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January 19, 2015
On January 16, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) both released separate and independent analyses finding that 2014 was the warmest year since 1880. Nine of the ten warmest years on record have occurred since 2000. According to NASA and NOAA, since 1880 the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), with most of the warming happening in the last three decades. This is due to increasing human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Click here for more information. Image courtesy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
On January 14, President Obama announced plans to reduce methane leaks from oil and natural gas drilling by 45 percent by 2025 compared to 2012 levels. The initiative is an important part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, originally announced in June 2013 and updated in March 2014 with a strategy specifically to cut methane emissions. Methane is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) over 100 years, but 84 times more powerful over a 20-year period, making it an important target for short-term climate action. The initiative includes a regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be proposed this summer on methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas operations, as well as additional efforts by the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Energy to regulate emissions on federal lands and to clean up pipeline emissions. “It is the largest opportunity to deal with climate pollution that this administration has not already seized,” said David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
For more information see:
The Washington Post, NY Times, White House Fact Sheet
On January 13, Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced a bill to replace the diesel and gasoline tax with a carbon tax. The Gas Tax Replacement Act of 2015 would substitute the current federal gas tax used in the Highway Trust Fund with a life-cycle assessment-based carbon tax on gas and diesel fuels. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be responsible for creating the life-cycle assessment, colloquially called “well-to-wheel,” to calculate total emissions. The bill calls for a tax of $50 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2); the EPA would be authorized to alter that rate based on funding requirements. Huffman, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, stated, “While the strides we have made for vehicle fuel efficiency has saved consumers millions of dollars at the pump, the antiquated and inflexible federal gas tax has left our nation’s transportation infrastructure demands unmet.” Huffman added that his bill would mitigate this gap while advancing clean energy measures and confronting climate change.
Huffman House, Transport News
On January 12, the Senate voted 63-32 to begin debate on a bill to support construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, overcoming the 60 vote threshold for a cloture vote. Republicans voting for the bill were joined by one Independent and ten Democratic senators. The bill will be taken up on the Senate floor, under new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) more open amendment policy. Amendments are expected to include a measure from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stating that anthropogenic climate change is a “major threat” to humanity, which will function as a litmus test for whether senators believe climate change is human-caused and dangerous. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) expressed her opinion that allowing the Keystone XL pipeline would exacerbate climate change, saying, “The State Department’s own analysis says a barrel of tar sands oil carried by the Keystone tar sands pipeline will create at least 17 percent more carbon pollution than domestic oil. And it could add up to an additional 27 million metric tons of carbon each year.” The White House has threatened to veto the Keystone XL bill, which would require 67 votes in the Senate to overturn.
Ecowatch, New York Times, The Hill
On January 11, Secretary of State John Kerry met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat, India. Much of their discussion focused on efforts to curb carbon emissions and the effects of climate change in their respective countries. After their meeting, Secretary Kerry announced Prime Minister Modi was committed to increasing the share of renewable energy in India’s energy market, at a crucial time when hundreds of millions of people in India are expected to gain access to electricity in the coming years. “I know that the Prime Minister not only understands, but is committed to policies which will deal with climate change. And that’s why he has already announced ambitious plans to scale up India’s renewable power programs,” Kerry stated. This meeting comes before another planned later this month in New Delhi with Prime Minister Modi, Secretary Kerry, and President Obama, which Kerry indicated would likely focus on climate change and associated issues.
The Hill, Department of State, International Business Times
On January 12, South Korea held its first carbon dioxide (CO2) permit trading auction, under its new cap-and-trade system, a scheme in which a government places a cap on total emissions and issues permits for emissions at levels below the cap, which owners can then trade in a market. South Korea’s carbon market covers 525 companies, making it the second largest globally, after the European market. Under the trading system, South Korea’s electricity generators, petrochemical refiners, steel producers, car builders, electro-mechanical firms and airlines were given a fixed number of emission permits to cover the next three years. The total amount of allowed emissions from 2015-2017 is set at 1.687 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. At the close of the auction, carbon permits were trading for $7.97 each – not far off from permit prices in Europe’s cap-and-trade system. While the start of the trading system was slow, analysts estimate that by 2017 the permit price will increase to around $30. The emission trading system is a core piece in South Korea’s overarching goal to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 percent from current levels by 2020.
The Hill, Reuters
On January 14, while on the papal airplane, Pope Francis spoke out on the matter of global warming as a “mostly” man-made issue. The pope stated, “I don't know if it (human activity) is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face. We have in a sense taken over nature.” Pope Francis added that he hopes the coming publication of a papal encyclical on the environment and climate change will rouse key player decisions in the upcoming United Nations (UN) climate change conference in Paris. The UN’s overarching goal in climate negotiations is to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius over average global temperatures in pre-industrial times. The Paris climate negotiations are widely hoped to deliver an international treaty on climate. “The meetings in Peru were nothing much, I was disappointed,” Pope Francis said, referring to the last climate change conference held in December 2014. “There was a lack of courage. They stopped at a certain point. We hope that in Paris the representatives will be more courageous going forward.”
