Climate Change News - March 25, 2013

U.S. Reduces GHG Emissions in 2012, But Coal Exports Spike

According to the Energy Information Administration, annual U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell 3.4 percent in 2012 to the lowest levels since 1995. The emissions reductions are largely due to the drop in electricity generated from coal, which comprised 37 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in 2012, a fall from 50 percent in 2005. However, while domestic coal use dropped, exports surged to record levels, increasing 17 percent from the previous year, to 126 million short tons.

For additional information see: National Geographic

United States, Australia Collaborating on Renewable Energy and Climate Change

According to Secretary of State John Kerry, the United States and Australia are working on a technology transfer plan to develop renewable energy and mitigate climate change. After meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on March 19, Kerry said, “We both share a hope and an expectation . . . [of] an opportunity for stakeholders in both of our countries to come together and explore new ideas for clean energy, renewable energy production, for modernization of our energy infrastructures, and efforts to combat climate change.” He continued, “We really hope that very soon we're going to have a date where we can announce our specific efforts to kick off this collaboration.”

For additional information see: Sydney Morning Herald , The Hill

USAID Projects Increasing Climate Resilience on Pacific Islands

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that it will be launching projects to improve climate resilience in 12 Pacific nations as part of the Climate Change Adaptation Project. The projects are mostly designed to build climate resiliency into small infrastructure and to develop disaster preparation and prevention, as well as work with local policy makers on these issues. Gloria Steel, USAID’s mission director for the Pacific Islands, explained in an interview that, “We realize that climate change is a major issue and so we have been providing significant funding in this area all over the world.” USAID will support the projects for five years and plans to add more in the future.

For additional information see: Australia News Network

Cities Consider Municipalizing Electricity to Reduce Carbon Emissions

The city government of Boulder, Colorado recently released a report designed to determine the best electricity provider for the city. The researchers found that switching from the current investor-owned provider, Xcel Energy, to a municipally-owned and operated system, would allow the city to obtain up to 54 percent of its electric power from renewable sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent. Heather Bailey, Boulder's executive director of energy strategy and electric utility development, stated, "We believe the findings demonstrate that a municipal utility could be good for consumers, good for Boulder businesses and good for our planet." Similar plans are under consideration in Minneapolis and Santa Fe, and the state of Massachusetts is currently reviewing a plan to make it easier for cities to switch from private to public utilities. Currently, 70 percent of homes in the United States are powered by electricity from private companies.

For additional information see: New York Times , Boulder Daily Camera

Climate Impacts Threaten to Reverse Two Decades of Progress in Reducing Global Poverty

The gains in poverty reduction made in the past 20 years could be halted or reversed by climate change impacts, according to the United Nations Development Programme 2013 Human Development Report, The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. The report, released March 14, calculates that the share of the world's people living in extreme poverty fell from 43 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2008. Gains were made in 40 developing countries, including 500 million people in China alone. Even with a decrease in the percentage of people living in extreme poverty, much remains to be done, and the report states that “environmental inaction,” especially related to climate change could “halt, or even reverse” progress. The report finds that climate change is “already exacerbating chronic environmental threats,” and concludes, “The number of people in extreme poverty could increase to three billion by 2050 unless environmental disasters are averted by coordinated global action.” In response to the study, Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said, “The best way to protect the significant gains in poverty reduction and human development threatened by climate impacts is to reduce black carbon soot, tropospheric ozone, methane, and factory-made HFCs. This fast-action strategy can cut the rate of global warming in half for the next several decades and protect the gains in poverty reduction that otherwise will be wiped out by accelerating climate impacts.”

For additional information see: New York Times , The Telegraph , Press Release , Report

Study Predicts Increased Storm Surge from Climate Change

A study published March 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that a warming climate will likely contribute to more numerous and extreme hurricanes. While previous studies connecting hurricanes to rising temperatures have focused on ocean warming, this study focused on atmospheric warming. The researchers connected measures of previous storm surges to air temperature, and used the correlation between the two to model possible changes into the future. The study finds that for every rise in global temperatures of 1.0 degrees Celsius, the number of Katrina-sized storms would increase between 200 and 700 percent. According to lead author Aslak Grinsted, climate scientist with Denmark's Centre for Ice and Climate, “Whenever we're asked whether Katrina or Sandy was caused by global warming, we have to give the standard answer that no single event can be attributed to warming. Well now, the odds have changed sufficiently and it's misleading to people to trot out the standard answer. [. . . ] we have probably crossed the threshold where Katrina magnitude hurricane surges are more likely caused by global warming than not."

For additional information see: Reuters , Wired , U.S. News and World Report , Study

Per-Mile Carbon Emissions Drop for New U.S. Vehicles Purchased in 2012

According to a new report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), new light-duty vehicles purchased in the United States in 2012 were – on average – 16 percent more fuel efficient than new vehicles sold in 2007, rising from 20.6 miles per gallon (mpg) to 23.8 mpg. As a result, 2012 vehicles emit 13 percent less carbon dioxide per mile than 2007 vehicles. Fuel efficiency for 2012 vehicles, the first year affected by standards implemented under President Obama, jumped 1.4 mpg over the previous year. The efficiency gains are due to a number of factors, including consumers shifting towards smaller vehicles, a wider choice of alternative fuel vehicles, and technology improvements made to internal combustion vehicles of all sizes. Fuel-saving gasoline direct injection systems, for example, were included in 24 percent of 2012 vehicles after having almost no market share in 2007.

For additional information see: Washington Post , Detriot News

Reports Examine U.S. Potential to Cut Transportation Emissions 80 Percent by 2050

Two recent studies from the federal government investigate pathways to achieve major greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions in the transportation sector by 2050. The National Research Council’s report, Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels, finds that the United States may be able to achieve 80 percent GHG reductions from light duty vehicles by 2050, but that it will be “extremely challenging” and will require large gains in vehicle efficiency, expansion of alternative fuels, and strong government policies to overcome costs and other barriers. The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) released the Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project, a series of nine reports on opportunities to eliminate oil dependence and cut GHG emissions from the U.S. transport sector. The project found that United States has the technical potential to achieve 80 percent reductions in sector emissions by 2050, and provides specifics on how to achieve that potential. On March 15, EESI held a Congressional briefing highlighting the results of the TEF project (see briefing video and slides).

For additional information see: Daily Climate , EERE Study

Thursday, March 28: Public Perceptions about Global Warming and Government Involvement in the Issue

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing discussing American perceptions of climate change. This briefing will provide a broad review of survey evidence and explain what may lie behind variations in public attitudes toward climate change. The speaker for this forum is Professor Jon Krosnick, Frederic O. Glover Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. The briefing will be held Thursday, March 28th, from 3 – 4 p.m. in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building.