Most recent 40 articles: New York Times - Climate Section
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Alarmed by Climate Change, Astronomers Train Their Sights on Earth - New York Times - Climate Section (May 14) |
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May 14 · A growing number of researchers in the field are using their expertise to fight the climate crisis.
On the morning of Jan. 18, 2003, Penny Sackett, then director of the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory outside Canberra, received a concerning email from a student at the facility. Bush fires that had been on the horizon the day before were now rapidly approaching. The astronomers on site were considering evacuating, the student wrote.
That afternoon, from her home some miles away, Dr. Sackett watched burning embers fall from a smoky sky and worried. Later, she learned that her colleagues had escaped just in time: As the fire raced up the mountain, ... | By Katrina Miller and Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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As Insurers Around the U.S. Bleed Cash From Climate Shocks, Homeowners Lose - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · Profitability of homeowners insurance in Iowa
PROFIT
2015
2016
2013
2019
RATIO
2018
100
2014
2017
2022
2021
2023
LOSS
200
In 2020, insurers
paid out three times as
much as they took in
.
300
2020
Profitability of homeowners insurance in Iowa
PROFIT
2015
2016
2013
2019
RATIO
2018
100
2014
2017
2022
2021
2023
LOSS
200
In 2020, insurers
paid out three times as
much as they took in
.
300
2020
Profitability of homeowners ... Read more ...
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Cloud Brightening Study in California Is Halted by Local Officials - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · Officials in Alameda, Calif., have told scientists to stop testing a device that might one day be used to artificially cool the planet by making clouds brighter, reflecting planet-warming sunlight back into space.
The experiment, conducted by researchers from the University of Washington, involved spraying tiny sea-salt particles across the flight deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Hornet, docked in Alameda in San Francisco Bay. Versions of that device could eventually be used to spray the material skyward, making clouds brighter and fighting global warming by bouncing away more sunlight.
The experiment, which began on April 2, marked the first time in ... | By Christopher Flavelle Read more ...
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How an Obscure Agency Became a Linchpin for Climate Policy - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-to-1 in a partisan split on Monday on a new rule that could help speed up wind and solar energy.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may be the most important climate agency you’ve never heard of.
Responsible for overseeing interstate transmission of gas, oil and electricity, the independent agency could help determine how much wind, solar and other renewable energy moves from engineering plans onto the nation’s electric grids and into homes and businesses.
On Monday the commission approved long-awaited changes that require grid operators around the country to plan 20 years into the future, taking into account ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
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Minnesota and Wisconsin See Air Quality Warnings From Canadian Wildfires - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · Smoke from wildfires drifted south over the weekend.
If you’re in the northern part of the Central United States and the skies look smoky, here’s why: Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin were under an air quality alert on Monday morning because of wildfire smoke from Canada.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued the alert for the entire state, which was set to expire at noon Eastern on Monday. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued an air quality alert for northwestern Wisconsin that was set to last through 10 a.m. on Monday.
Fine particle levels were expected to reach the red air quality index category, the agency said, which also ... | By Claire Moses Read more ...
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New Rules to Overhaul Electric Grids Could Boost Wind and Solar Power - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the biggest changes in more than a decade to the way U.S. power lines are planned and funded.
Reporting from Washington
Federal regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy.
The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is the most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network. Experts have warned that ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
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The Home Insurance Crunch: See What’s Happening in Your State - New York Times - Climate Section (May 13) |
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May 13 · As climate change makes disasters more frequent and severe, the insurance industry is in tumult. Losses have been spreading beyond states that have been ravaged by hurricanes and wildfires, like Florida and California, and into places like Iowa, Arkansas, Ohio, Utah and Washington. Even in the Northeast, where homeowners insurance was still generally profitable last year, trends are worsening.
Find your state:
Ratio of revenue to costs for homeowners insurance statewide.
To measure the financial health of the homeowners insurance industry, The New York Times assembled data that compares revenues with costs for insurers in each state.
The data show that ... | By Christopher Flavelle and Mira Rojanasakul Read more ...
