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Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program’s mission is to protect and preserve Narragansett Bay and its watershed through partnerships that conserve and restore natural resources, enhance water quality and promote community involvement.
www.nbep.org
National Audubon Society
The mission of the National Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.
www.audubon.org
National Climate Ethics Campaign
The campaign will assist organizations, sectors and communities nationwide to continually insist that when making decisions about energy use, emission reductions, or climate preparedness and adaptation our moral obligations must hold equal or greater weight to economic or national self-interest.
www.climateethicscampaign.org
National Farmers Union
National Farmers Union has been working since 1902 to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through advocating grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.
www.nfu.org
National Parks Conservation Association
The mission of the Association is to protect and enhance America’s National Parks for present and future generations.
www.npca.org
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources and rural communities.
www.sustainableagriculture.net
National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation gives voice to the wildlife conservation values that are part of our country’s heritage.
www.nwf.org
Natural Lands Trust
Natural Lands Trust protects the forests, fields, wetlands and streams that are essential to the sustainability and quality of life in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
www.natlands.org
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Natural Resources Council of Maine is a nonprofit membership organization protecting, restoring and conserving Maine’s environment, now and for future generations.
www.nrcm.org
Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council uses law, science and the support of 1.3 million members and online activists to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.
www.nrdc.org
Nature Canada
Nature Canada mission is to protect and conserve wildlife and habitats in Canada by engaging people and advocating on behalf of nature.
www.naturecanada.ca
The Nature Conservancy
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.
www.nature.org
Nature Consortium
Nature Consortium is a grassroots, community-based organization whose mission is to connect people, arts and nature.
www.naturec.org
Neighbors for Clean Air
Neighbors for Clean Air is a Portland-wide coalition seeking to make public health—with special consideration for children’s health—a priority in Oregon’s air quality standards and programs for toxic emissions.
www.whatsinourair.org
Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability
Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability provides businesses and professionals who are serious about profitable sustainability with the connections, skills, tools, programs and resources that are vital for success in the green economy.
www.nbis.org
Network for Oil & Gas Accountability and Protection
Network for Oil & Gas Accountability and Protection is organized to educate, empower and advocate for the citizens of Ohio who are facing threats to health, safety and property rights posed by oil and gas development.
www.neogap.org
Nevada Wilderness Project
The Nevada Wilderness Project is a catalyst for wildlife habitat conservation, wilderness preservation and smart development of renewable energy.
www.wildnevada.org
New Energy Economy
New Energy Economy strives to create economic opportunity in New Mexico with less carbon pollution and more clean energy.
www.newenergyeconomy.org
New Generation Energy
New Generation Energy’s mission is to make America’s communities healthier and more sustainable through the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
www.newgenerationenergy.org
New Hampshire Rivers Council
The New Hampshire Rivers Council is committed to the conservation and ecologically sound management of New Hampshire’s rivers, watersheds and related natural resources.
www.nhrivers.org
New Haven Bioregional Group
The New Haven Bioregional Group sponsors walks, films, canoe trips, potlucks and other events to help residents of the Quinnipiac Bioregion connect with their natural and built environment, and to build community and local resilience.
www.newhavenbioregionalgroup.org
New Mexico Acequia Association
The mission of the New Mexico Acequia Association is to sustain our way of life, protect water as a community resource, and strengthen the agricultural traditions of our families and communities.
www.lasacequias.org
New Mexico Environmental Law Center
New Mexico Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public interest law firm that provides free and low-cost legal services on environmental matters throughout New Mexico.
www.nmenvirolaw.org
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is a nonprofit, grassroots, environmental organization dedicated to the protection, restoration and continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wildlands and Wilderness areas.
www.nmwild.org
New Orleans Food & Farm Network
New Orleans Food & Farm Network is a food justice organization that sees food security as a basic human right and our primary goal is to ensure that everyone can live with enough food, regardless of economic constraints or social inequalities.
www.noffn.org
New Urban Farmers
The New Urban Farmers is a nonprofit organization that has set out to preserve and restore our environment by creating sustainable agricultural systems in the city.
www.newurbanfarmers.com
New Yorkers Against Fracking
New Yorkers Against Fracking is a coalition of diverse organizations that support a fracking ban.
www.nyagainstfracking.org
No Frack Ohio
The No Frack Ohio Coalition is composed of member organizations and individuals who signed on to a Statewide Moratorium letter in the Spring of 2011. Since the original sign-on campaign, these groups and individuals have worked across Ohio on outreach to elected officials at all levels of government, landowner education and mobilizing members for activism.
