Climate Change News - September 17, 2018 | Newsletter

Hurricane Florence, seen here from the International Space Station, made landfall in the Carolinas last week, bringing extreme rainfall, storm surges, and flooding. Image courtesy of NASA via flickr.com.

New EPA Proposal Reduces Industry Monitoring Requirements for Methane Leaks

As part of a steady effort to roll back the prior administration's climate policies, the Trump administration is moving to weaken requirements that were implemented to detect and prevent methane leaks. The EPA proposal comes in response to energy companies arguing that requirements under the Obama administration were costly and uncalled for. In a statement, EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the proposal “will alleviate unnecessary and duplicative red tape,” leading to savings for companies and consumers. The policy changes will modify requirements governing the frequency and circumstances under which oil and gas well operations are inspected. As a result, inspections will happen less often and oversight of equipment designs will be loosened. Methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas, has a warming effect 25 times that of carbon dioxide. The proposal also heightens public health concerns, as irritating compounds often accompany methane leaks and impact communities near well operations. The EPA proposal will proceed into a public comment period next.

For more information see:

Bloomberg

New York, Maryland, Connecticut Plan to Phase-Out Hydrofluorocarbons

The governments of New York, Maryland, and Connecticut announced that they would begin phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), despite the Trump administration’s retreat on the regulation of the coolant chemicals. While revealing his plans for the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said, “We believe denial is not a life strategy, and we will continue to fight climate change to protect our economy, our planet and our future." HFCs are known to be thousands of times more effective at absorbing heat than carbon dioxide, classifying them as among the most potent greenhouse gases. In 2015, the Obama administration set strict regulations on HFC emissions, often created by industrial refrigerants and aerosols, but earlier this year the U.S. EPA announced that it would no longer be enforcing this regulation. The decision accompanied a string of other rollbacks on pollution limits, including a dismantling of the Clean Power Plan. However, large states such as New York and California may possess the market power to initiate nationwide phase-outs independent of the federal government.

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Inside Climate News

Negotiations over Paris Agreement Details Stalled by US-China Dispute

China’s proposal to establish a two-tiered approach to nations’ climate commitments caused friction at international climate talks held in Bangkok in early September. Representatives from the United States, European Union, Canada, and Australia were among those who blocked the proposal, which would have installed different standards for developed and developing countries. Elina Bardram, the EU's Chief Negotiator, indicated that “everyone was frustrated” by the disagreement, especially with only three months remaining before the deadline to finalize the Paris Agreement's implementation guidelines. Disagreements over climate finance and emission reduction reporting methods also surfaced. UN Climate Chief Patricia Espinosa explained, “Other elements are more politically complex and…limited progress has been made here in Bangkok.” Despite the remaining hurdles, national delegates have authorized the negotiation co-chairs to move forward with preparing the necessary legal language and areas for compromise ahead of the next round of major climate talks in Katowice, Poland, slated for the end of 2018.

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Climate Home News

International Climate Financing Mechanisms Continue to Languish

The United Nations’ Green Climate Fund (GCF) is still awaiting the billions of dollars that were pledged by wealthy nations in 2009. The money is intended to finance projects that prepare communities in developing countries for the effects of climate change and that accelerate their transition away from fossil fuels. Concerns over funding slowed the progress of climate talks in Bangkok earlier this month, prompting some observers to worry about delegates’ abilities to establish implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement during the next round of talks in Poland this December. GCF Director of External Affairs, Oyun Sanjaasuren, said, “Many developing countries have made clear that they will not be able to reach their Paris Agreement targets without international climate finance.” The Trump administration's decision to cancel $2 billion in promised U.S. funds has contributed to the multi-billion dollar gap: only $3.5 billion of the GCF’s total expected $10.3 billion has been delivered. The international effort will likely fall well short of its goal of $100 billion in annual contributions by 2020.

