What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out? Ronny Hartmann / AFP / Getty Images
By Zheng Chen and Darren H. S. Tan
As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for greater use of electricity as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads is increasing. And utilities are generating a growing share of their power from renewable fuels, supported by large-scale battery storage systems.
<p>These trends, coupled with a growing volume of battery-powered phones, watches, laptops, wearable devices and other consumer technologies, leave us wondering: What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out?</p><p>Despite overwhelming enthusiasm for cheaper, more powerful and energy-dense batteries, manufacturers have paid comparatively little attention to making these essential devices more sustainable. In the U.S. only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries – the technology of choice for electric vehicles and many high-tech products – <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/07/f64/112306-battery-recycling-brochure-June-2019%202-web150.pdf" target="_blank">are actually recycled</a>. As sales of electric vehicles and tech gadgets continue to grow, it is unclear who should handle hazardous battery waste or how to do it.</p><p>As engineers who work on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pPgKUOEAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">designing advanced materials</a>, including <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dD8UWYEAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">batteries</a>, we believe it is important to think about these issues now. Creating pathways for battery manufacturers to build sustainable production-to-recycling manufacturing processes that meet both consumer and environmental standards can reduce the likelihood of a battery waste crisis in the coming decade.</p>
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Hazardous Contents
<p>Batteries pose more complex recycling and disposal challenges than metals, plastics and paper products because they contain many chemical components that are both toxic and difficult to separate.</p><p>Some types of widely used batteries – notably, lead-acid batteries in gasoline-powered cars – have relatively simple chemistries and designs that make them straightforward to recycle. The common nonrechargeable alkaline or water-based batteries that power devices like flashlights and smoke alarms can be disposed directly in landfills.</p><p>However, today's lithium-ion batteries are highly sophisticated and not designed for recyclability. They contain hazardous chemicals, such as toxic lithium salts and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/transition-metal" target="_blank">transition metals</a>, that can damage the environment and leach into water sources. Used lithium batteries also contain embedded electrochemical energy – a small amount of charge left over after they can no longer power devices – which can cause fires or explosions, or <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">harm people that handle them</a>.</p><div id="007de" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="34d57a5a359e141bcf74c9b1f66eae5f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1026491976722468865" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The dangers of disposing of lithium batteries improperly - Battery blamed for Guernsey recycling site blaze https://t.co/Xcs76DI520</div> — Daniel Kinsbursky (@Daniel Kinsbursky)<a href="https://twitter.com/kbirecycling/statuses/1026491976722468865">1533569733.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Moreover, manufacturers have little economic incentive to modify existing protocols to incorporate recycling-friendly designs. Today it <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf" target="_blank">costs more to recycle</a> a lithium-ion battery than the recoverable materials inside it are worth.</p><p>As a result, responsibility for handling battery waste frequently falls to third-party recyclers – companies that make money from collecting and processing recyclables. Often it is cheaper for them to store batteries than to treat and recycle them.</p><p>Recycling technologies that can break down batteries, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/pyrometallurgy" target="_blank">pyrometallurgy</a>, or burning, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/hydrometallurgy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hydrometallurgy</a>, or acid leaching, are becoming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41918-018-0012-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more efficient and economical</a>. But the lack of proper battery recycling infrastructure creates roadblocks along the entire supply chain.</p><p>For example, transporting used batteries over long distances to recycling centers would typically be done by truck. Lithium batteries must be packaged and shipped according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=83659c6aca8187cdb60b38763b2ffbb8&node=se49.2.173_1185&rgn=div8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Class 9 hazardous material regulations</a>. Using a <a href="https://www.anl.gov/egs/everbatt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">model developed by Argonne National Laboratory</a>, we estimate that this requirement increases transport costs to more than 50 times that of regular cargo.</p>
Safer and Simpler
<p>While it will be challenging to bake recyclability into the existing manufacturing of conventional lithium-ion batteries, it is vital to develop sustainable practices for solid-state batteries, which are a next-generation technology expected to enter the market within this decade.</p><p>A solid-state battery replaces the flammable organic liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with a nonflammable inorganic solid electrolyte. This allows the battery to operate over a much wider temperature range and dramatically reduces the risk of fires or explosions. Our <a href="http://zhengchen.eng.ucsd.edu/" target="_blank">team of nanoengineers</a> is working to incorporate ease of recyclability into next-generation solid-state battery development before these batteries enter the market.</p><p>Conceptually, recycling-friendly batteries must be safe to handle and transport, simple to dismantle, cost-effective to manufacture and minimally harmful to the environment. After analyzing the options, we've chosen a combination of specific chemistries in next-generation all-solid-state batteries that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2020.25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meets these requirements</a>.</p><p>Our design strategy reduces the number of steps required to dismantle the battery, and avoids using combustion or harmful chemicals such as acids or toxic organic solvents. Instead, it employs only safe, low-cost materials such as alcohol and water-based recycling techniques. This approach is scalable and environmentally friendly. It dramatically simplifies conventional battery recycling processes and makes it safe to disassemble and handle the materials.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU2NjkxOC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDM3MjcyOX0.wyUKJaMauaSnDy5y2wkBWaI26DowukyA4vAk9MOLrI4/img.png?width=980" id="d54f2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f8a929e3797557d44277a9a62e6d715f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A proposed procedure for recycling solid-state battery packs directly and harvesting their materials for reuse. Tan et al., 2020, CC BY
<p>Compared to recycling lithium-ion batteries, recycling solid-state batteries is intrinsically safer since they're made entirely of nonflammable components. Moreover, in our proposed design the entire battery can be recycled directly without separating it into individual components. This feature dramatically reduces the complexity and cost of recycling them.</p><p>Our design is a proof-of-concept technology developed at the laboratory scale. It is ultimately up to private companies and public institutions, such as national laboratories or state-run waste facilities, to apply these recycling principles on an industrial scale.</p>
Rules for Battery Recycling
<p>Developing an easy-to-recycle battery is just one step. Many challenges associated with battery recycling stem from the complex logistics of handling them. Creating facilities, regulations and practices for collecting batteries is just as important as developing better recycling technologies. China, South Korea and the European Union are <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d/c/dc43cdc9-ef56-4f8c-b442-d325aa8acf72/D775B276380B37ABF9A49BFD581DD1A5.sanders-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf" target="_blank">already developing battery recycling systems and mandates</a>.</p><p>One useful step would be for governments to require that batteries carry universal tags, similar to the internationally recognized standard labels used for plastics and metals recycling. These could help to educate consumers and waste collectors about how to handle different types of used batteries.</p><p>Markings could take the form of an electronic tag printed on battery labels with embedded information, such as chemistry type, age and manufacturer. Making this data readily available would facilitate automated sorting of large volumes of batteries at waste facilities.</p><p>It is also vital to improve international enforcement of recycling policies. Most battery waste is not generated where the batteries were originally produced, which makes it hard to hold manufacturers responsible for handling it.</p><p>Such an undertaking would require manufacturers and regulatory agencies to work together on newer recycling-friendly designs and better collection infrastructure. By confronting these challenges now, we believe it is possible to avoid or reduce the harmful effects of battery waste in the future.</p>
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Tesla has more than doubled its third-quarter profits, delivering a record number of electric automobiles despite the pandemic. Tesla
By Kristie Pladson
U.S. electric carmaker Tesla has more than doubled its third-quarter profits, the company has announced, delivering a record number of electric automobiles amid a pandemic that has crippled fellow automakers.
