As part of his climate-change focused presidential campaign, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed a plan to rapidly phase out extraction of fossil fuels in the U.S. The plan includes ending fossil fuel drilling on federal land, terminating taxpayer subsidies to fossil fuel business, and pursuing a complete, nationwide ban on fracking.
A new report is urging countries in South and Southeast Asia to reverse their plans for coal-fired power plant expansion in favor of renewable energy, according to an article in Climatewire.
The report, released by the research institute Climate Analytics, said shifting away from coal will not only support the Paris Agreement's climate goals, but renewables such as solar and wind are a lower-cost energy source for developing countries.
The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department's acclaimed in-house scientists, POLITICO reports. "If you’re taking a certain block of research and not communicating it, it defeats the purpose of why USDA does the research in the first place," said Robert Bonnie, a Duke University Rubenstein fellow who served as undersecretary for natural resources and the environment at USDA during the Obama administration.
America's nearly 1.3 million square miles of forests absorb about 15 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions annually, storing carbon in growing trees, ecosystems, and wood products. By maintaining and expanding this forest carbon "sink," America can reduce greenhouse gas emissions more effectively and for less money, write Robert Bonnie, a Duke University Rubenstein fellow and former undersecretary of Natural Resources and Environment at USDA, and Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests, in an op-ed for The Hill.
This year’s U.N. climate talks could make or break the Paris Agreement, negotiators say, as they get down to the business of regulating carbon trading. Emerging economies, notably Brazil, are at loggerheads with the European Union and vulnerable countries over the role for old U.N. carbon market schemes in the Paris regime, according to a Climate Home News article.
Throughout April, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University hosted Dr. Paul Bolger, manager of the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork in Ireland.
Jackson Ewing, senior fellow at Duke’s Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions, joined the Policy 360 podcast to discuss his recent op-ed for The Hill on the far-reaching impacts of Chinese foreign energy investments on the futures of coal use and climate change.
The Clean Energy Legislative Academy in Breckenridge, Colo., has played a key role in “activating this clean energy movement across state legislatures,” and helping state lawmakers share ideas and experience with each other, Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, told Bloomberg Environment.
The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University has awarded funding to six research projects for Fiscal Year 2019–20 through the institute's Catalyst Program.*
Now in its third year, the Catalyst Program aims to build on the Nicholas Institute’s mission by increasing engagement with Duke faculty to incubate and advance new partnerships, enhance policy-relevant knowledge, and create innovative policy solutions based on new creative synergies.
The 2019–20 awardees are:
PJM is seeking to procure more reserves at higher prices by augmenting its operating reserve demand curve. Because the reserve and energy markets interact, energy prices will increase too, writes Nicholas Institute Senior Counsel Jennifer Chen for RTO Insider.