Fossil Fuels

Q&A: What Does China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for Coal Mean for Climate Action?

China has published a new five-year plan for coal, the latest in a slew of important policy documents for the country’s energy transition. The 15th five-year plan for the development of the coal industry was published by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) on 10 August, covering the period … [continued]

China Is Making More Aluminum. Its Emissions May Still Be Peaking.

Earlier this year I argued that China’s aluminum-sector carbon emissions had probably peaked around 2024. Since then, the output data have weakened one important part of that case. China produced 45.02 million tonnes of primary aluminum in 2025, 2.4% more than the year before, and another 23.19 million tonnes in … [continued]

Thousands of Comments Shared with Governor Katie Hobbs Passionately Oppose Desert Southwest Gas Pipeline

On Friday, the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter shared with Gov. Katie Hobbs’s office about 2,000 comments that were submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week opposing the Desert Southwest Pipeline. The comments, mostly from the states along the route of the gas pipeline, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico, … [continued]

Ontario’s First Electricity Shortfall Isn’t A Capacity Shortfall

Ontario needs a lot more electricity. Demand hit 145.6 TWh in 2025, up 4.4% in a year, and IESO’s reference case gets to 250 TWh by 2050. But its own range runs from 207 to 297 TWh. That’s not a rounding error. It’s a completely different buildout depending on which … [continued]

Q&A: Does the World Need “Carbon Capture & Storage” to Reach Net-Zero?

When carbon dioxide (CO2) is released from a factory or power plant, the gas can be captured and permanently stored underground, preventing it from driving climate change. This is the idea underpinning carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is at the heart of many nations’ net-zero plans. Influential organisations, including the Intergovernmental … [continued]