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September 22, 2014
White House Releases HFC Notice
On September 16, the White House announced a collaboration with industry leaders to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), powerful greenhouse gases that can warm the atmosphere 12,000 times more than carbon dioxide (CO2). Companies including Coca Cola, Dupont, Honeywell, Thermal King and Unilever pledged to phase out the use of this popular coolant that can be found in refrigerators and air conditioners. This announcement comes on the 27 year anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, a success story in the history of international environmental efforts. “While the Montreal Protocol has achieved great success providing climate protection thus far, finishing the HFC amendment will avoid the equivalent of between 100 and 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, and avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century,” says Dr. Stephen Andersen, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) liaison to the Department of Defense (DOD) for climate and ozone, and former co-chair of the Technology & Economic Assessment Panel of the Montreal Protocol. Among those participating in the reduction of HFCs is a chemical manufacturer coalition, which represents 95 percent of HFCs produced in the United States. The White House is also working to persuade HFC manufacturers in other nations to follow suit, as the issue will most likely be brought up at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York. This may prove difficult for some nations like India, whose senior environmental official, Sushil Kumar, told reporters in the past, “We are saying we don’t have any alternative technology.”
For additional information see:
Washington Post, Natural Resources Defence Council, Governing, IGSD, White House
Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Cut Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
On September 18, Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME) and nine others introduced the Super Pollutants Act of 2014 (S. 2911) to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), or “super pollutants.” These emissions – including black carbon (soot), methane, and certain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – currently account for 40 percent or more of global warming. They have relatively short atmospheric lifetimes but a much higher warming potency than carbon dioxide (CO2), particularly in the Arctic and other vulnerable regions (For more science background on SLCPs, see this EESI Fact Sheet http://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-short-lived-climate-pollutants). “We are so thankful to see these two leaders come together to fashion a bipartisan solution to the enormous problem posed by these ‘super pollutants’ – a solution that offers a great opportunity for fast-action climate mitigation and improved public health,” said EESI Executive Director Carol Werner. The bill requires the White House to establish an interagency task force to review how federal programs and policies are or could be reducing SLCPs, as well as to identify current gaps; directs the State Department and USAID to develop more comprehensive international efforts to reduce black carbon, a form of particulate matter typically emitted from inefficient combustion of fossil fuels and biomass; and urges EPA to ban some of the most-potent HFCs and approve climate-friendly alternatives to use as refrigerants. The bill’s 11 original co-sponsors include Sen. Murphy, Sen. Collins, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sen. Angus King (I-ME), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
For more information see:
EESI, EESI Briefing, Senator Murphy
State Attorneys General Ask EPA For Regulations on Methane Emissions from Oil & Gas
On September 12, a group of seven state attorneys general sent a joint letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe calling on the Agency to regulate methane emissions from the distribution of oil and gas. The letter, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, was also signed by the attorneys general of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere about 84 times more than carbon dioxide over 20 years, is of serious concern in mitigating climate change. The letter was in follow-up to the same states’ comments, submitted in June, regarding EPA’s five white papers on methane leak reduction technologies for the oil and gas sector. The states are concerned because EPA’s white papers exclude methane leaks from oil and gas distribution, which EPA estimates is responsible for approximately 20 percent of fugitive emissions from the sector. The letter highlighted a July 2014 EPA Inspector General report that determined leaks from natural gas distribution pipelines resulted in $192 million in losses in 2011, with Maryland, Massachusetts and New York particularly affected. The letter adds that in light of the EPA’s draft Clean Power Plan’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions in part by transitioning electricity generation to natural gas plants, methane leakage is especially important to address to ensure greenhouse gas benefits are maximized. The states pointed to their own ongoing efforts to fix methane leaks for the purposes of combating climate change and improving public safety, but stressed that EPA action is needed.