The Huffington Post
On January 5, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded Washington, DC, contracting company Exelis a $3.5 million contract to modify laser instruments which will collect carbon dioxide (CO2) readings in the air and on the ground. This instrument is part of one of NASA’s five global projects starting up this year to discover how the Earth’s atmosphere affects climate change. The NASA contract will give Exelis time to test the modified instrumentation for future use in space. Eric Webster, vice president of Exelis’ weather systems business, stated, “Before the laser technology goes into space, it has to prove itself on ground and air applications.”
The Washington Post, Exelis
A recent Yale University poll found the Republican Party is more divided on climate change than previously thought. The poll found that 44 percent of party Republicans believe climate change is happening, with a majority of moderate (62 percent) and liberal (68 percent) Republicans leading the way while conservative (38 percent) and tea-party (29 percent) Republicans were the largest deniers. In addition, the poll found that 56 percent of total republicans support regulation limiting carbon dioxide (CO2), and a further 44 percent supported limiting CO2 from existing coal-fired power plants. This is interesting background since Republican leadership in Congress had indicated it will challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority on regulating emissions from coal-fired plants. Lastly, the poll found a majority of Republicans (64 percent) support rebates for consumers who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or residential solar panels.
Yale
On January 12, research journal Global Change Biology released a report on the relationship between melting sea-ice as a result of Arctic warming and the foraging behavior of the little auk seabird. The study found that since 2005, the little auks’ territory in Russia’s Franz-Josef Land has been essentially ice-free, altering their feeding habits. Scientists found that as the little auks lose their traditional feeding sites on sea-ice, they moved their foraging to new sites where large glaciers were melting, closer to their breeding grounds. The little auks’ innovation of feeding at glaciers has allowed them to maintain chick growth rates, but the average adult auk body mass has decreased by 4 percent. Study authors attached electronic tags to the little auks to record their feeding behavior, and then compared it to data from three other locations across the Atlantic Arctic. The panel of researchers say the study calls attention to the complexity involved in predicting the impact of the rapidly warming poles and their ecosystem dynamics.
The Daily Climate, Global Change Biology
On January 12, the journal Nature Climate Change published a study by Stanford University which estimated that the social cost of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions may be closer to $220 per ton of carbon dioxide—nearly six times the current estimate of $37 per ton used in the United States. The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a comprehensive estimate of economic damages that may occur with each metric ton of CO2 emissions. “If the social cost of carbon is higher, many more mitigation measures will pass a cost-benefit analysis. Because carbon emissions are so harmful to society, even costly means of reducing emissions would be worthwhile,” said study co-author Delavane Diaz. To develop the new SCC number, study authors used a modified integrated assessment model (IAM), the model typically used to generate SCC estimates through cost-benefit comparisons, and modified it to include inputs not typically put into standard IAM calculations. The researchers added in climate change’s effects on the economic growth rate, climate change adaptation, and divided the world into high income and low income countries. The Stanford researchers added that further research is necessary to hash out some assumptions and uncertainties in their work.
Nature Climate Change, Phys, Forbes, UPI
Preliminary 2015 data supplied daily by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the top of Hawaii’s largest volcano, Mauna Loa, shows concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels were above 400 parts per million (ppm) starting on Jan. 1st, and have continued above or near that level through Jan. 16th. This is the first time a year has begun with such a high level of CO2 in about 800,000 years or more. In the pre-industrial period, CO2 levels stood at about 280 ppm. Carbon dioxide levels first passed the 400 ppm threshold in May 2013, but have fluctuated since then. Generally, CO2 levels increase during autumnal months as vegetation dies off, and then drops off during summer as the vegetation regrows. Pieter Tans, a climate scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) who was not affiliated with the Scripps study, said he originally expected this increase in early February, but wasn’t surprised at the early rise in CO2 levels. “I am not surprised that we are seeing daily means greater than 400 already popping up regularly. Next year that should start happening in November,” Tans said.
Climate Central, NOAA, Study
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1. World Sea Level Rising Faster Than Previously Thought
2. China National Climate Assessment Finds Vulnerabilities
3. Mt. Kilimanjaro’s Ice Melting at Rapid Rate
4. Climate Change Threatens Outdoor Ice Rinks in Canada
2015 NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference - February 3-6, 2015 in Washington D.C.
NASEO's 2015 Energy Policy Outlook Conference will focus on the energy and economic opportunity in modernizing the nation’s energy infrastructure—electric grid, pipelines, buildings, and transportation—to achieve a more resilient, sustainable, and energy efficient future. The need to modernize our aging energy infrastructure is among the most important global competitive challenges facing the United States. Registration is now open--be sure to get your registration in before January 16, to get the discounted price. You may register here. For more information, please visit here.
EESI is a sponsoring organization of this event.
Authors: Samuel Beirne, Caitlin Madera, Emily Jackson
Editor: Laura Small
Advancing science-based climate solutions
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