The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced the state is moving forward with an effort to reduce methane emissions with the help of innovative satellite technology. The project is made possible by a $100-million state budget investment to purchase methane plume data collected by satellites. The technology involves satellite-mounted methane... Read more →

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will be kicking off a formal reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and other relevant agencies. EPA also intends to reconsider all of its prior regulations and actions that... Read more →

The newly released Global Methane Budget 2024 highlights methane emissions from human activities have increased by 20% in the past two decades. Methane is one of three core greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. It lasts in the atmosphere for just a few decades, which is shorter when compared... Read more →

Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O)—a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential approximately 300 times larger than carbon dioxide—continued unabated between 1980 and 2020, a year when more than 10-million metric tons were released into the atmosphere primarily through farming practices, according to a new report by the Global Carbon... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has released a funding opportunity to establish the US DOT Climate and Transportation Research Initiative, funded at $2.5 million for the first year. This funding supports a partnership between US DOT and a university or other eligible organizations to conduct research advancing solutions to... Read more →

During a research expedition led by Linnaeus University and Stockholm University to the deepest parts of the Baltic Sea in the Landsort Deep researchers recently discovered an area with extensive emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from the bottom sediments. The area where the methane leak was discovered is... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation introduced the AI-enabled, blockchain-based Supplier CO2 Emission Monitoring System (SCEMS) to manage the carbon emissions of its cooperative business partners. SCEMS is designed to compute carbon emissions at every stage of a cooperative partner’s supply chain while assuring data transparency and integrity. Hyundai Motor... Read more →

A study led by Norwegian climate center CICERO has found that the global warming effect of leaked hydrogen is almost 12 times stronger than that of CO2. The open-access paper is published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment. Unlike exhaust from burning coal and gas that contains CO2, burning hydrogen... Read more →

Chevron USA kicked off a road trip across the US Gulf Coast to showcase an innovative new gasoline blend with more than 50% renewable content. People from Chevron and Toyota will be driving Toyota’s Tundra, RAV4 and Camry on this road trip with the objective of demonstrating the fuel, which... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 30th annual Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHG Inventory), which presents a national-level overview of annual greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2021. In 2021, US greenhouse gas emissions totaled 6,340.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, or... Read more →

New analysis has found increasing emissions of several ozone-depleting chemicals despite their production being banned for most uses under the Montreal Protocol—and a loophole in the rules is likely responsible. The research, published in Nature Geoscience and led by the University of Bristol and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),... Read more →

Greenhouse gases such as methane absorb primarily long-wave radiation, trapping heat from Earth’s surface and preventing it from radiating out into space—thus making the planet hotter. However, greenhouse gases also absorb short-wave radiation incoming from the sun. A new study by researchers from the University of California, Riverside and colleagues... Read more →

A study by MathPro Inc., prepared for the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), has found that hydrotreating is an inexpensive approach to produce near-zero naphthalenes petroleum jet fuel (PJF) for contrail abatement. The report estimates an incremental cost of 0.09 to 0.12 USD/gallon (~€0.03/L) to hydrotreat fossil jet fuel... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board approved a $2.6-billion investment plan to support the transition to zero-emission transportation. Supported projects range from incentives for cleaner trucks and buses, and mobility options such as bike- and car-sharing, to consumer rebates for clean cars. This year’s investment dollars focus largely on underserved communities,... Read more →

The Global Carbon Project (GCP) published its annual analysis of trends in the global carbon cycle in the journal Earth System Science Data, including an updated full-year projection for 2022. Global fossil CO2 emissions are expected to grow 1.0% (with an uncertainty range of 0.1% to 1.9%) in 2022 as... Read more →

In an open-access report in the journal Environmental Pollution, researchers from UCLA and the University of Chicago estimate that California’s wildfire carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from 2020 (~127 mmt CO2e ) are approximately two times higher than California’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions since 2003. Without considering future... Read more →

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has established a 2050 net-zero carbon dioxide emission goal for international aviation. That agreement came at the ICAO 41st Assembly in Montreal after almost a decade of negotiations, and reflects increased urgency to align aviation with the Paris Agreement. Previous ICAO negotiations have focused... Read more →