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New York Times

Cape Town's Water Crisis Serves as a Case Study to Other Global Cities

Analysts feared Cape Town, South Africa would essentially run out of water for its residents at some point between March and May 2018, an event dubbed "Day Zero." Although this did not come to pass, water management practices enforced by the local government made a lasting impact on the city and presented lessons for other cities that may soon face similar crises. Cape Town's water rules have grown stricter over the past year, with "Level 6B" restrictions issued in January 2018 limiting residents to 50 liters per day and requiring a 60 percent reduction in agricultural water use. The rules are enforced through fines and water management devices, paired with a widespread social campaign to try and alter people's habits. The city's efforts led to significant political backlash, prompted in-part by concerns of equal water access and fair enforcement across all racial and economic demographics. Global warming is expected to make providing enough water for cities even more difficult in the future, along with compounding factors like pollution and inadequate infrastructure.

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The Atlantic

North Carolina Dealing with Fallout of 2012 Ban on Using Sea Level Projections for Policymaking

In 2012, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a law that banned policies based on predictions of future sea level rise. Following the release of a study by the state’s Coastal Resources Commission, which indicated a potential rise of 39 inches over the next 100 years, property developers expressed concern that the value of coastal land would decrease greatly as a result of the study. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Pat McElraft (R), said, “[The Commission needs] to use some science that we can all trust when we start making laws in North Carolina that affect property values on the coast.” Then governor Bev Purdue (D) chose to take no action on the bill, allowing it to become law. The law also required the Commission to issue another study, but it was limited to a 30-year time period, resulting in a sea level rise projection of only 6-8 inches. Governor Roy Cooper (D), elected last year, has since led his state to become a member of the U.S. Climate Alliance to pursue the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

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Guardian

National Park Advised to Erase Mentions of Climate Change from Planning Report

The Center for Investigative Reporting recently unveiled evidence that National Park Service (NPS) officials censored climate change information in a previously approved regional report. The 50-page planning report compiled by the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park ultimately had 16 references to potential "climate change" threats and impacts stripped out after the NPS regional office requested edits via email. The investigative team obtained the emails via a Freedom of Information Act request, in addition to early and final report drafts that made it clear the original climate references were removed. The email chain suggests the New Bedford report edits are part of a larger effort to review key planning documents for 83 northeastern national parks that may contain information deemed "sensitive" by the Trump administration. These findings come shortly after it was found that the administration had been curtailing climate research in the Department of the Interior. Some scientists view this as yet another of the administration’s attempts to “silence science.”

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Reveal News

Think Tank Led by Former Energy Secretary Announces Carbon Removal Efforts

Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and his think tank, the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI), announced plans to develop federal strategies for carbon dioxide removal. EFI would seek to bring greater attention and funding to air-capture technologies. According to EFI, the proposed effort would be "housed at the federal level and includes a research portfolio, organization and management arrangement and budget planning to implement a robust multi-agency technological CDR [carbon dioxide removal] initiative that can develop and demonstrate new technological options and lead to a significant reduction in atmosphere concentrations." Several workshops on carbon-removal technologies are anticipated, with a final report due in 2019. The International Energy Agency advises that methods for removing CO2 from the atmosphere must be developed to limit global average temperatures to a two degree Celsius increase by 2100. Given their relatively high cost, there is debate about where technologies like direct air capture and carbon capture paired with biomass plants may fit in to a decarbonized economy. EFI will also be examining land management issues, CO2 utilization, and other approaches.

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E&E News

Dramatic Upgrade of Antarctic Ice Map May Reveal Effects of Climate Change

Using state of the art satellite images, two professors created a project that gives a view of Antarctica like never before. Ohio State University’s Ian Howat worked with Paul Morin of the University of Minnesota to create a terrain map that stitches together thousands of images taken over a six-year period. The satellites used to collect the images orbit the poles and are operated by DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite company. The resulting map, called the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, or REMA, allows for detailed examination of the topography of the continent. “Until now, we’ve had a better map of Mars than we’ve had of Antarctica,” Howat said. REMA may allow scientists to track the effects of climate change on Antarctic ice shelves and glacial ice flows. The project should also prove useful for researchers planning routes to and from stations on the continent. While images can only be collected from December through March when there is enough sunlight hitting the region, researchers hope to update REMA annually.

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New York Times