Three environmentally important announcements came from the Biden administration this week.
Reinforcing an effort he signed into action on his first day in office, the president on Thursday ordered federal agencies to provide annual plans to guarantee that underserved communities can actually benefit from their policies. They must also designate a senior leader to promote racial equity and foster environmental justice.
Though they were not issued in tandem, the other two bits of good news were announcements about how some of the fruits of the $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that not a single Republican voted for will be distributed to groups as part of the administration’s equity and justice efforts.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan announced that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, part of the IRA, will give states, tribes, municipalities, and some nonprofits the opportunity to apply for $27 billion in grant funding. The money is meant to finance projects that push forward the nation’s transition to renewable energy with a focus on removing longstanding systemic injustices still afflicting underserved communities.
And finally, on Monday, the departments of Treasury and Energy, together with Internal Revenue Service, issued guidance to encourage investment in underserved communities—in particular, coal communities—by means of $10 billion in tax credits for clean energy manufacturing and recycling, industrial decarbonization, and critical materials processing, refining, and recycling. The guidance sets aside at least $4 billion of the 30% tax credits for projects at closed coal mines or no-longer-in-service coal-fired power plants. Investments in solar and wind projects in low-income communities can qualify for an increase in the tax credit to 50%.
In an EPA press release, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “At a time when we face the existential crisis of climate change, the Inflation Reduction Act is a major and necessary investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. When people across the country are struggling to make ends meet while dealing with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, it makes a great deal of sense to help households put solar on their roofs so they can create their own electricity, cut carbon pollution, and help create millions of good jobs.”
EPA will hold two competitions to distribute grant funding under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: a $20 billion General and Low-Income Assistance Competition and a $7 billion Zero-Emissions Technology Fund Competition. EPA will implement these programs in alignment with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which directs that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities, including those facing disproportionately high and adverse health and environmental impacts. EPA expects to open competitions for funding under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund by summer 2023.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will unlock historic investments to combat the climate crisis and deliver results for the American people, especially those who have too often been left behind. The initial program design announced today will ensure the fund fulfills its mandate to deliver benefits to all in a transparent and inclusive fashion,” Regan said.
The focus on systemic injustices was one of the most important elements of the Green New Deal. Many people would like that focus jettisoned altogether in any new policies. Indeed, big chunks of environmental justice-oriented funding were hacked out of the Build Back Better bill. And there are plenty of Republicans—like Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana and Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas—who reject the whole concept of environmental racism, therefore, environmental justice is nonsense in their view, which is rich since 149 Republicans—more than half the caucus—also think climate science is nonsense. They are keen on undermining any progress IRA programs could make on both climate mitigation and environmental justice.
For instance, a recent press release from the Republican-controlled House Budget Committee stated, “The Inflation Reduction Act included $27 billion for the EPA with no specific programmatic purpose, and $60 billion for ‘environmental justice’ programs. That money should be rescinded.”
Talking about equity and environmental justice is easy. Implementing policies and programs to bring it about is far harder and fraught with opportunity for failing in the mission. Environmental justice advocates and climate activists have generally been positive but cautious in their assessment of how this will play out.
Dr. Sacoby Wilson is the director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) at the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland-College Park. He told Aman Azhar at Inside Climate News that in the past, funds distributed similarly through federal programs failed to affect the change they were supposed to.
Warned Wilson, “We have the problem of the systems that allocate federal dollars, such as state revolving funds. Research has shown that those funds are not being equally allocated to underserved communities of color, such as FEMA funding for example. The benefits of these investments should go to the community most impacted.”
Indeed they should. The administration clearly agrees. But when so much money is involved and so many political forces are in play, implementers can lose sight of the mission. The administration will have its work cut out for it to ensure that doesn’t happen.
WEEKLY GREEN VIDEO
Change is in the works since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took over the presidency of Brazil from the Trumpian Jair Bolsonaro on Jan. 1. One of those changes has been to create several new cabinet ministries, including the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. The first person to serve in that role is Sônia Bone de Souza Silva Santos, usually known as Sônia Guajajara, her last name being the name of her tribe in the state of Maranhão in the rainforest of northeastern Brazil. The interview is in Portuguese with English subtitles.