<p>In a letter to investors, the company said it delivered 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter, a new quarterly record. It aims to have produced and delivered 500,000 cars by the end of the year.</p><p>Net profits in the third quarter reached $331 million, more than twice the $143 million posted at the same time a year earlier. Revenue went up nearly 40% to $8.7 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations.</p><p>The value of Tesla shares — which have increased fivefold since the beginning of the year — were up 4.3% to $440.81 in extended trading, news agency Reuters reported. </p><p>This marks the fifth straight quarter of profits for the company. As of September, Tesla reported making $451 million in 2020 and seems on course to post its first annual profit.</p>
CO2 Offset Sales Still Key
<p>An uptick in demand abroad countered a drop in US car sales of nearly 10% over the last year; global deliveries increased 44% in the third quarter.</p><p>But Tesla still partly owes its success to competitor carmakers: as in past quarters, the electric car company's profits relied on the sale of CO2 credits to fellow carmakers, which allow them to offset their emissions and reach government climate targets. Valuing $331 million in the third quarter, Tesla would not have been profitable otherwise. </p>Competition Heats Up
<p>While traditional automakers are suffering in a global economy marked by a pandemic, Tesla is no longer alone in its electric ambitions.</p><p>"The company is still incredibly highly rated, as if it were working in a vacuum. But the competitors are working like mad to catch up," said analyst Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners, pointing to hundreds of new battery-powered vehicles that are expected to be released by 2024.</p><p>Volkswagen group is investing over €40 billion ($47 billion) into developing an electric car portfolio, and other competitors have announced similar initiatives.</p><p>"With more electric vehicle launches on the horizon, Tesla has a big red target on its back," said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights for the Edmunds.com auto website.</p><p>In its letter, Tesla admitted that reaching its production targets "has become more difficult" and it will rely on of its Model Y small SUV as well as greater activity at its China plant.</p>
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GMC will begin producing an electric Hummer in 2021. GMC
General Motors is reintroducing the gas-guzzling, military-style vehicle known as The Hummer. This time, it's getting a green makeover as a zero-emissions, fully electric pickup truck, NPR reported.
<p>"The irony is not lost on anyone that this former gas-guzzler is coming back as an electric vehicle," Ivan Drury, <em>Edmunds</em>' senior manager of insights, told NPR. "With that said, by demonstrating that 'big' doesn't necessarily mean inefficient, the Hummer EV also represents a monumental paradigm shift."</p><p>The original Hummer, popular in the 90s and 2000s, was discontinued in 2010. Of note, the new zero-emissions version will still be powerful, and going from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds thanks to its 1,0000-horsepower engine, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/american-excess-is-back-with-the-1000hp-2022-gmc-hummer-ev-truck/" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a> reported.</p><p>As for size, Ars Technica added that it will measure more than 18 feet long and nearly 8 feet wide (when you include the mirrors), making it almost as big as a Cadillac Escalade.</p>
<p>The 2022 GMC Hummer EV will be available to the public starting in fall 2021. The first wave, called Edition 1, will retail for $112,595, including destination charges. Starting in 2022, later versions will start at $99,995, followed by models that will cost $10,000 less each year until 2024, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/20/gm-unveils-hummer-ev-as-worlds-first-supertruck-for-112600.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNBC</a> reported.</p><p>While the top three vehicles in the country are pickup trucks, the average cost is about $51,000. However, General Motors, believes the target audience is not the average truck driver, but a client who appreciates technological advances.</p><p>"This is all about people who just love the best in automotive innovation, performance, capability and technology," GMC Vice President Duncan Aldred told CNBC. "These are the people who you may have seen buy the exotic sports car type brands. This will be the must-have item."</p>
<p>For example, the truck will be able to travel 350 miles on a single charge. It will also sport a new feature allowing it to drive diagonally in "CrabWalk" mode, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2022-gmc-hummer-ev-electric-truck-specs-horsepower-price-features/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNet</a> reported. </p><p>The new Hummer EV will have competition, including the Ford F-150 EV, scheduled to hit the market about the same time. Tesla's Cybertruck is also slated to start production in 2021, CNet reported. </p><p>"With all of these trucks launching over the next year or two, customers will have to debate whether it's worth rolling the dice and placing a reservation this far out without a test drive," Drury told NPR.</p>
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An electric car at an eVgo charging station in a parking lot in Dublin, California on June 20, 2018. Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday that would ban the sale of new cars in California that run only on gasoline by the year 2035. The bid to reduce emissions and combat the climate crisis would make California the first state to ban the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines, according to POLITICO.
<p>"This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change," said Newsom in a <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a> that accompanied the signing of the executive order. "For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. Californians shouldn't have to worry if our cars are giving our kids asthma. Our cars shouldn't make wildfires worse – and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn't melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines."</p>
<p>The threats posed by the climate crisis are playing out in dramatic fashion in California. This summer, the state has seen record-setting wildfires, heat waves and drought. Those mounting climate crisis-related challenges have spurred the move away from the state's leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/09/23/california-electric-cars/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>"We can't continue down this path," Newsom said at a briefing, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/23/california-cars-electric-vehicles-gavin-newsom-climate-change" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. "If you care about your kids and your grandkids, if you care about disadvantaged communities, if you care about seniors, if you care about rural communities, if you care about inner city communities that have been underserved by our fossil fuel economy, then you care about the core construct that we are advancing here in this executive order."</p><p>Newsom added that the order will create "green collar jobs" that Californians are well-positioned to capitalize on since 34 <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric car</a> manufacturers are already in the state.</p>
<p>"Our second largest export in the state of California are electric vehicles," he said, according to The Guardian. "Those 34 manufacturers, those public trading manufacturers, represent close to half a trillion dollars of market capitalization, some $500bn … this is an economic opportunity."</p><p>For the order to be successful, the technology, scalability, and affordability of electric cars would have to improve dramatically in the next decade. Also, the state will need to make sure charging stations are readily available. California currently has the largest market for electric and hybrid vehicles, with roughly 257,000 new registrations for electric vehicles in 2018, according to The Washington Post. Yet, that number was not even 10 percent of the state's new car market.</p><p>While the order is sure to meet legal challenges, it may set the trend that carmakers need to increase their investment in fossil-fuel-free vehicles.</p>
<p>"The automotive industry was already on the road toward electrification as a long term goal, but many automakers have been guilty of setting short term targets for their electrification strategy that never came to fruition," said Jessica Caldwell, director of insights at Edmunds, an online resource for car data, in an emailed comment to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/23/cars/california-zero-emissions-passenger-vehicles/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "This rule, if implemented, establishes a specific timeline that they'll collectively need to adhere to. California is a major market that automakers desperately need to maintain sales within to ensure their own viability."</p><p>The announcement also earned the praise of environmental groups.</p><p>"The Governor's Executive Order is a meaningful step in addressing the climate crisis and protecting the health of Californians," said Coalition for Clean Air in an email to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/23/916209659/california-governor-signs-order-banning-sales-of-new-gasoline-cars-by-2035" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "Electrifying transportation will also create jobs and help California move forward in its economic recovery."</p>
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The BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana across the street from Marktown Park on Jan. 8, 2019. Scott Olson / Getty Images
We may have already passed peak demand for oil.
