Tag: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Last Coal-Fired Power Plants in New England Are to Close

The last two coal-fired power plants in New England are set to close by 2025 and 2028, ending the use of a fossil fuel that supplied electricity to the region for more than 50 years. The decision to close the Merrimack and Schiller stations, both in New Hampshire, makes New England the second region in […]

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Sparing Chickens Before They Hatch

The egg industry hides a dark secret. Every year in the United States, more than 300 million male chicks are hatched. But because they don’t lay eggs or produce valued meat, they are typically killed within a day, usually shredded alive in industrial grinders. The practice, known as chick culling, is replicated on a huge […]

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Berkeley Will Repeal Its Landmark Ban on Natural Gas in New Homes

The city of Berkeley, Calif., has agreed to repeal a landmark climate rule that would have banned natural gas hookups in new homes, throwing into question the fate of dozens of similar restrictions on gas in cities across the country. Berkeley’s gas ban, which was the first of its kind when it passed in 2019, […]

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Saving Seals From a Sea of Plastic and Marine Garbage

A group of men sprints across a windswept beach, holding what look like outsize butterfly nets, and close in on a colony of seals trying to escape into the sea. The pursuers wrestle with their quarry: Seals entangled by fishing gear and other maritime garbage, whose fortunes are about to be reversed. As one man […]

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In France, the Future Is Arriving on a Barge

As pale morning light flickered across the Seine, Capt. Freddy Badar steered his hulking river barge, Le Bosphore, past picturesque Normandy villages and snow-fringed woodlands, setting a course for Paris. Onboard were containers packed with furniture, electronics and clothing loaded the night before from a cargo ship that had docked in Le Havre, the seaport […]

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Energy Dept. Awards $6 Billion to Cut Carbon from Industry

The Biden administration plans to spend up to $6 billion on new technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industries like steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum, which are all enormous contributors to global warming but which have so far been incredibly difficult to clean up. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday that her agency […]

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Let’s Call Our Present Moment on Earth What It Is: Obscene

It is springtime, and I want to turn to thoughts of love. In my case, love of this world, love of nature, love of our life in and as part of it. How I wish we all still loved that way. New York City’s winter leaf cover has been blown away and stuffed into large, […]

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The NY HEAT Act Seeks to Reduce Natural Gas Use. Here’s What to Know.

A bill gaining traction in Albany aims to break New Yorkers’ reliance on natural gas in hopes that they will seek out greener alternatives. Efforts to shoehorn the NY HEAT Act into a packed state budget are underway, with supporters contending that swift action is necessary because of the pressures of climate change and opponents […]

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How the New E.P.A. Rules Affect Toyota and Their Hybrid Cars

The breakfast at Toyota’s annual dealership gathering in Las Vegas last fall was an exclusive, invite-only affair, where attendees were told to cover their cellphone cameras with red stickers. Speaking was Stephen Ciccone, Toyota’s top lobbyist. He said the industry was facing an existential crisis — not because of the economy or fuel prices, but […]

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Sixteen States Sue Biden Administration Over Gas Permit Pause

Louisiana and 15 other Republican-led states sued the Biden administration on Thursday over its decision to temporarily stop approving new permits for facilities that export liquefied natural gas. The lawsuit contends that the Biden administration acted illegally when it decided in January to pause the approvals so it could study how gas exports affect climate […]

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Inside the Republican Attacks on Electric Vehicles

The electric vehicle, a breakthrough achievement in automotive technology, has driven into this year’s presidential election, inflaming partisan fights that have come to define much of American culture. One reason is that President Biden has made electric vehicles central to his strategy to combat climate change. This week, his administration announced the most ambitious climate […]

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Climate Change Made an Early Heat Wave in West Africa 10 Times as Likely

A remarkably early, record-breaking heat wave hit the southern part of West Africa in mid-February. Climate change made this extreme heat 10 times as likely, according to a new analysis by an international team of scientists. It also pushed the heat index about four degrees Celsius higher than it would have been without the extra […]

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Biden Administration Announces Rules Aimed at Phasing Out Gas Cars

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, a rule designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032. Nearly three years in the making, the new tailpipe pollution limits from […]

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What to Know About Biden’s New Clean Cars Regulation

The Biden administration’s new regulation limiting tailpipe emissions from cars and light trucks would transform the American automobile market, charting a course away from the internal combustion engine and toward a future of electric cars and hybrids. Here’s what to know about the measure. It’s a big deal in the fight against climate change In […]

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All but 7 Countries on Earth Have Air Pollution Above WHO Standard

Only 10 countries and territories out of 134 achieved the World Health Organization’s standards for a pervasive form of air pollution last year, according to air quality data compiled by IQAir, a Swiss company. The pollution studied is called fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, because it refers to solid particles less than 2.5 micrometers in […]

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U.S. Bans the Last Type of Asbestos Still in Use

The Biden administration on Monday finalized a ban on the only type of asbestos still used in the United States, the first time since 1989 the federal government has moved to significantly restrict the toxic industrial material. The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency would prohibit the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos, which […]

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The Best Way to Find Out if We Can Cool the Planet

A few years ago, the idea of deliberately blocking the sun to combat climate change was so taboo for scientists. But a lot can change in a short time. As the disastrous effects of climate change mount, Congress has asked federal scientists for a research plan, private money is flowing and rogue start-ups are attempting […]

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In Paris, the Olympics Clean Up Their Act

How do you produce a global sporting event, with millions of people swooping down on one city, in the age of global warming? That is the test for the Paris Olympics this summer. The organizers say they’re putting the games on a climate diet. These Olympics, they say, will generate no more than half the […]

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Can Europe Save Forests Without Killing Jobs in Malaysia?