GREEN BRIEFS
For years. environmental activists have asserted that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is being pushed by oil companies who are deploying it so they can keep extracting oil until every last drop has been squeezed out of the ground. While proclaiming in advertising and other PR campaigns that CCS is a “climate solution” and the companies are greening, in fact, they are green-washing, all the while increasing production and boosting greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to last year’s House Oversight Committee investigation into Big Oil and decades of fossil fuel companies’ climate disinformation, the activists’ critique has been confirmed.
The clever but misleading sign fronts the Quest carbon capture and storage project at the Scotford Complex near Fort Saskatchewan, Canada, that is operated by Shell and its joint venture partners.
In December, upon completion of the investigation before the Republicans—none of whom signed the finished report—took over the House, a committee member, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, told NBC News, “They’re basically saying, ‘we’re going to increase production, we’re going to increase emissions, but we’re also going to be able to claim being this clean tech company, this green company, because we can take some symbolic actions that make it look like we’re in the climate fight. The cynicism was breathtaking, and unfortunately, it was quite successful.”
Dana Drugmand at DeSmog writes:
Prolonged oil and gas production is at odds with recent reports confirming that new fossil fuel development is incompatible with the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C and with the net-zero energy transition. Yet in public-facing materials from investor presentations to company websites, oil and gas companies reject this consensus — and claim that fossil fuels can remain viable and become “cleaner” with the help of carbon capture and storage.
Recent federal legislation has provided a massive boost to carbon capture technologies, including direct air capture machines designed to remove CO2 from the ambient air. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in November 2021, included more than $12 billion in carbon capture investments, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed last August, significantly expanded the 45Q federal tax credit for carbon capture: raising its value, lowering the minimum capture requirement for qualifying facilities, and extending the window for projects to claim the credits.
The reality is that CCS is ineffective, with a long roster of projects that have failed outright or underperformed. Some studies show it not only doesn’t do much to reduce emissions, it may actually increase carbon and other air pollution. The Oversight Committee’s subpoenaed documents show that Big Oil knows full well that CCS has serious limitations but could nevertheless provide a lifeline for use of fossil fuels. Greenwashing at its most vile.
On Feb. 14, the EU, the world’s third-largest car market, okay’d a ban of new sales of vehicles operating with internal combustion engines (ICE) as of 2035. Final approval of the ban on all diesel- and gas-powered vehicles is set for next month. The European Commission has also proposed new CO2 emissions-cutting targets from city buses and long-haul trucks as of 2030.
By 2035, 100% of the new cars and light trucks sold in the EU will be powered by electric motors and other zero emissions methods like this Volkswagen ID.4 because internal combustion engines will be banned.
Several manufacturers and some countries in the 27-nation block objected when the proposal first emerged in July 2021. But since then some companies, Volkswagen especially, are investing heavily in a shift away from ICE vehicles. VW says it will not make more after 2033. The richer EU nations will have an easier time making this deadline; Greece, the Baltic states, Portugal, and Croatia are among those that will struggle.
California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon have all banned new ICE vehicle bans as of 2035. As in the EU, sales of used ICE cars will still be allowed.
Jennifer Mossalgue at Electrek writes:
The time it takes for European legislation to take form is tediously slow, to say the least, requiring endless debate and revisions—and the clock is ticking—but the fact a law of this scale continues through the labyrinth of required approvals is good news. European consumers are ready, and already claim 25% of global EV sales. Still, the shift won’t be easy, especially in a fragile economy with millions, maybe billions, of euros still needed to build out electric grid infrastructure in a sustainable way to ensure EVs run on clean power. A McKinsey study estimates this bill at upward of €240 billion [$257 billion] by 2030. In terms of public chargers, the EU offers about five public chargers for every 100km, and the European Federation for Transport and Environment suggests that deploying 2.7 million public charging points throughout the continent by 2030 would require around €1.8 billion [$1.9 billion]. Considering that is about 3% of the EU’s yearly budget for roads and infrastructure in Europe, it seems like a decent start.
