease economic growth and diminish the performance of bonds and stocks. Study lead author Simon Deitz commented, "It makes financial sense to a risk-neutral investor to cut emissions, and even more so to the risk-averse."
Reuters, The Christian Science Monitor, Inside Climate News, Study
On April 5, a study by the World Resources Institute found 21 countries have decoupled economic growth from carbon emissions (meaning that their economies grew while emissions diminished) in the past 15 years, including the United States. The countries are mostly from Europe, but not all of them have advanced economies – Bulgaria, Romania and Uzbekistan also successfully decoupled emissions from economic growth. The drivers behind the decoupling vary by country, but include the use of carbon taxes, increased renewable energy power generation, and fuel-switching from coal to natural gas power generation. Lead researcher Nate Aden, commented, “It’s really exciting, and it suggests that countries can sever the historic link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions.” Although 21 countries have achieved emissions decoupling, the study shows more than 170 countries still have not. The study states that decoupling "needs to be scaled up rapidly" to stop global average temperatures from increasing by more than two degrees C.
The New York Times, Climate Change News, World Resources Institute
Saudi Arabia Announces Plans to Transition Economy Away from Oil
Tesla Model 3 Already World’s Most Popular Electric Car
India to Sign International Climate Agreement April 22
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google Support EPA Clean Power Plan
Alaska Experiences Second Warmest Winter in 90 Years
Oil and Gas Industry Owes 29,000 Workers $40 Million in Wages, Government Says
Authors: Taotao Luo, Anthony Rocco and Ethan Anabel
Editor: Laura Small
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