The airline industry has an awful lot at stake in the debate about how to address the specter of climate change.  I’ve written a few times about what they’re doing, here and here for instance, and in a magazine article I wrote on sustainability at the airports.

Emissions caps seen costing airlines $7 billion a year is the recent headline from Reuters.  In spite of the cost, the article reports that “The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines, agreed at a board meeting that it would achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020 through a combination of investment in technology, biofuels and economic measures such as carbon trading.”  The IATA’s press release says that the industry seeks to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2050.  “To achieve these goals, all players in the air transport industry are united in their proactive approach to environment. A cross industry four-pillar strategy on climate change that is focused on improved technology, effective operations, efficient infrastructure and positive economic measures is delivering results.”  For video of the IATA’s panel discussions on the environment from the AGM in Kuala Lumpur, go here.

In addition to this commitment, the Aviation Global Deal (AGD) Group, a coalition of airlines, aviation sector companies and The Climate Group, are putting their collective shoulders to the wheel on solving the climate crisis.

Project Better Place is coming along nicely.  These are the folks who could catalyze the quest for the electric car’s full penetration into all the world’s markets.  I love this stuff - see Future Car for instance.   Here’s an eye-opening interview with Shai Agassi, PBP’s founder.   I mean, how cool is this?!

Black Carbon in Waxman-Markey - As we’ve seen here, particulates from uncombusted materials - coal, diesel, and biomass - have a much bigger impact on the climate than previously recognized, not to mention the devastating direct health impacts.  (See under Soot here and at Black Carbon and Solar Cookers.)  It is entirely worth noting that the draft under discussion in the House (see last post below), addresses this.  The summary of Waxman-Markey says that black carbon “…is a major contributor to warming in the Arctic. EPA is directed in the draft to use its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of black carbon domestically and study opportunities for reductions internationally.”

EPA was obviously on the same page.  They announced a program on Monday that will lead to significantly reduced emissions of particulates, and other pollutants, from marine shipping.  The EPA release on this says “These standards will cut sulfur in fuel by 98 percent, particulate matter emissions by 85 percent, and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent from the current global requirements.”

I referenced the health burden here in July (see Shipping), and also talked about some ways of radically reducing the problem.  Here is a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on some new work that further indicates the health and environmental impacts.  (You can also listen to the story in Real Audio and Windows Media and MP3 formats.)

Players - There is a series in this week’s “US News & World Report” that profiles some of the “…most influential energy and environmental policymakers in the Obama era.”  I’ve written about most of them here, but this is a concise further look at folks from Lisa Jackson and Steven Chu to Henry Waxman and Al Gore.  I haven’t written about Lisa Murkowski or Joe Romm, so let USN&WR bring you up to speed on these two.  (Romm and his blog, Climate Progress, are very influential indeed.)

Feel-Good Stories that Pack a Punch - First, DOE to Award $3.2 Billion in Energy Efficiency Block Grants is from the excellent “EERE Network News.”  This stimulus spending will get you more money back in the end than you put in, according to nearly every economic analysis you can find.  This is what we call investment.

The other story:  Billion tree campaign grows past 3 billion mark, says UN agency from the UN News Service.  They set out to plant a billion trees worldwide, have hit three, and are now aiming for seven by the end of this year.  Trees, by the way, are a pretty effective device for sequestering carbon.  Remember how that works?  Will the foresters and environmentalists win with this low-tech argument over the engineers and industrialists who are gaga over CCS, not to mention industrialized atmospheric carbon scrubbing?  We’ll just have wait to see.

Columbia Climate Center - I had the pleasure of guest blogging today at Nature’s fine blog, Climate Feedback, on the launch of an ambitious initiative of the Earth Institute.  It was an interesting event, highlighted by a conversation between Jeffrey Sachs and Ted Turner.

Quote of the Week - From Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero:  “To change the world’s energy model is the most significant challenge facing humanity in this generation, not only for the impact on climate change but also for its effects on the economic model.”  I think he’s got it.  By George, he’s got it!

