Kyoto works

Europe is on track to meet goals. The rest of the world should take note.

Adam Stein | November 17, 2009

It seems like it should be bigger news that the Kyoto Protocol is working: According to new data from the European Environment Agency (EEA), all of the EU-15 members except Austria are now on track to exceed their Kyoto obligations. In fact, the group as a whole will likely slash emissions more than 13 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The report from the EEA is careful to distinguish between reductions caused by the economic...

Hunters, fishers press for climate change bill

And the religious right gets in on the act

Adam Stein | November 1, 2009

This isn’t exactly a new trend — I remember writing about it several years ago — but it seems to be picking up some steam: More than 13,000 hunters and anglers from across the country joined a “virtual town hall” teleconference on Tuesday to hear a discussion of the impact of climate change on fish and wildlife populations, and to voice their support for federal action to limit carbon emissions. Recently I whined about how...

Bashing environmentalists always pays

It’s just simple Freakonomics!

Adam Stein | October 29, 2009

I generally don’t indulge in blog rants, mostly because I’m just not very good at them. David Roberts, on the other hand, is good at them, and he puts to words some of the deep disgust I’ve been feeling over the foofaraw kicked up by the new book Superfreakonomics, the sequel to the fairly awful and inexplicably bestselling Freakonomics. I’m not going to rehash the Superfreakonomics episode in detail. For the gory details, go here...

Another trivially easy thing you can do to end climate change

Plus: bonus inspirational story to get you in the mood

Adam Stein | October 22, 2009

Last week I wrote about how writing a letter is this easiest and most important thing you can do to protect the environment. This week, I have a follow-up suggestion: actually write the letter. Some handful of you did so last week. Good job! But the majority of you managed not to get around to it. The printer is out of toner. You’re can’t find any envelopes. The mailbox is five blocks away. Who even...

Prospects brighten for climate bill in Senate

Kerry and Graham collaboration could lead to 60 votes

Adam Stern | October 20, 2009

Optimism is growing in Washington that the U.S. Senate could pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation by early next year. A series of developments, including a recent New York Times op-ed by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), show a path to the 60 votes needed in the Senate to overcome a likely filibuster. In a piece titled “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)” Sens. Kerry and Graham wrote that even...

Blog Action Day: How you, personally, can end climate change

Three simple steps — easier than changing your light bulbs

Adam Stein | October 15, 2009

The topic of this year’s Blog Action Day is climate change, which is convenient for me. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I thought it might be useful to let people know how they can save the world. Personal conservation is great, but it’s not nearly as great as political activism. Climate change is a global commons problem, and only coordination on a national and international scale will deliver the long-term emissions...

EPA prepares to regulate greenhouse gases

Agency makes small but significant rule change to tailor Clean Air Act to carbon dioxide

Adam Stein | October 6, 2009

Last week, the EPA made a minor rule change with potentially large repercussions. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is required to regulate polluters who emit more than 250 tons of pollutants per year. For greenhouse gases, the EPA just raised that floor to 25,000 tons. This is a good thing. in 2007, the Supreme Court effectively ruled that the EPA has an obligation to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. This...

Saving the planet over lunch

Three leaders talk through what’s needed to get a deal in Copenhagen

Adam Stern | October 6, 2009

Reaching a climate agreement among the 190 countries expected at the UN talks in Copenhagen in December remains a daunting task. The political and economic differences between industrialized and developing nations may prove intractable. But in Los Angeles last week, three climate policy stars – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chair Rajendra Pachauri – took a stab at framing a deal during a lunchtime...

Capitalism to the rescue

Many capitalists love the economy and the environment

Mark Mondik | September 28, 2009

Capitalism has gotten a pretty bad rap over the past couple years, and even the most bloodthirsty plutocrat might begrudgingly admit that some of the knocks are deserved. The avarice of recent years underscores one of the main shortcomings of capitalism in America — too much focus on short-term profits at the expense of the longer-term future. The popular response is to call for greater government regulation, with the aim of forcing companies to do...

Left-wingers conserve like this, right-wingers conserve like that…

No Impact Man pushes back on his critics

Adam Stein | September 28, 2009

In a Grist interview, Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) muses over the question of why some critics seem eager to cast his project as a poor alternative to political activism, rather than as a complementary step: I didn’t realize it when I started the project, but part of the reason is this: collective action is at the root of liberal ideology and individual action is at the root of conservative ideology. To straddle individual...

Schwarzenegger Defends AB 32

Governor says the law cutting greenhouse gases is vital for California’s future.

Adam Stern | September 25, 2009

Speaking on the third anniversary of the signing of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) in San Francisco yesterday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a full-throated defense of the state’s landmark law that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. He also directly responded to Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and now a Republican candidate in the race to succeed Schwarzenegger in 2010, who opened her campaign this week with a...

Carbon in the French style

Sarkozy proposes emissions tax, plus tariffs on products from polluting countries

Adam Stein | September 19, 2009

France is getting ready to impose a $25-per-ton carbon tax on heating oil, gasoline, and natural gas. President Nicolas Sarkozy claims that the new fee is really a tax shift — the money will be rebated to citizens or used to reduce other taxes — although critics have called it a tax hike in disguise. France is in an interesting position. As a Kyoto signatory, the country is required to meet certain emissions reduction targets....

G8 makes 2° commitment, misses the point

We’ve got to focus on the cause, not the symptoms

Tim Varga | September 17, 2009

In early July at the Major Economies Forum in L’aquila, Italy, G8 leaders took a big step by publicly announcing a goal of limiting global warming to 2° C. Let us all acknowledge that it is a Big Deal that these countries — the ones who created climate change to begin with — are going to take steps to mitigate this impending crisis. Now let us bang our heads against our desks in frustration because...

Cash for clunkers: still looking pretty good

The program was cheap, stimulated the economy, and reduced emissions. Why the carping?

Adam Stein | September 15, 2009

I’m not sure why it’s so hard for people to admit that the Cash for Clunkers program basically worked. I mean, I know it seems like the ultimate boondoggle: let’s pay people to buy new cars! And let’s layer over some fairly lame mileage requirements to give the program a green patina! I myself was somewhat skeptical (although certainly not dismissive) of the idea when it was first mooted. Now a new study from the...

Climate ads running on TV

New campaigns seek to influence votes in Senate

Adam Stern | September 15, 2009

Television advertising may be pivotal in the coming debate about climate legislation in the U.S. Senate. Analysts believe that 20-25 senators may still be undecided on how they will vote on an energy/climate bill later this year. That leaves room for TV ads like this one from Clean Energy Works, a coalition of environmental and labor organizations, to make a difference: At a time of rising unemployment, the emphasis on “clean energy jobs” may be...

California proposes auction to boost solar energy

Kind of like a feed-in tariff, but possibly much better

Adam Stein | August 31, 2009

California has proposed setting up an open bidding process for mid-size solar projects. Under the scheme, utilities would rank bids by price and accept all of the cheapest proposals that their budgets allow. The auction would be repeated twice a year, with the eventual goal of bringing an additional 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity online. The scheme is somewhat reminiscent of feed-in tariffs, a dead-simple policy mechanism that has successfully boosted renewable energy in Europe....

Friday video fun

Including bonus Where The Wild Things Are

Adam Stein | August 7, 2009

David Roberts brings the funny in his quest for “songs that express environmental concern and don’t suck.” It’s a quest that largely fails, unless “slightly better white-boy rapping” about methane capture counts as success. The TerraPass office represents 75% of the global fan base for manure digester anthems, and even we can’t get behind this song. David gives top honors to Double Panes, an energy efficiency tribute to the tune of M.I.A.’s Paper Planes. And,...

Cash for Clunkers is a hit. But does it work?

Kind of. But a less-glamorous variant promises real green benefits.