www.nofrackohio.com
Noquemanon Trail Network
The Network’s mission is to develop and maintain an interconnected, year round, non-motorized land and water trail network in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
www.noquetrails.org
North Cascades Conservation Council
The mission of the Council is to protect and preserve the North Cascades’ scenic, scientific, recreational, educational and wilderness values.
www.northcascades.org
North Cascades Institute
The Institute’s mission is to conserve and restore Northwest environments through education.
www.ncascades.org
North Sound Baykeeper
North Sound Baykeeper is charged with protecting and restoring the marine and nearshore habitats of the northern Puget Sound region.
www.northsoundbaykeeper.blogspot.com
North Union Farmers Market
North Union Farmers Market champions the local foods of Northeast Ohio and promotes their environmental, economic and health benefits by connecting certified producers with consumers through a network of markets.
www.northunionfarmersmarket.org
The Northcoast Environmental Center
The Northcoast Environmental Center's mission is to promote understanding of the relations between people and the biosphere and to conserve, protect, and celebrate terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems of northern California and southern Oregon.
www.yournec.org
Northeast Ohio Food Web
The Northeast Ohio Food Web is the information clearing house and virtual think tank for the Northeast Ohio Local Food Assessment and Plan, which has assessed the state of Northeast Ohio’s food system with specific recommendations on how to significantly “re-localize” over coming years.
www.neofoodweb.org
Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
The mission of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group is to build a more sustainable, healthy and equitable food system for the Northeast region.
www.nefood.org
Northern Virginia Conservation Trust
Northern Virginia Conservation Trust preserves open space by acquiring land and conservation easements, providing stewardship of protected lands, and building public support for conservation.
www.nvct.org
Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides
Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides works to protect community and environmental health and inspire the use of ecologically sound solutions to reduce the use of pesticides.
www.pesticide.org
Northwest Energy Coalition
The Coalition promotes development of renewable energy and energy conservation, consumer protection, low-income energy assistance, and fish and wildlife restoration on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
www.nwenergy.org
Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance is a nonprofit organization working to maximize energy efficiency to meet our future energy needs.
www.neea.org
Nourishing the Planet
The Nourishing the Planet project assesses the state of agricultural innovations—from cropping methods to irrigation technology to agricultural policy—with an emphasis on sustainability, diversity, and ecosystem health, as well as productivity.
www.NourishingthePlanet.org
Nuclear Energy Information Service
Nuclear Energy Information Service is a nonprofit organization committed to ending nuclear power.
www.neis.org
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Nuclear Information and Resource Service is the information and networking center for citizens and environmental organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation, and sustainable energy issues.
www.nirs.org
Nuclear Watch
Nukewatch is a Wisconsin-based environmental and peace action group, dedicated to the abolition of nuclear power, weapons and continued radioactive waste production.
www.nukewatchinfo.org
Ocean Conservancy
Ocean Conservancy works to protect our ocean and improve our lives.
www.oceanconservancy.org
Oceana North America
Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they once were.
www.na.oceana.org
Occupy Monsanto
International action against genetic biohazards
www.occupy-monsanto.com
Ogeechee Riverkeeper
The Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect, preserve and improve the water quality of the Ogeechee River basin.
www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org
Ohio Citizen Action
Ohio Citizen Action is 80,000 members who have joined together to prevent pollution. Since 1975, the nonprofit and nonpartisan organization has pioneered winning campaigns across Ohio to protect public health and the environment.
www.ohiocitizen.org
Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association
The Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association is a grassroots coalition of farmers, backyard gardeners, consumers, retailers, educators, researchers and others who share a desire to build a healthy food system that brings prosperity to family farmers, helps preserve farmland, offers food security for all Ohioans and creates economic opportunities for our rural communities.
www.oeffa.org
Ohio Environmental Council
The mission of the Ohio Environmental Council is to secure healthy air, land and water for all who call Ohio home.
www.theoec.org
Ohio Environmental Law Center
The Ohio Environmental Law Center supports environmental advocacy and legal action, provides citizens with valuable tools and guidance through the legal system, and educates tomorrow’s environmental law professionals.
www.ohioenvirolawcenter.wordpress.com
Ohio Fracktion
Ohio Fracktion is a network of individuals interested in supporting community battles against fracking in Ohio.