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How 5 N.Y.C. Neighborhoods Are Struggling With Climate Change - New York Times - Climate Section (May 12) |
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May 12 · New data projects are linking social issues with global warming. Here’s what that means for these New York communities.
Some of the effects of climate change on New York City neighborhoods are clear: extreme heat. Persistent flooding.
But as city leaders explore which neighborhoods are most vulnerable to a warming world, they are also focusing on less obvious factors like poverty, chronic health conditions and language barriers that can deepen the impact of climate change.
Several new data-gathering efforts are helping shed light on how socioeconomic issues can add to a community’s overall risk as droughts, floods and wildfires become more extreme and sea levels rise. | By Hilary Howard Read more ...
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How 5 N.Y.C. Neighborhoods Are Struggling With Climate Change - New York Times - Climate Section (May 12) |
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May 12 · New data projects are linking social issues with global warming. Here’s what that means for these New York communities.
Some of the effects of climate change on New York City neighborhoods are clear: extreme heat. Persistent flooding.
But as city leaders explore which neighborhoods are most vulnerable to a warming world, they are also focusing on less obvious factors like poverty, chronic health conditions and language barriers that can deepen the impact of climate change.
Several new data-gathering efforts are helping shed light on how socioeconomic issues can add to a community’s overall risk as droughts, floods and wildfires become more extreme and sea levels rise. | By Hilary Howard Read more ...
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A Boat Designed to Be a Breath of Fresh Air - New York Times - Climate Section (May 10) |
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May 10 · The creators of the latest vessel from Azimut Yachts went to great lengths to reduce its emissions, but even they won’t call it green.
Reporting from Milan
In the middle of Milan Design Week last month, in the middle of the Bagni Misteriosi - a historic bathing complex in the Porta Romana neighborhood - the Italian luxury shipbuilder Azimut Yachts hosted an unusual exhibition. It was a celebration of the company’s latest offering: the Seadeck 6, which made its debut last year and features interiors by the design team of Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez.
Having been lowered into the facility by crane, the nearly 60-foot vessel was set afloat in an outdoor swimming ... | By Ian Volner Read more ...
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California Will Add a Fixed Charge to Electric Bills and Reduce Rates - New York Times - Climate Section (May 10) |
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May 10 · Officials said the decision would lower bills and encourage people to use cars and appliances that did not use fossil fuels, but some experts said it would discourage energy efficiency.
Utility regulators in California on Thursday changed how most residents will pay for energy by adding a new fixed monthly charge and lowering the rates that apply to energy use. Officials said the shift would reduce monthly bills for millions of residents and support the use of electric vehicles and appliances that run on electricity, rather than fossil fuels.
The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission will apply to the rates charged by investor-owned utilities, which ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ...
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From Ancient Charcoal, Hints of Wildfires to Come - New York Times - Climate Section (May 10) |
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May 10 · By digging into the geologic record, scientists are learning how wildfires shaped - and were shaped by - climate change long ago.
The oldest evidence of wildfire in the world can be found in a laboratory on the fourth floor of a brick building in Waterville, Maine. To the untrained eye, it looks like a speck of black lint, not much larger than the tip of a pin. To Ian J. Glasspool, a paleobotanist at Colby College, it is a 430-million-year-old piece of charcoal.
The specimen, which Dr. Glasspool discovered in a mudstone from southern Wales, is one of many pieces of ancient charcoal that have been studied in recent years to explore how fires burned in the past. Together, ... | By Laura Poppick Read more ...
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10 Big Biden Environmental Rules, and What They Mean - New York Times - Climate Section (May 9) |
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May 9 · Asbestos, “forever” chemicals, E.V.s and endangered species. Here’s what 10 new rules cover, and why the administration has been churning them out.
The Biden administration has been racing this spring to finalize a slew of major environmental regulations, including rules to combat climate change, a first-ever ban on asbestos and new limits on toxic chemicals in tap water.
Many of the rules had been in the works since President Biden’s first day in office, when he ordered federal agencies to reinstate or strengthen more than 100 environmental regulations that President Donald J. Trump had weakened or removed. The president has pledged to cut the emissions that are driving ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
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At a Dinner, Trump Assailed Climate Rules and Asked $1 Billion From Big Oil - New York Times - Climate Section (May 9) |
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May 9 · At a private meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the former president said fossil fuel companies should donate to help him beat President Biden.