<p>This suggestion comes from an unlikely source: <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil-fuel</a> giant <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bp" target="_self">BP</a>. The company released its annual <a href="https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/energy-outlook.html" target="_blank">Energy Outlook</a> report Monday, and found that oil demand may have already peaked in 2019, as the rise in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> intersects with the impact of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/14/global-oil-demand-may-have-passed-peak-says-bp-energy-report" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"(The energy transition) would be an unprecedented event," BP chief economist Spencer Dale told journalists, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-energy-idUSKBN26410O?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0vHKXsFVgZ2wnnv66zvdWrWePzm375mU_kVBe6l_kUWkYQE365kESr-IE" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. "Never in modern history has the demand for any traded fuel declined in absolute terms."</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/energy-outlook/introduction/overview.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">report outlines</a> three possible energy scenarios for the next 30 years.</p><ol><li>The Rapid Transition Scenario (Rapid): This envisions a scenario in which energy-based greenhouse-gas emissions decline 70 percent by 2050, in line with limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.</li><li>The Net-Zero Scenario (Net Zero): This scenario imagines the policies adapted in the Rapid scenario are augmented by widespread lifestyle changes, and energy emissions decline by more than 95 percent by 2050, limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</li><li>The Business-as-Usual Scenario (BAU): This imagines that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> policies continue at a pace consistent with the past several years, and emissions only decline to less than 10 percent of 2018 levels by 2050.</li></ol>
<p>In the first two scenarios, BP concluded oil demand would already have peaked in 2019, according to The Guardian. In the third, it would plateau after 2019 and peak sometime in the mid-2020s, according to BP.</p><p>However, all three scenarios show <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> on the wane and renewable energy on the rise, Reuters reported. They show fossil fuels falling from 85 percent of energy demand in 2018 to 20 to 65 percent by 2050. Meanwhile, they show renewable technologies like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a> expanding from five percent of energy demand in 2018 to 20 to 60 percent by 2050, according to Reuters and The Guardian.</p><p>"In all three of these scenarios the share of renewable energy grows more quickly than any energy fuel ever seen in history," Dale told The Guardian.</p>
<p>The coronavirus is expected to speed the decline in oil demand in part because it is slowing economic growth in developing countries, which tend to drive energy demand. At the same time, many developed countries are upping their climate ambitions and carbon taxes.</p><p>Other factors that may limit the demand for oil include the transition towards <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicle" target="_self">electric vehicles</a> and the growing movement to phase out single-use <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a>.</p><p>The report comes the same year that BP <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-and-gas-emissions-bp-2050-2645140229.html" target="_self">announced plans</a> to be an entirely carbon-neutral energy company by 2050. Monday's report seemingly supports Chief Executive Bernard Looney's plan to "reinvent" the company, Reuters pointed out. It was released as the company begins a three-day event outlining its plans to transition its energy sources.</p>
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A British Petroleum petrol station on March 10, 2017, in Ciudad Satelite, Naucalpan de Juarez municipality, Mexico State. The company will reportedly start to offer electric vehicle recharging stations at its retail gasoline stations. RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images
BP, the energy giant that grew from oil and gas production, is taking its business in a new direction, announcing Tuesday that it will slash its oil and gas production by 40 percent and increase its annual investment in low-carbon technology to $5 billion, a ten-fold increase over its current level, according to CNN.
<p>Despite losing $16.8 billion in the second quarter of 2020, the ambitious plan to become a leading purveyor of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">clean energy</a> sent the company's share price soaring 7 percent Tuesday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/business/energy-environment/bp-renewable-investment.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>"This coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change, and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require action from everyone," BP said in a statement, as CNN reported.</p><p>As part of its plan, the company will stop its oil and gas exploration in new countries and reduce its current production and carbon emissions by one-third, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/08/04/bp-built-its-business-oil-gas-now-climate-change-is-taking-it-apart/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>In a discussion with analysts on Tuesday, BP's Chief Executive Bernard Looney set his company apart from its European counterparts, which have made vague commitments to address the climate crisis. Looney's pledge to invest around $5 billion a year in renewable energy like wind, solar and hydrogen, a clean-burning gas, made it the first oil and gas giant to specify its investment goal, according to The New York Times.</p><p>"This makes the BP the first supermajor to spell out, in detail, what the energy transition will actually entail, in practical terms," said Pavel Molchanov, senior energy analyst for the investment firm Raymond James, to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>"BP today introduces a new strategy that will reshape its business as it pivots from being an international oil company focused on producing resources to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers," the company said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-outlook/bp-to-cut-fossil-fuels-output-by-40-by-2030-idUSKCN2500NH" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The company expects demand for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> to fall by 75 percent by 2050, if the increase in global temperatures is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or by 50 percent if warming is less than 2 degrees, BP head of strategy Giulia Chierchia told investors, as CNN reported.</p><p>BP said its will cut its oil and gas production by at least one million barrels a day by 2030, a 40 percent reduction from 2019 levels, as CNN reported.</p><p>While the company will dramatically expand its portfolio of clean energy technologies, the next five years will see BP continue to invest most of its money in oil and gas production, according to CNN.</p>
<p>"We believe our new strategy provides a comprehensive and coherent approach to turn our net zero ambition into action," Looney said in a statement Tuesday, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The investment in low-carbon initiatives is set to jump to more than $3 billion by 2025 and $5 billion by 2030, "en route to 50 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by 2030 alongside scale-up of other clean tech businesses," Molchanov said, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The company sees a profitable future in providing clean energy to cities. According to The Washington Post, BP plans to advise cities on "power packages" with renewables, back-up batteries and financing. It also will also start to offer <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric vehicle</a> recharging stations at its retail gasoline stations.</p><p>Oswald Clint, an analyst at Bernstein, a market research firm, told The New York Times that BP's plans were "peer-leading" and that its potential to smoothly manage large projects in the renewables area was "underappreciated."</p><p>Environmental activists were lukewarm about the plans. Greenpeace UK described the announcement as a "necessary and encouraging start," but said BP must go further. "BP has woken up [to] the immediate need to cut carbon emissions this decade," senior climate campaigner Mel Evans said in a statement, as CNN reported.</p>
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A campaign targeting SUV advertising is a project between the New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible. New Weather Institute
To meet its climate targets, the UK should ban advertisements for gas-guzzling SUVs, according to a report from a British think tank that wants to make SUVs the new smoking, as the BBC reported.
<p>The UK has set the ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050, but that will be difficult to achieve if the public's appetite for large, private cars does not subside.</p><p>The <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ebd0080238e863d04911b51/t/5f1fe08099156872c6ca1e59/1595924618033/Smoking+Out+The+Climate+FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, called <em>Upselling Smoke</em>, from New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible, says that SUV advertising should be compared to tobacco advertising, blaming the vehicles for creating a "more dangerous and toxic urban environment."</p><p>It says that if the UK is to meet its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, drivers must be discouraged from buying large, heavily polluting vehicles, as the <a href="https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/lifestyle/cars/calls-ban-suv-advertising-meet-climate-targets-2931326" target="_blank">Edinburgh News</a> reported.</p>
<p>The New Weather Institute's <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5dm3pwc" target="_blank">report</a> notes that the size, weight and drag of SUVs means they have a larger carbon footprint than your average car. Despite their enormous carbon footprint, car manufacturers spend millions to increase their share of the UK market. The marketing campaigns are working, too. Just last year, more than 150,000 new cars solved were over 4.8 meters long, which is too large to fit in a standard parking space, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/03/ban-suv-adverts-to-meet-uk-climate-goals-report-urges" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. That's a stark contrast to fully <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric vehicles</a>, which were only 2 percent of new cars sold. Globally, SUVs account for 60 percent of the increase in the global car fleet since 2010, according to the report.</p><p>The New Weather Institute used the 4.8 meters length as its benchmark, arguing that a smoking-style ban should be in place for any vehicle longer than that, since those vehicles emit more than 160g/km of CO2, as the Edinburgh News reported.</p>
<p>"The UK Government's plan for reaching net zero emissions relies on British drivers quickly switching away from buying traditional petrol and diesel cars to cleaner electric vehicles instead," the report reads, according to the Edinburgh News.</p><p>"That is now starting to happen, but there's a problem: we've been switching to buying SUVs even faster, and as a result the average carbon emissions of a new car sold in the UK have been going up instead of down for the past four years."</p><p>Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said, according to the BBC: "We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the threat from smoking to public health.</p><p>"Now that we know the human health and climate damage done by car pollution, it's time to stop adverts making the problem worse. In a pandemic-prone world, people need clean air and more space on town and city streets."</p><p>He added that advertisements that promote the biggest and worst emitting SUVs were in effect "upselling pollution."</p>
<p>The report noted that the car industry advertises SUVs as being safer because of their size, but in the long run their pollution creates a far more toxic and dangerous environment for both drivers and pedestrians that will harm public health.</p><p>Robbie Gillett, a campaigner at Possible, said, as The Guardian reported: "Whilst millions of us are trying to reduce our carbon footprints to tackle the climate crisis, we have a multibillion-pound car and advertising industry aggressively marketing highly polluting vehicles – many of which are literally too big for UK streets.</p><p>"Their misleading ads promise us freedom and escape – but the reality of urban road conditions is grinding traffic jams, toxic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a> and spiraling carbon emissions from road transport that will trash our climate goals. Let's create space to breathe and space to think – free from the advertising pressures of big polluters."</p>
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Li-Cycle uses a two-step process to recover more than 80% of the materials in old lithium ion batteries. Michael Movchin / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
As electric vehicles become more mainstream, the demand for lithium ion car batteries is growing. But to increase production, the industry needs more lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
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<p>One possible source is batteries that are no longer in use.</p><p>"It's a bit of a waste to just have batteries sitting in a landfill. And there's opportunity there to reuse those materials, make them as good as new," says Kunal Phalpher of <a target="_blank" href="https://li-cycle.com/">Li-Cycle</a>.</p><p>Li-Cycle uses a two-step process to recover more than 80% of the materials in old lithium ion batteries.</p>
<p>"We take the batteries and shred them," Phalpher says. "And then phase two of the process is then to take that mixed material and separate each of the elements through chemical processing."</p><p>The approach generates less carbon pollution than mining those minerals from the ground. And it solves another problem the booming industry is grappling with: how to safely and sustainably dispose of spent batteries.</p><p>Li-Cycle has a demonstration plant in Canada, and Phalpher says it's building a new facility in Rochester, New York. Last December, the company shipped its first commercial load of recycled battery material to a customer – a critical milestone on the road to addressing this global challenge.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/canadian-company-recycles-minerals-from-electric-vehicle-batteries/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A US Hybrid Corporation electric hybrid heavy duty truck moves freight at the Long Beach Port in California on July 31, 2017. Dennis Schroeder / National Renewable Energy Lab
The state of California made history Thursday when it passed a clean truck rule that E&E News reported was the first of its kind in the world.