www. ohiofracktion.wordpress.com
Ohio Interfaith Power and Light
An affiliate of The Regeneration Project’s national Interfaith Power and Light campaign. Their mission is to voice a religious response to climate change and to promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. They focus on tangible results in religious communities — putting faith to action.
www.ohipl.org
Ohio Stormwater Association
The Ohio Stormwater Association is a group of public and private citizens dedicated to advancing the management of stormwater and related natural resources through education, leadership, watershed-based coordination and technical assistance in Ohio.
www.ohioswa.com
Ohio Watershed Network
Ohio Watershed Network provides information to community members and natural resources professionals who want to protect the resources in their watershed. The website focuses on community-based watershed management
www.ohiowatersheds.osu.edu
Oil Change International
Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy.
www.priceofoil.org
Oklahomans for New Transportation Alternatives Coalition
Oklahomans for New Transportation Alternatives Coalition is a not‑for-profit public interest organization whose mission is to ensure Oklahoma’s rail transit future for the citizens of Oklahoma.
www.ontracok.org
OMB Watch
OMB Watch exists to increase government transparency and accountability; to ensure sound, equitable regulatory and budgetary processes and policies; and to protect and promote active citizen participation in our democracy.
www.ombwatch.org
Open Space Council – St. Louis Region
The Open Space Council for the St. Louis Region is a nonprofit organization committed to conserving, protecting and sustaining land and water resources throughout the area, and is dedicated to ensuring their responsible and ethical use.
www.openspacestl.org
Openlands
Openlands protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern Illinois and surrounding region to ensure cleaner air and water, protect natural habitats and wildlife, and help balance and enrich our lives.
www.openlands.org
Oregon Environmental Council
The Oregon Environmental Council advances innovative, collaborative solutions to Oregon’s environmental challenges for today and future generations.
www.oeconline.org
Oregon League of Conservation Voters
The Oregon League of Conservation Voters passes laws that protect our natural legacy, elects pro-environment candidates, and holds all of our elected officials accountable.
www.olcv.org
Oregon Wild
Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife and waters as an enduring legacy for all Oregonians.
www.oregonwild.org
Orenda Land Trust
Orenda Wildlife Land Trust is a private nonprofit land trust working to preserve and protect open space for wildlife habitat on Cape Cod and throughout Massachusetts.
www.orendalandtrust.org
Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association is an online and grassroots nonprofit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice and sustainability.
www.organicconsumers.org
Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association
The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) develops, protects and promotes the organic seed trade and its growers, and assures that the organic community has access to excellent quality organic seed, free of contaminants and adapted to the diverse needs of local organic agriculture.
www.osgata.org
Ozaukee Washington Land Trust
The mission of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust is to protect and preserve the natural areas, open spaces and rural character of Ozaukee and Washington Counties.
www.owlt.org
Thousands of Superfund sites exist around the U.S., with toxic substances left open, mismanaged and dumped. Despite the high levels of toxicity at these sites, nearly 21 million people live within a mile of one of them, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Currently, more than 1,300 Superfund sites pose a serious health risk to nearby communities. Based on a new study, residents living close to these sites could also have a shorter life expectancy.
Published in Nature Communications, the study, led by Hanadi S. Rifai, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Houston, and a team of researchers, found that living in nearby zip codes to Superfund sites resulted in a decreased life expectancy of more than two months, the University of Houston reported.
"We have ample evidence that contaminant releases from anthropogenic sources (e.g., petrochemicals or hazardous waste sites) could increase the mortality rate in fence-line communities," Rifai told the University of Houston. "Results showed a significant difference in life expectancy among census tracts with at least one Superfund site and their neighboring tracts with no sites."
The study pulled data from 65,000 census tracts – defined geographical regions – within the contiguous U.S., The Guardian reported. With this data, researchers found that for communities that are socioeconomically challenged, this life expectancy could decrease by up to a year.
"It was a bit surprising and concerning," Rifai told The Guardian. "We weren't sure [when we started] if the fact that you are socioeconomically challenged would make [the Superfund's effects] worse."
The research team, for example, found that the presence of a Superfund site in a census tract with a median income of less than $52,580 could reduce life expectancy by seven months, the University of Houston reported.
Many of these toxic sites were once used as manufacturing sites during the Second World War. Common toxic substances that are released from the sites into the air and surface water include lead, trichlorethylene, chromium, benzene and arsenic – all of which can lead to health impacts, such as neurological damage among children, The Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in a blog.
"The EPA has claimed substantial recent progress in Superfund site cleanups, but, contrary to EPA leadership's grandiose declarations, the backlog of unfunded Superfund cleanups is the largest it has been in the last 15 years," the Union wrote.
