Climate change

Elon Musk seems to have forgotten some of the basics of how climate change works, so we’re going to set the record straight about it now.

The 2024 hurricane season is here, and we’ve already had our first record-breaking hurricane in Beryl, which caused billions in damage and deaths in Texas, Grenada, Venezuela and nearby areas.

Importantly, climate change helped this storm break these records and do so much damage. But if you watched the news, you likely didn’t hear about that.

In a historic move, Vermont has become the first US state to pass a law that makes major fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate change damages.

Toyota has the worst climate lobbying score of any automaker, and the third-worst 2030 EV production plans, according to InfluenceMap’s annual report on climate lobbying.

At the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, the Biden administration has announced a historic plan to sharply cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry in the next 15 years as part of new rules to put limits on the “super pollutant.” 

Governments plan to double renewable capacity by 2030, and tripling is within sight, according to a newly released report.

Nearly half of Americans think individuals can’t make much of an impact on climate change, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center – here’s why.

US President Joe Biden is taking executive action to launch the American Climate Corps, which will train 20,000 young people to work in the clean energy economy.

The Biden Administration and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland have canceled seven oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, along with protecting 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve.

A youth-led climate lawsuit won a historic decision today, with a Montana court ruling that the state must consider climate change and environmental protections in the approval process for new energy projects.

It’s the first youth-led climate lawsuit to have this level of success in the US, possibly setting precedent for others around the country.

Despite scientists’ urgent pleas to address climate change, some Americans don’t see it as a priority, and others say it’s not real.

Pew Research Center surveyed nearly 11,000 American adults in March, and here’s what its survey revealed about how Americans view climate change.

EV automakers Rivian and Polestar have collaborated on a “Pathway Report” which has concluded that the automotive industry, which currently accounts for 15% of all greenhouse gas on Earth, is on pace to overshoot the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPPC) pathway by at least 75% by 2050. The report calls for urgent action and lays out a three-lever approach with hopes the entire industry can collaborate while it still has time to get back on track with the Paris Agreement.

The Inflation Reduction Act will drive electrification of transportation forward but won’t be enough to meet the United States’ climate goals under the Paris Agreement, according to a new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation.

US president Joe Biden and China’s president Xi Jinping today agreed to renew climate talks, ending months of silence due to geopolitical tensions. Here’s why that’s a major breakthrough.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is publicly urging automakers to consider continuing internal combustion engine vehicle production over fears of lost jobs and a future in which middle class consumers cannot afford EVs. Breton may want the EU to remain a “export force” in combustion vehicles, but will anyone still be interested in them as more and more countries set expiries in order to combat the vicious acceleration of global climate change?

Equally important as adopting renewables is ensuring the buildings they power are also sustainable. Electrek spoke with Breana Wheeler, US director of operations at BREEAM, the world’s first green building certification program, about what the ideal decarbonized building looks like and how US real estate investors should see climate change as an opportunity.

US President Joe Biden today signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, and that’s going to give the transition of the United States to clean energy a big boost. According to the American Clean Power Association, the new law could add up to an additional 550 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from wind, solar, and other clean energy sources. Electrek spoke with Enrico Viale, head of renewable energy company Enel North America, about the challenges that states face as they move away from fossil fuels and how Enel is working with states to help them deploy clean energy, distributed energy resources, and energy storage.

A new quest is underway due to the melting ice caps in Greenland. The world’s richest billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg, are funding a campaign to search for resources critical to the EV industry and climate change.

The Senate’s passing of the Inflation Reduction Act should be applauded as a major step toward protecting our planet. However, it is important to note that while this agreement offers big incentives for electric cars, it also abandoned on the side of the road a critically important class of electric vehicle: electric bicycles.