Fossil Fuels Archives - Inside Climate News

Q&A: The Sort of ‘Breakthrough’ Moment Came in Dubai When the Nations of the World Agreed to Transition Away From Fossil Fuels

Interview by Steve Curwood, "Living on Earth" — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 09:30:00 +0000

But, says climate advocate Alden Meyer, “the atmosphere only cares about one thing: emissions. It's a matter of physics. It doesn't care what ministers or leaders say in declarations or treaties or pledges or action announcements … So the acid test for this is going to come in the next couple of years.”

Interview by Steve Curwood, "Living on Earth"

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Alden Meyer, a climate advocate and senior consultant at E3G, an independent climate change think tank. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Will the American Geophysical Union Cut All Ties With the Fossil Fuel Industry?

By Liza Gross — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Scientist-activists ask the world’s biggest society of earth and space scientists to revoke the fossil fuel industry’s social license.

By Liza Gross

SAN FRANCISCO—Scientists who have risked their careers, freedom and livelihoods led a town hall meeting here on Tuesday at the world’s largest annual gathering of earth and space scientists to ask their colleagues to consider what their professional society’s stance should be in relation to the fossil fuel industry.

The U.S. May Not Have Won Over Critics in Dubai, But the Biden Administration Helped Keep the Process Alive

By Marianne Lavelle — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:30:00 +0000

Special Climate Envoy Kerry clearly believed the final deal was better than no deal at all, especially after direct pre-COP diplomacy with China became a springboard for action led by the world's top carbon, and methane, emitters.

By Marianne Lavelle

When it looked like climate negotiations in Dubai were about to fall apart early this week over the summit’s failure to make any commitment to transition away from fossil fuels, U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry sharpened his tone to align with the most ardent climate activists—many of whom had been targeting him for criticism.

COP28 Does Not Deliver Clear Path to Fossil Fuel Phase Out

By Bob Berwyn — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0000

Small island states that arrived after the document was approved, don’t accept the outcome as a consensus decision.

By Bob Berwyn

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Going into overtime under the cover of a dark winter night in Dubai, climate negotiators at COP28 cooked up a weak sauce of climate half-measures that fail to adequately address the existential risk of global warming to millions of people around the globe, according to leading climate experts at the conference.

A New UN ‘Roadmap’ Lays Out a Global Vision for Food Security and Emissions Reductions

By Georgina Gustin — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Critics applaud food-related ambitions at COP28, but say they don’t address livestock emissions and rely too much on bioenergy.

By Georgina Gustin

As the United Nations’ annual climate summit wraps up in Dubai this week, farm and food groups are applauding the conference leadership for its intensified focus on agriculture, a major source of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions that has been overlooked in previous years.

Massachusetts Just Took a Big Step Away from Natural Gas. Which States Might Follow?

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 22:21:16 +0000

A first-in-the-country ruling sets Massachusetts on a path toward electrification of heating, and could lead regulators in other states to follow suit.

By Dan Gearino

Natural gas may be on the way out in Massachusetts.

At COP28, a Growing Sense of Alarm Over the Harms of Air Pollution

By Victoria St. Martin — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:30:00 +0000

A study released on the eve of the conference found that 8 million people around the world die annually from air pollution. And experts say the crisis is worsening.

By Victoria St. Martin

In one home video, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah bops to a choreographed Beyoncé dance. In another, she looks at the camera, and her mom and plants a big kiss on her lips. Then there is a photo of her mid-laugh when she told her mom she could not climb any more steps at a monument. And in some of the final images taken of Ella as she neared the end of her all-too-brief life, the 9-year-old lies in a London hospital room struggling to breathe, an oxygen mask covering nearly all of her tiny, oval face.

Texas Court Strikes Down Air Pollution Permit for Gulf Coast Oil Terminal

By Dylan Baddour — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0000

A judge reversed a 2022 decision by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that involved its controversial “one-mile rule” to deny hearing requests.

By Dylan Baddour

For the second time in three weeks, a court struck down an air pollution permit issued by Texas’ environmental regulator.

New Mexico Looks to Address Increasing Aridity With Brackish and Produced Water. Experts Are ‘Skeptical’

By Wyatt Myskow — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 10:30:00 +0000

The Southwestern state announced Tuesday that it would spend $500 million on salty water from deep underground and wastewater from oil and gas production as a solution to its shortage.

By Wyatt Myskow

New Mexico will invest $500 million into purchasing water from controversial sources, including treated oilfield wastewater, as a means to bolster the state’s water portfolio. The purchases are the latest in a long-running series of deals dipping into untapped waters to shore up dwindling supplies as climate change and decades of overconsumption drive aridification of the Southwest.

Q&A: How a Fossil Fuel Treaty Could Support the Paris Agreement and Wind Down Production

By Nicholas Kusnetz — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

A global campaign is gaining steam at COP28, calling for a treaty that would manage the transition away from fossil fuels.

By Nicholas Kusnetz

One of the most important questions surrounding the COP28 climate summit is whether nations will finally agree to phase out fossil fuels, which are responsible for the vast majority of climate-warming pollution. Such an agreement would require a global consensus and support from the world’s largest producers of coal, oil and gas, a hurdle that has proven too high in previous rounds of negotiation.