Former President Donald J. Trump told a group of oil executives and lobbyists gathered at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month that they should donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because, if elected, he would roll back environmental rules that he said hampered their industry, according to two people who were there.
About 20 people attended an April 11 event billed as an “energy round table” at Mr. Trump’s private club, according to those people, who asked not to be identified in order to discuss the private event. ... | By Lisa Friedman, Coral Davenport, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman Read more ...
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The Doom vs. Optimism Debate - New York Times - Climate Section (May 9) |
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May 9 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
How to reconcile two new reports that seem to tell very different stories about the state of climate change.
Depending on how you look at it, the climate story is one that can inspire genuine optimism or a fair bit of doomerism.
On any given day, there are news stories, academic studies and memes that support two dueling narratives:
This week brought yet another slew of data that provides an opportunity to hold these two seemingly contradictory truths at the same time.
There are elements of truth to both perspectives, of course. It’s a disorienting dynamic that we grapple with as reporters covering ... | By David Gelles Read more ...
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Tuna Crabs, Neither Tuna Nor Crabs, Are Swarming Near San Diego - New York Times - Climate Section (May 9) |
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May 9 · Divers and marine biologists are getting a window into the lives of a red crustacean most often found in the guts of other species.
Photographs and Text by Jules Jacobs
Jules Jacobs photographed this rare tuna crab aggregation beneath the waters of La Jolla Shores, San Diego.
When Anna Sagatov, an underwater cinematographer, goes on her usual night dives off La Jolla Shores in San Diego, she’s used to spotting the “occasional octopus, nudibranch and horn shark.” But what she witnessed on a late April plunge was shocking: a seafloor turned red by what she described as an “overlapping carpet of crabs.” Swirling and shifting in the current, the creatures stretched “as ... Read more ...
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China Rules the Green Economy. Here’s Why That’s a Problem for Biden. - New York Times - Climate Section (May 8) |
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May 8 · Beijing’s dominance raises economic and security concerns, and tensions will be high as top climate diplomats meet this week.
Somini Sengupta reported on global diplomacy for The Times before joining the Climate Desk.
The world’s two most powerful countries, the United States and China, are meeting this week in Washington to talk about climate change. And also their relationship issues.
In an ideal world, where the clean energy transition was the top priority, they would be on friendlier terms. Maybe affordable Chinese-made electric vehicles would be widely sold in America, instead of being viewed as an economic threat. Or there would be less need to dig a lithium ... | By Somini Sengupta Read more ...
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Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Section (May 8) |
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May 8 · Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.
Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet - including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species - are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study.
Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be ... | By Emily Anthes Read more ...
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G.M. Will Retire the Chevrolet Malibu to Make More Electric Cars - New York Times - Climate Section (May 8) |
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May 8 · The gasoline-powered Malibu was the last sedan sold by Chevrolet, the General Motors brand, in the United States.
General Motors said on Wednesday that it would stop making the Chevrolet Malibu, the last affordable sedan in its U.S. model lineup and a venerable nameplate that was introduced in the 1960s when the company was a dominant force in the U.S. economy.
For years, American drivers have been gravitating toward sport utility vehicles and away from sedans, compacts and hatchbacks. G.M.’s two Detroit rivals, Stellantis and Ford Motor, have also largely wiped their slates clean of cars in the United States.
Foreign automakers such as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai ... | By Neal E. Boudette Read more ...
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Watery, Peaceful, Wild: The Call of the Mangroves - New York Times - Climate Section (May 8) |
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May 8 · On Curaçao, visitors can explore the trees’ habitat, where colorful birds roost on tangled branches and trunks, and small paths through the greenery beckon.
The Curaçao Rif Mangrove Park offers guided tours, elevated boardwalks, programs for local schoolchildren and a tiered entrance-fee system for residents and overseas visitors.Credit...Frank Meyer for The New York Times
Elisabeth Goodridge is the deputy editor for travel at The New York Times.
