Summary
In today’s edition, Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, calls for an end of fossil fuel subsidies and urges governments to adopt a carbon tax scheme. To wit, Ontario signed a deal with Quebec to link their carbon markets. Finally, bad news: China is poised to overtake the United States as the main cause of man-made global warming since 1990.
Quote of the day
“We need to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies now.”
Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, in the Guardian’s story Scrap fossil fuel subsidies now and bring in carbon tax, says World Bank chief
Lead stories
Ontario and Quebec sign cap-and-trade deal, urge Ottawa to take leadership role
By Geoffrey Vendeville – Montreal Gazette
As Quebec and Ontario announced that they would link their carbon markets, they urged Ottawa to work more closely with the provinces to curb climate change.
http://jlne.ws/1OuxNty
Cap and trade explained: What Ontario’s shift on emissions will mean
By Adrian Morrow – The Globe and Mail
On Monday, Premier Kathleen Wynne formally announced what The Globe revealed two weeks ago: that Ontario will launch a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions.
http://jlne.ws/1CDEsKk
Scrap fossil fuel subsidies now and bring in carbon tax, says World Bank chief
By Larry Elliott – The Guardian
Poor countries are feeling “the boot of climate change on their neck”, the president of the World Bank has said, as he called for a carbon tax and the immediate scrapping of subsidies for fossil fuels to hold back global warming.
http://jlne.ws/1ExtQkU
China to surpass U.S. as top cause of modern global warming
By Alister Doyle – Reuters
China is poised to overtake the United States as the main cause of man-made global warming since 1990, the benchmark year for U.N.-led action, in a historic shift that may raise pressure on Beijing to act.
http://jlne.ws/1H2hPV3
How China’s thirst for clean drinking water may raise its CO2 emissions
By Coco Liu – E&E
China has long been accused of using too much water to produce energy, but now some of its coastal cities are compounding this problem by planning for desalination, which will spike both their energy needs and their emissions.
http://jlne.ws/1DYUa8Q
Water Insecurity Costs Global Economy Billions a Year
By Randall Hackley – Bloomberg News
A new report on water insecurity says floods and drought amid climate change and a lack of investment in reliable water supplies is weighing on the global economy by tens of billions of dollars a year.
http://jlne.ws/1H33OWX
EPA blasts GOP’s bill to change climate rule
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee joined the Environmental Protection Agency Monday in criticizing the House GOP’s efforts to weaken the Obama administration’s climate rule for power plants.
http://jlne.ws/1FPCGZX
France to invest two billion euros of climate-linked finance in India
By Ed King – RTCC (Responding to Climate Change)
Speaking at a press conference with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Hollande said French support was vital ahead of a proposed UN climate change pact, due to be finalised in Paris this December.
http://jlne.ws/1IHDmUU
Events
World Green Economy Summit 2015
22 April 2015 – 23 April 2015
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
http://jlne.ws/1By0E6J
Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) 2015
North America’s premier conference on climate policy and carbon markets
Presented by the Climate Action Reserve
April 28-30, 2015
Los Angeles, California
http://jlne.ws/1F1ycOT
The National Fuel Cell Symposium 2015
Industry, government, and academia will convene to discuss the current state of the Stationary Fuel Cell development and deployment in the U.S.
May 7, 2015
Sacramento, California
http://jlne.ws/1Pmqo0N
Nearing the Finish Line: Perspectives and Updates on EPA’s Clean Power Plan (webinar)
April 23, 2015; 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT
http://emahq.org/node/86
Northeast RECs Regional Thought Leader Round Table
May 19, 2015; 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. EST
Dentons: 1221 Avenue of the Americas, NY
http://emahq.org/node/85
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
Carbon
Japan’s CO2 emissions hit second-highest on record
Reuters
Japan’s greenhouse-gas emissions rose to the second-highest on record in the year ended March 2014, revised government figures showed on Tuesday, reflecting a rise in coal-fired power after the indefinite closure of nuclear power plants.
http://jlne.ws/1NBonPL
Dutch government facing legal action over failure to reduce carbon emissions
By Emma Howard – The Guardian
The first public hearings will take place in the Hague on Tuesday in the first case in the world to use existing human rights and tort law to hold a government responsible for failing to reduce carbon emissions fast enough.
http://jlne.ws/1IHEB6D
Maine has a disappearing carbon sink for 10,000 cars in the ocean
By Jane Disney – BDN
Along the coast of Maine, from the Piscataqua River to Passamaquoddy Bay, eelgrass populations are declining.
http://jlne.ws/1I8Zl3H
Conservation and carbon storage goals collide in Brazil’s Cerrado
By Brendan Borrell – Mongabay.com
At the Los Angeles auto show in November 2008, Hyundai made a groundbreaking announcement.
http://jlne.ws/1cr96Ay
Natural gas / coal
Could abandoned coal mines produce renewable energy?
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
In a novel example of the transition from high to low carbon infrastructure, researchers in Nottingham have discovered how abandoned coal mines could produce renewable heating for tens of thousands of homes and offices in the UK.
http://jlne.ws/1FPAEJB
Gazprom chief warns EU over pricing challenge
By Jeevan Vasagar and Christian Oliver – Financial Times
Gazprom, Russia’s state controlled gas exporter, has said attempts by Brussels to crack down on its pricing model will backfire — and trigger higher average energy costs across Europe.
http://jlne.ws/1IZbkky
Power
NextEnergy snaps up giant solar farms for £54.7m
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
Renewable energy investor NextEnergy has acquired two UK solar farms that narrowly met the government’s subsidy deadline at the end of March for a total of nearly £55m.
http://jlne.ws/1FPBeqC
Mainstream braves high winds to deliver ‘world’s cheapest’ offshore wind power
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
Mainstream Renewable Power will try to install wind turbines at sea in winds of up to 15 metres per second and streamline its power transmission systems in the hope of delivering the world’s cheapest electricity from an offshore wind farm.
http://jlne.ws/1I8Zl3H
10.7 Million households may get $27 average credit on their electric bill
Central Valley Business Times
The April or May electric bills for about 10.7 million California households may contain a little surprise: A credit under the Cap-and-Trade Program that averages $27.
http://jlne.ws/1zc74ce
Clean tech
California Utility to Make Gas From Solar for Pipeline Storage
By Naureen Malik – Bloomberg News
Southern California Gas Co. has started two pilot projects that will test the feasibility of using solar energy produced when power demand is low to split hydrogen from water and store the gas in pipelines.
http://jlne.ws/1H2mEOa
Water
California’s Rainless Summer Will Dry Up Drinking Water Supplies
By Brett Walton – Circle of Blue
Communities in California’s seared Central Valley and arid mountain foothills are expected to end this year’s rainless summer with drinking water supplies so tight they may give out by September, according to state and local water administrators.
http://jlne.ws/1PGgffx
Middle East can beat water challenge by harnessing the power of solar
By Ahmed S. Nada – The National
The late Richard Smalley, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, compiled a list in 2003 of the top 10 problems that will plague humanity for half a century.
http://jlne.ws/1JFIk29
Miscellaneous
The Drought Is Behind California’s Skyrocketing West Nile Virus Numbers
By Luke Whelan – Mother Jones
California’s drought isn’t bad news for everyone: turns out West Nile Virus has been thriving in the state’s parched climate.
http://jlne.ws/1GFN1uG