Letter to EPA, White Paper Comments
Oil Marketers Association Asks California to Examine Legality of Including Fuels in Cap-and-Trade
On September 8, the California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA) sent a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, requesting an investigation of the “Fuels Under the Cap” regulations, a part of California’s cap-and-trade carbon law. Beginning next year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will require wholesale fuel marketers to buy carbon credits for the fuel they sell. CIOMA argues that small to mid-sized fuel marketers cannot afford to buy these carbon credits in advance, meaning they will have to estimate how much money they need to earn from fuel sales to cover carbon credit expenses. Miscalculations in fuel prices could result in these smaller companies spending more money on credits than was earned in fuel sales. This dynamic creates a high-risk business environment. CIOMA is asking Attorney General Harris to investigate whether the regulation can be classified as “competition destruction.” “The typical independent fuel supplier cannot pass along the cost of cap-and-trade to its wholesale fuel customers without absorbing significant financial risk,” explained Jay McKeeman, CIOMA’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Communication. “Instead of absorbing this risk, they are likely to abandon the wholesale fuels market entirely.” CIOMA is a non-profit, representing the small, privately owned fuel suppliers that sell 15-20 percent of the state’s transportation fuels. These suppliers serve customers that include farmers, schools, hospitals, and government agencies. “Our hope is that the Attorney General’s office will analyze these issues and examine the negative impact Fuels Under the Cap regulations will have on California fuel consumers’ pocketbooks, as well as the destruction of an industry of small and independent businesses supplying the infrastructure of the state,” stated McKeeman, who emphasized the potential for price hikes due to this new system.
Bloomberg, CSP Daily News, Press Release
Advocacy Groups Ask Illinois to Better Quantify Greenhouse Gas Reductions From Smart Grid Use
On September 12, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), along with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), asked the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to strengthen a standard that would require two of the states’ biggest utilities, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and Ameren Illinois, to examine how smart grid investments (which began last year) have been helping reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. So far, ComEd and Ameren are only measuring GHG emissions reductions from the reduced number of utility trucks needed on the road to read electricity meters, as smart meters transmit that information directly back to control centers. However, EDF and CUB say smart grids reduce emissions in many other ways that deserve measurement, such as increased energy efficiency and optional demand-response programs that help keep electricity demand even throughout the day. EDF and CUB hope the new GHG reduction measurement will be incorporated into the annual review of utility deployment plans in April 2015. The metric is one of 20 environmental and economic measurements EDF and CUB negotiated two years ago with the ICC to quantify the benefits of smart grids. CUB Executive Director David Kolata emphasized that they owed it to Illinois residents to showcase the benefits of smart grids. “It’s not enough to simply track how these improvements reduce utility trucks on the road. The smart grid is much smarter than that,” he said.
Greentech Media, EDF.org
United Nations Climate Summit Releases List of Attendees
On September 11, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General published the list of attendees for the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on September 23, confirming there will be more than 162 government representatives attending. About 126 of the attendees are top officials, such as heads of state and heads of government, while the rest are ministers of foreign affairs or environment. Although President Obama will attend the summit, many other countries with high greenhouse gas emissions are sending lower rank officials, including foreign ministers from Australia, Russia, Pakistan and Ukraine, and environmental ministers from India and Canada, as well as the Vice Premier from China. President of China Xi Jinping had originally promised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August that he would come to the summit, but it was confirmed on September 12 that Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli will represent China in the summit. Hua Chunying, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said, “The Chinese side will participate in the summit and related activities in a constructive manner. . . The Chinese side expects to join efforts with the international community to push for positive results in the summit, advance international cooperation on climate change and contribute to addressing climate change.” The Climate Summit in New York is the largest meeting of international climate change negotiations since the Copenhagen Summit of 2009, and may surpass Copenhagen’s attendance. UN head of climate Christina Figueres said, “I would not recommend we read too much into the person who is going to be speaking for the Chinese and India governments. The fact is that they had fully intended to be represented at the top level and for reasons that have nothing to do with the climate summit at the last minute they are not able to be there.”