It was a sunny afternoon in February at the height of the high season on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, but my partner, Aaren, and I were far from lounging on a white-sand beach, snorkeling over a coral reef or strolling ... | By Elisabeth Goodridge Read more ...
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Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity - New York Times - Climate Section (May 7) |
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May 7 · They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly.
How California powered itself in April 2021 …
and in April 2024.
Peak demand
average daily generation, by fuel type
Peak demand
25k
megawatts
Imports
20k
15k
Gas
Solar power
Batteries
Solar power
10k
Wind
5k
Hydro
Nuclear
0
12a.m.
5a.m.
10a.m.
3p.m.
8p.m.
12a.m.
5a.m.
10a.m.
3p.m.
8p.m.
How California powered itself in April 2021 …
and in ... | By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich Read more ...
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Sweetgreen Is Introducing Steak. What About Its Climate Goals? - New York Times - Climate Section (May 7) |
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May 7 · The fast-casual chain aims to be climate neutral by 2027, but beef is a big contributor to climate change.
Nearly two decades after the fast-casual salad chain Sweetgreen was founded, the company announced on Tuesday that it would introduce beef to its menu.
According to Nicolas Jammet, a founder of Sweetgreen, the addition of a caramelized garlic steak option comes at a time when many Americans are trying to increase their protein intake and also as Sweetgreen is looking to attract more customers for dinner.
The decision, however, leaves many questions about how the company, which has more than 225 locations, may accomplish its goal of carbon neutrality by 2027 ... | By Christina Morales Read more ...
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With or Without Tesla, More E.V. Chargers Are Coming - New York Times - Climate Section (May 7) |
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May 7 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
Experts say that a new wave of electric vehicle charging stations are coming soon, even after Tesla gutted its charger team.
Last week, Tesla laid off most of its electric car charging team, raising doubts about the feasibility of the Biden administration’s ambitious E.V. expansion plans.
Though Tesla accounts for more than half of the fast E.V. chargers currently installed in the United States, and though it has continued to build them faster and cheaper than anyone else, the E.V. charging market may no longer need Tesla to lead it.
In fact, experts I spoke to believe the E.V. charging industry is set to ... | By Manuela Andreoni Read more ...
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Are Flight Offsets Worth It? - New York Times - Climate Section (May 6) |
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May 6 · A lot of them don’t work and some might even be harmful. But there are things you can do if you really have to fly.
Credit...Naomi Anderson-Subryan
In recent years, many airlines have phased out the little box encouraging you to “offset your flight’s emissions!” on their checkout pages. Perhaps because so few customers took advantage of them, or perhaps because research has shown that many offset projects are ineffective or worse.
But last we checked, people are still flying. A lot. And the planet is still warming. A lot. So you may still be wondering: Should I offset my air travel? If so, how?
A carbon offset is a credit that you can buy to make up for your ... | By Susan Shain Read more ...
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How Bad Is A.I. for the Climate? - New York Times - Climate Section (May 6) |
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May 6 · Tech giants are building power-hungry data centers to run their artificial intelligence tools. The costs of that demand surge are becoming clearer.
A.I.’s carbon problem
The boom in artificial intelligence has minted billions in (paper) wealth for tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon. But there’s an overlooked set of winners as well: utilities and energy companies.
The power demands of the huge data centers that underpin the A.I. revolution keep growing. Wall Street is taking notice - but the climate effect isn’t getting as much attention.
The A.I. boom is supercharging markets’ interest in power. One sign of investor enthusiasm: The S&P 500’s utilities ... | By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni Read more ...
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Will a carbon market happen? - New York Times - Climate Section (May 6) |
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May 6 · An enormous amount of work is underway to remove carbon from the atmosphere, but who will pay for it?
Dear Headway readers
Here’s a mood brightener for you: Lots of scientific and business model innovation is now going toward removing carbon from the atmosphere.
But there’s a hitch. Who’s going to pay for it?
For years now, the hoped-for answer has been “businesses.” As a way of compensating for their emissions, many companies now buy carbon offsets, which pay for things like planting trees or growing cover crops to capture carbon in the soil. They do this either to comply with regulations or out of a sense of corporate citizenship. Europe and the United ... | By Lydia DePillis Read more ...