Delayed cleanup could become increasingly dangerous as climate change welcomes more natural hazards, like wildfires and flooding. According to a Government Accountability Office report, for example, climate change could threaten at least 60 percent of Superfund sites in the U.S., AP News reported.
During the summer of 2018, a major wildfire took over the Iron Mountain Superfund site near Redding, CA, ruining wastewater treatment infrastructure that is responsible for capturing 168 million gallons of acid mine drainage every month, NBC News reported.
"There was this feeling of 'My God. We ought to have better tracking of wildfires at Superfund locations,'" Stephen Hoffman, a former senior environmental scientist at the EPA, told NBC News. "Before that, there wasn't a lot of thought about climate change and fire. That has changed."
In the study, researchers also looked at the impacts of floodings on Superfund sites, which could send toxins flowing into communities and waterways.
"When you add in flooding, there will be ancillary or secondary impacts that can potentially be exacerbated by a changing future climate," Rifai told the University of Houston. "The long-term effect of the flooding and repetitive exposure has an effect that can transcend generations."
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A weather research station on a bluff overlooking the sea is closing down because of the climate crisis.
The National Weather Service (NWS) station in Chatham, Massachusetts was evacuated March 31 over concerns the entire operation would topple into the ocean.
"We had to say goodbye to the site because of where we are located at the Monomoy Wildlife Refuge, we're adjacent to a bluff that overlooks the ocean," Boston NWS meteorologist Andy Nash told WHDH at the time. "We had to close and cease operations there because that bluff has significantly eroded."
Chatham is located on the elbow of Cape Cod, a land mass extending out into the Atlantic Ocean that has been reshaped and eroded by waves and tides over tens of thousands of years, The Guardian explained. However, sea level rise and extreme weather caused by the climate crisis have sped that change along.
"It's an extremely dynamic environment, which is obviously a problem if you are building permanent infrastructure here," Andrew Ashton, an associate scientist at Cape-Cod based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told The Guardian. "We are putting our foot on the accelerator to make the environment even more dynamic."
This was the case with the Chatham weather station. It used to be protected from the drop into the ocean by about 100 feet of land. However, storm action in 2020 alone washed away as much as six feet of land a day.
"We'd know[n] for a long time there was erosion but the pace of it caught everyone by surprise," Nash told The Guardian. "We felt we had maybe another 10 years but then we started losing a foot of a bluff a week and realized we didn't have years, we had just a few months. We were a couple of storms from a very big problem."
The Chatham station was part of a network of 92 NWS stations that monitor temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction and other data in the upper atmosphere, The Cape Cod Chronicle explained. The stations send up radiosondes attached to weather balloons twice a day to help with weather research and prediction. The Chatham station, which had been observing this ritual for the past half a century, sent up its last balloon the morning of March 31.
"We're going to miss the observations," Nash told The Cape Cod Chronicle. "It gives us a snapshot, a profile of the atmosphere when the balloons go up."
The station was officially decommissioned April 1, and the two buildings on the site will be demolished sometime this month. The NWS is looking for a new location in southeastern New England. In the meantime, forecasters will rely on data from stations in New York and Maine.
Nash said the leavetaking was bittersweet, but inevitable.
"[M]other nature is evicting us," he told The Cape Cod Chronicle.
By Douglas Broom
- If online deliveries continue with fossil-fuel trucks, emissions will increase by a third.
- So cities in the Netherlands will allow only emission-free delivery vehicles after 2025.
- The government is giving delivery firms cash help to buy or lease electric vehicles.
- The bans will save 1 megaton of CO2 every year by 2030.
Cities in the Netherlands want to make their air cleaner by banning fossil fuel delivery vehicles from urban areas from 2025.
"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.
A bill that would have banned fracking in California died in committee Tuesday.
The bill, SB467, would have prohibited fracking and other controversial forms of oil extraction. It would also have banned oil and gas production within 2,500 feet of a home, school, hospital or other residential facility. The bill originally set the fracking ban for 2027, but amended it to 2035, The AP reported.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed," State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), one of the bill's two introducers, told the Los Angeles Times. "California really has not done what it needs to do in terms of addressing the oil problem. We have communities that are suffering right now, and the Legislature has repeatedly failed to act."