Mashable, Xinhua Net News, List
Leonardo DiCaprio Named United Nations Messenger for Peace on Climate Change
On September 16, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Leonardo DiCaprio as a Messenger of Peace, with a special focus on climate change. The 39-year old American actor will join eleven other Messengers of Peace, prominent world figures from the arts, entertainment and sports fields who use their global recognition and connections to spread the UN's message. The Secretary General said, “Mr. DiCaprio is a credible voice in the environmental movement . . . and I am pleased he has chosen to add his voice to UN efforts to raise awareness of the urgency and benefits of acting now to combat climate change.” DiCaprio established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to help protect wild lands, species and the ocean. Since then, he has brought attention and funding to protecting biodiversity, ocean and forest conservation, and the climate. In response, DiCaprio said, “It is an honor to accept the role of UN Messenger of Peace on Climate Change and to support the Secretary General in his efforts to address one of the most important issues we face as a global community. I feel a moral obligation to speak out at this key moment in human history—it is a moment for action. How we respond to the climate crisis in the coming years will likely determine the fate of humanity and our planet.”
Vanity Fair, Washington Post, United Nations
Institutional Investors Call for a Price on Carbon and An Ambitious Global Climate Deal
On September 18, six organizations with a membership of almost 350 institutional investors from all over the world, worth a combined $24 trillion in assets, called for governments to put a price on carbon and phase out fossil fuel subsidies. Concurrent with the statement and on the same day, the same groups released a report with examples of ways investors are already taking action on climate change, through means such as funding renewable energy projects, allocating pension funds to low carbon and energy efficient investments, and growing the green bond market. The report emphasizes the importance of public-private partnerships, and says “government policies that provide the industry with more transparency, longevity and certainty are critical.” “The perception prevails that we need to choose between economic well-being or climate stability,” said United Nations Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner. “The truth is that we need both. What is needed is an unprecedented re-channeling of investment from today’s economy into the low-carbon economy of tomorrow.” The statement and report were coordinated between the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and four groups of investors which focus on climate change – Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), the European Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the Investors Group on Climate Change (IGCC) in Australia and New Zealand, and the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC).
Investors on Climate Change.org, Report, Ceres Press Release
European Environment Fund Calls for Philanthropy Foundations to Fund More Global Warming Action
On September 15, the European Environment Foundation (EEF) published an advertisement in the International New York Times calling for philanthropists and foundations to take strong action on climate change. The “Environmental Laureates’ Declaration on Climate Change,” signed by 160 environmental prize-winners from 46 countries, appeals to foundations and philanthropists to use their endowments to fight global warming, warning that “all good works of philanthropy. . . will be devalued or even destroyed in a world en route to 6 degrees of global warming or more.” The environmentalists say they are “devastated that our governments have not succeeded yet in slowing, much less stopping, the flow of greenhouse gases into our thin atmosphere . . . despite a quarter century of trying” and that “the Earth is heading for 4 to 6 degrees Celsius of global warming, given current policies on the burning of coal, oil and gas.” They say the world's philanthropic foundations hold the key to “trigger a survival reflex in society,” and push governments to negotiate a climate treaty at the United Nations Climate Summit in Paris during December 2015. EEF also plans to write foundations petitioning them to work collaboratively to fight climate change in three ways: through clean energy and low-carbon direct investments; by either divesting in fossil fuel companies or campaigning for them to cease developing new reserves; and by issuing grants to stimulate clean energy start-ups and low-carbon markets. “The world’s philanthropic foundations fund work which improves the lives of millions of people around the world, but if they want that work to last they can’t afford to ignore climate change. Investing in a clean energy future is the best way to safeguard their work and their finances,” commented Dr. Jeremy Leggett, an EEF Trustee who was in charge of the declaration.