Adam Stein | August 4, 2009

The unexpected popularity of the cash-for-clunkers program has sent congress scrambling to find more funding. About 250,000 people have taken advantage of the incentives to trade older cars for ones with better fuel efficiency, burning through the first billion dollars in about a week. The price tag of the program has given politicians something to argue about, but I’m interested in a more basic question: does it work? The last time I looked at this...

“Eek! Markets! Wall Street! Bad!”

Derivatives, speculation, Goldman Sachs and other four-letter words

Adam Stein | July 28, 2009

Paul Krugman digs into an issue that deserves more attention: will Goldman Sachs’ use of derivatives to manipulate the carbon markets inevitably cause the sun to explode, blotting out all life on earth? Actually, he digs into the fearmongering surrounding cap-and-trade, and lays out some of the many reasons concerns about carbon market manipulation is overblown. This has been an issue I’ve wanted to devote some blog inches to for a while, but, lacking a...

Reading the tea leaves on the climate bill

Summer negotiations in the Senate will be a hard slog

Adam Stern | July 28, 2009

The dog days of summer will soon arrive with Congress starting a month-long recess and official Washington becoming a very quiet place. But behind the scenes, negotiations on a federal climate bill will continue as legislators and their staffs try to find the formula that can garner 60 votes in the U.S. Senate in the fall. In recent weeks, most of the focus has been in the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee where the...

Do you like tar? How about sandy tar?

No? Then voice your opposition to the new tar sand pipeline

TerraPass | July 13, 2009

Recently the 100th proposed coal plant was stopped by a combination of grassroots organizing, rising costs, legal pressure, and proposed legislation. Increasingly organizers are turning their attention to another highly polluting source of energy: the Albertan Tar Sands. Because it is so difficult to to extract oil from tar sands, the process involves even more environmental degradation and greenhouse gas creation than typical fossil fuels. The Alberta Clipper pipeline, a major piece of the project...

Waxman Markey changes the climate in Australia

Domestic legislation is part of a much grander international plan

Adam Stein | July 10, 2009

I’ve argued before that it only makes sense to consider Waxman-Markey as part of ongoing, twenty-year international negotiation, not as an endpoint or a piece of standalone legislation. One problem this presents is that international relations tend to be even more sluggish, boring and inscrutable than the parliamentary maneuvering that takes place in our own Congress, and certainly a lot more difficult for voters to get energized about. But, hey, some good news: passage of...

Boxer preps the Senate to act on climate

Key committee seeks to pass bill within next month

Adam Stern | July 7, 2009

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) isn’t wasting any time. The chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on climate policy today that sought to build on legislative momentum created by the House’s passage of the Waxman-Markey bill last month. This is the first step towards marking up a Senate bill — a process Boxer hopes to complete before Congress takes its break in August. The Obama Administration sent four cabinet-level officials...

Seriously: the Waxman-Markey bill is good

Despite the horsetrading, the bill gets the big things right

Adam Stein | July 3, 2009

Thomas Friedman makes a bunch of very good points in his recent column on the Waxman Markey climate change bill that just passed in the House. But the opening comes on awfully strong: There is much in the House cap-and-trade energy bill that just passed that I absolutely hate. It is too weak in key areas and way too complicated in others. A simple, straightforward carbon tax would have made much more sense than this...

Waxman-Markey passes the House

Take a moment to bask. Then, back to the barricades.

Adam Stein | June 30, 2009

So, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 passed the House on Friday. First, to get the necessary throat-clearing out of the way: this is an historic moment that was both an extremely long time in coming and also a lot speedier than many dared hope. When Henry Waxman announced his intention of bring the bill to a floor vote by July 4, most in the environmental community thought the goal was admirably...

Flying the more expensive skies

Including aviation in a carbon cap will cause ticket prices to rise — as they should

Adam Stein | June 30, 2009

The American Clean Energy and Security (née Waxman Markey) covers an impressive swath of the U.S. economy — nearly 85% of total carbon emissions, as compared to Europe’s 52%. One area it doesn’t cover, however, is aviation, at least not via the cap-and-trade mechanism that puts a hard limit on total emissions. Instead, the bill makes brief mention of creating efficiency standards for new aircraft engines based on the best technology available at the time....

Did Chicago get burned on parking reform?

Looking for quick fix, city leaves cash on the table

Adam Stein | June 23, 2009

Last year, I wrote about Chicago’s decision to lease its parking spaces to a private company. Although no vendor had yet been selected, the deal seemed like a good idea in principle. Parking reform — which generally means raising the price of curbside spots to something approaching market rates, and perhaps even dynamically adjusting them based on time, location, and other conditions — offers a lot of benefits. Underpriced parking leads to increased tailpipe emissions,...

Environmental leaders weigh in on Waxman-Markey

Most feel bill is good start, despite flaws

Adam Stein | June 23, 2009

The online publication Yale Environment 360 recently asked eleven environmentalists and environmental groups for their reactions to the Waxman-Markey climate legislation, now that the bill has spent some time marinating in various congressional committees. The question takes on particular relevance as environmentalists wrestle with the issue of how far to compromise on various key issues. Here’s a round-up of the round-up: Angela Ledford, U.S. Climate Action Network In a nutshell: supports the bill even if...

Leading scientists say urgent action needed

They even have expertise in relevant fields

Tim Varga | June 22, 2009

I’m not one to usually trot out the latest “open letter” or what-have-you from some consortium of Very Important Scientists regarding climate change, but I think this one bears mentioning. Issued today, the open letter from 20 U.S. climate scientists and experts calls for quick passage of the Waxman-Markey bill. The letter is postmarked from the Woods Hole Research Center which, contrary to appearance, has little to do with woods or holes. Rather, it is...

China wrestles with carbon footprint

Says no to binding caps, but pushes ahead with clean energy plans

Nicole Schuetz | June 12, 2009

The U.S. and China collectively emit over 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, so relations between the two nations are rightly seen as central to a new global climate treaty. After a visit this week from Todd Stern, the United States’ top climate negotiator, China declared it would not accept binding emissions reduction targets at this time, a position Stern accepts as reasonable. There are plenty of arguments for why China should agree to a binding...

Taking the long view on Waxman Markey

Climate bill is one step in a global, twenty-year dance

Adam Stein | June 9, 2009

I haven’t really had the energy to try to say anything clever about the American Clean Energy and Security Act — better known as Waxman Markey — primarily because of this: it makes little sense to view Waxman Markey as anything other than a single, big step in a multinational negotiation that is unfolding over a period of at least twenty years. Roughly ten of those years have already gone by, leaving us with about...

Greens take another look at offsets

Real reductions at low cost are proving appealing as climate bill moves forward

Adam Stein | June 2, 2009

The public perception of carbon offsets has cycled over time, although lately offsets haven’t been in the news much at all, perhaps because the climate change debate has tended to focus on bigger picture issues surrounding the legislation pending in congress. Very recently, though, offsets have garnered some positive press that may signal another turn in the tide of conventional wisdom. Economist Robert Frank takes to the pages of the New York Times to praise...

Lyndon Baines Waxman

California rep overcomes Congressional inertia to produce viable climate bill

Adam Stern | May 19, 2009

If Rep. Henry Waxman’s American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, or some version close to it, actually becomes law, policy experts and historians may compare this congressman’s legislative skills to those of Lyndon Baines Johnson. When Johnson was Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate (1953-61), he mobilized support to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which at the time most observers said would be politically impossible. Southern Democrats were united in their opposition...

Did environmentalists get played on cap and trade?

