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Are current climate initiatives unfair to developing nations?

Nov 17, 2022
Rahul Tongia of the Brookings Institution argues that a swift, large-scale energy transition is unrealistic for poor countries, and unnecessary.
Participants arrive Thursday at the COP27 climate conference, where world leaders are discussing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the impacts of  climate change.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

Crypto industry finds itself in the thick of local fights over greenhouse gas emissions

Jul 1, 2022
New York's denial of a power plant permit highlights what's at stake for the crypto industry and communities fighting to meet climate goals.
Thursday, New York state officials decided not to renew an air permit for a cryptocurrency mining facility citing emission-reduction goals. Above, a workers install a row of bitcoin mining machines in Texas.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

A UN report says making cities more population-dense can help cut carbon emissions

May 2, 2022
Cities were responsible for over half of the world's carbon emissions in recent years. They could turn that around in the decades to come.
An aerial view of a "green" roof in Caracas, Venezuela. Green roofs are roofs that incorporate vegetation.
Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images

How do you calculate a company's carbon footprint? The SEC is figuring that out.

Jan 19, 2022
Emissions by a company's suppliers and customers could count towards the total.
The SEC may soon require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Whether they'll also include emissions from suppliers — usually a larger proportion of emissions — is unclear.
Nilmar Lage/AFP via Getty Images

Virtual conferences significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions

Dec 27, 2021
A new study in the journal Nature Communications says going virtual can reduce an event's carbon footprint by 94%.
By hosting a conference online instead of in person, organizers can curb emissions by more than 90%.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Apparent death of Build Back Better has climate scientists searching for a solution

Dec 20, 2021
"We don't really have a plan without the Build Back Better Act to stop the warming," a UC Santa Barbara professor says.
The Build Back Better bill includes more than $550 billion in environmental initiatives, like tax credits for companies and consumers that install solar panels.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

If a carbon tax helps lower emissions, why doesn't the U.S. have one?

Oct 29, 2021
The tax has been a contentious topic among Washington lawmakers, but the U.S. is behind industrialized nations in not having one in place.
A carbon tax would provide information on how much consumers and companies are willing to pay to pollute. Above, a coal-fired plant releasing carbon emissions in Maidsville, West Virginia, in 2018.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

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Report calls plastics the "new coal"

Oct 22, 2021
Plastics could be a bigger source of greenhouse gases in the U.S. than the coal industry by 2030, if current production trends keep up.
These plastic pellets are used to make shoes in France. A new report by Beyond Plastics explains the ubiquitous material's environmental impact.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images

As foundations pledge to get endowments to net zero, monitoring emissions is a challenge

Oct 22, 2021
Companies aren't required to share data on their greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it hard for investors to evaluate their own progress toward net-zero portfolios.
Foundations first have to determine what "net zero" means before it can start figuring out how much a company is emitting.
Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Thirty countries agree to methane emissions cuts to protect the climate

Oct 13, 2021
Pound for pound, it's 28 times better at trapping atmospheric heat than CO2.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (L) and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) participate in a news conference about the Senate vote on methane regulation outside of the U.S. Capitol on April 28, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images