Philanthropy News Digest, Responding to Climate Change, European Environmental Foundation
Report Finds Many Corporations Are Planning for a Carbon Price
The international non-profit CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, released a report on September 15 examining corporate carbon pricing on a global scale. In the United States (which has no nation-wide carbon price), 29 major companies, including Dow Chemical Company, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, are incorporating a carbon price into their business planning and risk management strategies. The companies use a range of carbon prices, from Microsoft's low of $6 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted to ExxonMobile's $80 per ton. The report found that of 6,000 global companies surveyed, 638 say carbon regulation offers business opportunities, and 200 companies are actively lobbying governments to implement carbon-pricing legislation. Already, 150 major companies worldwide are using carbon pricing to drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. CDP requests corporate disclosures from companies on behalf of its members, which include 767 investors with a combined $92 trillion in assets. The report comes one week before 125 world leaders will convene in New York for a United Nations (U.N.) climate change summit, where it is expected that private firms will urge governments to aid carbon pricing efforts to help them plan future investments. Zoe Antitch, spokeswoman of CDP North America, said, "We're seeing companies taking steps they're not required to, and they're doing this to be competitive in a carbon-constrained world. They're looking ahead . . . They're climate ready."
Reuters, USA TODAY, Business Insider, CDP
Emissions from Fossil Fuel Projects in Pacific Northwest Will Dwarf Keystone XL Emissions
On September 9, the Sightline Institute released a report, “Northwest Fossil Fuel Export,” finding that the combined carbon emissions from all of the proposed coal, oil and natural gas shipping projects in the Pacific Northwest would be equivalent to carbon emissions from five Keystone XL pipelines. Report author Eric de Place said, “If Keystone XL is ‘game over for the climate,’ Northwest coal, oil, and gas exports are like the game never even started. We’re only talking about new capacity, on top of what’s already here, and we’re not counting all the carbon emitted from extracting, processing, or moving these fuels to market. In short, the Northwest is ground zero in the climate fight.” Sightline Institute is a Seattle-based think tank which focuses on the sustainable future of the Pacific Northwest. For this report, the institute looked into all the proposed fossil fuel transportation projects in British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, including coal terminals, oil pipelines, oil-by-rail facilities, and natural gas pipelines. The report concluded that if all the projects were fully realized, they would transport fuels capable of releasing carbon emissions of 822 million metric tons a year. In contrast, the report said, “When burned, the fuel carried by Keystone XL would emit 149 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, about as much as is produced by every activity in Oregon and Washington combined.” Overall, de Place stated that the Northwest region’s decision over whether to support the development of coal, oil and gas shipping will have significant influence over the global energy market as well as the future climate.
Bellingham Herald, KGMI, Ballard News Tribune, Report
New Report Sets Global Action Plan for Governments and Business to Reduce Climate Change
On September 16, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate released a report, “Better Growth, Better Climate: The New Climate Economy Report,” which found that the implementation of new policies to tackle climate change could save money and help the economy in the long run. The report provides a set of policy recommendations to ensure investments in the next few decades are primed to both mitigate climate change and be resilient to it. Recommendations include the restoration of farmland; smart infrastructure investments in cities; investments in renewable energy; and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. The report estimates that ensuring infrastructure investments in the next few decades are sustainable and climate-minded would cost an additional $4 trillion over the next few decades, an estimated 5 percent more than the money which would be spent on infrastructure regardless. This number does not include the offset of benefits incurred, such as lower fuel costs, reduced medical bills from pollution-induced health issues, and increased quality of life in cities, which produce 80 percent of global economic output. Additionally, developing cities to be more compact could save more than $3 trillion globally in the next 15 years. “We are proposing a way to have the same or even more economic growth, and at the same time have environmental responsibility,” said economist and former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón, who is now chairman of the commission. The report acknowledged that reduction of fossil fuel subsidies, which currently amount to $600 billion a year, could be the biggest challenge, due to political pressures. “We have to get the prices right,” said Helen Mountford, the director of economics at the World Resource Institute, who worked on the report. German climate economist Ottmar G. Edenhofer, who led an earlier, similar study done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agreed that the costs of sensible climate policy are worth the investment, saying, “Climate policy is not a free lunch, but it is a lunch worthwhile to buy.”