The left-leaning Center for Western Priorities’ has released its May 2022 Winning the West poll showing strong support for conservation across the political spectrum. Conducted in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada by Benenson Strategy Group, the poll found that 88% of those surveyed are more favorable to elected leaders who want existing protections for national parks and national monuments kept in place (90% of Democrats, 88% of independents, and 86% of Republicans.)
The poll also showed 84% of Westerners are more favorable toward an elected official who wants to ensure public lands are protected from development, 83% are more favorable to one who promises to invest in recreation sites and parks, and 77% are more favorable toward an elected official who wants to designate new national parks and monuments. Just 21% of voters are more favorable toward an elected official who supports drilling and mining for oil and other minerals on public lands. Only 11% of voters are more favorable toward an elected official who wants to develop public lands for commercial purposes. While voters may feel that way, Republican lawmakers at the state and federal level are less likely to do so based on the history of their legislative votes and proposals.
In a press release, the center said:
Western voters want more action from President Biden on conservation issues. 66 percent of voters believe that the current administration has not done enough to create and protect new public lands and national monuments. Showing their appetite for swift action on public land protections, 68 percent of Western voters (87 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Independents, and 48 percent of Republicans) support the president designating national monuments through his executive authority.
The Biden administration can build support from Western voters by focusing on its conservation agenda, according to the poll. 69 percent of Western voters say they would be more favorable toward President Biden if he did more to protect and conserve public lands, parks, and wildlife.
GREEN RESOURCES & ACTION
- Zero Waste 101: Everything You Need to Know. You’ve likely heard the old adage, “reduce, reuse, recycle.” While this has been a cornerstone of sustainability, with many kids hearing this golden rule over the years and repeating these steps well into adulthood, there’s a more updated framework that can help consumers strive for zero-waste lifestyles. Zero-waste refers to principles of minimizing waste production as much as possible. Béa Johnson of Zero Waste Home calls the framework for zero-waste the five Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot. Irma Omerhodzic provides a lengthy guide on how to become a zero waster.
- Download a Free Native-Plant Garden Plan for Your Specific Region. The nonprofit Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes. Wild Ones promotes "environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, and establishment of native plant communities." Native plant communities are essential for supporting pollinators, who are having a rough time with the tragic trifecta of habitat destruction, pesticide use, and climate change. Native plants also provide food and habitat for wildlife, reduce erosion and improve soil, mitigate flooding, sequester carbon, filter water, and more. Among the many extensive resources that Wild Ones provides, their 19 free, downloadable native garden designs is one of the best.
- You can still join the February 2023 Globe at Night campaign. There are just five days left in this effort to observe light pollution in your area. At the link above is a template for registering your local sky situation. Researcher Christopher Kyba explains what it’s all about here. Or if you have a subscription to Science magazine, you can read his article there.
ECOPINION
The Obama family watching the geysers in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 2009.
Prescribing nature: the restorative power of a simple dose of the outdoors. The health benefits of green or blue prescriptions are many and there are calls to integrate them more into routine care. By Donna Lu at Mother Jones. “’Research shows that over time we’ve become more disconnected as humans from nature,’ Prof Thomas Astell-Burt, a population health expert at the University of Wollongong, tells me. A 2017 study, for example, found that pop culture references to nature – in fiction, song lyrics and film storylines – have declined since the 1950s. ‘It might reflect that we as a society have become much more inward focused on our urban consumerist lifestyles,’ Astell-Burt says. As early as the 1990s, researchers found that going for a walk in a natural environment as opposed to an urban landscape brought about improvements in people’s ability to concentrate, feelings of wellbeing and even in blood pressure, he says. Being in nature, studies tell us, has significant positive effects on our mental and physical health. Living close to green or blue spaces – rural or coastal environments – has been linked time and time again to reductions in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Access to green space has also been linked to a reduced risk of loneliness and some have even suggested that interacting with microbes in the environment may be beneficial for our immune systems.”
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. By Christian Downie and Robert Brulle at 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 protect their commercial interests in the face of a rapidly heating world. Most also provide financial support to industry groups that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on political activities, often to thwart polices designed to slow climate change. ... We found that trade associations historically opposed to climate policies spent $2 billion in the decade from 2008 to 2018 on political activities, such as advertising, lobbying and political contributions. Together, they outspent climate-supporting industry groups 27 to 1.”