I backed your market-based policy, and all I got was this lousy filibuster

Adam Stein | April 28, 2009

Although it’s not his regular beat, Kevin Drum blogs sensibly about carbon policy from time to time. Recently, though, in an otherwise agreeable post about the fecklessness of opponents of climate change legislation, Drum offers up a narrative that is both fairly commonplace and also riddled with misconceptions: It also goes to show how fleeting conservative support for “market-oriented solutions” like cap-and trade is. A lot of the liberal enthusiasm for cap-and-trade over the past...

Get ready for the offshore wind boom

New permitting rules open up a huge renewable resource

Adam Stein | April 28, 2009

Some of the principal obstacles to the development of clean energy are not economic or technological, but regulatory. America’s government consists of myriad fiefdoms, divided by geography and administrative function, each presiding over a crazy quilt of rules that often reflect outdated historical circumstances. Regulatory reform is desperately needed, but it’s also one of the most boring topics in the universe, which perhaps explains why the issue gets so little attention. So, anyway, good for...

Obama the Explainer

President walks us through cap and trade in 4 crisp paragraphs

Adam Stern | April 27, 2009

If your friends and family perceive you as the local environmental expert, you’ve probably been in social situations when you had to answer this question: How does cap and trade work? Drawing upon your best environmental economics plus a dash of conversational flair, you stumble through the subject and leave your listeners thinking they sort of understand it. Too bad the President of the United States isn’t nearby to bolster your case. This is how...

Earth Day action: comment on the EPA’s carbon finding

Take a minute and let the gov’t know you support action on climate change

Adam Stein | April 21, 2009

Speaking of citizen action, now is an excellent time to let the EPA know you feel about its recent endangerment finding for greenhouse gases. They’ve even set up a handy email address (GHG-Endangerment-Docket@epa.gov), so you can show your support for meaningful climate change legislation in less time than it takes to get to the bottom of this blog post. Background in a nutshell: a few years ago, several states filed a lawsuit to force the...

Is cash-for-clunkers a good idea?

Paying to take old cars of the road wins some support — and some backlash

Adam Stein | April 6, 2009

About a year ago — when the economy was merely bad, not yet apocalyptic, and automakers were still solvent — economist Alan Blinder proposed a left-field stimulus plan: the government should pay people to take their old, crappy automobiles off the road. Cash-for-clunkers programs supposedly offer three benefits: environmental, because old cars pollute more; social, because the money primarily flows to the poor; and economic, because the rebate circulates back into the economy. Now the...

Climate policy question #1 is simple: “Are we in?”

A carbon cap is the essential foundation for tackling climate change

TerraPass | April 6, 2009

This is guest post from K.C. Golden, the Policy Director of Climate Solutions. Climate and energy policy touches everything. So it’s no surprise that as Congress finally sets to work on a national climate policy, it confronts a blizzard of complexities. But at the end of the day, Congress will face some stark questions. Will they step up to a real commitment to reduce fossil fuel dependence? Will they launch an economic recovery that delivers...

Oregon’s successful mileage tax experiment

Prototype system worked smoothly — and helped curb congestion

Adam Stein | March 31, 2009

Recently I’ve been flogging the concept of a mileage tax, a system of per-mile road usage fees that over time can replace our dysfunctional gasoline tax as a way of funding transportation infrastructure. Although people have raised a lot of interesting objections, I’d like for now to skip ahead and simply describe Oregon’s successful experiment with a mileage tax. A single real-world example can be a lot more illuminating than an entire internet’s worth of...

Cap and trade (and energy policy, too)

Waxman issues bold bill to reduce carbon emissions

Adam Stern | March 31, 2009

For environmental policy wonks, few pieces of legislation have been as widely anticipated as what Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released today in his draft American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (summary here). Waxman became chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year — taking over from Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) — and vowed to push a climate bill through committee by Memorial Day and the full House by year-end. That...

Would you pay $2,000 per ton for your carbon footprint?

Under a cap-and-rebate system, you might be happiest when carbon prices rises

Adam Stein | March 23, 2009

The other day, I used the fanciful example of $50,000 utility bills to illustrate how cap-and-rebate schemes can inspire energy efficiency and conservation. The numbers were deliberately exaggerated, but they highlight one of the features of cap-and-rebate that I like: the robustness of the system in the face of higher carbon prices. The political battle over climate change legislation is mostly a battle over cost. Who pays and how much? Even the arguments that seem...

Making sense of cap-and-rebate

Strange but true — a carbon cap works even if the money raised is given back to consumers

Adam Stein | March 19, 2009

Obama’s cap and trade plan would rebate at least 80% of the revenue collected from carbon permits directly back to taxpayers. David Roberts asks a question that I think has been puzzling a lot of people: Say you put a price on carbon and rebate the revenue. Business costs rise, but they get that money back by raising prices for consumers. Consumer costs rise, but they get that money back via rebates. Who, in this...

Getting rid of the gas tax, redux

Whatever its virtues, the gas tax is nearing the end of its life

Adam Stein | March 16, 2009

The post on the mileage tax stirred up a lot of reaction, much of it negative. As it happens, the state of Oregon recently wrapped up a successful trial of a mileage tax system, so for the next few posts I’m going to be relying heavily on an excellent final report on the system (pdf) from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The primary objection to a mileage tax is that we already have one:...

Hacks and handout-seekers hate Obama’s climate plan

This is not news, but the Wall Street Journal seems to think so

Adam Stein | March 12, 2009

Environmental Capital reports that Obama’s approach to climate change legislation is foundering, because it’s tied to an ambitious social agenda. Which is weird, because Obama’s cap-and-trade proposal isn’t tied to an ambitious social agenda. Many Democrats are upset that President Obama’s budget earmarks most of the $646 billion in cap-and-trade revenue for generic tax cuts and to help fund other programs, rather than for specific help to cushion the blow of increased climate regulation. This...

Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary knows his stuff

Chu preaches the gospel of energy efficiency

Adam Stern | March 12, 2009

The new Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, spoke at an Alliance to Save Energy event in Washington last week and quickly showed why he’s the right person for the job. Secretary Chu affirmed the Obama Administration’s commitment to cap-and-trade legislation. He also emphasized the importance of energy efficiency in achieving ambitious carbon reduction goals. During public debate about climate policy, energy efficiency often gets short shrift relative to clean energy. Improving the operation of an...

Getting rid of the gas tax

Replacing the gas tax with a mileage tax may be the best idea that everyone loves to hate

Adam Stein | March 9, 2009

This sort of flew under the radar, but a few weeks ago a federal commission floated the idea of eventually replacing the gas tax with a tax based on the number of miles driven each year. What happened next was odd: progressives, conservatives, and wonks banded together to proclaim a mileage tax to be a stupid idea. A mileage tax is not a stupid idea. It may prove to be unworkable for technical, political, or...

The “cow tax”: not now, maybe not ever

A love of delicious farm votes beef crosses ideological boundaries

Adam Stein | March 9, 2009

In December, ranchers fell into a panic over a nonexistent E.P.A. proposal to tax methane emissions from cows. By February, panic was replaced by giggling: how could they every have worried over something so crazy as a “cow tax?” And now, to demonstrate how badly misplaced their fears were, a Democratic and Republican Senator have joined together to enshrine in law the sacred principle that American cows shall never be taxed. Smell the bipartisanship. Including...

Getting down to business

Congress digs into the details — including offsets — of a climate bill

Adam Stern | March 9, 2009

Drafting legislation is often equated with making sausage. The process isn’t pretty, but you have to go through it to get a bill out the other end. With Congressional prospects for climate legislation better than ever, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) held a hearing last week on “The Role of Offsets in Climate Legislation.” Markey now chairs a key subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said will be the...

Ask the Washington Post to stop lying about climate change

Take a minute. Write a letter. This is easy — and important.

Adam Stein | March 3, 2009

I really wanted to get a post into last week’s newsletter regarding the George Will flap, but deadlines being what they are, it didn’t happen. Happily, the controversy continues to sputter along, so it’s not to late for me to get my word in. Or rather, it’s not too late for you to get your word in. In a nutshell: recently George Will wrote a column packed full of stale lies about climate change. In...

