Nature (March 29)
Companies are scrambling to turn” CO2 “into useful products — but will that slow climate change?” On the surface, converting CO2 emissions holds more promise than sequestration, yet there are numerous issues and debate is far from settled. There is, however, “at least one point of broad agreement: that CO2 recycling technologies should eventually draw as much of their feedstock as possible from the atmosphere, rather than from waste industrial gases.”
Tags: Atmosphere, Climate change, CO2, Companies, Converting, Emissions, Feedstock, Promise, Recycling technologies, Scrambling, Sequestration, Useful, Waste industrial gases
Investment Week (February 7)
“New analysis of climate pledges by 25 of the world’s largest companies has revealed that the majority cannot be taken ‘at face value’ and ‘exaggerate their actions’, with many only committing to reduce their emissions by 40% on average, not the 100% they claim.” The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor found that of the 25 companies, only Maersk’s net-zero pledge has “reasonable integrity.”
Tags: Analysis, Claim, Climate pledges, Committing, Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor, Emissions, Exaggerate, Integrity, Maersk, Net-zero pledge, Revealed
The Guardian (January 11)
“If you want to know how fast climate change is happening, the answer is in the oceans.” Last year, they “absorbed heat equivalent to seven Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating each second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” Global ocean temperature data “paint a clear picture: the Earth is warming, humans are the culprit, and the warming will continue indefinitely until we collectively take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Tags: Atomic bombs, Climate change, Culprit, Earth, Emissions, GHGs, Heat, Hiroshima, Humans, Oceans, Temperature data, Warming
Investment Week (November 12)
“The world’s two biggest emitters, who had been trading insults for the first week of the conference,” surprised the world with “a joint declaration that would see Washington and Beijing cooperate closely on the emissions cuts scientists say are needed in the next ten years to stay within 1.5C.”
Tags: Beijing, Conference, Cooperate, Emissions, Emitters, Joint declaration, Scientists, Trading insults, Washington
USA Today (November 3)
“The coronavirus lockdowns had an ‘extreme’ effect on carbon emissions, causing a whopping 17% drop globally during peak confinement measures by early April 2020 – levels that hadn’t been seen since 2006.” We are now reverting to mean. “Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that’s most responsible for global warming, have returned to near pre-pandemic levels…. This year saw a 4.9 percent increase in emissions over 2020, similar to the rebound that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.”
Tags: CO2, Coronavirus, Emissions, GHG, Global warming, Lockdowns, Pre-pandemic levels, Rebound, Reverting
Investment Week (August 11)
“Climate change mitigation is high on the global agenda, with escalating pressure on governments to take action to prevent a climate catastrophe.” In July, the European Commission “unveiled ambitious plans to deliver a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – relative to 1990 levels. The ‘Fit for 55’ package spans all sectors and could have a significant impact on high-emitting industries.” The plan could prove the “biggest investment story in decades.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Cut, Emissions, European Commission, Fit for 55, GHG, Global agenda, Governments, Investment, Mitigation
Houston Chronicle (July 15)
“The $3.5 trillion budget proposed by top Democrats represents the biggest move yet by President Joe Biden to attack climate change, including provisions such as clean energy standards for power grids, fees on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, and increased incentives for electric cars.” If enacted, the legislation, “would set in motion a historic shift from fossil fuels and deliver a blow to the oil and gas producing regions across Texas, which have powered the nation’s economy for a century.”
Tags: $3.5 trillion, Biden, Clean energy, Climate change, Democrats, Drilling, Emissions, EVs, Fees, Fossil fuels, Gas, Historic, Methane, Oil, Power grids, Shift, Texas
BloombergQuint (May 31)
“Wednesday was a bad day for Big Oil, or a good one, depending on your point of view. They’re going to have to clean up their acts a lot faster than they were planning. Three of the world’s biggest publicly traded oil and gas companies — Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Chevron Corp. — were dealt stinging blows on May 26 by shareholders and a Dutch court demanding that they act more quickly to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Tags: Big oil, Chevron Corp., Clean-up, Dutch court, Emissions, Exxon Mobil Corp., Faster, GHG, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shareholders, Traded
Houston Chronicle (May 19)
“The International Energy Agency, the body that advises governments on energy and is widely respected among politicians of all stripes, warned Tuesday that nations need to halt oil and gas development this year if they are to meet their target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and avoid catastrophic climate change.”
Reuters (May 11)
“Many net zero targets have three shortcomings: incomplete disclosure, confusing terminology, and problems with offsets. Companies serious about net zero targets should include not just so-called Scope 1 and 2 emissions, produced when they make their products, but also Scope 3, created when customers use those products.”
Tags: Confusing, Disclosure, Emissions, Incomplete, Net zero, Offsets, Shortcomings, Targets, Terminology