<p>The <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/advanced-clean-trucks-fact-sheet" target="_blank">Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation</a>, passed unanimously by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), will require more than half of trucks sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035 and 100 percent by 2045, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/climate/zero-emissions-trucks-california.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>"California is once again leading the nation in the fight to make our air cleaner," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement reported by <a href="https://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKBN23W31N#referrer=https://www.google.com" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p>
<div id="0e389" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c7a1aa4fb96029d99de0cce8cd1f74c2"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1276292655962402817" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">California takes bold step to reduce diesel truck pollution. A first of its kind requirement for #zeroemission truc… https://t.co/uNxDgJWvXL</div> — CARB (@CARB)<a href="https://twitter.com/AirResources/statuses/1276292655962402817">1593126856.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The rule aims to end diesel pollution from trucks by requiring manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions trucks beginning in 2024. It applies to medium duty and large trucks, as light trucks are already covered by the state's clean car requirements.</p><p>The rule will help California achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2035 and 80 percent by 2050, according to CARB. In addition to its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> benefits, the rule will help tackle toxic diesel pollution that disproportionately impacts low-income communities of color at a time of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amp/protestors-publich-health-coronavirus-covid-19-testing-2646141562" target="_self">national protests</a> over racial injustice and a pandemic possibly made <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-air-pollution-fatality-2645656760.html" target="_self">more deadly</a> by exposure to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a>.</p>
<p>Transportation overall accounts for more than 95 percent of California's diesel particulate matter emissions, around 80 percent of its smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions and around 50 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions if fuel production is accounted for, according to CARB. Heavy duty trucks alone are responsible for a third of the state's nitrogen oxide emissions and a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions, E&E News reported.</p><p>Heavy duty trucks are especially a hazard for the largely low-income or minority communities who live in the state's "diesel death zones," areas passed by thousands of trucks every day.</p><p>"We have some of the worst air quality in the nation, and that's because of the ozone pollution that largely comes from diesel trucks," Anthony Victoria-Midence, a resident of San Bernardino and a spokesman for the <a href="https://www.ccaej.org/" target="_blank">Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice</a> told E&E News in a phone interview. "It's leading to generations of families suffering from all kinds of illnesses, like asthma and cancer. That's why these things need to be addressed now, and the best way to do that is by moving forward a strong Advanced Clean Trucks rule."</p>
<div id="d2e11" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b6e76566a93c97ca381da97066fe8124"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1276294522306088960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: @AirResources votes to pass historic #ElectricTrucksRule, the first of its kind in the nation!
Now let’… https://t.co/D7oD9gtSve</div> — CCAEJ (@CCAEJ)<a href="https://twitter.com/CCAEJ/statuses/1276294522306088960">1593127301.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The rule was opposed by oil companies, farmers and industry groups and truck makers, The New York Times reported. Vehicle and engine manufacturers argued in March that the rule should be delayed because of the economic impacts of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"This is not a business-as-usual situation, and it should not be a regulation-as-usual situation, either," the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association said in a letter to regulators in March.</p><p>But CARB chairwoman Mary Nichols disagreed.</p><p>"This is exactly the right time for this rule," Nichols told The New York Times. "We certainly know that the economy is in a rough shape right now, and there aren't a lot of new vehicle sales of any kind. But when they are able to buy vehicles again, we think it's important that they be investing in the cleanest kinds of vehicles."</p>
<p>The rule could face another powerful opponent: the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amp/trump-california-emissions-standards-2640413062" target="_self">revoked</a> California's waiver under the Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards over its clean car rules, and environmental groups fear it may do the same for trucks.</p><p>"I'm sure the Trump administration, if they are still in the White House next year, would try to throw something in the way of this. But I think they would be very hard-pressed to justify it," <a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a> staff attorney Paul Cort told E&E News. "This really is a big rule, and I'm very excited to get this one in the books and move on."</p>
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Michael Moore's 'Planet of the Humans' Documentary Attacks Climate Solutions
01 May
Insights + Opinion
Michael Moore at the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2019 in Cannes, France. Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images
By Dana Nuccitelli
Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates have long been allies in the fight to keep unchecked industrial growth from irreversibly ruining Earth's climate and threatening the future of human civilization. In their new YouTube documentary "Planet of the Humans," director Jeff Gibbs and producer Michael Moore argue for splitting the two sides. Their misleading, outdated, and scientifically sophomoric dismissal of renewable energy is perhaps the most dangerous form of climate denial, eroding support for renewable energy as a critical climate solution.