Spain has got it too.  I referenced Prime Minister Zapatero’s remarks at an FPA event last autumn here, and also noted some of the extraordinary headway Spain is making on renewables.  For an update, see this from the Trade Commission of Spain.  (For the context of Zapatero’s recent statement, see this “FT” article.)

Blockbuster Technology of the Week - In Venice, they’ve taken, in my opinion, a great honkin’ step toward wholly sustainable, zero-carbon energy.  It’s an algae-fed, carbon capture closed loop power plant.  It’s not laboratory scale either.  I wrote about one man’s vision of this in Arizona in my review of “Earth: The Sequel” - and now the Venetians are launching this idea into the reality realm.

Venice seaport eyes algae to fuel energy needs Reuters reports.  This 40 MW plant for the seaport will have excess power that will be used to supply ships when they’re in.  This is in itself another palpable step forward as the ships in port contribute enormously to air pollution and are a huge source of the black carbon that so exacerbates warming.

Back in July, under Ports, I said:  “I wrote here recently about some reports on how shipping is producing GHG and other more localized and highly dangerous air pollution. Here’s a story, World Ports Commit to Reduce Emissions, looking at the recent C40 World Ports Climate Conference.”

Obama takes steps to reverse Bush climate policies is the headline from Reuters. For one thing, the new President has instructed the EPA to revisit California’s application to institute carbon dioxide limits on motor vehicles sold there. (See California Standards here.) See also this from the “Washington Post” today, including the video of Obama’s announcement in which he said, among other things, “The days of Washington dragging its heels are over.”

He also ordered the Department of Transportation to accelerate the schedule for bringing new fuel-efficient cars into the market, as required by the federal energy bill from December 2007.

The “WaPo” also reported that “Separately, the State Department is expected to name Todd Stern, formerly a senior official in the Clinton administration, as the new U.S. envoy on climate change.  Here is the introduction by Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and remarks from Stern - text and video.

Stern is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and, as such, has been instrumental in developing policy recommendations that the new administration has been embracing. At the core of this is the transformation to a low-carbon economy with all the potential for jobs and development that that can mean. See Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy from the CAP.

Opportunity continues to be one of my favorite words.

Here’s CAP’s video on their plan.

Coal Ash - I wrote last week about the horrific spill of coal ash sludge in Tennessee.  (See Jan. 1 below.)   Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation is the story today from the “NY Times.”  There are more than 1,300 of them, “most of them unregulated and unmonitored.”  What do they contain?  “heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a threat to water supplies and human health.”  The article link has an excellent video too, well worth viewing.

One of the themes of the superb documentary Burning the Future: Coal in America is the poisoning of drinking water.  (I wrote about this film and what it depicts at The Crime of Mountaintop Removal Mining last May.)  The “NY Times” article included this compelling graphic on the extent of water pollution from these sites.

Oil Sands - Today’s “NYT” also has an article about Canadian tar sands, their abundance - and their devastating environmental impact - The Costly Compromises of Oil From Sand.  In a post from March last year, I wrote about oil sands, and flagged a potential big fly in the ointment for the “flow” of oil to the US:  our energy law passed in December of 2007 limits government procurement of alternative fuels that have lifecycle GHG emissions greater than conventional ones.  The article here reports:  “In a recent study, the RAND Corporation estimated that oil from the oil sands generates about 10 to 30 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional crude.”  Does this make any sense when we’re trying to get to a low-carbon world?  Not to me.  To you?  (See also this characteristically terrific story from Betsy Kolbert at the “New Yorker” - Unconventional Crude.)

Aviation Fuel - The venerable Matt Wald has a good story in the “NYT” today about some trials for alternative aviation fuel - A Move Toward Veggie Power Aloft.  Algae is in the mix, as is jatropha.  I admit I love Algae.  I also love jatropha , see the last paragraph from this post of mine from a while back.  Jatropha has a great upside but not perhaps in mass production for aviation fuel.  It would likely squeeze out cropland, as the NYT article reports.  And, as we’ve seen a good number of times from more-than-a-few studies, biofuels are already having a negative impact on food supply and prices.  See this post, for instance, and this.