Obama’s budget assumes a cap-and-trade system

$80b per year in carbon revenue to go to clean energy, tax payer rebates

Adam Stein | March 1, 2009

President Obama recently announced a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term, in part by raising revenue through the auctioning of carbon permits under a cap-and-trade system. In one sense, there’s no new information here. Obama campaigned heavily on cap-and-trade and he’s always favored auctioned permits, so the plan is just a restatement of some prior campaign pledges. Right? Sort of, but this is still a very...

Obama’s grid

Think a new electricity transmission system is coming soon? You can bet on it.

Adam Stein | February 24, 2009

The New York Times speculates: President Dwight Eisenhower is remembered for creating the nation’s system of interstate highways. Judging from the enthusiasm of his secretaries for “smart grid” projects, perhaps President Barack Obama aspires to be known for transforming the nation’s electricity system. Let me help out this reporter with a super-secret scoop: Obama absolutely aspires to be known for transforming America’s grid. It’s hard to imagine a policy development that could be more over-determined....

Is Kyoto working?

Mmmmmaybe. Two new signs offer encouragement.

Adam Stein | February 19, 2009

Although rumors of its death may be exaggerated, the Kyoto Protocol hasn’t so far been anyone’s idea of a rip-roaring success. The question remains: is the international treaty fundamentally flawed, or is it a fixer-upper that bureaucrats are slowly tweaking into an effective carbon-fighting regulatory framework. Two pieces of recent evidence boost the fixer-upper view. The first is a report from a prominent research group suggesting that a large part of the European Union’s drop...

Environmentalists and economists engage in slap fight while world burns

The irony: both groups agree on the necessary steps

Adam Stein | February 17, 2009

Eric Pooley, a former Editor at Time Magazine, has been studying the media treatment of climate change, and comes to the fairly unsurprising conclusion that the press has done a terrible job of informing the public about the issue. Recently, he offered the more surprising conclusion that, just as scientists are in basic agreement about climate change, there exists a parallel consensus among economists regarding the desirability of phasing out fossil fuels. The consensus consists...

Week one: climate won

President Obama wants California to be able to set its own CO2 rules for cars.

Adam Stern | January 27, 2009

If you’ve been following climate policy for the past decade, you’ve got to be encouraged by President Obama’s first major environmental decision: The president directed the EPA to reconsider a request by the state of California to enact air pollution regulations for cars and light trucks that would be tougher than current federal standards. This may sound like Washington talk, but it’s actually a big deal. California passed a clean car law in 2002 that...

Journalists still confused over carbon prices

Low carbon prices are a reflection — not a cause — of the troubles for clean tech

Adam Stein | January 26, 2009

Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were at it this week, flogging stories about how falling carbon prices are threatening clean technology. I’ve written before about how easy it is to get distracted by carbon prices, which, under cap-and-trade are more of a symptom of broader issues, not a cause. The Journal piece is fairly defensible. The Times piece is fairly hopeless: Another blow to the sector is the tumbling price...

Cap-and-trade shuts down U.S. coal plants

Jubilant environmentalists trade high fives, carbon permits

Adam Stein | January 4, 2009

We tend to see a lot of handwringing over the fact that Europe has a carbon cap in place, yet they’re still adding coal to the mix. But stories like this never seem to get reported the other way. Did you hear the good news? Dynergy scuttled six coal plants because of the U.S. carbon cap: “The development landscape has changed significantly since we agreed to enter into the development joint venture with LS Power...

Battery makers come begging

Oh noes! The Asians haz our lithium ionz!

Adam Stein | December 30, 2008

American lithium-ion battery makers, including giants like 3M, are banding together to try to extract a few billion dollars from Congress so they can build a shiny battery manufacturing plant that, for whatever reason, they aren’t willing to spend their own money on. This latest handout request is a fairly dubious idea* that is nevertheless likely to appeal to a lot of people on grounds of both economic nationalism and a vague aura of environmental...

Environmental hit parade continues

Two more climate experts join Obama’s green team.

Adam Stern | December 19, 2008

If you need any more evidence that President-elect Obama is serious about dealing with climate change, take a look at his latest appointments. During his radio address tomorrow, the president-elect is expected to name Dr. Jane Lubchenco to head the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Agency (NOAA) and Dr. John Holdren to serve as the president’s science adviser. Lubchenco (check out her resume), a professor at Oregon State University, is one of the most distinguished ocean...

Europe keeps cap intact

Despite messy compromise on pollution permits, E.U. stays the course

Adam Stein | December 15, 2008

Europe hammered out a deal on Friday to continue forth with its plans to make moderate cuts in carbon emissions over the next decade. The mass of compromises and concessions have left partisans of all stripes with plenty to complain about, but fundamentally the original agreement seems to be limping forward intact. Observers in the media are also starting to pay deserved attention to the question of how pollution permits are doled out under a...

Browner is Greener

Obama makes another smart choice

Adam Stern | December 14, 2008

President-elect Obama will soon appoint Carol Browner to a newly created post of energy and environment policy coordinator in the White House. Browner, who served as head of EPA during the Clinton Administration, is a savvy, results-oriented leader with experience getting things done in Washington. Browner will have to draw upon all of her skills if she is to advance Obama’s climate agenda. The president can use the bully pulpit to set the environmental vision...

California leads the way (again)

Air board approves ambitious climate plan

Adam Stern | December 11, 2008

California regulators took a major step forward in climate policy today by approving a plan to implement the state’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act. The plan commits the state to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 596 million metric tons (business-as-usual) to 427 million metric tons in 2020, or 30% from what would otherwise occur. This is a big deal! California’s plan did not occur in the dark of night (like some environmental rulemakings we...

Netherlands plans massive road-pricing scheme

Pay-as-you-drive system can fight congestion and emissions

Adam Stein | December 9, 2008

How did I miss the fact that the Netherlands is planning to wire up the entire nation for a massive road-pricing scheme, starting in 2011? Sort of the love child of a congestion pricing program and a gasoline tax, the scheme will use satellite technology* to track every vehicle in the country and charge them per-mile-driven according to a flexible rate schedule. Initially the program will cover just commercial trucks, expanding over time to all...

Power play drives climate policy

Congressman Waxman takes center stage.

Adam Stern | November 24, 2008

Parliamentary maneuvers in Congress can seem like inside baseball to those who don’t follow it every day, but this stuff really matters. Take the recent example of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) ousting Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. For years, Dingell has been a roadblock to meaningful climate legislation in the House. Representing Detroit and environs since 1955, Dingell has pushed the interests of the auto industry as...

A visit to the Governor’s Global Climate Summit

by Katiyana Williams, California Students Sustainability Coalition

Guest Post | November 20, 2008

Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger invited hundreds of the most influential leaders in climate issues from more than 50 states, provinces and countries to Los Angeles for the Governor’s Global Climate Summit. Not only did he invite members of the government, private and non-profit sectors, he also provided 100 complimentary full access passes to youth activists from around the world, including the California Student Sustainability Coalition. Which is how I came to find myself at...

Obama stays the course on climate

President-Elect signals that cap and trade remains a top priority.

Adam Stern | November 18, 2008

In the two weeks since the election, Barack Obama has stayed mostly in Chicago — and except for announcing White House staff appointments — has made few public statements. But the president-elect emerged today to deliver a video address to a gathering of governors and policy experts in Los Angeles. Obama affirmed his commitment to federal cap and trade legislation. He also renewed his campaign promise to put the U.S. back in the center of...

Obama: are you kidding me with the light bulbs?

President-elect to skip cardigan sweater, focus on actual legislation.

