UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced changes to Britain’s plans for addressing the climate crisis that effectively water down earlier commitments by delaying targets and relaxing the energy transition timeline. Sunak said the ban on sales of new gas-powered vehicles would be extended from 2030 to 2035, citing the “unacceptable costs” the energy transition […]
After years of protests by students, New York University has announced plans to divest from fossil fuels. Chair of NYU’s Board of Trustees William R. Berkley stated the university’s commitment in August in a letter to student activist organization Sunrise NYU. “New York University commits to avoid any direct investments in any company whose primary […]
A new study from Oxford University and Regulatory Assistance Project, an NGO, found that even in cold weather, heat pumps are twice as efficient as heating from fossil fuel sources. Although heat pumps have been identified as an important way to transition to cleaner energy sources, there have been concerns over whether the pumps would […]
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that new small-scale solar capacity, or rooftop solar capacity, in the U.S., reached a new high in 2022. The administration estimated that 6.4 gigawatts (GW) of rooftop solar capacity was added last year, the most ever added in a single year. Since EIA started publishing updates in small-scale […]
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last week the canceling of oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The leases were previously sold on Jan. 6, 2021, during former president Donald Trump’s term, but were then suspended by the Biden administration in June 2021. The leases would have […]
An initiative at Africa’s first climate summit to boost production of the continent’s carbon credit program by nearly 20 times by 2030 brought pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars. United Arab Emirates (UAE) investors pledged to purchase $450 million worth of Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) credits. ACMI was launched at COP27 in Egypt […]
A new study has found a direct link between human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and the survival of polar bear cubs. The findings could help address a former legal opinion that impacts polar bear protections. A 2008 legal opinion from the Solicitor of the Department of Interior noted that emissions did not need to be considered […]
A new study by Joshua Pearce of London’s Western University and Richard Parncutt of the University of Graz in Austria has found that, if global heating reaches or surpasses two degrees Celsius by the year 2100, there is a high probability that over the next century humans, mostly the wealthiest, will be responsible for the […]
To reduce traffic emissions in the City of London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has expanded London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which imposes a daily charge on the vehicles that pollute most, to the entire city. The new zone will make the air cleaner for an additional five million people, as well as reduce carbon emissions […]