The Guardian, New York Times, Responding to Climate Change, National Geographic, Daily Climate, Report
House Science Committee Holds Hearing on the Obama Administration Climate Agenda
The House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing on September 17 to discuss the Obama Administration’s Climate Action Plan, with an emphasis on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan is a draft regulation, released June 2014, to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants. Dr. John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, and Ms. Janet McCabe, Acting Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) at the EPA, gave testimony and answered questions posed by the Committee members. In her opening statement, Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said, “We in Congress have to acknowledge that we are not the experts, and that allowing partisan politics to distort the scientific understanding of climate change is cynical and short-sighted.” Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) expressed some doubt of the need to act against climate change, saying, “I fully believe the temperature is changing. But of course now supporters of this new regulation are saying, ‘Well, it's changing now at an unusual pace compared to the past,’ because now the American public is getting it that the temperature of the Earth has been changing for centuries.” Committee Chairman Lamar Smith asked both witnesses whether the impact of the proposed rule would be small, to which both Dr. Holdren and Ms. McCabe said it would be. McCabe followed that by saying it takes many small impacts to make a difference.
In related news on the same day, the Science Committee Democrats released a press release calling for “immediate action to combat climate change.” The release stated that numerous reports have described the impacts of climate change on communities’ health, economies and environments across the country. The release added that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan can both reduce climate change and help establish the United States as an international leader in the fight against climate change. McCabe added the EPA analyses have predicted electricity bills in the United States will decrease 8 percent by 2030.
House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Minority Office of House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, ClimateProgress
Climate Council Report Finds $226 Billion at Risk Due to Sea Level Rise in Australia
On September 17, the Climate Council of Australia released a report, “Counting the Costs: Climate Change and Coastal Flooding,” which found that rising sea levels caused by climate change could put Aus$226 billion (US $205 billion) of infrastructure in Australia at risk. Professor Will Steffen, co-author of the report, said, “Put simply, if you’re an investor in infrastructure you’d expect to be around at the end of the century, get planning for a one meter sea level rise. There are quite a few cities where there will be a thousand-fold increase in one-in-a-century floods, which makes things unviable because you’ll be mopping up every month.” The report predicted sea level rise of 0.4 to 1.0 meter (1.3 to 3.3 feet) before 2100, making major Australian cities more vulnerable to high tides and floods, especially Sydney. The report added that globally, sea level rise will cost US $1 trillion by 2050, unless adaptation measures are taken. Dr. John Hunter, an oceanographer at the Antarctic climate and ecosystems co-operative research centre, said, “One-in-a-hundred year [floods] by the end of the century will finish up being pretty much every day, with every high tide.” With these findings, the report urged the Australian government to take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, Professor Steffen said, “It appears we don’t have that support in Australia. . . It’s disappointing to see Australia moving backwards rather than joining that kind of movement.”
The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Economic Times, Report
August 2014 Warmest on Record, Says NASA
On September 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released data that shows August 2014 was the hottest August since records began in 1881. May of this year was also the hottest ever recorded, and recent trends have shown this is part of a series of months with record or near-record breaking temperatures. According to the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), Dr. Gavin Schmidt, "The key issues for climate are the long-term trends, not individual months." Schmidt finds the trend of warming temperatures to be more important than broken records, as he conceded that “different analyses will likely give a different ranking.” In their data analysis, scientists found that the oceans are rising in temperature as well. “For the past few months we've been seeing impressive warmth in large parts of the Pacific . . . and Indian Oceans in particular,” said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist at the National Climatic Data Center’s ERT, Inc.
Climate Change Central, Weather.com, Huffington Post, NASA
Headlines
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1. Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality Begins
2. United Nations Head Ban Ki-Moon Will Join People’s Climate March in NYC
3. Dams Shown to Release Methane, Perhaps Cancelling Any Greenhouse Gas Benefits
4. Rolling Stone Examines Climate Change and China
5. Brazil Building Giant Tower to Examine Climate Change in the Amazon
6. The Guardian Gives an Interactive Overview of the Earth’s Vital Signs
7. Some Democratic Donors Are Refusing to Give to Politicians Who Aren’t Acting on Climate Change
Upcoming Events
Event Lineup for Climate Week in New York City
From September 21-28, Climate Week NYC, home to over 100 events and forums, will be held in New York City. Here are some of the top events to pay attention to:
United Nations Climate Summit: 9/23
UN Headquarters
The summit will bring together representatives from UN member states with leaders from diverse sectors, including governments, finance, civil society and business. All participants are encouraged to announce voluntary commitments to mitigate climate change. The event is closed to the public, but will be streamed online the entire day at webtv.un.org. For more information, click here.