Adam Stein | November 10, 2008

Everyone has already linked to this tidbit from Newsweek’s election post-mortem, but so what: The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me…answer it.’ So when...

Climate change: a passing fad?

Dingell-Boucher bill is a step backwards.

Mark Mondik | November 10, 2008

The draft climate bill released earlier this month by House Representatives John Dingell (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) comes up dangerously short. Not only does the bill include emissions reduction targets bordering on the absurd (example: for the next 10 years or so, the bill actually provides for an increase in emissions), but it also preempts much of the hard work and progress achieved by state and regional initiatives. The reason for such watered-down...

Obama: the post-environmental president

What does the election mean for climate change and energy policy?

Adam Stein | November 5, 2008

There’s been a bit of chatter in recent weeks about whether an Obama victory would truly be as transformative as many progressives hope and expect. Some have quietly suggested that nothing in Obama’s record, temperament, or platform should make us expect dramatic gestures. They say that those who think otherwise are letting the man’s remarkable personal story cloud their judgment of his governing philosophy, or discounting the extent to which every president is constrained by...

Voting guide for state ballot measures

Major endorsements on propositions in California and elsewhere.

Adam Stein | October 29, 2008

I’m just passing this info along — I don’t live in California and have a passing familiarity with this year’s ballot measures. I do know know that ballot measures are often misleadingly named or confusingly written, so it’s helpful to see what the big advocacy groups are saying. Update: Grist has the goods. Check out their round-up of arguments for and against environment-related state ballot measures across the country. And in this case, both the...

Reporters trip over emissions trading

A useful rule of thumb: lower emissions are good for the environment.

Adam Stein | October 28, 2008

In the unlikely circumstance that reporters ever grow weary of chasing twitches in the oil markets or interpreting the wanderings of the Dow, they have a new toy to play with: the price of carbon. Which is fine, so far as it goes, except that they keep getting the story so badly wrong: The global financial crisis and looming recession might actually make it cheaper to comply with Europe’s increasingly stringent caps on greenhouse gas...

Financial meltdown: Still bad for the environment

Tight credit, cheap oil, political uncertainty — oh my!

Adam Stein | October 7, 2008

A few weeks ago, I made some guesses about how the big picture trends in the economy would affect the development of clean energy. And though it’s still early days for the financial crisis, so far my guesses look pretty good. The Times talks to a few industry insiders, who confirm that the credit crunch is slowing down clean energy projects. Abyd Karmali, the global head of carbon emissions at Merrill Lynch, is optimistic in...

RGGI goes live with world’s largest carbon auction

Could first North American cap-and-trade system defy critics’ expectations?

Adam Stein | September 30, 2008

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first legally binding cap-and-trade system in the U.S., kicked off last week with the world’s largest carbon credit auction. Despite dire predictions from some quarters, the auction came off smoothly, reaching a clearing price of $3.07 per ton of carbon dioxide. The media has been writing RGGI’s obituary for weeks now. The New York Times recently explained that RGGI is in danger because the carbon price is too low,...

Schwarzenegger to host climate summit

Governor says states will lead the way.

Adam Stern | September 27, 2008

Can the Governor of California terminate global warming? The Hollywood action figure took a step in that direction by announcing yesterday that he would host a climate policy summit in November for governors of all 50 states and the leaders of states and provinces from other countries, including China and India. During a speech in San Francisco, Gov. Schwarzenegger said he was “tired of waiting for Washington to act,” and so would convene the governors...

Meltdown! Charting the effects of the financial crisis

It takes more than wind to make turbines spin.

Adam Stein | September 23, 2008

In the wake of the financial meltdown, some have wondered about about the broader implications of the disappearance of Lehman Brothers’ carbon trading desk. And the answer to that question, at least, is easy: there are no broader implications to the disappearance of Lehman Brothers’ carbon trading desk. This is true for a variety of reasons, not least among them that Lehman Brothers was a small player in the carbon markets. The center of gravity...

The financial sector and the “real economy”

Not so different — and environmental progress depends on both.

Adam Stein | September 23, 2008

Can you stand a bit more meltdown blogging? Over at Grist, the proposed bailout has stirred up an understandable level of angst over the government’s willingness to shower Wall St. with money at the first sign of crisis, and meanwhile sit idly by while the ice caps melt. And the point is well-taken, of course, but the some of the more piqued comments do ignore the broader implications of the financial crisis. Wherever the blame...

To tackle global warming, California takes aim at sprawl

New bill may represent the triumph of urban planning — or expose its shortcomings.

Adam Stein | September 16, 2008

California, long on the vanguard of battles over land use, is poised to pass legislation that would harmonize regional planning efforts with the state’s overarching goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The most ambitious anti-sprawl legislation in the country, the bill seeks to coordinate housing, transit, and commercial development to reduce the impact of growth on the environment. Coincidentally, I happen to be in the middle of Robert Bruegmann’s Sprawl: A Compact History. Although not...

More Parking!

Chicago discovers their curbsides are lined with gold.

Adam Stein | August 11, 2008

San Francisco may have the most technologically nifty new parking system in the U.S., but Chicago wins big points for the mercenary genius of their approach: the city expects to raise over a billion dollars by auctioning a 50-year concession on their entire parking system. Private vendors are willing to pay so much for the right to manage the city’s 36,000 parking spaces because they know the real estate is presently underpriced. The winning bidder...

California climate skirmish — a taste of things to come

Los Angeles utility starts to squawk as it stares down a $700 million carbon bill.

Adam Stein | August 3, 2008

Regulators have won praise for speed and thoughtfulness with which they have laid the groundwork for implementation of AB 32, the landmark bill that aims to bring California’s greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020. But even within a single state, climate change legislation creates winners and losers, and regional tensions are starting to show. California’s climate plan consists of a slew of new efficiency standards, regulations, and reduction measures — as well...

Short-term, yes. Solution, no.

Gas tax revenue falling, feds seek to raid mass transit budget to pay for highways.

Adam Stein | July 29, 2008

From the Times: Gasoline tax revenue is falling so fast that the federal government may not be able to meet its commitments to states for road projects already under way, the secretary of transportation said Monday. The secretary, Mary E. Peters, said the short-term solution would be for the Highway Trust Fund’s highway account to borrow money from the fund’s mass transit account, a step that would balance the accounts as highway travel declines and...

McCain response to the gas tax holiday petition

Form letter sticks up for gas tax holiday, plugs renewables and drilling.

Erik Blachford | July 14, 2008

You may recall that earlier this summer we asked TerraPass newsletter subscribers and their friends to join a petition against the “gas tax holiday” proposed by Senators McCain and Clinton. The holiday never came to pass, good news for both the federal agencies supported by the revenue from the tax and for the environment, given that now is pretty much exactly the wrong time to offer incentives that lead to more driving. This week I...

California’s greenhouse gas plan

State shows the nation how to stop the warming

Adam Stern | June 27, 2008

As smoke from forest fires filled the air in Sacramento yesterday, state regulators unveiled a long awaited draft plan (pdf) to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The fires — unprecedented this early in the West Coast summer — were a striking backdrop for the plan’s release. TV cameras and a packed audience greeted the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for the public presentation on how the state is going to...

Citizen lobbying in the UK

British bloggers push a simple idea: knock on your representative’s door and lobby for action.

Pete Davies | June 10, 2008

In the UK we have roughly one nationally elected representative for every 85,000 people. That compares to a ration of one representative for every half million people in the U.S. The result of this is that members of the national parliament (MPs) are much more accessible to individuals. With this in mind, a group of ten British bloggers has developed a campaign called Canvass Your MP. It encourages people to turn the tables on their...

Rewarding dumb growth

Federal insurance plan would encourage development in the path of hurricanes.

