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Category Archives: Energy

Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress

CRS Report – Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress, September 22, 2022: “For several decades, the federal government has funded efforts to explore the feasibility of mitigating the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) while burning fossil fuels as a source of energy. Carbon capture and storage (CCS)—the process… Continue Reading

Global Registry of Fossil Fuels

Global Registry of Fossil Fuel Emissions and Reserves: “The Global Registry is the first open-source database of oil, gas and coal production and reserves globally, expressed in CO2-equivalent. By increasing transparency and accountability around fossil fuel production, the Registry aims to improve understanding of extraction impacts on the remaining carbon budget and ultimately to inform… Continue Reading

Updating the External Wealth of Nations database to 2021

Brookings: “Editor’s Note: This post updates with year-end 2021 data the External Wealth of Nations database [Excel download], which assembles data on external claims and liabilities of economies around the world. The database is described in more detail in a series of papers (Lane and Milesi-Ferretti 2001, 2007, 2018), and in a companion post. The… Continue Reading

The Bioeconomy: A Primer

CRS Report – The Bioeconomy: A Primer, September 19, 2022 – “The term bioeconomy refers to the share of the economy based on products, services, and processes derived from biological resources (e.g., plants and microorganisms). The bioeconomy is crosscutting, encompassing multiple sectors, in whole or in part (e.g., agriculture, textiles, chemicals, and energy). Many predict… Continue Reading

A Legitimacy Crisis of the Supreme Court’s Own Making

Brennan Center for Justice – Last term, the justices showed little concern for the public’s trust in them: “Chief Justice John Roberts said at an event last week that he doesn’t understand current questions about the Supreme Court’s legitimacy. “The [Court’s] decisions have always been publicly criticized,” the chief justice said, but it is a… Continue Reading

United in Science 2022

United in Science 2022 – A multi-organization high-level compilation of the most recent science related to climate change, impacts and responses. “This report has been compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) under the direction of the United Nations Secretary-General to bring together the latest climate science-related updates from key global partner organizations – WMO,… Continue Reading

The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits are confusing, so the White House launched a website to help

The Verge: “The Biden administration launched a new website — CleanEnergy.gov — aimed at helping Americans navigate the new green energy tax credits contained in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). That could especially be useful for people looking to buy a new electric vehicle but finding themselves confused by the litany of new… Continue Reading

The 2021/2022 Human Development Report

UN – Human Development Report – Uncertain times, unsettled lives – Shaping our future in a transforming world – “The global Human Development Index value has declined two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years…How to understand and navigate today’s uncertainty complex— driven by the Anthropocene, by purposeful societal transformation… Continue Reading

This Hot Summer Is One of the Coolest of the Rest of Our Lives

Scientific American: “Extreme heat has been a constant in the news this past summer: In July a punishing heat wave in Europe pushed temperatures across parts of the U.K. above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) for the first time in history. That same month was viciously hot across China, including in Shanghai—home to 26… Continue Reading

Climate Change Remains Top Global Threat Across 19-Country Survey

Pew – Concerns about climate, misinformation and cyberattacks predominate across 19 countries, but people are also concerned about the global economy and spread of infectious diseases. “With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, a hot war between Russia and Ukraine ongoing, inflation rates rising globally and heat records being smashed across parts of the world, countries… Continue Reading

Project Drawdown: The World’s Leading Climate Solutions Database Is Growing

Earth.org: “Founded in 2014 by Author and Entrepreneur Paul Hawken in collaboration with over 200 researchers, Project Drawdown is one of the most influential research-backed databases of climate solutions on the planet.  The project’s mission is to help the world reach ‘drawdown’ – the point in time where levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere… Continue Reading