President Barack Obama has just taken unprecedented actions to help coastal communities resist severe impacts of climate change. Anywhere that taxpayer dollars are used to build or protect floodplain development of buildings, roads, and other infrastructure, agencies must now consider current and future flooding risks to alterations and new housing, … [continued]
A new report, “Halfway There? What the Land Sector Can Contribute to Closing the Emissions Gap Post-2020,” contributes some very useful measurement schemes that will benefit nations beginning to calculate their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) prior to the critical Paris UN climate change meeting (COP21) this December. These metrics will … [continued]
The bitterly controversial Keystone XL pipeline bill has just come one step closer to becoming law. The Republican-led US Senate passed an $8 billion bill an hour ago (Thursday afternoon, January 29) to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. As you may know, CleanTechnica has been covering this story … [continued]
Despite grindingly slow progress in the United States with decarbonization by means of energy adaptation, the world has actually moved a few steps ahead in the past year. That makes it time to revisit the simplest mechanism for greenhouse gas reversal: a phased-in, revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend strategy. “Fee” rather … [continued]
The big news we’re hearing about Barack Obama this weekend has nothing to do with climate change: it’s that he’s cutting short his trip to India to pay final respects from the United States to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. He’ll also meet with Salman, the late monarch’s brother and former … [continued]
Two issues that greatly concern the US power sector—grid capability and carbon reduction needs—have just gained attention with a $48 million Clean Energy Initiative from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Heising-Simons family. The organizations announced the initiative on Wednesday. It will advance state-created clean energy solutions by funding a broad range of local, … [continued]
Today’s publication of the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance by the World Resources Institute will go a long way toward helping the business sector apply and advance its use of renewable energy. Investments in that sector, largely driven by offshore wind in Europe, and solar in China and the US, quintupled over … [continued]
What if we could cut city energy use by about one-fourth, from 730 EJ to 540 EJ, in 2050? The alternative is tripling it, as current urbanization trends indicate. The most urbanized areas of the globe are North America (82%), Latin America and the Caribbean (80%), and Europe (73%). Urban areas play … [continued]
Festival colors adorn Manila, the most densely populated city on earth, for the Pagbisita ni Pope Francis. Twelve million people in the 16-city capital metro are taking off from now through January 19. A very special visitor has just arrived: Pope Francis, spiritual leader for one-sixth of the world’s population, … [continued]
On Monday (January 12, 2015), a new South Korea cap-and-trade market opened on the Korea Exchange. This carbon trading scheme is now the second biggest in the world, behind only the European Union’s, until China’s national market revs up in 2020. Its large size shouldn’t come as too much of a … [continued]
