By Liza Gross, Inside Climate News One bill that would have required oil companies to help pay for damages from climate-driven disasters failed and another that would levy heavy fines on refineries that release toxic air contaminants was watered down. A view of the Martinez Refining Company in Martinez, Calif. …
This Startup Aims to Restore the Ocean’s Power to Store Carbon
By Scarlett Buckley, Sustainable Brands The startup’s ‘AI-optimized CDR’ approach is designed to re-create the optimal conditions for phytoplankton to play their part in oceanic carbon sequestration, with a goal to sequester 1Gt of CO? annually by 2030. The ocean is the most efficient carbon dioxide-removal (CDR) and -storage system we have, absorbing around 30 …
South Carolina Is Untapped Ground for Solar Energy
By Carrie Klein, Inside Climate News The state’s largest utility-scale solar installation yet will come online this year. It could spur more projects across the state, but pending legislation puts the future of solar at risk. Workers install one of the main power transformers for Silicon Ranch’s solar farm in …
Microplastics in placentas linked to premature births, study suggests
By Damien Carrington, The Guardian Tiny plastic pollution more than 50% higher in placentas from preterm births than in those from full-term births. A study has found microplastic and nanoplastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births than in those from full-term births. The levels were much …
Microsoft backs nature-based carbon removal
By Andrew Freedman, Axios Chestnut Carbon, a nature-based carbon removal company, has inked a new, long-term agreement with Microsoft to provide the tech giant with removal credits from its projects in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. Why it matters: The 25-year offtake agreement is among the largest U.S. afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) projects …
To Save the Great Salt Lake, Farmers Will Have to Grow Less Alfalfa
By Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News New research found that the crop used to feed dairy and beef cows uses the vast majority of agricultural water that would otherwise replenish the largest saline lake in the nation. A view of bales in the Great Salt Lake basin. Credit: Brian Richter/Sustainable …
How a fantasy oil train may help the Supreme Court gut a major environmental law
By Stephanie Mencimer, Grist Even if the railway promoters win, here’s why the train won’t get built. A freight train near Moab, Utah, makes its way up a steep grade. VW Pics / Getty Images The state of Utah has come up with its share of boondoggles over the years, but …
Lack of charging stations in high-rise buildings is cutting off access to EVs
By Victoria Foote, Corporate Knights A third of Canadians and a quarter of Americans live in multi-unit housing, but the shortage of on-site charging stations is stopping them from buying EVs. Aniseh Sharifi spent the better part of the past six years trying to convince an unyielding condo board they …
A Supreme Court Case About a Railway Could Have Widespread Impacts on U.S. Environmental Laws
By Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News A proposed Utah railway would quadruple the Uinta Basin’s oil production if built. Colorado and environmentalists have fought the project, arguing its impacts would extend far beyond Utah’s own borders. An aerial view of the Uinta Basin oil fields, where a proposed 88-mile railway …
Coca-Cola accused of quietly dropping its 25% reusable packaging target
By Helena Horton, The Guardian Campaigners say company’s apparent abandoning of 2030 pledge is a ‘masterclass in greenwashing’ Coca-Cola has been previously found by researchers to be among the world’s most polluting brands when it comes to plastic waste. Photograph: Régis Duvignau/Reuters Coca-Cola has been accused of quietly abandoning a pledge …