Climate Good News
Around the world people are taking the initiative to mitigate climate change. Here are some good news briefs compiled by the Climate Issue group of the LWV of Bellingham/Whatcom.
Transparency and New Regulations Bolster Carbon Credit Markets
Over the last two years, the carbon credits industry has faced a barrage of negativity describing the carbon credits bought, sold and traded as all but synonymous with greenwashing. But, in recent weeks, carbon credits — which allow greenhouse gas emitters to avoid cutting some of their emissions by paying for reductions by others — have received some big boosts.
Changes to the programs lay out clearer guidelines to try to ensure credits represent the emissions reductions touted by the project developers selling them, as well as the claims of companies buying them for their decarbonization plans. On the supply side of the market — the wide range of projects from replenishing mangrove wetlands in Africa to removing carbon dioxide directly from the air in Iceland — an industry body issued a new set of principles that high quality projects must follow to get its stamp of approval.
The principles include ensuring projects that issue the credits are effectively tracked by a third party and transparent with their data that those projects wouldn’t have happened otherwise and represent permanent reductions in emissions.
“Voluntary carbon markets can help unlock the power of private markets to reduce emissions,” said United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen in a May briefing, before quickly adding, “that can only happen if we address significant existing challenges.”
Here in Washington state, a carbon tax bill (the Climate Commitment Act passed by the 2021 Legislature) has added to significant greenhouse reduction projects that the state just had no money for. Yet, a new initiative on the November ballot (I-2117) would repeal the carbon tax which has brought $3.2 billion into the state’s coffers; dollars that are designated for climate mitigation and reduction of emissions.
The carbon-pricing program is the cornerstone of the Climate Commitment Act requiring the states’ biggest polluters to reduce their emissions or purchase allowances to cover them.
Who Gets the Money?
Here are just a few of the benefits from the first two years that the Carbon Commitment Act funds. Sources: WA State Office of Financial Management and state departments of Commerce, Natural Resources, Ecology and Transportation …
printed in The Seattle Times, 5/12/24.
- 700,000: Estimated number of households who will receive a $200 rebate for their energy bill this year
- 11,000 acres of forestland put aside as a carbon sink
- 6,500 heat pumps installed in homes around Washington
- 22,000 cars left home as workers are able to commute in carpools, vanpools or public transit …
- 6.9 million number of transit trips taken by youth for free in the first three months
- Zero-Emissions school buses
When you think of the transition we must make, even as the oceans grow warmer and the air less breathable, it is mind-boggling. What will the future hold and why shouldn’t the very industries that caused this frightening scenario be the ones who help provide the funds to fix it?
Opponents complain about higher gas prices (which have gone down since the initiative was filed).
Proponents of voting “no” on the repeal (Initiative 2117) urge you to keep your mind focused on electric ferries, community solar, charging stations in every neighborhood, and an EV in every garage. We should keep the Climate Commitment Act and build on it. Our children are depending on us.
Cipher News, “The carbon credit industry attempts a comeback” by Bill Spindle, June 12, 2024:
https://www.ciphernews.com/articles/the-carbon-credit-industry-attempts-a-comeback/
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Study Finds No Need for New Fossil Fuel Leases
A study by the University College London and the International Institute for Sustainable Development published in Science argues that the world needs no new fossil fuel projects, as existing projects contain enough energy stocks to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The paper argues that, as preventing new projects is generally easier than closing existing ones, the emphasis for achieving ambitious climate action should focus on stopping fossil fuel exploration, the development of new fossil fuel projects, and blocking the permitting of new, large-scale fossil fuel-consuming infrastructure.
Guardian, University College London, May 30.2024: https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/no-new-fossil-fuel-projects-norm-we-need?
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China Outpaces All in Solar Capacity
China now boasts the three largest solar farms in the world, by capacity. The Ningxia Tenggeli and Golmud Wutumeiren solar farms, each with a capacity of 3 MW, are already online.
The third farm is the world’s largest solar farm, and is located in the desert in northwestern Xinjiang, and, as of last week, is now connected to China’s grid.
The 3.5-gigawatt (GW), 33,000-acre solar farm is outside Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. The solar farm will generate about 6.09 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually. Assuming an EV consumes about 3,000 kWh per year, 6.09 billion kWh could power 2.03 million EVs annually.
This solar farm in Xinjiang is part of China’s mega-base project, a plan to install 455 GW of wind and solar. The mega-base projects are sited in sparsely populated, resource-rich areas and send their generated energy to major urban centers, such as on China’s eastern seaboard.
China’s newest solar farm has the capacity to power over 2 million EVs.
Xinjiang is a significant and sometimes controversial player in the global solar industry — besides hosting huge solar and wind farms, it’s also a major hub for the production of polysilicon, a critical raw material used in solar panel manufacturing.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/worlds-biggest-solar-farm-comes-online-chinas-xinjiang-2024-06-03/