Energy Security? - If you’re in Europe and you’ve been relying on Russian natural gas, you might be feeling just a tad insecure at the moment.  Here’s an article from today’s “NYT” on the squeeze they’re getting.  I remember hearing a high EU panjandrum at the FPA’s annual World Leadership Forum in September.  I wrote here that “Unfortunately, for my money, she dwelled a little overmuch on the question of pipelines carrying oil and natural gas coming into Europe and not enough on the potential for regional and international cooperation on renewables.”

The EU has certainly embraced renewables, much to their credit, but if they want to get out from under the Russian sword of Damocles, they better pick up the pace.

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Overall, the “NY Times” has consistently superb coverage.  See their Global Warming topics page for “all the news that’s fit to print.”

Federal Efficiency Initiative - As I think I’ve noted before, DOE and EPA have often struggled mightily against political headwinds and still managed to get some heroic work done.  (They’ve also, to be sure, caved, on more than a few occasions over the years, to pressure from on high, abdicating their responsibilities.  See under “California Standards” here for example.)

On a most positive note, DOE’s weekly newsletter “EERE Network News” reports DOE and EPA Release an Energy Efficiency Action Plan for States.  “If implemented by all states, the plan could lower energy demand across the country by 50% “  Pas mal, n’est-ce pas?!  See EPA’s webpage on the “National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency” for more.

By the way, I’m reading a great book now,  Energy in America - A Tour of Our Fossil Fuel Culture and Beyond, by Ingrid Kelley.  The book reminds us that we’ve come a very long way indeed in this country on energy efficiency since the Arab Oil shock of 1973 and the ensuing federal and state initiatives to improve our performance in this key area.  We have, of course, miles to go before we sleep.

Urban Heat - I love geothermal.  What’s not to love?  See “Drill, Baby, Drill 2.0” most recently, among many other references at the blog.

I am going to let my friend, Michael Vickerman, director of the highly effective RENEW Wisconsin, jump in here on a great “NY Times” story from last week:

“There were two excellent articles this week on a very ambitious ground-source heat pump system serving General Theological Seminary.  The later article delves into the regulatory headaches encountered by the engineering firms–agencies with overlapping authority, no single point of contact, etc.).  If any institution can plan for seven generations, it’s General Theological Seminary.”   See the articles here and here.

John Petrarca, an architect in NYC, designed a geothermal townhouse a few years back.  See the story from “Natural Home” magazine.  See also Do Geothermal Heat Pumps Have Mainstream Potential? (including the comments) from RenewableEnergyWorld and the informative DOE webpage on heat pumps.

So, architects and developers!  Let’s get on it.

There’s No Business Like Show Business - NYC’s Great White Way is going green, from “Crain’s NY Business,” notes “Ten theaters already have replaced some 10,000 bulbs with more energy-efficient ones. And within the next 12 months, all of Broadway’s theaters will have made the switch.”  In the press release from the Broadway League, we also learn that several serious commitments are being made, among them a high degree of information sharing among shows about what works.

Not surprisingly, the League has brought in NRDC for its considerable expertise.  See also the “Broadway Goes Green” website for more information and links to other initiatives like London’s green theatre plan and some fascinating websites.

Forests - I don’t think I’ve adequately covered the subject of forest loss and its extraordinary impact on warming.  20% of warming induced by people comes from forest destruction.  I mentioned the extraordinary losses in Borneo in the last post below.  We’ve also touched on some incredible potential for carbon sequestration in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in the nurturing of “terra preta” here in August.  We also looked at the REDD movement - “Reducing emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation.” - here and here in June.  The IPCC also looked at the GHG mitigation potential for forests here in their Fourth Assessment Report last year.

I mentioned the World Conservation Union’s meetings in October here in the context of species loss.  At the meetings, some important principles on forest loss, protection and restoration were also enunciated by an international coalition known as the Forests Dialogue (TFD).  In TFD’s press release, they claimed consensus had been reached by “250 representatives of governments, forestry companies, trade unions, environmental and social groups, international organizations, forest owners, indigenous peoples and forest-community groups in a series of meetings over 10 months.”  See also this article from the Worldwatch Institute.

