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New U.S. ‘Buy Clean’ plan earmarks billions for low-carbon cement, steel and other building materials

September 27, 2022 by Victor Olgyay, Anish Tilak and Connor Usry

New guidance from the U.S. federal government, combined with historic Inflation Reduction Act investments, could turbocharge markets for low-carbon cement, steel, and other building materials. Victor Olgyay, Anish Tilak and Connor Usry at Rocky Mountain Institute explain how the new “Buy Clean” recommendations will mean the procurement of green building materials for federal building and transportation projects. That will lead to a boost in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buildings, Energy Tagged With: asphalt, buildings, cement, decarbonisation, emissions, funding, ghg, glass, pollution, steel, US

The Nordic Code: offsetting should be used to exceed, not meet, net-zero targets

July 14, 2022 by Kenneth Möllersten, Hanna-Mari Ahonen and Lars Zetterberg

Kenneth Möllersten and Lars Zetterberg at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Hanna-Mari Ahonen at Perspectives Climate Research explain the main issues around the draft “Nordic Code of Best Practice for Voluntary Compensation of GHG”, published for consultation in June, which synthesises the most ambitious best practices for the voluntary use of carbon credits, including for offsetting. Focussing on non-state actors, the Nordic Code … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies Tagged With: accounting, CarbonCredits, emissions, ghg, NDC, netzero, offsetting, standards

Interpreting the Paris Agreement: the 1.5C and 2C targets are not two different options

June 30, 2022 by Carl-Friedrich Schleussner and Gaurav Ganti

Carl-Friedrich Schleussner and Gaurav Ganti at Humboldt University of Berlin, writing for Carbon Brief, want to clear up confusion over the 1.5C and 2C pathways. Their concern is that some people are interpreting the Paris Agreement’s wording as two separate targets, one simply better than the other. But they should not be seen as two different options. The objective of “well below 2C” must be seen by modellers and policy-makers as a clear … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies Tagged With: emissions, FitFor55, ghg, modelling, netzero, Paris2015, pathways, scenarios

Hydrogen is also a greenhouse gas, so leaks must be minimised

May 26, 2022 by Thomas Koch Blank, Raghav Muralidharan, Kaitlyn Ramirez, Alexandra Wall and Tessa Weiss

Even leaked hydrogen can warm the climate. How serious is it as a greenhouse gas? How easy is it to minimise leaks? Thomas Koch Blank, Raghav Muralidharan, Kaitlyn Ramirez, Alexandra Wall and Tessa Weiss at RMI answer these important questions as the hydrogen ramp up begins. The first observation is that hydrogen is much less damaging than natural gas, even with minimal hydrogen leakage regulation. Nevertheless, the roll-out of this new energy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Hydrogen Tagged With: emissions, gas, ghg, hydrogen, industry, infrastructure, leakage, methane, pipelines, Transmission

Using captured Methane to make all the world’s fishmeal: a profitable revenue stream?

December 15, 2021 by Rob Jordan

If the cost of capturing methane (or CO2, or anything) can be folded into the cost of making something that can be sold at a profit, methane capture will take off. Rob Jordan at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment explains how research there shows captured methane can be turned into fishmeal at the same price as commercial fishmeal. In some cases it can be done much more cheaply. Commercial fishmeal, used to feed farmed fish, is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Carbon Capture, Energy, Oil, Gas & Coal Tagged With: aquaculture, capture, emissions, fishing, fishmeal, gas, ghg, landfills, methane, oil, wastewater

Can Carbon Offset loopholes be fixed with better evaluation and rules?

December 14, 2021 by Meredith Fowlie

Carbon offset programmes rightly get a lot of criticism. There’s plenty of evidence of offsets not delivering all the GHG emissions reductions they are credited for. Though still on the international agenda, should they be ditched? Or can they be improved with better analysis and evaluation, and making that a pre-condition for creating carbon offset credits, asks Meredith Fowlie at the Energy Institute at Haas. She starts by looking at those … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies Tagged With: analysis, California, carbon, credits, emissions, evaluation, forestry, ghg, India, offset, wind

Methane emissions underestimated by 25-40%, says new study

March 6, 2020 by Robert McSweeney

The methane in our atmosphere comes from natural biogenic (plants, animals) and fossil sources. By telling the difference we can know how much we humans are responsible for. It matters because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, second only to CO2. Previous “bottom-up” estimates came from multiplying the number of sources (livestock, natural gas operations, landfills) by their likely emissions. Robert McSweeney at Carbon Brief describes a new … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Environment Tagged With: biogenic, CO2, emissions, fossilfuels, gas, ghg, methane, Nuclear

Creating a market to trade excess wind/solar between states (without outsourcing your emissions!)

