THE BRIEF [Feb 19-25'24]
Climate change undoing air quality progress, heat pumps wins over fossil gas, litigation terrorism and a climate wall of shame.
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Climate 🎉
References: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].
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‼️News you can’t miss
Here’s one important scary/bad (🙀), good (😻), interesting (😼) and fossil (💩) news item.
🙀 Climate change is undoing decades of progress on air quality
😻 Heat pumps outsold fossil gas furnaces in the US last year
💩 Word of the week: Litigation terrorism
This week’s highlights
[#pollution] — Climate change is causing winter inversions and worsening air quality, undoing decades of progress in reducing pollution. One in 4 Americans are now exposed to unhealthy air, and the trend is expected to continue. Stricter pollution limits and individual actions may not be enough to address the problem, as wildfires and their smoke contribute significantly to air pollution. The impact of air pollution is unevenly distributed, with low-income communities of color being disproportionately affected. Addressing air pollution requires political and social action at a national level.
[#hydro] — Severe drought in the Pacific Northwest in 2023 caused a feedback loop that led to an increase in power sector emissions in the region. The reliance on hydropower, which was affected by the drought, resulted in less carbon-free power generation and the need to turn to coal and gas plants. This not only impacted the environment but also led to higher utility bills and worse air quality for residents. The trend of reduced hydropower output due to droughts is a larger concern for carbon-free power goals in the Western United States.
[#lobbyban] — This is an interesting idea, that I didn’t know was possible. Several US states are introducing bills to ban utilities from using customer money for lobbying and political activities. The measures aim to prevent utilities from passing on the costs of lobbying to ratepayers and build on similar laws passed in Colorado, Connecticut, and Maine. Consumer advocates argue that federal rules prohibiting utilities from recovering lobbying expenses from customers are not effectively enforced. The bills define lobbying broadly and include activities such as advertising and trade association dues. Utility companies have faced criticism for using ratepayer dollars to fund lobbying campaigns against climate policies. The proposed legislation would require utilities to submit annual reports on lobbying costs and impose fines for non-compliance.
That’s it for this week folks!
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See you all next week 👋