Climate Change News - January 6, 2014

EPA Publishes Final Carbon Capture and Sequestration Regulations

On January 3, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final rule on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), removing barriers to the implementation of CCS which will allow coal power plants to continue operation while meeting proposed carbon emissions standards. The referenced carbon capture technology will capture carbon emissions before they are released from a power plant and sequester the carbon underground for storage. The new rule will exempt underground carbon storage from the EPA’s hazardous waste regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as well as create a national framework to facilitate use of the technology. The EPA explained that regulating carbon streams underground was not necessary, as they had found that this stored carbon dioxide did not present a strong risk to human and environmental health. The rule states, “EPA expects that this amendment will . . . facilitate the deployment of [sequestration] by providing additional regulatory certainty.” Interested parties have 75 days to submit comments on the rule.

For additional information see: The Hill , Federal Register

Department of Energy Declines Request to Re-examine Use of Social Cost of Carbon in Microwave Rule

On December 31, the Department of Energy (DOE) denied a petition from the Landmark Legal Foundation requesting that the DOE reconsider its use of the social cost of carbon (SCC) in its energy efficiency standards for microwave ovens (78 Fed. Reg. 36,316). The Landmark Legal Foundation had argued that the DOE violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it did not provide an adequate opportunity for public comment on the rule. Dozens of groups added comments to the petition voicing concerns about the DOE’s use of the SCC, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, American Chemistry Council, and the National Mining Association. The DOE stated it had complied with laws and provided notice and opportunity for comments. The July Landmark petition said, “DOE’s unannounced, dramatically increased, and improperly altered ‘Social Cost of Carbon’ (‘SCC’) valuation presented for the first time in this microwave oven regulation will certainly become the standard by which all other agencies will place a purportedly beneficial economic value on new carbon regulations.” The DOE commented that including the social cost of carbon in the rule did not influence the final energy conservation standard selected.

For additional information see: Bloomberg BNA , The Hill

New York City’s Carbon Emissions Have Decreased 19 Percent from 2005 Levels

On December 30, outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reported that New York’s greenhouse gas emissions have decreased 19 percent from 2005 levels. Mayor Bloomberg’s climate change policy PlaNYC 2030 was enacted in 2007 with a goal of reducing the city’s emissions 30 percent by 2030, through initiatives such as hybrid taxi cabs and energy efficiency retrofits of municipal buildings. “The key message is that local governments can work together with utilities, regulators, environmental partners, developers and communities to test-bed new concepts and sharply reduce emissions with state-of-the art analytics, financial products and technical resources,” said Sergej Mahnovski, New York City’s director of long-term planning and sustainability. “PlaNYC continues to set the precent for what cities can do to improve the quality of life for their residents.” Mayor Bloomberg left office on January 1 after 12 years of service. He told reporters in early December that he plans to continue his work on climate change through philanthropic involvement.

For additional information see: Reuters , Blue and Green Tomorrow

Quebec and California Formally Link Their Cap-and-Trade Systems

On January 2, California and Quebec formally began their joint cap-and-trade system, a market-based program that will allow the State and province to trade carbon emissions allowances. Under the new system, industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters in California and Quebec will be awarded “allowances” for each ton of carbon dioxide they released to the atmosphere. Most of the allowances will be distributed for free, although industries in both jurisdictions will be able to purchase credits from each other through auctions to cover future emissions and meet reduction targets. The Parti Quebecois (the liberal party currently in power in Quebec) plans to reduce the province’s carbon emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, with a key focus on this cap-and-trade system. California and Quebec are the only two governments to move forward with a joint cap-and-trade system, from an original alliance of 11 states and provinces in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) in North America. Robin Fraser, Toronto-based analyst with the International Emissions Trading Association commented that there is a “potential for this market to serve as an example for other North American subnational jurisdictions to follow if it can prove to be successful.”

For additional information see: The Globe and Mail

Global Reporting on Climate Change Rose 30 Percent in 2013

On January 2, the Daily Climate wrote that 2013 world media reporting on climate change climbed 30 percent above 2012 levels. Climate coverage in the news was led by energy reporting, much of which examined fracking, oil sands and pipelines, as well as extreme weather reporting. Last year, the Daily Climate aggregated 24,000 articles and op-eds on climate change from sources considered to be “mainstream” media, a significant increase over 2012 when they found 18,546 stories. This past year marks the first increase in climate coverage since the period from 2007 to 2009, when the Daily Climate aggregated on average 29,000 stories annually. David Sasson, editor of the news site Inside Climate News, commented, “The climate issue is not seen anymore as something that lives inside a green bubble. [Climate change] is intimately connected to every major energy and extreme weather story you’d care to look at.” Reuters and Associated Press led the world’s news outlets in climate coverage, with nearly 1,100 stories and 1,030 stories, respectively. The New York Times was the only major news source to decrease its climate coverage in 2013, with a 10 percent decrease from 2012 levels.

For additional information see: The Daily Climate

Study Reveals World on Path to 4 Degrees Celsius Warming

On January 1, a new study published in the journal Nature indicated that unless greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are cut, the global temperature may rise at least 4 degrees Celsius by 2100, twice as much as the internationally agreed 2 degrees Celsius threshold. The study, conducted jointly by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, employed a new climate model that closely examined cloud formations in nature and found that water vapor is distributed to different heights in the atmosphere, and does not just rise to 15 kilometers and form clouds as previous models have suggested. As a result, fewer clouds form as the temperature rises, reflecting less heat back into space, which further warms the earth. Steven Sherwood, lead author and professor at UNSW, explained, "This study breaks new ground twice: first by identifying what is controlling the cloud changes and second by strongly discounting the lowest estimates of future global warming in favor of the higher and more damaging estimates." The scientists measured the sensitivity of Earth’s climate to greenhouse gases by estimating the temperature change caused by doubling carbon dioxide compared with pre-industrial levels, and narrowed the range of estimates of temperature rise to between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius. “Rises in global average temperatures of this magnitude will have profound impacts on the world and the economies of many countries if we don’t urgently start to curb our emissions,” explained Sherwood.

For additional information see: The Guardian , The Guardian , Huffington Post , Study