How to reform federal permitting to accelerate clean energy infrastructure: A nonpartisan way forward. By Rayan Sud, Sanjay Patnaik, and Robert L. Glicksman at the Brookings Institution. “If the U.S. is to achieve its climate ambitions and fully implement transformative legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress will also have to enable a massively accelerated build-out of clean energy infrastructure. Brookings’ POLICY ROADMAP: 1. A significant expansion of federal planning, general permitting, and programmatic review would accelerate the permitting process for clean energy infrastructure in the long term. 2. Siting authority for all interstate transmission lines could be federalized with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 3. The Biden administration could conduct a staff capacity, funding, and technology needs assessment across agencies involved with critical permitting for clean energy. 4. Congress could transfer initial authority for Clean Air Act permitting for offshore wind from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) within the Department of the Interior. 5. Congress could support multi-agency coordination by allocating additional funding to the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), and by expanding its scope to cover mid-sized as well as large clean energy projects. 6. Congress could proceed with narrow reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). More on this subject at Why permitting debate may go nuclear.”
The Fight to End Fossil Finance Has Changed. The climate movement's strategy to end fossil financing needs to evolve—and it already is. By Alec Connon at Common Dreams. “Over the past two years, the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF)―a dark money group supported by climate-denying organizations, such as the Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)―has organized Republicans to attack climate financial regulation, defeat the nominations of key Biden regulators, and divest state money from BlackRock in retaliation for its climate commitments. This year alone, Republicans have introduced more than 100 bills in 23 states that are designed to punish financial companies for taking action on climate. This is the latest evolution of the GOP’s decades-long strategy to slow the transition off fossil fuels―an all-out attack on financial institutions they claim are “boycotting” fossil fuels. And it’s working. The world’s largest banks and investors have been falling over themselves to pledge loyalty to the fossil fuel industry. Given this change of political terrain, the climate movement’s strategy to end fossil financing needs to evolve. In response to an organized and strategic opposition, we need to refocus our strategy in several key ways. The most pressing of which is right around the corner: shareholder season.”
Kate Aronoff
The Inflation Reduction Act Has Europe Freaking Out. While Biden’s industrial policy law has sparked no small amount of panic overseas, the end result could be the best kind of international competition. By Kate Aronoff. “A specter is haunting Europe. Last week, high-level meetings in Washington brought representatives from France and Germany to haggle with U.S. officials, hoping to win favorable terms under the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA. President Biden, meanwhile, had just come out swinging in his State of the Union address with a swaggering defense of the very policies that now have these continental European partners on edge: ‘Buy American has been the law of the land since 1933,’ said Biden. ‘But for too long, past administrations have found ways to get around it. Not anymore.’ The $369 billion for green technologies allocated by the IRA is much too modest in comparison to the scale of the climate crisis it’s been pitched as addressing. But the size and scope of that law has nevertheless sparked a freak-out among politicians in Europe, who have long held the reputation of outpacing America on all things related to climate policy. The European powers now worry that the EU’s major export industries will be excluded from U.S. tax incentives and that those will prompt companies to flock across the Atlantic in search of a better deal.”
To protect families from surging energy bills, stop the foot-dragging on energy efficiency for furnaces. By Richard Eckman at Utility Dive. “Wasting less energy to heat our homes can protect millions of Americans against surging fossil fuel costs that will burst budgets for many families in the coming months. ... Americans have been unnecessarily paying higher energy costs due to these outdated standards for far too long. It’s high time to move into the 21st century. The stakes are immense. Wasting less energy to heat our homes can protect millions of Americans, especially lower-income households, against surging fossil fuel costs that will burst budgets for many families over the coming months. Improving the efficiency of furnaces is particularly important for protecting renters. About 35% of U.S. households are renters, and they are statistically more likely to be Black or Hispanic and have lower income than homeowners. One-third of renters have also fallen behind on their energy bills in the past year. Renters typically do not have control over the appliances installed in their homes, and property owners often opt for the cheapest options. As a result, renters in the U.S. are far more likely to live with inefficient appliances.”