<p><br/></p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/michael-moores-planet-of-the-humans-documentary-peddles-dangerous-climate-denial/" target="_blank"><em>Yale Climate Connections.</em></a></p>
<p>"Planet of the Humans" by the end of April had more than 4.7 million views and fairly high scores at the movie critic review aggregator <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/planet_of_the_humans" target="_blank">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. The documentary has received <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/24/1939980/-Planet-Of-The-Humans-Is-Moore-Trouble-Than-It-s-Worth-A-Non-Review" target="_blank">glowing reviews from numerous climate "deniers"</a> whose names are familiar to those in the climate community, including Steve Milloy, Marc Morano, and James Delingpole. Some environmentalists who have seen the movie are beginning to oppose wind and solar projects that are absolutely necessary to slow climate change.</p><p>The film by these two "progressive" filmmakers may succeed where Fox News and right-wing talk radio have failed: to undermine humanity's last best hope for positive change. As energy journalist <a href="https://ketanjoshi.co/2020/04/24/planet-of-the-humans-a-reheated-mess-of-lazy-old-myths/" target="_blank">Ketan Joshi wrote</a>, the film is "selling far-right, climate-denier myths from nearly a decade ago to left-wing environmentalists in the 2020s."</p><p>The film follows Gibbs as he visits various green technology sites in the United States and ostensibly learns that each one is just as bad as the fossil fuel infrastructure that it would replace. Unfortunately, the movie is littered with misleading, skewed, and outdated scenes.</p><p>"Planet of the Humans"' approach is fundamentally flawed – Gibbs focuses almost exclusively on the imperfections of technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, biomass, and electric cars without considering their ability to reduce carbon and other pollutants. The film suggests that because no source of energy is perfect, all are bad, thus implying that the very existence of human civilization is the problem while offering little in the way of alternative solutions.</p>
A Badly Outdated Portrait of Solar and Wind
<p>In an interview with Reuters, Michael Moore summarized the premise of the film: "I assumed solar panels would last forever. I didn't know what went into the making of them."</p><p>It's true. Solar panels and wind turbines don't last forever (though they do last several decades), and like every other industrial product, they require mining and manufacturing of raw materials. Sadly, that's about as deep as the film delves into quantifying the environmental impacts of renewable energy versus fossil fuels. In fact, the misinformation in the film is at times much worse than ignorance.</p><p>In one scene, author and film co-producer Ozzie Zehner falsely asserts, "You use more fossil fuels [manufacturing renewables infrastructure] than you're getting benefit from. You would have been better off burning the fossil fuels in the first place instead of playing pretend."</p><p><span></span>That's monumentally wrong. A <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-wind-nuclear-amazingly-low-carbon-footprints" target="_blank">2017 study in Nature Energy</a> found that when accounting for manufacturing and construction, the lifetime carbon footprints of solar, wind, and nuclear power are about 20 times smaller than those of coal and natural gas, even when the latter include expensive carbon capture and storage technology. The energy produced during the operation of a solar panel and wind turbine is 26 and 44 times greater than the energy needed to build and install them, respectively. There are many life-cycle assessment studies arriving at similar conclusions.</p><p>The film's case is akin to arguing that because fruit contains sugar, eating strawberries is no healthier than eating a cheesecake.</p><p>It's true that the carbon footprint of renewable energy is not zero. But the film somehow fails to mention that it's far lower than the fossil fuel alternatives, instead falsely suggesting (with zero supporting evidence) that renewables are just as bad. The closest defense of that argument comes when Zehner claims that wind and solar energy cannot displace coal, and instead retired coal power plants are being replaced by even larger natural gas plants.</p><p>In reality, coal power generation in the U.S. has declined by about half (over 1 trillion kilowatt-hours) <a href="https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2019/" target="_blank">over the past decade</a>, and it's true that natural gas has picked up about two-thirds of that slack (670 kWh). But growth in renewables has accounted for the other one-third (370 kWh). As a result, power sector carbon emissions in the U.S. have fallen by one-third since 2008 and continue to decline steadily. In fact, electricity is the only major sector in the U.S. that's achieving significant emissions reductions.</p><p>It's true that natural gas is a fossil fuel. To reach zero emissions, it must be replaced by renewables with storage and smart grids. But thus far the path to grid decarbonization in the U.S. has been a success story that the film somehow portrays as a failure. Moreover, that decarbonization could be accelerated through policies like pricing carbon pollution, but the film does not once put a single second of thought into policy solutions.</p><p>In perhaps its most absurd scene, Gibbs and Zehner visit a former solar facility in Daggett, California, built in the mid-1980s and replaced 30 years later. Gazing upon the sand-covered landscape of the former facility, Gibbs declares in an ominous tone, "It suddenly dawned on me what we were looking at: a solar dead zone."</p><p>Daggett is located in the Mojave Desert. Sand is the natural landscape. Solar farms don't create dead zones; in fact, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/09/crops-under-solar-panels-can-be-a-win-win/" target="_blank">some plants thrive</a> under the shade provided by solar panels.</p><p>It suddenly dawned on me how hard the film was trying to portray clean energy in a negative light.</p>
A Shallow Dismissal of Electric Vehicles
<p>In another science, Gibbs travels to a General Motors facility in Lansing, Michigan, circa 2010, as GM showcased its then-new Chevy Volt plug-in electric hybrid vehicle. Gibbs interviews a representative from the local municipal electric utility provider, who notes that they generate 95% of their supply by burning coal, and that the power to charge the GM facility's EVs will not come from renewables in the near future.</p><p>That is the full extent of the discussion of EVs in the film. Viewers are left to assume that because these cars are charged by burning coal, they're just <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing" target="_blank">greenwashing</a>. In reality, because of the high efficiency of electric motors, an electric car charged entirely by burning coal still produces less carbon pollution than an internal combustion engine car (though more than a hybrid). The U.S. Department of Energy has <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html" target="_blank">a useful tool</a> for comparing carbon emissions between EVs, plug-in hybrids, conventional hybrids, and gasoline-powered cars for each state. In Michigan, on average, EVs are the cleanest option of all, as is the case for the national average power grid. In West Virginia, with over 90% electricity generated from coal, hybrids are the cleanest option, but EVs are still cleaner than gasoline cars.</p><p>In short, EVs are an improvement over gasoline-powered cars everywhere, and their carbon footprints will continue to shrink as renewables expand to supply more of the power grid.</p>A Valid Critique of Wood Biomass
<p>The film devotes a half hour to the practice of burning trees for energy. That's one form of biomass, which also includes burning wood waste, garbage, and biofuels. Last year, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3" target="_blank">1% of U.S. electricity</a> was generated by burning wood, but it accounted for 30% of the film run time.</p><p>In fairness, Europe is a different story, where wood biomass accounts for around 5% of electricity generation, and which imports a lot of wood chips from America. It's incentivized because the European Union considers burning wood to be carbon neutral, and it can thus be used to meet climate targets. That's because new trees can be planted to replace those removed, and the EU assumes the wood being burned would have decayed and released its stored carbon anyway.</p><p>There are <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/3/4/18216045/renewable-energy-wood-pellets-biomass" target="_blank">numerous problems</a> with those assumptions, one of which is unavoidable: time. Burning trees is close to carbon neutral once a replacement tree grows to sufficient maturity to recapture the lost carbon, but that takes many decades. In the meantime, the carbon released into the atmosphere accelerates the climate crisis at a time when slashing emissions is increasingly urgent. That's why <a href="https://www.dogwoodalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Scientist-Letter-to-Governor-Cooper_11-15_2017.pdf" target="_blank">climate scientists are increasingly calling on policymakers</a> to stop expanding this practice. So has 350.org founder Bill McKibben since 2016, <a href="https://350.org/response-planet-of-the-humans-documentary/" target="_blank">despite his depiction in the film</a> as a villainous proponent of clearcutting forests to burn for energy.</p><p>It's complicated, but the carbon footprint of biomass <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/is-burning-wood-for-energy-worse-for-the-climate-than-coal" target="_blank">depends on where the wood comes from</a>. Burning waste (including waste wood) as biomass that would decay anyway is justifiable, but also generally only practical at a relatively small scale. A more detailed investigation of the wood biomass industry could make for a worthwhile documentary. It's still a small-time player, but it does need to stay that way.</p>The Bottom Line
<p>Gibbs asks, "Is it possible for machines made by industrial civilization to save us from industrial civilization?"</p><p>Why not? Industrial civilization has a non-zero climate and environmental footprint, but the impact of green technologies like EVs, wind turbines, and solar panels is much smaller than the alternatives. They represent humanity's best chance to avoid a climate catastrophe.</p><p>The filmmakers call for an end to limitless economic growth and consumption. It's difficult to envision that goal being achieved anytime soon, but even if it is, human civilization will continue to exist and require energy. To avert a climate crisis, that energy must be supplied by the clean renewable technologies pilloried in the film. To expand on the earlier analogy, the filmmakers seem to believe we should improve nutrition not by eating healthier foods like strawberries, but rather by eating a bit less cheesecake.</p><p>Like Fox News and other propaganda vehicles, the film presents one biased perspective via carefully chosen voices, virtually all of whom are comfortable white men. It applies an environmental purity test that can seem convincing for viewers lacking expertise in the topic. Any imperfect technology – which is every technology – is deemed bad. It's a clear example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. In reality, this movie is the enemy of humanity's last best chance to save itself and countless other species from unchecked climate change through a transition to cleaner technologies.</p>
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An electric Nissan Leaf charging at a loading station in Moss, Norway on August 3, 2015. Sigrid Harms / picture alliance / Getty Images
By Maddy Savage
Americans love their cars — their gas-guzzling, air-polluting, smog-producing cars. Although the vast majority agree that if we all drove electric vehicles we could reduce oil consumption and pollution, only a third would consider buying one anytime soon. Far fewer are actually making the switch.