Adam Stein | June 10, 2008

Remember how the gas tax holiday was a bad idea? This is kind of like that: As hurricane season begins, Democrats in Congress want to nationalize a chunk of the insurance business that covers major storm-damage claims… Big winners would be coastal states, particularly Florida, where more than half of the nation’s hurricane risk is centered. Currently, property-insurance rates in Florida are among the highest in the nation. Florida also has a struggling state reinsurance...

Thanks for saying no to the gas tax holiday

Memorial Day comes and goes, and gas tax pander appears headed for obscurity.

Erik Blachford | May 27, 2008

Thanks to all 3,131 of you who signed on to the “say no to the gas tax” petition we’ve been running. We sent our message off to Senators McCain and Clinton, as promised, and are happy to see that Memorial Day has come and gone without a gas tax holiday so much as coming up in either chamber. Though of course yours was just one voice among many coming down hard on the gas tax...

Gas tax petition hits 2,000 signatures

Sign it, share it, publicize it.

Adam Stein | May 15, 2008

That’s more 1,000 per day — not too shabby. We delivered the first batch of signatures to Senators Clinton and McCain last night. Let’s keep it going. If you haven’t yet signed, please do so. If you have signed, share the petition with friends, Digg it, stumble upon it, etc. And if you have your own blog, please post a link: http://www.terrapass.com/campaigns/gas-tax/...

‘Gas tax holiday’ lurches onward

State legislators launch their own petition asking consumers to donate money to oil companies.

Adam Stein | May 14, 2008

States have been getting in on the fun. Efforts are underway in at least six states to enact regional gas tax holidays, and now New York Republicans are circulating a petition asking citizens to “JOIN The Fight! for lower gas prices.” Or you could, you know, join the fight for a sane energy policy and clean environment by signing the TerraPass petition that asks politicians to stop insulting us with ineffective gas tax proposals. Say...

McCain announces climate plan

Speech is a political watershed, but proposed policy could go farther.

Adam Stein | May 13, 2008

This week John McCain delivered a speech (full text here) on his long-awaited climate plan, the first of a series of talks on energy policy. The highlights: McCain favors a cap-and-trade program with roughly 15% reductions by 2020 and “at least” 60% by 2050. McCain will proposed giving allowances away for free, but over time an “increasing fraction” could be auctioned to raise revenue for infrastructure in the post-carbon economy. Regardless of what China and...

Sign the ‘gas tax holiday’ petition

Take a few seconds to send a message to Senators McCain and Clinton.

Erik Blachford | May 13, 2008

We take a keen interest in politics as they relate to climate change, and recently we’ve written a bit about the “gas tax holiday” being proposed and endorsed by Senators Clinton and McCain. Unsurprisingly, we think this gas tax holiday is a Really Bad Idea, even if we recognize that the media coverage has become a little overblown. But probably worse than the proposal itself is the fact that our political leaders (and possible presidents)...

Tough guv says: keep Cali cool

Schwarzenegger pushes forward with plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Adam Stern | May 9, 2008

Regulating greenhouse gases is good for the economy. That was the message California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave to Republican legislators, who pressed him last week to delay implementing the state’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). The governor said cutting jobs at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) — the agency charged with enforcing the law — would be a short-sighted way to save money in the state budget. “AB 32 is stimulating the...

Gas tax Rorschach

Voters smell a rat, while pundits project their hopes and fears onto trivial issue.

Adam Stein | May 6, 2008

This is weird. Contrary to the expectations of everyone on the universe, the media has covered the gas tax holiday in a fairly substantive way. As a result, a slender majority of voters actually oppose the idea. Particularly on such an emotional issue, it’s somewhat remarkable and encouraging to see voters narrowly favoring the non-demagogic position. Commentators, on the other hand, have been far less restrained, wildly over-interpreting the issue at every step. A few...

Business leaders issue call for sacrifice

Campaign suggests global warming may require drastic changes to the way Americans live.

Adam Stein | May 5, 2008

In case you were wondering, I’m going to keep beating this drum. Incidentally, the problem with the “wartime sacrifice” meme isn’t just that it’s politically toxic. It also happens to be wrong on the merits. This ad came out a while ago, by the way. It’s really tame compared to what we will see....

Like a holiday, except awful in every way

McCain and Clinton push stinky gas tax proposal.

Adam Stein | May 1, 2008

Kevin Drum has made me feel guilty about not covering the “gas-tax holiday” flap in greater detail. There’s an actual substantive policy issue here that sheds lights on the differences between the presidential candidates, so let’s give it a full airing. Americans, you may have noticed, are freaking out about gasoline prices, which are rising due to various structural issues that are unlikely to go away anytime soon. That’s a difficult issue for a politician...

Truckers rally to demand…something

More misguided calls for price controls on gasoline.

Adam Stein | April 29, 2008

I can’t even really count the ways this doesn’t make any sense: A caravan of horn-honking truck drivers rolled their rigs through Washington yesterday, protesting rising gasoline costs and demanding that Congress impose caps on prices at the pump… Demonstrators held signs, some of which read “Higher Fuel Means Higher Everything” and “No Gas, No Soccer: What Comes First? Kids or Gas?” When their leaders demanded governmental intervention, the truckers chanted “Now! Now!” Silly season...

Election update: McCain on climate

A candidate’s surrogate lays out a carbon “philosophy.”

Adam Stein | April 29, 2008

Climate change hasn’t made much of an appearance in the recent election coverage, because…Americans don’t care about climate change. Nevertheless, top McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin had a nice long chat recently with David Roberts regarding carbon policy. Read the whole thing. McCain hasn’t yet put forth a climate change proposal (which is, itself, disappointing), but he has outlined elements of a climate change “philosophy.” A couple of quick thoughts on the interview: The climate philosophy...

Southern Baptists shift stance on climate

Shedding skepticism, evangelicals say: “We can do better.”

Adam Stein | March 10, 2008

Speaking of culture war, this just happened: Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.” …the new declaration, which will be released Monday, states, “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the...

The shape of the race

The next U.S. president will favor a carbon cap. What effect this has on the race is anyone’s guess.

Adam Stein | February 8, 2008

Now that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, the shape of the debate over climate change takes on different contours. Hillary and Obama are offering substantively similar climate plans, so there’s no need to wait for the Democratic contest to be decided before we start gaming out a few scenarios. 1) Will climate change take on more or less prominence as an issue in the general election? Argument for less: with everyone preaching...

Help the economy and the environment

Can an economic stimulus package be good for the environment?

Pete Davies | February 5, 2008

California is already seeing a “solar boom” Listening to a commentary on Marketplace yesterday evening, I was reminded of the conflict between consumerism and — let’s call it — “environmental restraint”. The basic premise of a stimulus package is to give consumers more cash to spend: consumers buy stuff; demand for stuff increases; jobs are created to make more stuff; more people have more jobs, earning more money and want to buy yet more stuff....

Climate policy action: it’s happening in California

Climate policy is making much better progress at the state level — especially in California

Adam Stern | February 5, 2008

As Americans voted in presidential primaries across the country today, few voters made their decisions based on the candidates’ positions on global warming. That’s because the leading candidates (McCain, Clinton, and Obama) all support a nationwide cap on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Only Romney is against a cap and his chances of winning are slim. Whoever ends up in the White House, many political analysts believe that climate change legislation could make it through the...

Carbon Offsets, Consumer Protection, and the FTC (Part 2)

TerraPass has submitted written comments to the FTC that reinforce our commitment to high quality carbon offsets and rigorous standards.

Adam Stern | January 29, 2008

Following TerraPass’ participation at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) workshop on carbon offsets held in Washington on January 8, we have now submitted our written comments. You can download them here (pdf). Preparing these comments gave us the chance to summarize our views on what it takes to deliver high-quality, independently verified offsets to consumers and businesses. We described our rigorous procedures for selecting offset projects that balance out the carbon emissions from daily activities...

Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?

Climate change is credited for turning the Australian government upside down. Could the U.S. be next?

Adam Stein | December 2, 2007

Update: Australia just now signed the Kyoto Protocol. The United States is now the only developed nation not to have ratified the treaty. I’ve been avoiding blogging about the election in Australia because…I don’t know the first thing about Australian electoral politics, and commenting on the results mostly seems like a good way to make a fool of myself. That said, it’s an interesting story, so here goes. Australia has long provided a sort...

“Here’s a novel concept for Congress. Do something. Anything. Move.”

Governors revolt! Midwest governors band together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Western appear in ads chastising Congress for foot-dragging.

Adam Stein | November 14, 2007

Wow. Following up on my earlier post about a regional cap and trade agreement between Midwestern states, it now appears there’s a full-scale governors’ revolt underway. In the West, three governors will begin appearing in ads urging Congress to act. The bipartisan group includes two Republicans and a Democrat (Schwarzenegger, Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, and Brian Schweitzer of Montana, respectively). Beyond the nice bipartisan sheen, these three represent an interesting cross-section of the...

Hillary releases rockin’ climate plan. Green gap grows.

Adam Stein | November 5, 2007

Our irregular posting schedule has meant far fewer election updates than I originally planned, but it’s worth noting that with the release of Clinton’s energy plan we now have three extraordinarily solid proposals on offer from the leading Democratic candidates. For the rundown on Clinton’s plan, see David Roberts. It is entirely unsurprising that Hillary’s plan is good. Her chief rivals have already released great plans, so anything less than great from Hillary would...

Horse race update: a personal encounter with John Edwards

Adam Stern | October 24, 2007

I was part of a group of environmental and business leaders invited to meet with presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth in the San Francisco Bay Area last Saturday. The gathering was a chance to give Edwards advice on environmental policy, especially about addressing global warming. (Please note: I was not representing TerraPass at the meeting, nor am I affiliated in any formal way with the Edwards campaign.) In person, Edwards is...

Lomborg! Plus some bonus thoughts on Nordhaus and Shellenberger

Adam Stein | October 9, 2007

I really don’t want to write about Bjørn Lomborg, but I don’t think it can be avoided. He’s now on the editorial pages of the Washington Post pushing the same line about global warming that he’s been pushing for several years now: global warming is too expensive to deal with; it’s not that big a problem; there are better things to spend money on; etc. Some of his arguments are interesting in the abstract....

More silver lining than cloud?

Adam Stein | September 30, 2007

That sound you heard last week was environmentalists’ heads exploding all across the land as President Bush once again took the opportunity to punt on climate change before a crowd of world leaders. Look closely enough, though, and I think you can pull a fair amount of silver lining out of this latest fiasco. Am I the only one sensing that we’ve reached end game on climate change obstructionism? I mean, it’s not as though...

A word to the cynics: greed can be good

Adam Stein | September 30, 2007

A consortium of ginormous banks recently pressed for the creation of an integrated carbon market encompassing the United States and other industrialized nations. The move prompted eye-rolling in some quarters, but I’m not really sure why. The banks stand to make huge sums of money from the implementation of a global cap-and-trade system. Some speculate that carbon will soon become the largest commodities market in the world. Presumably this windfall is what motivates the...

“Passionate but confused”

Adam Stein | September 30, 2007

Last week I wrote about an essay by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger that criticized the environmental community’s strategy for addressing climate change and proposed instead increased government funding for “breakthrough technologies.” At the time, I was too lazy to pick apart the essay’s muddle of proposals. The nice thing about the blogosphere is that if you wait a few days, someone will “>do your job for you. David Hawkins from the National Resources...

U.N. chats amongst itself re: climate change

Adam Stein | September 24, 2007

You could be forgiven for not knowing that the U.N. is meeting in New York this week to wring its collective hands over climate change. The conventional wisdom holds that all the U.N. handwringing in the world won’t matter until the U.S. decides to get on board, which according to various zodiacal signs is scheduled to happen sometime in 2009. But Matthew Yglesias suggests that this week’s meetings actually do matter. The argument in...

Don’t faint. The government appears to moving on climate change

Tom Arnold | September 13, 2007

Leaders from both parties are proposing regulations to phase out the incandescent bulb by 2020 It’s rare that we get any good news on government and climate change, so today is a special day, with two good pieces of news, one involving cars, and the others light bulbs. The first is the celebrated Vermont case, where a judge has ruled that Vermont can go ahead with its plan to regulate CO2 emissions from vehicles...

Norway outlaws “green” cars

Adam Stein | September 11, 2007

The government of Norway recently banned the use of the phrases clean, green, and environmentally friendly from all car ads. This, as some have noted, is kind of funny. It also strikes me as weirdly wrongheaded. The rationale for the ban is simple. All cars pollute, even fuel-efficient cars, so calling a car green is a bit of a stretch. It’s like referring to filtered cigarettes as healthy. Norwegian government-type person Bente Oeverli explains,...

Keep your friends close…

Adam Stein | September 2, 2007

Hey, did anyone here read that recent article on political strategies for action on climate change? You know, the one published in the National Review? [crickets chirping] OK, I generally don’t recommend the National Review on environmental policy, but I couldn’t help peeking at the recent article (pdf) by Jim Manzi. Various of the more thoughtful right-of-center blogs had alternatively described it as “brilliant” and “a taste of how a wised-up, heads-out-of-the-sand Right could...

“Price gouging” and other fairy tales

Adam Stein | August 17, 2007

This is good for a chuckle. While looking up some data on the EPA’s fuel economy web site, I stumbled across the following FAQ: What can I do if I suspect a gas station is price gouging or price fixing? If you believe there may be price-gouging or price-fixing, please contact your local authorities and fill out the Department of Energy’s Gas Price Watch Reporting Form. Has the government also set up a page...

More on Dingell: malign or just crafty?

Adam Stein | July 12, 2007

In an alternative take on Rep. John Dingell’s carbon tax proposal, David Roberts suggests that the congressman’s intentions aren’t as malign as many environmentalists have taken them to be. Roberts sees a lot to like in the specifics of the bill, along with a fairly blunt message to those who have been talking a big game on climate change: Put up or shut up. If you’re going to push me on this bill, I’ll give...

Playing to lose: Dingell proposes carbon tax

Adam Stein | July 8, 2007

In an odd bit of policy jujitsu, Democratic congressman John Dingell has promised to introduce carbon tax bill that he hopes will fail. Dingell is counting on the public outcry against any sort of new tax to make the currently trendy topic of climate change as politically radioactive as he’d like it to be. Dingell is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He also represents Detroit, and has been a long-time thorn...

IPCC: All (climate) politics is local

Tom Arnold | April 10, 2007

Did the IPCC get a PR agency? Gasp!On Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released yet another poorly edited but brilliant compendium of climate science, this time detailing the impacts of climate change(pdf). Today, the IPCC kicked off a series of regional news conferences to publicize portions of the report most relevant to local geographies. The regional briefings played out in press around the world: Flood and fire in New Zealand, droughts and...

Supreme Court to EPA: environmental protection extends to global warming

Adam Stein | April 3, 2007

We’d be derelict if we didn’t mention this week’s landmark Supreme Court decision on greenhouse gases. Here’s a handy rundown for those just tuning in. The issue: The state of Massachusetts sued the EPA, claiming that the agency was compelled by the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a pollutant. The verdict: The court rules 5-4 in favor of Massachusetts. The case centered on three major findings: Standing. At issue was whether...