ECO-QUOTE
“We would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale. And we would see ever-fiercer competition for fresh water, land, and other resources. The impact of rising seas is already creating new sources of instability and conflict.”—UN Secretary-General António Guterrez noting this week at a Security Council debate that some 900 million Earthlings living in low-lying coastal areas are at risk from sea-level rise.
HALF A DOZEN OTHER THINGS TO READ (OR LISTEN TO)
Dugan Coburn, Indian Education for All and Indigenous Education director for Great Falls Public Schools, guts every organ from a bison for Native and non-Native students and school staff. The abdominal cavity includes four stomachs and the nutrient-rich large and small intestines.
Indigenous Foodways Are the Focus in a Growing Number of Classrooms. By Renata Birkenbuel at Civil Eats. “A recent bison harvest in Montana is one example of the work being done in a growing number of state-level curriculum programs that immerse students in sacred ceremony and food traditions. In early December, a group of about 25 high school students from Great Falls, Montana, traveled to a ranch in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Front in biting, minus-9 degree temperatures. After the ranch manager, Chris Bechtold, killed and bled out one of the estimated 700 bison in the herd, the students approached the carcass to participate in the traditional process of breaking down the animal. It was bitter cold out, but the organizer stoked a big bonfire to keep everyone warm. Dugan Coburn, the director of the district’s Indian Education for All (IEFA) program, led a sage-burning ceremony and then a ritual pipe ceremony to clear bad energy and release negativity. ‘We use it to honor the animal who gave up its life,’ said Coburn, a Blackfoot. ‘We do it so everybody there understands that every life is important and that taking one has to be done with seriousness and respect.’ This kind of Indigenous knowledge transfer is rare within a public school district, but advocates in the state see it as a crucial element for both Native and non-Native students. The Great Falls district enrolls nearly 1,700 students who self-identify as Indian. They hail from at least 60 different Native American communities, which include members of the Chippewa Cree, Assiniboine, Little Shell, and Blackfeet tribes, among others. Montana’s IEFA, a program that employs a Coburn, three full-time Indian education specialists, and others at the district level, is based on policy that has existed since 1999. It stands out in a national landscape in which Native people and their cultures often go unseen. The Reclaiming Native Truth project found that 72% of Americans rarely encounter information about Native Americans, and 87% of state history standards do not mention Indigenous history after 1900. Montana is one of a handful of states serving as models for others looking to bring Native food traditions and other traditional practices into the classroom.”
A HEPACO worker places booms in a stream in East Palestine, Ohio, as the cleanup continues after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train that spewed dangerous chemicals over a broad area of the community.
Chemical Desolation in Appalachia. Freight rail companies are running their trains ragged to boost profits. Sometimes they crash. By Jarod Facundo at The American Prospect. “In the village of East Palestine February 10, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed on the Ohio side of the Pennsylvania border, causing tanker cars to rupture and catch fire, releasing thousands of tons of hazardous chemical compounds into the surrounding land and atmosphere. At the time of the crash, the known chemicals aboard included the highly toxic vinyl chloride and hydrogen chloride. An EPA document dump on February 12 revealed additional carcinogenic chemicals were aboard too, as well as some highly flammable solvents and gases. Public documents reveal that four tank cars containing vinyl chloride were stacked together. Responding before the reveal of the cargo’s manifest, Jason Trosky, a resident of East Palestine said: ‘A $56 billion corporation knows where every one of its assets is at any given time … The reason [Norfolk Southern] didn’t show us the manifest is because the train was overloaded.’”
What the Ohio Train Derailment Says About the Dark Side of Plastics. By Zahra Hirji at Bloomberg Green. “A Norfolk Southern Corp. train carrying hazardous materials derailed in fiery fashion on the night of Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. The risk of some of those dangerous materials exploding prompted officials to allow the train operator to run what’s called a “controlled explosion” on Feb. 6, releasing known carcinogens and a plume of black smoke into the air. The disaster highlights the dangers of the world’s growing reliance on plastics, which two key chemicals of concern — vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate — are used to make. ‘This tragedy reminds us we have to pay attention not to just what happens to plastic when you are done with it, but the whole life cycle of using massive amounts of toxic chemicals that have to be transported all over the world to make plastic products,’ says Judith Enck, a former administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama administration and now an advocate against plastic pollution. More on this subject at Progressives Demand Buttigieg Act on Rail Safety Amid Toxic Ohio Disaster and This is absurd’: Train cars that derailed in Ohio were labeled non-hazardous and The Ohio Derailment Catastrophe is a Case Study in Disaster Capitalism.”