The bill was introduced after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would sign a fracking ban if it passed the legislature, though his administration has continued to issue permits in the meantime, Forbes reported. Newsom has also spoken in favor of a buffer zone between oil and gas extraction and places where people live and learn, according to the Los Angeles Times. The latter is a major environmental justice issue, as fossil fuel production is more likely to be located near Black and Latinx communities.
Urban lawmakers who want California to lead on the climate crisis supported the bill, while inland lawmakers in oil-rich areas concerned about jobs opposed it. The oil and gas industry and trade unions also opposed the bill.
This opposition meant the bill failed to get the five votes it needed to move beyond the Senate's Natural Resources and Water Committee. Only four senators approved it, while Democrat Sen. Susan Eggman of Stockton joined two Republicans to oppose it, and two other Democrats abstained.
Eggman argued that the bill would have forced California to rely on oil extracted in other states.
"We're still going to use it, but we're going to use it from places that produce it less safely," Eggman told The AP. She also said that she supported the transition away from fossil fuels, but thought the bill jumped the gun. "I don't think we're quite there yet, and this bill assumes that we are," she added.
Historically, California has been a major U.S. oil producer. Its output peaked in 1986 at 1.1 million barrels a day, just below Texas and Alaska, according to Forbes. However, production has declined since then making it the seventh-most oil-producing state.
Still, California's fossil fuel industry is at odds with state attempts to position itself as a climate leader.
"There is a large stain on California's climate record, and that is oil," Wiener said Tuesday, according to The AP.
Wiener and Democrat co-introducer Sen. Monique Limón from Santa Barbara vowed to keep fighting.
"While we saw this effort defeated today, this issue isn't going away," they wrote in a joint statement. "We'll continue to fight for aggressive climate action, against harmful drilling, and for the health of our communities."
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World's 5% 'Polluter Elite' Responsible for 37% of Global Emissions Growth, Study Concludes
By Brett Wilkins
As world leaders prepare for this November's United Nations Climate Conference in Scotland, a new report from the Cambridge Sustainability Commission reveals that the world's wealthiest 5% were responsible for well over a third of all global emissions growth between 1990 and 2015.
The report, Changing Our Ways: Behavior Change and the Climate Crisis, found that nearly half the growth in absolute global emissions was caused by the world's richest 10%, with the most affluent 5% alone contributing 37%.
"In the year when the UK hosts COP26, and while the government continues to reward some of Britain's biggest polluters through tax credits, the commission report shows why this is precisely the wrong way to meet the UK's climate targets," the report's introduction states.
The authors of the report urge United Kingdom policymakers to focus on this so-called "polluter elite" in an effort to persuade wealthy people to adopt more sustainable behavior, while providing "affordable, available low-carbon alternatives to poorer households."
The report found that the "polluter elite" must make "dramatic" lifestyle changes in order to meet the UK's goal — based on the Paris climate agreement's preferential objective — of limiting global heating to 1.5°C, compared with pre-industrial levels.
In addition to highlighting previous recommendations — including reducing meat consumption, reducing food waste, and switching to electric vehicles and solar power — the report recommends that policymakers take the following steps:
- Implement frequent flyer levies;
- Enact bans on selling and promoting SUVs and other high polluting vehicles;
- Reverse the UK's recent move to cut green grants for homes and electric cars; and
- Build just transitions by supporting electric public transport and community energy schemes.
"We have got to cut over-consumption and the best place to start is over-consumption among the polluting elites who contribute by far more than their share of carbon emissions," Peter Newell, a Sussex University professor and lead author of the report, told the BBC.
"These are people who fly most, drive the biggest cars most, and live in the biggest homes which they can easily afford to heat, so they tend not to worry if they're well insulated or not," said Newell. "They're also the sort of people who could really afford good insulation and solar panels if they wanted to."
Newell said that wealthy people "simply must fly less and drive less. Even if they own an electric SUV, that's still a drain on the energy system and all the emissions created making the vehicle in the first place."
"Rich people who fly a lot may think they can offset their emissions by tree-planting schemes or projects to capture carbon from the air," Newell added. "But these schemes are highly contentious and they're not proven over time."
The report concludes that "we are all on a journey and the final destination is as yet unclear. There are many contradictory road maps about where we might want to get to and how, based on different theories of value and premised on diverse values."
"Promisingly, we have brought about positive change before, and there are at least some positive signs that there is an appetite to do what is necessary to live differently but well on the planet we call home," it states.
The new report follows a September 2020 Oxfam International study that revealed the wealthiest 1% of the world's population is responsible for emitting more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorest 50% of humanity combined.
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
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