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Amazon orders 100,000 EVs to help meet climate goal ten years early
Jeff Bezos has announced Amazon will sign up to a climate pledge with the aim of meeting the United Nations Paris Agreement climate goals 10 years early. He said Amazon will hit emission reduction targets by 2040, report its emissions regularly and implement decarbonization strategies. The company will balance out any remaining emissions with carbon offsets. Bezos wants 80 percent of Amazon's energy use to come from renewable sources by 2024, and for it to rely fully on renewable energy by 2030.
Governments reach deal to implement Paris climate change agreement
Politicians signed the Paris climate agreement back in 2015, but they've finally laid the groundwork for acting on that agreement. Governments have developed guidelines, known as the Katowice Climate Package, that will determine how they implement emissions reductions starting in 2020. It establishes how nations will set targets, measure technological progress, verify effectiveness and otherwise translate the agreement's goals into reality.
Scientists can't explain a 'worrying' rise in methane levels
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Thanks to a combination of human activities and the El Nino weather event, last year's increase was 50% higher than the yearly average from the past decade, driving CO2 to a level that's not been seen for 800,000 years. Average levels in 2016 reached 403.3 parts per million, up from 400 parts per million in 2015.
California and China partner on clean energy tech
The Trump administration's decision to leave the Paris Accord has already prompted some states to forge their own pro-environment pacts, but the latest such alliance is... unusual. California and China are forming a partnership that will see the two work together on clean energy technology, including carbon capture and IT that can keep greenhouse gases in check. They'll also unite on emissions trading and additional "climate-positive" initiatives. It sounds like a contradiction to work with China when it's notorious for its pollution, but it makes more sense in light of the country's recent efforts to turn itself around.
Elon Musk leaves Trump’s council after US exits Paris climate pact
Today, president Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Accord. As promised, Tesla CEO Elon Musk then announced that he would no longer be part of presidential councils based on Trump's decision.
Apple, Microsoft and others supported staying in the Paris climate pact
With President Donald Trump set to make a decision on the Paris climate change agreement today, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and 21 other companies published an open letter urging him to keep the US in the Paris Agreement for the good of the country's economy. The letter was released last month and posted as a full-page ad in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Post. "As some of the largest companies based or operating in the United States, we strongly urge you to keep the United States in the Paris Agreement on climate change," the letter reads. "Climate change presents both business risks and business opportunities. Continued U.S. participation in the agreement benefits U.S. businesses and the U.S. economy in many ways."
Worldwide carbon emissions were flat for third year in a row
For the third year in a row, carbon emissions around the world have remained flat, according to the research group Global Carbon Project. The group revealed its findings in the Global Carbon Budget 2016, which measures how much carbon is emitted by countries around the world, and then how much of that is absorbed into the earth by plants, land and oceans. The remaining carbon hangs out in the atmosphere and drives global warming, and it's the focus of Global Carbon Project's research.
Kigali Amendment reached to cut use of planet-warming HFCs
Today, more than 170 nations have settled on a plan to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons (or HFCs), a refrigerant that causes warming in the Earth's atmosphere. Called the Kigali Amendment for the location of negotiations in Rwanda, it's the result of seven years of work to expand the Montreal Protocol reached in 1987. That deal phased out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, and by adding to it, this agreement carries its legally binding weight as a treaty, without needing to wait for ratification like last year's Paris Agreement.
