14 Most Heinous Climate Villains

Caricature of Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy in 2009. Graphic: Ian Murphy

July 22, 2019

14 Most Heinous Climate Villains

By Mike Roddy and Ian Murphy 29 December 2009 (The Buffalo Beast) – The science of climate change is pretty basic: humans dig up fossilized carbon to fuel power plants and internal combustion machines, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Result: greenhouse effect global heating. Around 50% of all the species on the planet are predicted […]

Map showing the locations of Thompson and Chilcotin River steelhead trout in B.C. Graphic: G. Wilson / B.C. Ministry of Environment / COSEWIC

July 21, 2019

Canada rejects scientists’ emergency call to protect endangered trout on oil pipeline path – “They are mismanaging our fish right into extinction”

By Stephanie Wood 18 July 2019 (National Observer) – The federal government has turned down an emergency recommendation from scientists to use a federal law to protect endangered trout that live along the path of the existing Trans Mountain oil pipeline and its expansion project. The decision — described by one First Nations chief, Lee […]

Impact of the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) pledges. To keep global warming within 1.5 °C of pre-industrial levels, there needs to be a substantial decline in the use of coal power by 2030 and in most scenarios, complete cessation by 2050. Graphic: Jewell, et al., 2019 / Nature Climate Change

July 20, 2019

Current coal phase-out pledges are insufficient to hit Paris climate goal

27 June 2019 (Chalmers University of Technology) – The Powering Past Coal Alliance, or PPCA, is a coalition of 30 countries and 22 cities and states that aims to phase out unabated coal power. But analysis led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, published in Nature Climate Change, shows that members mainly pledge to close […]

Committed CO2 emissions from existing and proposed energy infrastructure. Estimates of future CO2 emissions by industry sector and country/region Emissions from existing infrastructure are shown by darker shading, and emissions from proposed power plants (i.e. electricity) are more lightly shaded. Graphic: Tong, et al., 2019 / Nature

July 18, 2019

“Committed” CO2 emissions jeopardize international climate goals – Existing, planned fossil fuel-burning infrastructure must be retired early, replaced – “Without such radical changes, we fear the aspirations of the Paris agreement are already at risk”

IRVINE, California, 1 July 2019 (UCI News) – The nations that have signed agreements to stabilize the global mean temperature by 2050 will fail to meet their goals unless existing fossil fuel-burning infrastructure around the world is retired early, according to a study [pdf] – published today in Nature – by researchers at the University […]

Energy consumption and income inequality in the Philippines, 1990-2015. Data: McGee and Greiner, 2019 / Energy Research and Social Science. Graphic: James P. Galasyn

July 14, 2019

Shifts to renewable energy can drive up energy poverty, study finds – “We don’t think of energy as a human right when it actually is”

By Cristina Rojas 12 July 2019 (PSU) – Efforts to shift away from fossil fuels and replace oil and coal with renewable energy sources can help reduce carbon emissions but do so at the expense of increased inequality, according to a new Portland State University study. [Data available here: Renewable energy injustice McGee and Greiner […]

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions under current federal and state policy, net emissions (million metric tons of CO2e). Graphic: Rhodium Group

July 9, 2019

Taking Stock 2019: U.S. on track to miss Paris Agreement climate goal by wide margin

By Hannah Pitt, Kate Larsen, Hannah Kolus, Shashank Mohan, John Larsen, Whitney Herndon, and Trevor Houser 8 July 2019 (Rhodium Group) – For the past five years, Rhodium has provided an independent annual assessment of US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and progress towards achieving the country’s climate goals. Given the current state and federal policy […]

Squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) play in the trees, along the Yasuni river. Photo: Kimberley Brown / Mongabay

July 7, 2019

Heart of Ecuador’s Yasuni, home to uncontacted tribes, opens for oil drilling – “Their intentions are deceitful. What’s the real commitment the government is making to conserve this area?”

By Kimberley Brown 5 July 2019 QUITO, Ecuador (Mongabay) – Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park sits in a unique position on the equator, between the Andes mountain range and the Amazon rainforest, which has allowed a rich and distinct biodiversity to flourish. The region is surrounded by towering ceibo and mahogany trees, emblematic of the area, […]

Residents get water from a community well in Chennai after reservoirs for the city ran dry in June 2019. The bustling capital of Tamil Nadu state usually receives 825 million litres of water a day, but authorities are currently only able to supply 60 percent of that. With temperatures regularly hitting 40 degrees Celsius, reservoirs have run dry and other water sources are dwindling each day. Photo: Arun Sankar / AFP

July 1, 2019

Why India’s Chennai has run out of water

By Nityanand Jayaraman 1 July 2019 (BBC News) – As I write this, it has rained in Chennai – the first real welcome shower, but one that lasted only 30 minutes. But, still, that has been enough to flood the streets and stall traffic. The irony is that Chennai’s vulnerability to floods and its water […]

In 2009, G20 governments pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, but a decade on they still provide billions of dollars of support to coal alone. G20 support for coal-fired power plants increased from $17 billion to $47 billion in just three years. Graphic: ODI

June 30, 2019

G20 countries triple coal subsidies despite climate crisis – “It has now been 10 years since the G20 committed to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, yet astonishingly some governments are actually increasing the amount they give to coal power plants”

By Damian Carrington 24 June 2019 (The Guardian) – G20 countries have almost tripled the subsidies they give to coal-fired power plants in recent years, despite the urgent need to cut the carbon emissions driving the climate crisis. The bloc of major economies pledged a decade ago to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies. The figures, published […]

Artist’s rendering of the proposed liquefied natural gas plant in Kitimat, B.C. Photo: LNG Canada / Flickr

June 30, 2019

Canada government announces “largest private sector investment in Canadian history” for B.C. natural gas project, two weeks after declaring climate emergency – “This is not what concerned citizens expect”

24 June 2019 (CBC News) – The federal government is pumping $275 million into LNG Canada’s $40 billion liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat, B.C. Finance Minister Bill Morneau made the announcement Monday in Kitimat, announcing the $220 million will be directed toward buying energy-efficient gas turbines for the project, with the additional $55 million […]

Desdemona Despair

Category: fossil fuel