Critical momentum has been building for some time on addressing forest loss.  Although the Kyoto Protocol did not address this key issue, the negotiators at the key international meetings in Bali last year did.  See Bali delegates agree to support forests-for-climate (REDD) plan.  Meanwhile, as I noted in my post on the House Energy and Commerce draft climate change bill here:  “Another noteworthy point is that the draft makes international reforestation and afforestation projects eligible for offsets.”  These two key constituencies, the UNFCCC negotiators and John Dingell’s powerful House committee, are going to have an awful lot of influence on the shape of federal and international law in the next couple of years.

Cities - I had a lot to say in May of 2007 on the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit.  This was a great conference with one smart, motivated, focused heavy-hitting speaker after another.  (Start here.)  The C40 group aims “to create long-term international collaborations among large cities in order to drive down carbon emissions and encourage cities to work with businesses and national governments to accelerate action on climate change.”  They’ve done great work in only just a few years.  They’ve been having a series of meetings this year in anticipation of the next summit, taking place in Seoul in May.  The latest meeting took place in Tokyo in October to discuss adaptation measures for cities.  See also this AFP piece:  Cities pledge action on climate change.

The C40 had a World Ports Conference in Rotterdam in July which I mentioned here.  (Shipping is a big issue and I talked about it here as well.)  The C40 also convened a workshop on airports in April in LA.  (I wrote about sustainability at airports for “Planning” last year.  See the article here.)

The C40 is not alone in their focus and effectiveness.  I mentioned the U.S. Conference of Mayors in my post below from October 26 and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability has been doing great work for years, including with their Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign. I’m an old urban environmentalist and so I pay attention to these initiatives. So should you because there’s so much bang for the buck in our cities.

P.S.  The site of the next C40 summit, Seoul, is embracing bicycles in a big way.  See this from AFP.

European Union - The leaders of the 27-member EU met in Brussels last month and one of the critical discussions centered around climate change.  Keeping the EU’s ambitious renewables and climate change trajectory moving onward and upward is going to be difficult in the precarious economic times we’re in now.  Reuters put it this way in this article:  “The meeting in Brussels had been expected to focus on how the EU would reach its goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020, but was overtaken by failing banks, plunging stock markets and warnings of recession.”  The EU issued a progress report on how the countries are doing on meeting the Kyoto targets saying they’re on track.

But it’s going to be very tough for some countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe that rely on coal.  See Uphill struggle for coal-fired Poland from the “FT.”  At the summit in Brussels, these concerns were taken into account.  “European officials argue that they have already taken into account the challenges faced by Poland and other members of the “coalition of the unwilling”. For example, the climate package calls for 10 per cent of the trading scheme’s auction revenues to be redistributed to poorer countries.”

I’ve belabored the point rather more than I perhaps should have here, but I’m going to do it again:  We have enormous opportunity now to change how we do business.  The sooner we make the transition to renewables and a low to zero-carbon world, the sooner we’re going to ease all sorts of economic and geopolitical pressures.  (Do a search at the blog on the word “opportunity” and you’ll see.  I do love that word!)

Electric Cars - There’s more good coverage on the promising trend to ZEV surface transportation.  See Any colour as long as it is green* from the “FT” yesterday.  Mitsubishi is getting out in front of GM and Renault-Nissan on electric cars.  The car is small but it’s got range and it’s ten times cheaper to run than a gasoline-powered car.  See also the website here for the “i MiEV” - Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle.

*If the allusion escapes you, it’s a paraphrase of Henry Ford’s famous quote about his Model T:  “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”

IT - The computer folks know that computers are energy hogs as are the vast array of server farms and all the other very high tech that supports the industry.  They’re on a mission to get things much more efficient, saving power, money and GHG emissions.  (I mentioned this here a while back.)  McKinsey has come out with a new report further identifying the incredible bang for the buck in creating efficiencies in the communications and information technology sphere.  See this article.  (Registration is required, but it’s free, quick and easy.)

There’s an excellent resource too in “GreenerComputing” which ” focuses on the environmental concerns of information technology professionals, covering such topics as energy efficiency, hazardous materials reduction, and disposal and end-of-life issues.”