The European Union’s upcoming ban on imports linked to deforestation has been hailed as a “gold standard” in climate policy: a meaningful step to protect the world’s forests, which help remove planet-killing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The law requires traders to trace the origins of a head-spinning variety of products — beef to books, […]

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Can Europe Save Forests Without Killing Jobs in Malaysia?

The European Union’s upcoming ban on imports linked to deforestation has been hailed as a “gold standard” in climate policy: a meaningful step to protect the world’s forests, which help remove planet-killing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The law requires traders to trace the origins of a head-spinning variety of products — beef to books, […]

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Brazil’s Clashing Goals: Protect the Amazon and Pump Lots More Oil

Through his office window, the head of Brazil’s state-run oil company looked out at the cluttered landscape of Rio de Janeiro. Looking back at him, across the city’s run-down high-rises, was the looming statue of Christ the Redeemer. Hawks circled an overflowing trash heap. Plumes of smoke rose from a blaze in a hillside shantytown. […]

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Coming Soon to Manhattan, a Brand-New Tiny Forest

A trend that’s gaining momentum around the world is set to finally arrive in Manhattan. It’s a tiny forest, to be planted on the southern end of Roosevelt Island, in the East River, this spring. According to its creators, it would be the first of its kind in the city and would consist of 1,000 […]

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Winter Heat Waves and Hottest Ocean Ever

Winter was weirdly warm for half the world’s population, driven in many places by the burning of fossil fuels, according to an analysis of temperature data from hundreds of locations worldwide. That aligns with the findings published late Wednesday by the European Union’s climate monitoring organization, Copernicus: The world as a whole experienced the hottest […]

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Nearly Half the States Sue E.P.A. Over New Limits on Deadly Pollution

Manufacturers and 24 states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday over the Biden administration’s decision to tighten limits on fine industrial particles, one of the most common and deadliest forms of air pollution. The state lawsuits are led by Republican attorneys general and argue that the E.P.A. overstepped its authority last month when it […]

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S.E.C. to Approve New Climate Rules Far Weaker Than Originally Proposed

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected on Wednesday to approve new rules detailing if and how public companies should disclose climate risks and how much greenhouse gas emissions they produce, but there are fewer demands on businesses than the original proposal made about two years ago. The rules represent a step toward requiring corporations […]

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It’s Not Officially the Anthropocene but Humans Have Changed the Planet

Coming after nearly 15 years of deliberation, a ruling by geologists on Tuesday feels almost anticlimactic: Our species has not so radically altered our world as to have started a new chapter in its history, at least not yet, a scholarly panel decided. But even if textbooks and research papers don’t feature the “Anthropocene” epoch […]

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He’s Accused of Smuggling, but Not Drugs or Guns: It’s Greenhouse Gases

The unusual contraband is sold on Craigslist and Facebook for hundreds of dollars: canisters of a banned refrigerant, for use in outdated refrigerators and air-conditioners, that is also a potent planet-warming gas. On Monday, a California man became the first in the nation to be arrested and charged with smuggling the powerful gases into the […]

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Global Warming Is Particularly Bad for Women-Led Families, Study Says

Extreme heat is making some of the world’s poorest women poorer. That is the stark conclusion of a report, released Tuesday, by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based on weather and income data in 24 low- and middle-income countries. The report adds to a body of work that shows how global warming, driven […]

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Many Maine Households Are Installing Climate-Friendly Heat Pumps

It may have been a warmer than usual winter in Maine, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t gotten mighty cold. In mid-January in Farmingdale, a town outside Augusta where Kaylie McLaughlin lives, the temperature dipped to 6 degrees Fahrenheit. “The kind of cold that hurts,” she said. But this winter, Ms. McLaughlin’s bungalow is toasty, […]

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E.P.A. to Exempt Existing Gas Plants From Tough New Rules, for Now.

Facing intense opposition from major industries and some Democrats, the Biden administration on Thursday said it would delay the most contentious element of its plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency will exempt existing gas-fired plants, at least for now, from a new regulation that would require power plants […]

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Republican Attacks on Biden’s Climate Law Raise Concerns Ahead of Election

The United States has experienced a surge in clean energy projects, representing more than $200 billion in new investments since President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law more than a year ago. But the election and the potential for a Republican takeover is prompting concern that key parts of the law could be […]

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