SCIENCE
The global cost of greenhouse gas emissions are nearly double what scientists previously thought, according to a study published Thursday by researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It is the first time a social cost of carbon (SCC) assessment—a key
measure of future economic harm caused by climate change—has included damages
to the ocean. Global coral loss, fisheries disruption and coastal
infrastructure destruction are estimated to cost nearly $2 trillion
annually, fundamentally changing how we measure climate finance. [Abstract only]
GREENING
- The US Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 US governors, announced it has collectively reduced net greenhouse gas emissions 24% below 2005 levels. Meanwhile, in China, clean power sources generated more than 40% of utility-supplied electricity for the first time.
- Bill McKibben says: let’s cheer for the news that solar last year supplied more power to the Texas grid than coal for the first time, and that new plans have been announced for a 21-gigawatt solar and battery project in California, much of it on land that’s been ruined by over-irrigation, and that coal generation has now fallen in India and China for the first time in a half-century.
- The California Public Utilities Commission approved two energy efficiency market transformation initiatives to increase demand for heat pumps and induction stoves. The California Market Transformation Administrator will spend $114.6 million over the next six years to develop these technologies to support the state’s electrification strategy. The initiatives will target disadvantaged communities and seek to minimize rate and bill impacts on customers.
- Nigeria is betting on green finance to drive its energy transition with the
president unveiling plans for a $2 billion climate fund on Tuesday,
saying oversubscribed green bonds were proof of investor appetite. Speaking
at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week summit, President Bola Tinubu said
Nigeria’s Climate Investment Platform aimed to mobilize $500 million
for climate-resilient infrastructure, while the National Climate Change
Fund is targeting a $2 billion capitalisation to back projects that cut
emissions and boost resilience.
CLIMATE DESPOLIATION
- Biodegradable plastics are not always safer for rivers and oceans. When researchers at East China Normal University compared how microbial cities formed on the surfaces of traditional plastics and biodegradable materials after 88 days in a tidal river in Shanghai, they found that drug-resistant bacteria proliferated on both non-biodragable and biodegradable plastics, but saw a particularly intense but short-lived spike in pathogens developing on the so-called greener material. “Our findings show that biodegradable plastics do not simply dissolve into the environment without consequence,” Yinglong Su, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.
- Wyoming is poised to become an artificial-intelligence powerhouse after Laramie County commissioners
last week unanimously voted to move forward with the construction of a
1.8 gigawatt data center designed to eventually scale up to 10
gigawatts, which would be the largest single AI campus in the U.S. The power is to come from gas turbines. [Wyoming would have been a fantastic source of wind energy.]
DARK AGE CLIMATE POLITICS
- The United States’ biggest oil company is brushing off President Donald Trump’s promise to restore Venezuela’s drilling industry to its former glory under American stewardship. In an address to the White House on Friday, Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods said that Venezuela’s current “legal and commercial constructs” and “frameworks” make the country “uninvestable.”
- The Trump administration files a lawsuit seeking to overturn California’s law banning new oil and gas wells near homes, schools, hospitals, and parks, claiming it violates federal law and hampers energy development. (Los Angeles Times, E&E News)
- A federal judge overturns the Interior Department order halting construction on the nearly-complete Revolution Wind, which the Trump administration targeted in December along with four other wind projects. (Politico) In a statement, Orsted said it would resume construction as soon as possible.
- The Trump administration is planning to throw decades of accepted practice out the window, according to a report
in the New York Times. If the EPA follows through on its plans, then it
would count only costs to industry and no longer count the value of human health when regulating ozone
and fine particulate matter pollution. The risks of air pollution have been known
for decades, which was part of the reason the EPA was founded under
President Richard Nixon in the first place. Ozone and fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, have long been linked to cardiovascular ailments like asthma, heart disease, and emphysema. - The feds may open up more of California to oil and gas drilling. The Bureau of Land Management published draft environmental analyses Monday concluding that new drilling on vast swaths of public land would not significantly harm public health or the environment, reports Ian Stevenson for POLITICO’s E&E News.
- Experts say the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to block two California cities’ natural gas hookup bans in new construction is based on flimsy legal arguments. (Canary Media)
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes allocating $200 million for an EV incentive program to help replace federal tax credits the Trump administration nixed last year. (Politico)
Take Action!
350 Humboldt’s letter writing group is getting back in action after a post-election hiatus. It is a truism that the most important thing we can do as climate activists is elect climate champions at all levels of government. We will be discussing a couple of new postcard campaigns people can write for. (You write for whatever group you choose and share conversation with the rest of the group as you write.) Give it a try! 7PM Sunday January 18. Hey! That’s today.
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84177018986?pwd=eiP6sJ9eENmfh2ozYDOZSjPpbZngGK.1