<p>The adoption of all-electric and plug-in hybrids has been <a href="http://www.ev-volumes.com/country/usa/" target="_blank">steadily creeping up</a> over the last decade, yet electric cars make up only <a href="http://www.ev-volumes.com/country/total-world-plug-in-vehicle-volumes/" target="_blank">about 2%</a> of new car sales in the U.S.</p><p>Compare that to the situation in Norway, the world's unofficial leader in EV driving, where <a href="https://ofv.no/bilsalget/bilsalget-i-2019" target="_blank">more than 40% of new cars sold are now electric</a> and <a href="https://autovistagroup.com/news-and-insights/manufacturers-purposely-delaying-ev-models-states-norway-association" target="_blank">thousands of drivers</a> are on waiting lists for the latest models. It's a trend 30 years in the making.</p><p>"These things take time, because you need those first guys willing to break the mold, buy an EV and tell their pals, 'Shut up, this car is awesome!'" said Daniel Milford Flathagen, 36, from Trondheim, a government agency employee who waited 18 months for a Hyundai Kona Electric, his second electric vehicle.</p>
<p>Norway, a small, largely rural country with a population of just 5 million, has been steadily building hype for electric cars. Given their significantly larger populations, China and the U.S. report higher total sales numbers (around <a href="http://www.ev-volumes.com/country/china/" target="_blank">1.2 million</a> and <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10567" target="_blank">360,000</a>, respectively, including plug-in hybrids, in 2018). The Scandinavian nation has the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/chart-of-the-day-half-of-new-cars-sold-in-norway-are-electric-or-hybrid/" target="_blank">highest share of new electric vehicle purchases in the world</a>.</p><p>Credit for this could go to an evolved cultural acceptance of functional electric cars over more "macho" gas-guzzlers, or Norway's long-held reputation as a nature-loving, environmentally friendly population. But there's a more direct, prosaic explanation: In Norway, it pays to drive electric. </p><p>"The environmental aspect is a very good bonus for everyone," said Elisabeth Sakkestad, a 32-year-old EV user who works for an aid organization in Stavanger. "You feel better about driving an electric car than a fossil-fueled one."</p><p>But it is what Sakkestad described as the "economic benefits" that have played by far the greatest role in persuading her — and huge swaths of the population — to switch to emissions-free vehicles.</p>
<p>Successive Norwegian governments from across the political spectrum have been offering financial incentives to electric car owners as part of their wider efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And, as electric vehicles have become increasingly advanced in terms of speed, range and aesthetics, growing numbers of consumers have become motivated to cash in on the perks.</p><p>"In Norway we tax what we don't want and we promote what we want, and the consumer has, in this way, actually the opportunity to make the right choice," said Christina Bu, secretary-general of <a href="https://elbil.no/english/about-norwegian-ev-association/" target="_blank">Norsk elbilforening</a>, the Norwegian EV Association.</p><p>In Norway, most cars are imported. On top of the regular 25% consumption tax (Value Added Tax, or VAT) charged on most consumer goods, all vehicles used to be subject to an additional purchase tax. But that tax was scrapped for electric cars in 1990. EV buyers also became exempt from paying VAT in 2001. A few years later, they scored a fast-track commute when they were given permission to drive in bus lanes.</p>
<p>Until 2017, EV owners were exempt from charges for toll roads and eligible for free parking. Current rules allow municipalities to charge them no more than 50% the standard toll and parking rates.</p><p>The center-right governing coalition in Norway has promised to keep most of the incentives running until at least 2021 and aims to <a href="https://qz.com/1341155/nine-countries-say-they-will-ban-internal-combustion-engines-none-have-a-law-to-do-so/" target="_blank">ban all new sales of gas-powered cars by 2025</a>.</p><p>In Norway, as everywhere, electric cars tend to be pricier than their conventional counterparts. Bloomberg analysts <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-12/electric-vehicle-battery-shrinks-and-so-does-the-total-cost" target="_blank">predict</a> price parity in 2022, but Norway's tax breaks mean that in some cases greener models are already cheaper. The base import price for a Volkswagen e-Golf, for example, is around $36,000, compared to $24,000 for a regular Golf. But after VAT, emissions taxes and other fees, the electric version is nearly $1,000 less ($36,300 versus $37,200).</p>
<p>"Buying a new electric car is more or less the same price as buying a nice petrol or diesel car now," said Bu, even before you factor in additional savings such as not having to pay for gas and lower maintenance costs.</p><p>Some critics have argued that the country's incentives favor those who are already wealthy enough to afford new cars, while low-income owners can often only afford <em>used</em> gas-fueled models, which remain cheaper than used EVs.</p><p>Ask Ibsen Lindal, energy spokesperson for Norway's Green Party, sees the second-hand market for gas cars as an impediment to the nationwide trend toward electric cars, but he said he hopes it's just a matter of time until EVs become affordable for virtually all Norwegians.</p>
<p>"What's been the most important goal of the Norwegian electric car incentive is that ... you hope to start the market moving, and then prices will fall and that is what we are seeing now within a very short time," Isben Lindal said.</p><p>He said he expects that in three to five years, EVs will push nearly all new gas-powered cars out of the Norwegian market.</p><p>Globally, analysts worry about how electric vehicle sales will fare with the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/coronavirus" target="_blank">coronavirus pandemic </a>shaking consumer markets and oil prices plunging. One new report <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/electric-vehicle-sales-set-to-crash-in-2020-as-coronavirus-bites-and-oil-stays-cheap" target="_blank">predicts</a> worldwide EV sales will tank in 2020, a factor it partly pegs to global uncertainty, which may make people less willing to take a chance on technology that's new to them.</p>
<p>A potential glimmer of hope? A <a href="https://electrek.co/2020/04/09/study-pandemic-lockdowns-are-encouraging-more-consumers-to-buy-electric-cars/" target="_blank">small survey</a> of U.K. consumers in April found that air quality improvements resulting from stay-at-home measures are inspiring new interest in buying non-fossil fuel cars.</p><p>How quickly other countries around the world might catch up with Norway's incentivized buying is an ongoing debate in the electric vehicle industry.</p><p>Bu said she accepts that it is "probably politically very difficult" for most governments, including in the U.S., to introduce the type of wide-ranging tax differences for electric and fossil-fuel-powered cars that Norway has used. </p>
<p>"I think we will see different countries following faster than the others, but interest is growing," she said. "We definitely will start seeing the same development in country after country." </p><p>In <a href="https://www.transportstyrelsen.se/en/road/Vehicles/bonus-malus/bonus/" target="_blank">Sweden</a>, EV buyers get a bonus of up to 60,000 Swedish krona (roughly $6,000) paid to them six months after their purchase, while Germany recently <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-05/germany-to-boost-electric-car-incentives-in-push-to-lift-demand" target="_blank">expanded its subsidies</a> to a similar amount, as long as owners keep their car for at least nine months. <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/costa-rica-wildlife-conservation-endangered-animals_n_5d0a8e72e4b0f7b7442b499b" target="_blank">Costa Rica</a>, which has committed to going carbon neutral by 2050, exempts electric car owners <a href="https://ticotimes.net/2019/07/08/costa-rica-upholds-tax-breaks-for-electric-cars-solar-panels" target="_blank">from its regular 13% sales tax</a> on vehicles.</p><p>In the U.S., the federal government has boosted EV sales by offering a $7,500 tax credit to buyers. But that amount phases down once manufacturers sell 200,000 cars; Tesla has already <a href="https://www.myev.com/research/buyers-sellers-advice/comparing-all-2019-electric-vehicles" target="_blank">hit the threshold</a> for all its models, as has the Chevrolet Bolt. In December, Congress <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/want-tax-credit-buying-electric-vehicle-move-fast/" target="_blank">declined to expand</a> the federal credit program.</p>