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Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers - New York Times - Climate Section (May 4) |
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May 4 · The automaker led by Elon Musk is no longer planning to take the lead in expanding the number of places to fuel electric vehicles. It’s not clear how quickly other companies will fill the gap.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration.
Mr. Musk’s decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would ... | By Jack Ewing and Ivan Penn Read more ...
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Oil Companies Expand Offshore Drilling, Pointing to Energy Needs - New York Times - Climate Section (May 3) |
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May 3 · Shell and others say they plan to drill for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico in part because doing so releases fewer greenhouse gases than drilling on land.
Reporting from Shell’s Appomattox offshore platform, New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles
About 80 miles southeast of Louisiana’s coast, 100,000 metric tons of steel floats in the Gulf of Mexico, an emblem of the hopes of oil and gas companies.
This hulk of metal, a deepwater platform called Appomattox and owned by Shell, collects the oil and gas that rigs tap from reservoirs thousands of feet below the seafloor. Equipment on the platform pipes that fuel to shore.
Political and corporate leaders have ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ...
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What Happens When NASA Loses Eyes on Earth? We’re About to Find Out. - New York Times - Climate Section (May 3) |
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May 3 · Three long-running satellites will soon be switched off, forcing scientists to figure out how to adjust their views of our changing planet.
Marine stratocumulus clouds over the southeastern Pacific Ocean, captured by NASA’s Terra satellite in 2002.Credit...NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team
Sometime in the next few years - no one knows exactly when - three NASA satellites, each one as heavy as an elephant, will go dark.
Already they are drifting, losing height bit by bit. They have been gazing down at the planet for over two decades, far longer than anyone expected, helping us forecast the weather, manage wildfires, monitor oil spills and more. But age is catching up to ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
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Can Forests Be More Profitable Than Beef? - New York Times - Climate Section (May 2) |
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May 2 · Cattle ranches have ruled the Amazon for decades. Now, new companies are selling something else: the ability of trees to lock away planet-warming carbon.
Forest restoration workers planted native Amazonian seedlings on degraded pastureland in Mãe do Rio, Brazil.Credit...
Manuela Andreoni visited restoration projects and ranches in the northern Amazon to understand how local economies there are changing.
The residents of Maracaçumé, an impoverished town on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, are mystified by the company that recently bought the biggest ranch in the region. How can it possibly make money by planting trees, which executives say they’ll never cut down, ... | By Manuela Andreoni Read more ...
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Drought That Snarled Panama Canal Was Linked to El Niño, Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Section (May 1) |
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May 1 · The low water levels that choked cargo traffic were more closely tied to the natural climate cycle than to human-caused warming, a team of scientists has concluded.
The recent drought in the Panama Canal was driven not by global warming but by below-normal rainfall linked to the natural climate cycle El Niño, an international team of scientists has concluded.
Low reservoir levels have slowed cargo traffic in the canal for most of the past year. Without enough water to raise and lower ships, officials last summer had to slash the number of vessels they allowed through, creating expensive headaches for shipping companies worldwide. Only in recent months have crossings ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
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Flooding in a Kenyan Natural Reserve Forces Tourist Evacuation - New York Times - Climate Section (May 1) |
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May 1 · The heavy rains that pounded East Africa for weeks, killing hundreds, have spilled into the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.
Mohamed Ahmed reported from Mombasa, Kenya, and Emma Bubola from London.
Devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands more in East Africa are now inundating parts of the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.
On Wednesday, the Telek River broke its banks and overflowed into parts of the natural reserve, flooding many tourist camps. A spokesman for the Kenyan Red Cross, Munir Ahmed, said that more than 90 people have been evacuated, some by ... | By Mohamed Ahmed and Emma Bubola Read more ...
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Biden Administration Moves to Speed Up Permits for Clean Energy - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · The White House wants federal agencies to keep climate change in mind as they decide whether to approve major projects.
The Biden administration on Tuesday released rules designed to speed up permits for clean energy while requiring federal agencies to more heavily weigh damaging effects on the climate and on low-income communities before approving projects like highways and oil wells.