NYC Climate Convergence: 9/19 – 21, 10:45 am - 12:15 pm
St. Johns University, Room 112
Considered an alternative to the UN Summit, the goal of Climate Convergence is to challenge the “corporate structure” of the UN Summit and “raise the bar for real solutions to the climate emergency that also solve the crises of economic and racial justice, human rights, democracy and peace.” The event is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.
People’s Climate March 9/21, 11:30 am
Will take place in Midtown Manhattan (launching from Columbus Circle on the south end of Central Park).
Called the “greatest march in climate history,” the People’s Climate March’s current participants list includes over 1,000 organizations, such as “community and labor groups to international NGOs and faith organizations.” Bill McKibben of 350.org called the March “[an] invitation to anyone who’d like to prove to themselves, and to their children, that they give a damn about the biggest crisis our civilization has ever faced.” For more information, click here.
Religions for the Earth Conference 9/19 – 21, 12:00pm – 8:30pm
Union Theological Seminary
Over 200 international faith based organizations and speakers will meet to look at the climate crisis and proposed concurrent action from a spiritual standpoint. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.
Clinton Global Initiative 9/21 – 24
Undisclosed location, closed to the public
An annual event, the Clinton Global Initiative is star studded, with speakers including President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Matt Damon. This year’s theme is “Reimagining Impact,” as the impact of various climate strategies already in effect will be examined. For more information, click here.
People’s Climate Justice Summit 9/22 - 23, 10:00am - 5:00pm
The New School/ UN Church Center
Another alternative to the UN Summit (which the Climate Justice Alliance says “represents the corporate takeover of the UN climate negotiations and the privatization of land, water and air resources under the guise of a global climate compact”) is the Climate Justice Summit. The People’s Climate Justice Summit will incorporate a series of workshops, panels, and videos over two locations, the New School University Auditorium & the UN Church Center. The event is open to the public, but pre-registration for the event at both locations is required. For more information, click here.
Carbon Forum North America (CFNA) 9/23, 8:00am - 6:00pm
Morgan Stanley Headquarters
The Carbon Forum North America bills itself as the “most professional platform for discussing climate policy and carbon markets.” The event will convene NGOs, government, finance and industry sector professionals from the US and abroad. The event is open to the public, but a registration fee is required. For more information, click here.
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) 9/22 – 23, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Church Center of the United Nations
WECAN is hosting several events during Climate Week, including a delegation at the People’s Climate March, an international panel of women speakers on September 22 “Women Leading Solutions on the Front Lines of Climate Change,” as well as co-sponsoring another forum the “Rights of Nature and Systemic Change in Climate Solutions” with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature on September 23. The events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, click here.
Rising Seas Summit 9/24 - 26, 8:30am - 5:30 pm
Crowne Plaza, Times Square
Due to an increasing threat of extreme weather events caused by climate change-induced sea level rise, the Rising Seas Summit convenes 170 professionals from national and local government, industry, universities and NGOs to “share knowledge and work together to reduce and mitigate environmental and social degradation induced by climate change.” The event is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.
The Climate Swerve: How to Shift Capital Away From High Risk Fossil Fuel Projects
9/26, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
New York University School of Law
This event, hosted by the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), will focus on how to achieve complete divestment from fossil fuels, feasible alternatives for ‘capital investors,’ as well as the answers to two questions: “How can we empower investors to shift capital flows from high risk fossil fuel production?”, and “Is Divestment feasible? Is Engagement effective? Where does CTI position itself in the debate?” This event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. For more information, click here.
ClimateWeekNYC.org
Ecowatch
Inside Climate News
Think Progress
Authors: Angelo Bardales, Emily Jackson, Carlos Villacis and Yi Xu
Editor: Laura Small
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