Jobs, Baby, Jobs - In Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter says that his administration’s renewable energy initiatives have created 90,000 green jobs.  See this from the “Rocky Mountain News.”  Ritter was addressing the state’s “New Energy Economy” conference.  See also the Governor’s Energy Office.

Species Loss - The bad news is that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has issued its “Red List” for 2008 and there are many species endangered and threatened.  That there are environmental threats to thousands of species is not news, certainly, but global warming is exacerbating the problem.  This in itself is also not news, unfortunately, but the IUCN is documenting the dangers.  In this article from ENN, we note:  “Thirty-five percent of the world’s birds, 52 percent of amphibians and 71 percent of warm-water reef-building corals are likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change”

See also this article from “Time” - How Climate Change Will Impact Animals.  This article quotes the president of Conservation International, Russell Mittermeier:  “Global warming is something that all conservationists are worried about.”  You can also get audio of an interview with Mittermeier.

Bali Action Plan - For the wonks amongst us, you can find a new report from UNDP, “The Bali Action Plan:  Key Issues In The Climate Negotiations - Summary For Policy Makers” here.

Permafrost , I wrote about the problem of thawing permafrost here recently.  One group of researchers in Canada, at least, believes that permafrost is more "stubborn" than previously thought and will melt more slowly than predicted.  See this story from AFP.  The qualification in this is that the uppermost layers of permafrost may degrade as quickly as predicted, releasing dangerous amounts of GHG into the atmosphere, but that the deeper levels will stay frozen for much longer periods of time.  You can find the abstract for their work here at "Science." 

Electric Cars , We've looked at the critical automotive sector a number of times including here, here and, with the most fun, here when Click and Clack took us on a tour of the future.  The Chevy Volt was introduced last week - see G.M. at 100: Is Its Future Electric? from the "NY Times."  GM is going to put a lot of its eggs in this basket it seems.  Chris Paine, who wrote and directed the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is quoted in the article. "G.M. seems motivated and ahead of the competition.  It's a cultural shift of huge proportions for a vast auto company to embrace the concept of a car that's more than an internal-combustion engine."  If you dig cars, and their green potential, see AutoblogGreen.  See also the book ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future. 

Not incidentally, I'm writing an article on the Smart Grid and one of the recurring themes in what I've been seeing is the natural fit that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have for how we're going to be using, storing and producing electricity in the not-too-distant future. 

FT Special on "Modern Energy" , The "Financial Times" had a nice, comprehensive updated look at a number of important energy issues last week.  One of the articles, by the way, looked at electric vehicles.  Go here for the whole series of articles in this informative report. 

Bottled Water , I've been telling myself to write a bit more on one of the world's all-time greatest scams ever:  bottled water.  I did flag a (characteristically) perfect "Doonesbury" here to you several months back.  For now, note this short article, also from the "FT," Sales of bottled water go flat as consumers return to the tap.  See also this from the Worldwatch Institute. 

Energy Efficiency , I wrote the other day about some important work on energy efficiency.  (See last post below.)  Here's another key report that I should have mentioned back in July when it came out:  How the world should invest in energy efficiency from McKinsey.  (Registration is required, but it's free.) 

Meanwhile, in Chicago, the City has issued a comprehensive, detailed Climate Action Plan.  See also Chicago Sets Goals for a Cooler City from the Environmental News Service.  One big component here is addressing Chicago's buildings.  They will move to retrofit at least half of their buildings by 2020 hoping to gain a 30% reduction in energy use.  Their energy conservation and their buildings codes will be upgraded to align with the latest international standards.  This is right in line with what Britain has undertaken, as I noted in the post just below.  I've been an admirer of Mayor Daley's environmental leadership for years.  He really does get it. 

Phil Clapp , We lost a very strong voice for working to address the climate change crisis this past week when Philip Clapp died.  See this from the "LA Times."  He founded the National Environmental Trust which merged this year with the Pew Charitable Trusts.  These organizations have been doing groundbreaking work on climate change policy, as well as working on other environmental issues.