The Purdue University researchers who created the world’s whitest paint (earlier post) have developed a new formulation that is thinner and lighter—ideal for radiating heat away from cars, trains and airplanes. The original world’s whitest paint used nanoparticles of barium sulfate to reflect 98.1% of sunlight, cooling outdoor surfaces more... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $32 million in funding (DE-FOA-0002616) toward the research and development of new monitoring, measurement, and mitigation technologies to help detect, quantify, and reduce methane emissions across oil and natural gas producing regions of the United States. The United States has more... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for states and municipalities to track and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The new rule would: Establish a national framework for tracking state-by-state progress by adding a new GHG performance management measure to the... Read more →

The rapidly growing space industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study led by UCL and published in the journal Earth’s Future as an open-access paper. The space industry is one... Read more →

The ongoing severe drought in the Colorado River Basin has led to the river flowing at 84% of its historic average flow. An even more intense “megadrought” hit the region around 1,800 years ago, according to a new study published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters. At just 68%... Read more →

An international team of researchers has shed light on one way new particles are forming in the upper troposphere. The open-access study, published in Nature, reveals an unexpected volatile reaction between nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, synergistically creating new particles at a rapid rate. The findings suggest that in... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released the draft 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan—the third update to the state’s initial 2008 Scoping Plan. It identifies a path to achieve carbon neutrality over the next two decades while also assessing the progress the State is making towards reducing its greenhouse... Read more →

All regions of the world do not—and will not—experience the effects of CO2 emissions in the same way. Some will suffer greatly from climate change, while others may even benefit. These heterogeneous effects mean that different countries will have differing incentives to abide by the Paris Agreement, which aims to... Read more →

Virginia Tech researchers, in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, have discovered that key parts of the global carbon cycle used to track movement of carbon dioxide in the environment are not correct, which could significantly alter conventional carbon cycle models. The findings are published in an open-access paper in... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reinstated California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to implement its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards and zero emission vehicle (ZEV) sales mandate. This means that the Clean Air Act (CAA) waiver granted to California to implement its Advanced Clean Car (ACC) program... Read more →

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6% in 2021 to 36.3 billion tonnes, their highest ever level, as the world economy rebounded strongly from the COVID-19 crisis and relied heavily on coal to power that growth, according to new IEA analysis. The rebound of global CO2 emissions above pre-pandemic... Read more →

In a study published in Nature Climate Change, an international research team reports finding limited evidence that individual or household rebates have increased public support for carbon taxes in Canada and Switzerland. The researchers from UC Santa Barbara, Université de Montréal, University of British Columbia and University of Bern used... Read more →

BASF has signed a joint development agreement with China BlueChemical Limited Company, a leading natural gas producer, and the chemical engineering company Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. to promote low-carbon development and utilization of marine gas resources. In the Dongfang Industrial Park of Hainan Province, China BlueChemical extracts large quantities of... Read more →

Thermo King, the transport refrigeration brand of Trane Technologies, will transition to a lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant as standard in its truck and trailer units. This will reduce the carbon footprint of refrigerants used by its customers’ long-haul, middle-mile and last-mile delivery fleets by nearly 50%—approximately 650,000 metric... Read more →

Starting immediately, Deutsche Post is offsetting any unavoidable CO2 emissions due to mail transport with investments in internationally recognized and certified climate protection projects at no extra charge. For the last ten years, DHL has transported all parcels for private customers with its climate-friendly “GoGreen” service. Up until now, the... Read more →

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing the federal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks for Model Years (MY) 2023 through 2026. The standards through 2026 also set the light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) program on track to provide a strong launch point for the... Read more →

Alcoa Corp. outlined a technology roadmap to support its vision to reinvent the aluminum industry for a sustainable future. The technologies in Alcoa’s roadmap, including a new, proprietary post-consumer scrap recycling process, have the potential to decarbonize a significant portion of the upstream aluminum supply chain and provide a competitive... Read more →