<p>Nearly every state and Washington, D.C., offers some <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keyword=&select_all_loc=all&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=US&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=AL&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=AK&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=AZ&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=AR&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=CA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=CO&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=CT&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=DE&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=DC&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=FL&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=GA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=HI&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=ID&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=IL&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=IN&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=IA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=KS&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=KY&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=LA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=ME&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MD&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MI&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MN&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MS&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MO&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=MT&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NE&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NV&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NH&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NJ&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NM&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NY&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=NC&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=ND&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=OH&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=OK&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=OR&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=PA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=RI&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=SC&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=SD&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=TN&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=TX&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=UT&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=VT&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=VA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=WA&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=WV&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=WI&loc%5B%5D=0&loc%5B%5D=WY&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=ELEC&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&tech%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bregulation%5D%5B%5D=0&ir%5Bincentive%5D%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=IND&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0&user%5B%5D=0" target="_blank">incentives</a> for buying an electric vehicle. But while the majority of Americans <a href="https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ConsumerReports-UnionofConcernedScientists-2019-EV_Survey-7.17.19.pdf" target="_blank">support the idea</a> of tax breaks or other incentives, and even those who aren't actively considering buying an EV say such a break would encourage them to do so, <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2019/05/22/for-widespread-adoption-of-electric-vehicles-many-roadblocks-ahead/" target="_blank">eight out of 10 of people</a> don't know whether any are available in their state, according to one 2019 poll.</p><p>Cost issues aside, American drivers, most of whom <a href="https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/Consumer-EV-Awareness_ICCT_Working-Paper_23032017_vF.pdf" target="_blank">can't name an electric car make and model or describe how the vehicles work</a>, are <a href="https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/05/why-arent-americans-plugging-in-to-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank">still largely paralyzed</a> by two key worries: that they won't be able to get where they're going on a single charge, and that they won't be able to find a charging station when they need one.</p><p>Such anxieties persist among consumers even though today's EVs generally have enough range to handle most drivers' daily travel. The average American drives less than than 30 miles a day, <a href="https://www.bts.gov/statistical-products/surveys/national-household-travel-survey-daily-travel-quick-facts" target="_blank">according to the U.S. Department of Transportation</a>, while <a href="https://www.myev.com/research/comparisons/the-longest-range-electric-vehicles-for-2019" target="_blank">more than half a dozen electric models</a> now get over 200 miles on a single charge. </p>
<p>When it comes to charging infrastructure, Norway is miles ahead. It has been rapidly increasing the availability of charging points and electricity supply since 2015, when the government set the goal of having at least one fast charging station every 31 miles on major highways, offering subsidies to providers in order to accelerate installations. By mid-2017, there were <a href="https://elbil.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/EVS30-Charging-infrastrucure-experiences-in-Norway-paper.pdf" target="_blank">more than 1,500</a> stations along these key routes, up from 300 in 2014.</p><p>The country was also the first in the world to introduce <a href="https://elbil.no/%ef%bb%bfnorway-now-has-the-worlds-no-1-fast-charging-station/" target="_blank">supercharger points</a>, where more than two dozen vehicles can charge at the same time. The capital, Oslo, is working with housing cooperatives to install thousands more charging points outside people's homes, and it has started a program that provides <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-electric-taxis/oslo-to-become-first-city-to-charge-electric-taxis-over-the-air-idUSKCN1R21ED" target="_blank">wireless charging for its taxi network</a>. </p><p>Environmental activists like Ibsen Lindal argue that Norway still isn't quite keeping up with demand. He said that although Oslo has gained a reputation as something of a trailblazer when it comes to charging infrastructure, other cities and municipalities are further behind.</p>
<p>Nationwide, there were about 1.7 electric vehicles per charging point in 2011, compared with around 19.5 today. Ibsen Lindal said that while hard data is limited, anecdotal evidence suggests some electric car users who are frustrated with the current infrastructure may be returning to fossil-fueled vehicles for convenience.</p><p>"There have been some reports on people buying electric cars, but then after a few months, they say that there are too many people in line waiting at charging stations, making EV ownership impractical for some people today," he said.</p><p>Trondheim EV-owner Flathagen said he has observed long queues at some rural stations and met customers, usually elderly people, who "aren't really prepared for how rapid charging differs from getting gas at a petrol station" or how to use some of the other necessary related technologies, such as apps or SMS messages to pay for electricity. (Norsk ebilforening's research suggests that while early adopters tended to be young, educated men, a much wider range of consumers are now buying the vehicles, including increasing numbers of women and people over 50 years of age.)</p>
<p>Geir Kulia, a 28-year-old in southern Norway who recently bought an electric BMW i3, admitted that while it's been surprisingly easy to charge his car, "the planning phase is a bit more important" when it comes to longer trips. "There is a limit to your freedom; you have to consider where to charge and the time it takes to charge, so you can't just go off driving around Europe." </p><p>For Americans with range anxiety, Flathagen said that although Norway is far smaller than the United States, in some ways it's a perfect proving ground.</p><p>"It's a rural country with a cold climate, where people drive longer distances than most other European countries," he said. (<a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/hybrids-evs/buying-an-electric-car-for-a-cold-climate-double-down-on-range/" target="_blank">Cold weather saps batteries</a> faster.) "If EVs work here, they should work everywhere."</p>
<p class=""><em>This story originally appeared in <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A school bus rides through the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston on Sept. 11, 2019. Boston's public school district held a contest last year to more effectively move its 25,000 students to more than 200 schools. Barry Chin / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
By Raphael Gindrat
Advocates of autonomous mobility are looking forward to the day when zero-emission, shared autonomous vehicles deliver services that dramatically reduce urban congestion and pollution. But as the mass deployment of autonomous vehicles seems farther and farther off, it is important to point out that we don't have to wait for autonomy to realize many of the efficiencies that shared mobility can provide.