As part of a deal to raise the country’s debt limit last year, Congress required changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, a 54-year-old bedrock law that requires the government to consider environmental effects and to seek public input before approving any project that ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
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Corn to Power Airplanes? Biden Administration Sets a High Bar. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · Producers of biofuels like ethanol, which could help create a new generation of jet fuel, would have to overhaul their practices to receive tax credits.
In a move aimed at lowering the greenhouse gas emissions of air travel, the Biden administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines for how fuel producers - and in particular, makers of ethanol from corn - could qualify for tax credits under a plan to increase the supply of so-called sustainable aviation fuel.
It’s especially difficult to transition airplanes away from traditional jet fuel because there are so few affordable alternatives capable of getting a plane off the ground. The global aviation sector accounts for ... | By Max Bearak and Dionne Searcey Read more ...
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Hydrogen Offers Germany a Chance to Take a Lead in Green Energy - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · A subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp, Germany’s venerable steel producer, is landing major deals for a device that makes the clean-burning gas from water.
Workers transporting cell modules for an electrolyzer built by ThyssenKrupp Nucera, next to a steel mill in Duisburg, Germany.Credit...Felix Schmitt for The New York Times
Stanley Reed, who writes on energy and the environment, and Melissa Eddy, a Berlin economics and business correspondent, visited ThyssenKrupp Nucera’s sites in Germany.
In the city of Duisburg in Germany’s industrial heartland is a vast steel complex that is one of Europe’s largest polluters. But alongside the mill’s furnaces and smelters, technicians ... | By Stanley Reed and Melissa Eddy Read more ...
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Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · The carmaker dismissed 500 employees in a unit that was critical to its success and seen as important to the future of electric vehicle sales in the United States.
Elon Musk has gutted the part of Tesla responsible for building electric vehicle charging stations, sowing uncertainty about the future of the largest and most reliable U.S. charging network.
The layoffs of about 500 Tesla employees, which many of them posted about on social media on Tuesday, raised questions about deals that Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, struck with the leaders of General Motors, Ford Motor and other automakers last year allowing cars made by other companies to use Tesla Supercharger ... | By Jack Ewing Read more ...
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U.S. Plan to Protect Oceans Has a Problem, Some Say: Too Much Fishing - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · An effort to protect 30 percent of land and waters would count some commercial fishing zones as conserved areas.
New details of the Biden administration’s signature conservation effort, made public this month amid a burst of other environmental announcements, have alarmed some scientists who study marine protected areas because the plan would count certain commercial fishing zones as conserved.
The decision could have ripple effects around the world as nations work toward fulfilling a broader global commitment to safeguard 30 percent of the entire planet’s land, inland waters and seas. That effort has been hailed as historic, but the critical question of what, exactly, ... | By Catrin Einhorn Read more ...
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Water Heaters Use Lots of Energy. The D.O.E. Wants to Change That. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 30) |
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Apr 30 · The Biden administration is tightening efficiency rules for water heaters, stoves and other appliances, and conservative politicians are dialing up their criticisms.
The Biden administration on Tuesday adopted stricter energy-efficiency standards for residential water heaters, the most consequential move in a flurry of changes designed to reduce the energy used by many common appliances including stoves, dishwashers and lightbulbs.
The Department of Energy said the new standards, taken together, will save American households and businesses nearly $1 trillion over 30 years, and save the average family $100 a year or more through lower utility bills. The changes will also ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ...
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Environmental Prize Highlights Work to Keep Fossil Fuels at Bay - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 29) |
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Apr 29 · Around the world, grass-roots organizers and Indigenous communities are taking proposed coal, oil and gas projects to court - and winning.
New coal mines continue to open each year, and oil and gas companies are still exploring new parts of the world. But increasingly, people - especially Indigenous communities - are saying no to new fossil fuel developments on their land and using courts and legislatures to deliver the message.
In India, protests by Adivasi communities persuaded officials to cancel the auction of land for coal mines in the biodiverse forests of Chhattisgarh State. In South Africa, the Mpondo people stopped the Shell Global company from carrying out ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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