Coal

By: Robert Zullo ( The Wisconsin Examiner ) – The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan — intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the […]

Climate Crisis

Good Climate News: New EPA Rule would make Fossil Fuel Plants cut Emissions 90% by 2040

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced on Thursday the most ambitious limits on how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants coal and gas-fired power plants can emit. The plants will have to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by 90% between 2035 and 2040. The new […]

Climate Crisis

Red State Divorce: Republican State Politicians are waging all-out War against Companies that don’t Kowtow to Big Oil

Tomdispatch

By Stan Cox | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The demise of Silicon Valley Bank last month triggered plenty of angst among solar energy developers. Before it collapsed, SBV claimed it had “financed or helped finance 62 percent of community solar projects in America,” according to Washington Post business reporter Evan Halper. At first, it […]

Climate Crisis

Humanity put out more C02 than Ever Before last Year, but Green Energy Kept the Annual Increase Small

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This is a bad news, good news story. Cathy Bussewitz at the Associated Press reports that carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2022, of 36.8 gigatons. That is more CO2 spewed into the atmosphere by humanity in just one year than ever before. CO2 emissions were up nearly […]

Climate Crisis

Big Oil’s trade group allies outspent Clean Energy Groups by a Whopping 27x, with Billions in Ads and Lobbying to keep Fossil Fuels Flowing

The Conversation

By Christian Downie, Australian National University and Robert Brulle, Brown University | – (The Conversation) – You’ve probably seen ads promoting gas and oil companies as the solutions to climate change. They’re meant to be inspiring and hopeful, with scenes of a green, clean future. But shiny ads are not all these companies do to […]

Climate Crisis

Arresting Greta Thunberg: Germany’s Crackdown on anti-Coal Protests is not a Good Look

Clean Energy Wire

By Edgar Meza | – ( CleanEnergy Wire ) – The protests against the razing of the village of Lützerath in order to expand the brown coal mining operations of energy giant RWE are damaging Germany’s image and standing in international climate negotiations, Richard Klein, researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) told Table.Media. The […]

Climate Crisis

Past 8 Years have been Hottest on Record, probably Hottest since Time of Christ

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past 8 years are the hottest on record. So concludes The UN’s World Meteorological Organization. In 2022, the average surface temperature of the earth was 1.15 degrees C. [2.07 degrees F.] higher than the average surface temperature of the earth in 1850-1900. So this is the eighth year in […]

Climate Crisis

If we Want to Limit Global Heating, the World Can’t go on Spending $10 Trillion a year on Energy

The Conversation

By Stephen Peake, The Open University | – The world’s energy bill for 2022 is set to be the highest ever, topping US$10 trillion (£8.3 trillion). This is the total price paid for all forms of energy across all sectors by all people. Something like 80% of this bill is for coal, oil or gas, […]

Australia

First-Nations-Led Youth Win Climate/ Human Rights Case against Mammoth Coal Mine in Australia

Juan Cole

By Justine Bell-James, The University of Queensland | – In a historic ruling today, a Queensland court has said the massive Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project should not go ahead because of its contribution to climate change, its environmental impacts, and because it would erode human rights. The case was mounted in 2020 by […]