At COP26 in Glasgow, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the US Aviation Climate Action Plan, published by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which sets out to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the US aviation sector by 2050. The document focuses on technologies that could substantially reduce the... Read more →

The COP26 pledge by governments, automakers and others to sell only zero-emissions cars and vans from 2035 in leading markets and by 2040 elsewhere (earlier post) needs to be backed up with actual targets set down in law, green NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) said. With China, the US, Germany... Read more →

At COP26 in Glasgow, 23 country governments; 10 governments in emerging markets and developing economies; 40 cities, states and regional governments; 11 automakers; 27 fleet owners and operators or shared mobility platforms; 13 investors with significant shareholdings in automotive manufacturers; 2 financial instituions; and 17 other organizations signed a declaration... Read more →

Ford Motor Company and its financing subsidiary, Ford Motor Credit Company, introduced the North America auto industry’s first sustainable financing framework, focusing on and paying for ambitious plans in vehicle electrification and other environmental and social areas. Separately, Ford today also announced a cash tender offer to repurchase up to... Read more →

The World Economic Forum (WEF), in partnership with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, has launched the First Movers Coalition—a new platform for companies to make purchasing commitments that create new market demand for low carbon technologies. The commitments aim to be collectively significant enough to commercialize decarbonization... Read more →

New research led by Mohammad Masnadi, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, offers a closer look at the relationship between decreasing demand for oil and a resilient, varied oil market—and the carbon footprint associated with both. An open-access paper on... Read more →

Daphne Technology, a Swiss startup that has developed multi-pollutant reduction technology—a “green converter”—targeting the maritime industry, has secured strategic investments from Shell Ventures, Trafigura, AET and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures. Daphne’s technology removes toxic and GHG emissions such as nitrogen oxides, methane and carbon dioxide from the combustion gas of... Read more →

Plastics are on track to contribute more greenhouse gas emissions than coal plants in the US by 2030, according to new report by Beyond Plastics, a nationwide project based at Bennington College in Vermont. The New Coal: Plastics and Climate Change analyzes data from ten stages of plastics production, usage,... Read more →

Automotive Tier 1 supplier Gestamp has signed an agreement with ArcelorMittal to start using XCarb green steel certificates for the production of automotive components, as part of a sustainability strategy aimed at achieving decarbonization in all of its operations. Gestamp products cover the areas of body-in-white, chassis and mechanisms. With... Read more →

An ultra-white paint incorporating barium sulfate (BaSO4) particles that is up to 98.1% reflective, developed by engineers at Purdue University, has earned a Guinness World Records title for the whitest paint. The record appears in the 2022 edition of Guinness World Records. The 98.1% reflectivity compares to a reflectivity of... Read more →

The Second UN Global Sustainable Transport Conference concluded with a call to accelerate progress towards achieving sustainable transport that would result in major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and in improving the lives of millions of people. The Conference participants agreed that without a profound shift to sustainable mobility, achieving... Read more →

The members of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) have collectively committed to a goal of net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 or sooner in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The ICMM is an international organization dedicated to a... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has selected four projects to receive a combined $9.4 million to develop technology focused on removing sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) from the US power grid. SF6 has been the standard gas used inside high voltage electrical equipment as an insulating... Read more →

Polestar has released the LCA reports for the new Polestar 2 versions (Long-range Single-motor and Standard-range Single-motor), including all emissions from cradle to grave. The company published an evaluation of the carbon footprint of the Long-range Dual-motor Polestar 2 in 2020. The new LCAs represent a continuation of that work;... Read more →

California Climate Investments—a program designed to put billions of dollars to work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—is funded with proceeds from the State’s Cap-and-Trade GHG emissions reduction program and is administered by the California Air Resources Board (ARB). Since 2013, the California Legislature has appropriated $15.4 billion in California Climate... Read more →

Kia EV6 (earlier post)has achieved product carbon footprint certification and ‘Carbon Measured’ label from the global climate change and sustainability consultancy the Carbon Trust, becoming the first Korean vehicle manufacturer to achieve the certificate. The first EV6 models are expected to go on sale in the US in early 2022... Read more →