<p>Trip-optimization technology that can make shared transport work already exists — whether a computer or a human is driving. One proof point can be found in a project to make Boston's public school buses more efficient. What can the humble yellow school bus teach us about efficient urban transport? Plenty, as it turns out.</p>
<h3>Learning From Schools</h3><p>In 2019, Boston's <a href="https://www.routefifty.com/tech-data/2019/08/boston-school-bus-routes/159113/" target="_blank">public school district</a> held a contest to find a solution that could better move its 25,000 students to more than 200 schools across 20 zip codes. Parents are allowed to select their children's schools, so the transportation patterns are irregular. To further complicate matters, Boston's schools have different start times. Student transit was costing the district $2,000 per student — 10% of its budget.</p><p>Researchers at MIT's Operations Research Center rose to the challenge. They developed an algorithm capable of ingesting all ride requirements simultaneously instead of optimizing service for each school independently, one by one. By optimizing the entire network, under the new schedule, some buses dropped students off at multiple schools. In short, the algorithm enabled the district to eliminate 50 buses, more than a million miles of driving, and 9,000kg of CO2 emissions per day. Student ride times and walking distances were not impacted. And the district now has $5 million per year in savings to invest in education programs.</p>
<h3>Sharing the Future</h3><p>Many, including me, have argued that the future of urban transport is <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric</a>, autonomous and shared. I still believe this to be true. But the real key to reducing traffic and pollution comes from sharing — and we don't have to wait for the widespread adoption of electric and/or autonomous vehicles to achieve significant efficiency gains that remove cars and their emissions from city streets.</p><p>Multiple studies have found that shared autonomous vehicles can dramatically improve traffic:</p><p>· An International Transport Forum (ITF) study of traffic in <a href="http://oecdinsights.org/2015/05/13/the-sharing-economy-how-shared-self-driving-cars-could-change-city-traffic/" target="_blank">Lisbon</a> found that shared self-driving cars combined with the existing public transport system could reduce traffic by 90% with a maximum wait time of five minutes.</p><p>· A University of Texas simulation of traffic in <a href="http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/public_html/TRB15SAVsinAustin.pdf" target="_blank">Austin</a> found that one shared autonomous vehicle could do the work of nine private vehicles with extra ride times of two to five minutes.</p><p>· A study of traffic in <a href="https://blog.ptvgroup.com/en/city-and-mobility/oslo-study-autonomous-vehicles/" target="_blank">Oslo</a> by the PTV Group found that shared autonomous vehicles could meet the city's rush hour needs with just 7% of today's vehicles, and that combining the services with public transport would reduce trip times by an average of 11 minutes.</p><p>Swap autonomous vehicles that receive instructions into a computer with human-driven vehicles that receive instructions through a driver's mobile app, and you can achieve the same results — albeit today with fossil fuel-powered cars. But reducing the number of vehicles on streets by as much as 90% would enable proportionate emissions reductions.</p>
<h3>Public Benefits</h3><p>Critical to the success of these models is the integration of services with public transport. The flip side of the equation would be to use shared services in place of public transport, which would likely worsen congestion. Shared transport integrated with public mass transit would have to be mandated by cities rather than deployed as a free-for-all — which is how peer-to-peer ride-hailing services were introduced. Unregulated and unintegrated, these services have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ride-hail-utopia-that-got-stuck-in-traffic-11581742802" target="_blank">dramatically worsened traffic in most large cities</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5NjIwMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTQ0OTI2Nn0.thAw0WXhmkLQd1iKRnz8pejSYW-ZsnkQVqggSmyZEso/img.png?width=980" id="7a1c9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9fec6c02a25e9a4bcdd9c9593f8af474" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<h3>Orchestrating Success</h3><p>Analysts at Accenture <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/industry-x-0/orchestrating-mobility-ecosystem" target="_blank">recently released a report</a> calling for cities to take the lead in creating coordinated, "orchestrated" mobility ecosystems. Limiting shared services to routes that connect people with mass transit would be one way to deploy human-driven services now and to prepare for driverless services in the future. Services and schedules can be linked at the backend, and operators can, for example, automatically send more shared vehicles to a train station when the train has more passengers than usual; or the cars can wait for a train that is running late.</p><p>Orchestrating large fleets and processing large volumes of ride requests simultaneously and in real time, and dispatching vehicles and pooling ride requests in the most efficient manner possible, are extremely complex processes. This complexity increases as most urban environments are continually changing. Traffic, weather, special events, construction and other conditions can impact trip times and wait times.</p>
<h3>Managing Space</h3><p>Managing urban congestion and mobility comes down to managing space. Cities are characterized by restricted residential, commercial and transportation spaces. Private autos are the most inefficient use of transportation space, while mass transit represents the most efficient use of transportation space. Getting more people out of private cars into shared feeder routes to and from mass transit modes is the most promising way to reduce auto traffic. Computer models show that it can be done, and we don't need autonomy to realize the benefits of shared mobility. With our <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> growing more acute by the day, we can and should start implementing shared mobility now.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/how-to-move-more-people-in-fewer-vehicles-today/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Motorway A8 with a wind farm in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The European commission's effort to transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon emitter received input from ExxonMobil. imageBROKER / Lilly / Getty Images
The European commission's effort to transition the 27-country economic bloc from a high-carbon to a low-carbon emitter in a few decades received input from the fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil in the weeks prior to its passage, according to a watchdog that monitors lobbying activity, as The Guardian reported.
<p>As Common Dreams reported, a <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/An-InfluenceMap-Note-ExxonMobil-Lobbies-the-EU-Commission-add01200dc694b00e9ac4bebf660227b" target="_blank">report</a> released last week by InfluenceMap revealed that Exxon lobbyists met with commission officials in November to request an extension of the Green Deal's carbon pricing policy, known as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), to tailpipe emissions.</p><p>The report revealed that just ahead of the December announcement of the Green Deal, Exxon lobbyists met with Frans Timmermans, a member of the commission's cabinet, after the company avoided penalties for failing to attend a hearing on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier">climate denial</a>, as the <a href="https://euobserver.com/green-deal/147646" target="_blank">EU Observer</a> reported.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/An-InfluenceMap-Note-ExxonMobil-Lobbies-the-EU-Commission-add01200dc694b00e9ac4bebf660227b" target="_blank">InfluenceMap</a> wrote in its <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/An-InfluenceMap-Note-ExxonMobil-Lobbies-the-EU-Commission-add01200dc694b00e9ac4bebf660227b" target="_blank">report</a>:<span></span></p><blockquote>"In the meeting, the lobbyist for ExxonMobil tried to stall an overhaul of the transportation sector. ExxonMobil representatives pushed for the EU Commission to change its approach to climate regulation in the transport sector, including removing the EU's strict CO2 vehicle tailpipe standards, in what appears to have been an effort to stall a push towards <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric vehicles</a>. A direct extract from the meeting notes indicate the un-named ExxonMobil officials argued that the EU should: 'Give serious consideration to extending ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) beyond stationary sources. Tail pipe emission legislation should be substituted with power plant to wheel emission regulation.'" </blockquote><p>According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/06/exxonmobil-tried-to-get-european-green-deal-watered-down-claims-climate-lobbying-watchdog" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, the maneuver aimed to tamp down knowledge about the carbon footprint of driving a combustion engine running on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>. And the lobbying effort seems to have worked, since the European Commission did not include plans to phase out combustion engines. It also did not include cars running on fossil fuels in its carbon-pricing plan.</p><p>Furthermore, the move aims to create unrest that would be politically unfeasible. The only way for a carbon-pricing plan for tailpipe emissions to be influential is for it to make greenhouse gas emissions very expensive. Yet, that type of action that transfers costs to consumers has been the bedrock of protests like the Yellow Vests protests in France, which stemmed from a proposed tax on diesel and gasoline, as the <a href="https://euobserver.com/green-deal/147646" target="_blank">EU Observer</a> reported.</p>
<p>Edward Collins, a director at InfluenceMap, said the document "represents yet another evidence piece" of ExxonMobil's efforts to protect its profits by thwarting meaningful regulatory action and shifting the focus to long-term technical solutions, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/06/exxonmobil-tried-to-get-european-green-deal-watered-down-claims-climate-lobbying-watchdog" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.<br></p><p>The lack of decisive and meaningful regulatory actions that would change the transportation sector and the energy infrastructure of Europe in the immediate future drew the ire of climate activists, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/greta-thunberg-eu-climate-law-2645391457.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1">EcoWatch</a> reported. The Green Deal requires that European countries reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which many scientists say is too late to stop the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"Net zero emissions by 2050' for the EU equals surrender. It means giving up," Greta Thunberg and 33 other youth climate activists wrote in an open letter published Tuesday and reported by <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-climate-change-eu-law/eu-unveils-climate-law-thunberg-calls-it-surrender-idUKKBN20R1OC" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. "We don't just need goals for just 2030 or 2050. We, above all, need them for 2020 and every following month and year to come."</p><p>As <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/06/exxon-lobbyists-pushed-european-officials-water-down-green-deal-carbon-pricing-plan" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a> pointed out:</p><blockquote>"Exxon's attempt to further weaken the European Green Deal represents 'a shift from the propagation of climate science denial towards a range of more subtle tactics and narratives to distract policymakers and the public away from an urgent and robust policy intervention on climate on the scale recommended by the IPCC's 2018 special report on 1.5 [degrees Celsius] warming,' said InfluenceMap."</blockquote>
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