No matter the season, there's always a reason to support Marketplace. 💙 Give Now 🎁

For millennia, the Arctic absorbed more carbon than it emitted. That's changed.

Dec 24, 2024
The region is warming much faster than the rest of the planet and releasing greenhouse gases from its thawing soil. Umair Irfan of Vox explains.
As the Arctic warms, it is releasing greenhouses gases from its thawing soil and becoming more accessible to oil and gas extraction.
Maxim Marmur/AFP via Getty Images

New organization to measure whether companies' carbon removal plans actually work

Aug 7, 2024
The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative just launched in the U.S. this week.
There currently isn’t a great way to prove whether a firm's carbon removal plans will actually work.
Brandon Bell/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

NuScale, compact nuclear plant developer, plans to go public

Jan 12, 2022
The company has created a modular design it says makes financial sense. Though carbon-free, nuclear remains controversial.
An artist’s rendering of a NuScale Power nuclear facility. Though the energy source is carbon-free, accidents like the disaster at Fukushima, Japan, have diminished its popularity.
Courtesy NuScale Power

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

EPA proposes rule to cut dangerous refrigerants

May 3, 2021
Reducing greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs has support within the air-conditioning and refrigeration industries.
Hydrofluorocarbons, chemical refrigerants that damage the climate, can be found in common appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners.
Istvan Balogh via Getty Images

What will it take for California to meet its new electric vehicle goals?

Sep 24, 2020
One expert says the state may need to improve its electric grid, while manufacturers bring down prices and pick up battery production.
Tesla car sits parked at a Tesla Supercharger. The Biden administration's new standards for EV chargers announced this week could set the stage for more business opportunities.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

American transportation is a major pollutant. See exactly where it's coming from.

Oct 16, 2019
Journalists and researchers have teamed up to map emissions from transportation around the United States.
Heat waves emanate from the exhaust pipe of a city bus in Los Angeles.
David McNew/Getty Images

The U.S. is cutting carbon emissions despite Trump policy

Sep 12, 2018
A coalition of elected officials and business leaders sees progress toward Paris climate agreement targets.
Emissions spew out of a large stack at the coal-fired Morgantown Generating Station in 2014 in Newburg, Maryland.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Big oil is seeking public trust

Mar 10, 2017
The corporate world seems on track to address the issue of climate change even as the Trump administration questions much of the research around its validity. Shell corporation says it’s not just boosting its renewable investments to $1 billion, it’s also tying board member pay to greenhouse gas emissions reductions. It’s not uncommon for fossil […]