October 31, 2019 by Meredith Fowlie

How do you get neighbouring states, with different renewables mixes, and different emissions targets and penalties, to trade their surplus energy? It’s one of the biggest challenges to face the rapid growth of intermittent wind and solar. Meredith Fowlie at the Energy Institute at Haas describes how an “Energy Imbalance Market” (EIM) is operating across eight states in the west of the U.S. Bidding for your neighbour’s excess renewable energy is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids, Markets, Renewables Tagged With: California, electricity, emissions, ghg, grids, Intermittency, solar, US, wind

Why coordinated Dutch-German climate action is critical for Europe

August 9, 2019 by Jan Frederik Braun, Michael Pahle and Mart van Bracht

Both the Netherlands and Germany are about to propose major new national climate measures. If the proposals become law, they will enforce some of the most stringent national targets for GHG reductions in the world. It’s why, on 22 August, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will host a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her ‘climate cabinet’. Coordinated Dutch-German climate action can make these neighbouring countries role models for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, EU Policy Tagged With: batteries, carbon tax, CCS, emissions, ETS, EU, Germany, ghg, hydrogen, Netherlands, policy, storage

NDC reporting: making the Paris Agreement Transparency Framework work

July 19, 2019 by Alexandra Deprez

For the system of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to be effective, every country’s reporting processes need to be appropriate to their economic level, honest and accurate. That means the Paris Agreement’s Transparency Framework, including the Common Reporting Tables (CRT) for greenhouse gas inventories, and Common Tabular Formats (CTF) to track progress on their NDCs, needs to be finalised and agreed upon, and fast, says the IDDRI’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies Tagged With: COP25, emissions, ghg, NDCs, Paris2050, transition, Transparency Framework, UNFCCC

There’s a limit to raising CO2 taxes. Re-focus on energy innovations to reverse emissions

May 1, 2019 by Severin Borenstein

Stop obsessing about raising CO2 taxes, says Severin Borenstein at the Energy Institute at Haas. It’s good, but not enough. Why? Textbook economics says if you tax something bad, innovators are incentivised and rewarded for coming up with something better. That’s true for cigarettes (vaping), plastic wrapping (recyclables, biodegradables), traffic (public transport). But there’s a limit with CO2 taxes, says the author. In developing countries … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, Innovations Tagged With: carbon tax, China, emissions, ghg, India, Paris2050, renewables, transition

Children today must emit eight times less CO2 than their grandparents

April 17, 2019 by Zeke Hausfather

No wonder young people have taken the reins of the climate demonstrations away from the adults. Zeke Hausfather at Carbon Brief shows that the global budget for avoiding warming of 1.5C or 2C has already been mostly used up. To put that in numbers, if children emit like their parents they’ll exhaust their carbon budget in just 9 years. It’s why emissions must peak in the next few years and then rapidly decline to hit the Paris targets. That’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy Tagged With: China, emissions, Europe, ghg, India, Paris2050, US

Less politically centralised, can the EU remain a transition leader?

April 16, 2019 by Lucien Chabason

As a region the EU is a transition leader. Its primary energy consumption increased by only 0.2% in 2018 (globally it rose by 2.6%) and its CO2 emissions dropped by 1.7% (globally, up 1.7%). But the EU’s move towards greater “subsidiarity” and devolution of power, to counterbalance too much centralisation, has made it harder for the EU to act quickly and act big, says Lucien Chabason, Senior Advisor at the IDDRI. One example: how easily can … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy Tagged With: COP15, EU, ghg, Government, Juncker, Paris2050, policies, transition

UK: Despite progress, 100% low-carbon is still a long way off

April 12, 2019 by Andrew Crossland and Jon Gluyas

The UK transition is often cited as a success story. Coal’s contribution has dropped from 40% to 6%. Wind, solar and hydroelectric now generates more electricity than nuclear. Demand for electricity has also fallen. The carbon intensity of Britain’s electricity has almost halved, from over 500g of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour in 2006 to under 270g in 2018. The National Grid now expects to be able to operate a zero-carbon electricity system by 2025. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: coal, electricity, energy efficiency, ghg, HVAC, hydro, renewables, solar, transition, transport, wind

Should electric vehicle drivers pay a mileage tax?

April 11, 2019 by Lucas Davis and James Sallee

In the U.S., EV drivers don’t pay tax when they buy gasoline. That means EVs have reduced U.S. gasoline tax revenues by $250m annually. It’s only 1% of the total, but that’s because EVs are less than 1% of the vehicle stock. Clearly, as EV numbers increase, so will that lost revenue. As a result, several states are considering imposing a mileage tax on electric vehicle drivers to make up for it. And why not?! EVs are not carbon-zero (most … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Transport and energy Tagged With: electric cars, EV, ghg, taxes, transition, U.S.

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Recent Posts

Make Hydrogen in developing nations: share prosperity while meeting our climate goals

Smart Glasses: experts can monitor and advise on power plant inspections anywhere in the world

Concrete: 8% of global emissions and rising. Which innovations can achieve net zero by 2050?

Biofuel is approaching a feedstock crunch. How bad? And what must be done?

Europe needs a Regional Green Bank to fulfil its Green Deal and match the U.S.

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