Evangelicals get religion on climate change

Adam Stein | March 13, 2007

Dobson: global warming a distraction Last year The National Association of Evangelicals, a group that represents 30 million religious Americans, declined to take a position on global warming, citing an inability to reach a consensus. This year the NAE changed course, joining with scientific leaders to announce concerns over “human-caused threats to Creation” that includes climate change, species extinction, and habitat loss. For outsiders accustomed to viewing the evangelical community as a monolith, the reversal...

Bush and Exxon get religion on climate change, sort of

Adam Stein | January 14, 2007

Energy Independence and Climate Change are strange bedfellows indeed

Tom Arnold | January 7, 2007

Many citizens assume that the policy movements on â€œenergy independence” and â€œclimate change” have a certain symbiosis of aligning interests. As an exploration into recent policy initiatives demonstrates, this harmony is not necessarily the case. In fact, it looks as though that climate is taking a back seat to the call of â€œenergy independence”. The latest exhibit is an bold bill by Senators Lugar, Harkin, Barak, Dorgan, and Biden to re-introduce the Biofuels Security...

Get ready for round 2

Adam Stein | November 25, 2006

Pop quiz. Who said the following: We have to deal with greenhouse gases….the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who [can] say, ‘Let’s debate the science’? Bonus question. Who said this: If we had our druthers, we’d already have carbon legislation passed. Our viewpoint is that it’s going to happen. There’s scientific evidence of climate change. If you guessed John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., and John L. Stowell, Duke Energy’s...

Anybody catch the election results?

Adam Stein | November 14, 2006

The big post-election buzz among climate wonks is that the change in congressional leadership will significantly accelerate the arrival of more comprehensive climate policy action in the United States. Previously, those close to the issue were looking forward to ‘08 as the first opportunity for any sort of substantive action. Now there’s a general feeling that we could see major legislation within the next two years. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. The main hook that people are...

Vote, dammit

Adam Stein | October 2, 2006

What’s the single most important thing you can do to fight climate change? Trading in your car for a bicycle is laudable. Getting a TerraPass for your home energy use is nice. These actions make a difference, and in aggregate they help to move the needle. But if you want to make a difference, you gotta get to the ballot box on November 7. Why is voting so important? Isn’t TerraPass a market-based mechanism for...

California Global Warming Solutions Act passes

Adam Stein | August 31, 2006

California has committed to bringing its greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels by the year 2020, a 25% cut from today’s levels. California is the world’s sixth largest economy and creates 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, California frequently acts as a bellwhether for the rest of the United States on environmental issues. The bill was the subject of some dramatic last-minute negotiations focusing on the use of market-based mechanisms to reduce...

Blair and Schwarzenegger announce…some kind of pact on greenhouse gases

Adam Stein | August 1, 2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced their intention yesterday to join together to address global warming, possibly by linking markets for pollution credits in the U.S. and Europe. California has the fifth largest economy in the world and is the twelfth largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement represents a significant acceleration of the trend in which state and local governments are sidestepping the federal government’s recalcitrance on climate...

The Supreme Court takes on global warming

Adam Stein | July 17, 2006

This guest post comes to us from Adam Stern (not be confused with our own Adam Stein), who has worked for several national environmental organizations concerned with global warming. The decision last month by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its first global warming case offers opportunities and pitfalls for advocates of greenhouse gas regulation. The court’s willingness to consider the case thrusts global climate change into the legal limelight like never before. The case...

The first politician with a TerraPass?

Tom Arnold | June 14, 2006

It’s perhaps telling that TerraPass counts among its customers students, university presidents, CEOs, venture capitalists, hybrid drivers, SUV drivers, fantastically wealthy individuals, fantastically dedicated individuals – but not a single U.S. politician (update: at the federal level). This may change in the fall. John Binkowski, an Independent running for Congress in Minnesota, bought his TerraPass last week, and then kindly asked if he could promote us on his web site. We’re not offering an endorsement...

California alternative energy ballot initiative: grab some popcorn and pull up a chair

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Orrin Cook | May 23, 2006

Nothing wakes voters from a slumber like the possibility of $4 for a gallon of gas. Last week, the alarm clock went off and 1.18 million signatures were submitted to county registrar offices across the state of California to place the issue of an energy supply shift on the ballot this November. The California Clean Alternative Energy Initiative seeks approval on a $4 billion effort to fund alternative energy projects in the form of biofuels,...

Immigration and climate change: shifting emissions

Tom Arnold | May 1, 2006

Several press outlets are calling the recent immigration rallies the new wave of 1960’s era civil rights protests. But most commentators have missed the environmental angle — the connection between trade policy, immigration policy and climate change. How we define our borders ulitimately dictates where we produce goods, who regulates that production and how far we have to ship them. Consider the rapid growth in the US economy throughout the 1990’s and the paradoxical drop...

Natural Gas Politics book: Gas secure, cost competitive

Tom Arnold | April 5, 2006

If you were enthralled with our recent discussion of farm-based methane, then you may want to add this 300 page tome, edited by TerraPass guest blogger Mark Hayes, to your bedtime reading list. What does natural gas have to do with climate change? Gas-fired power plants emit less than half the carbon dioxide of coal-burning power plants, and can easily replace old coal plants or handle new demand. The potential problems with natural gas...

New meaning to the term petrodollars

Adam Stein | March 16, 2006

Via worldchanging, we discovered Oil Standard, a clever Greasemonkey script that converts all prices on a Web page into their equivalent in barrels of oil. The prices fluctuate in real time with the cost of the commodity. The purpose of the project is to underscore the centrality of oil to our economy. Even if you don’t install the script, it’s well worth checking out the screenshots. This project spurs lots of related ideas. How about...

The Big Bang and other “theories”

Adam Stein | February 8, 2006

It’s tempting to draw pleasure from the dismissal of George Deutsch, the 24-year-old presidential appointee who made a short career terrorizing scientists at NASA. Deutsch’s resignation came about not as a result of his gross overreaching as a NASA public affairs officer, but instead because of the false claim on his resume that he had graduated college. An oddly fitting end for a person who finds truth to be such a slippery notion. Deutsch, you...

Evangelical leaders: fighting climate change is the right(eous) thing to do

Tom Arnold | February 8, 2006

Today in Washington the Evangelical Climate Initiative released a statement signed by 86 Christian leaders calling for federal legislation “requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through cost-effective, market-based mechanisms such as a cap-and-trade program” (NYT Article, Time Article). For this pro-business and mainly conservative constituency, the statement is a departure from and a challenge to the current position on global warming in both the White House and Congress. The statement makes four claims:...

State of the Union

Adam Stein | February 1, 2006

“Bush, Resetting Agenda, Says U.S. Must Cut Reliance on Oil” reads the top headline in today’s New York Times. “Bush has plan to end oil ‘addiction’” trumpets CNN. These are impressive-sounding claims, so let’s see how they stack up against the actual substance of the speech. And let me offer the disclaimer that I find the State of the Union address delivered by any President to be a fairly unwatchable event, several hours of ovation...

California Prop-80 and Renewable Energy: tit-for-tat or just plain tat?

Tom Arnold | November 1, 2005

Several California TerraPass members have emailed us asking for our opinion on Proposition 80, one of eight ballot measures installed for the California special election November 8. (Confused easterners, east coast transplants, and foreign readers can find a discussion and overview of the west coast initiative process here in pdf). Hopefully I can give you a few simple facts to help you make your own informed decision. Summary and Highlights: Without wading through the full...

What would Jesus drive? Environmental concerns cut across traditional politics

Adam Stein | June 1, 2005

In partisan political debate, environmental concerns often get cast as a conflict between economy and ecology. Global warming has never been such a simple issue, however, and some unlikely activists, including religious evangelists and defense hawks, may be on the forefront of a new consensus. In 2002, Rev. Jim Ball of the Evangelical Environmental Network drove a hybrid car across the country as part of his “What would Jesus Drive” campaign. He is one of...