25 February 2021 (ERCOT) – [The following report is excerpted from the ERCOT slide presentation, Review of February 2021 Extreme Cold Weather Event (pdf), presented by ERCOT CEO Bill Magness to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee House Joint Committee on State Affairs and Energy Resources on 25 February 2021. –Des] Overview of Cold […]
By Colleen Zitt 3 February 2021 (Zurich) – As Chief Risk Officer for Zurich North America, I eagerly await the annual release of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report. This year’s 2021 edition is no exception. Its thoughtful, laser-sharp analysis of short- and long-term global risks — dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change — […]
By Roosa Tikkanen and Katharine Fields 25 February 2021 (The Commonwealth Fund) – International comparisons of health care systems offer valuable tools to health ministers, policymakers, and academics wishing to evaluate the performance of their country’s system. In this chartbook [ppt, pdf], we use data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) […]
By Suzanne Gamboa and Corky Siemaszko 25 February 2021 SAN ANTONIO (NBC News) – The number of Texans who were boiling their water to make it safe to drink plunged to 3 million Wednesday from 8 million the day before as platoons of plumbers and engineers worked around the clock to repair the countless homes […]
By Laura Sanicola and Erwin Seba 21 February 2021 NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The largest U.S. oil refiners released tons of air pollutants into the skies over Texas this past week, according to figures provided to the state, as refineries and petrochemical plants in the region scrambled to shut production during frigid weather. An arctic […]
By Josh Lederman 17 February 2021 WASHINGTON (NBC News) – A devastating winter storm that has plunged Texas into an electricity crisis offers warning signs for the U.S. as the Biden administration seeks to prepare for a future in which extreme weather is a greater risk and America is almost entirely powered by renewable energy. Generating energy is one challenge. But […]
By Vivian Wang 21 December 2020 (The New York Times) – In the city of Yiwu in eastern China, the authorities turned off streetlights for several days and ordered factories to open only part-time. In coastal Wenzhou, the government ordered some companies not to heat their offices unless temperatures are close to freezing. In southern […]
By Frank Partnoy 14 June 2020 (The Atlantic) – After months of living with the coronavirus pandemic, American citizens are well aware of the toll it has taken on the economy: broken supply chains, record unemployment, failing small businesses. All of these factors are serious and could mire the United States in a deep, prolonged […]
9 June 2020 (UN News) – Although the COVID-19 pandemic could push nearly 50 million more people into extreme poverty, this and other dire impacts of the crisis can be avoided if countries act immediately to shore up global food security, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday. For his latest policy brief on the pandemic, […]
By Kelly Macnamara and Marlowe Hood 5 June 2020 PARIS (AFP) – Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its warmest May on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said Friday. Large swathes of Siberia have been unusually warm for […]