How EU Wants to Stop Deforestation in Your Coffee. By John Ainger and Anuradha Raghu at Bloomberg Green. “The European Union is set to ban imports of raw materials produced on newly deforested land anywhere in the world, in an effort to protect the rainforests that are a buffer against catastrophic climate change. The new rules require sophisticated tracking systems and will be enforced using the threat of fines. Critics say the measures will penalize millions of small farmers across Asia, Latin America and Africa who lack the means to comply. The plan is to stop the felling of forests to grow products sold in Europe. Those include palm oil (which is found in thousands of everyday items including ice cream, shampoo and fuel), soy, beef, wood, rubber, cocoa and coffee and some manufactured products such as chocolate, leather and furniture. To send them into the EU or export them from the bloc, companies must show they weren’t made on land that was deforested or degraded since Dec. 31, 2020.”
Light pollution cut humanity’s connection with the stars—but we can restore it. The world’s night sky more than doubled in artificial brightness from 2011 to 2022. By Or Graur at Ars Technica. “Light pollution is cutting us off from one of nature’s greatest wonders, harming wildlife, and blocking research that could help fight climate change. Stars are more than pretty glimmers in the night sky. They have shaped the mythology of every human civilization. They guide birds on their astonishing migratory journeys. And now we need to do our bit to prevent light pollution so stars can be part of our future. … Migratory animals, including birds and insects, are drawn away from their natural flight paths by the beckoning “sky glow” of cities. In the summer of 2019, Las Vegas was invaded by millions of migrating grasshoppers, while the beams of New York’s 9/11 Tribute in Light are a magnet for flocks of migrating songbirds flying at night. Disoriented by the bright city lights, birds crash into towering skyscrapers. Insect numbers are collapsing worldwide, and light pollution is making matters worse by disrupting their nocturnal life cycles.”
Are Companies Developing Credible Climate Transition Plans? By the Carbon Disclosure Project. “While this report is not an assessment of an organization’s climate transition toward a 1.5°C-aligned world—it is an evaluation of whether an organization’s disclosure is sufficient and credible. And for the vast bulk of these organizations, the short answer to the question raised in that assessment is NO. In 2022, 18,600+ organizations disclosed through CDP’s climate change questionnaire, of which 4,100 of them disclosed that they had already developed a 1.5°C-aligned climate transition plan. Of these 4,100 organizations, 81 of them reported sufficient detail to all 21 key indicators in the climate change questionnaire that align with a credible climate transition plan. These 81 organizations represent 0.4% of the entire disclosure sample in 2022 (18,600+). More than a third of the disclosing organizations met the disclosure criteria for the risks and opportunities element of a credible climate transition plan—this was followed closely by the governance element (24%) and the policy element (19%). In contrast, financial planning, targets, and strategy to achieve net-zero were the poorest performing elements of a credible climate transition plan with 3%, 4% and 7% of organizations meeting the disclosure criteria in these respective elements.”
GREEN LINKS
Ford will spend $3.5 billion to build lithium iron phosphate battery plant • To Go Climate-Positive, Ikea Needs to Fix Its Furniture Glue • The Inflation Reduction Act will eventually boost residential solar, but macroeconomic conditions threaten short-term growth • The Field Report: Calls Grow for a Farm Bill that Serves ‘All of Us, Not Just Corporations’ • IPCC asks emerging countries to drop coal faster than rich nations did • Climate Groups Cheer Ro Khanna-Sheldon Whitehouse Bill to Tax Big Oil Windfall Profits • Nikki Haley wants to address climate change not by reducing carbon, but capturing it • Studies Find Louisiana Government Helped Create Cancer Alley • Sen. Feinstein touts environment record in announcing retirement • Our Planet Versus Plastic Bags—A Tale of Two Cities • Invisible destruction: 38% of remaining Amazon forest already degraded • Warming seas are carving into glacier that could trigger sea level rise