Our Season One finale brings you a debate about the pace of the energy transition that was recorded live at NYC Climate Week three weeks ago. How fast is the transition progressing, really? And why might there be divergent opinions on the subject? The debate was co-moderated by James Lawler and Dina Cappiello (RMI), and features RMI’s Kingsmill Bond and Bain’s Aaron Denman. We look forward to your thoughts and questions, as always, and we look forward to being in touch with all of you again in 2...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 177
Voluntary Carbon Markets , or VCM, are the decentralized marketplaces where carbon credits, used to offset greenhouse gas emissions are traded. Each credit offsets a metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions. The VCM has existed since the 1980s with recent updates to the types of activities that count as offsets. On July 30 of this year, the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) updated their recommendations for corporate carbon accounting standards that affect how corporations should count carbo...
Sep 10, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 176
On this week's edition of Climate News Weekly , James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss Exxon-Mobil's projections of flat oil demand by 2050, closing the last coal-fired power plant in the UK, disproportionate impacts of climate change in Africa, and more. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode....
Sep 10, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 175
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news with host James Lawler, joined by Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau. The team kicks off this week's coverage with an analysis that uses artificial intelligence to determine the impacts of 1500 climate policies on emissions. Up next, Julio and James discuss a new CarbonMapper satellite that can detect methane and carbon dioxide emissions with high precision. The team also discusses the hydrogen industry's struggle to go ...
Aug 28, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 174
As a Climate Now listener, we know you appreciate frank and thoughtful debate about the climate crisis. So we'd like to share an episode from a podcast that looks at how climate change is changing our energy systems. Energy vs Climate is a podcast featuring energy experts David Keith, Sara Hastings-Simon, and Ed Whittingham. They break down the hard truths and tough choices posed by the energy transition from the heart of Canada’s oil country. Through their topics and their guests, David, Sara, ...
Aug 20, 2024•54 min
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news with host James Lawler, joined by Dina Cappiello and Julio Friedmann. The team kicks off this week's coverage with upheaval in the voluntary carbon market . Up next, Julio and Dina discuss developments in politics, from Kamala Harris' VP pick to a Brazilian oceanographer's appointment as Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority. Later, our team covers extreme weather events and China's latest emissions...
Aug 14, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 172
The United States' Renewable Fuel Standard Program requires a certain volume of renewable fuel be used to replace or reduce fossil fuel use . Each gallon of renewable fuel is assigned a Renewable Identification Number or RIN, which allows renewable fuel volumes to be tracked, traded, bought, and sold. These multifunctional numbers affect the entire fuel industry, including both conventional and renewable fuel producers . According to one of our next guests in the series, RINs are little-known an...
Aug 06, 2024•36 min•Ep. 171
James Lawler is joined by Carbon Direct's Julio Friedmann for Climate News Weekly. Join James and Julio as they discuss what Kamala Harris' candidacy and potential presidency could mean for climate policy , followed by positive signs that China's emissions may be hitting a turning point . The team also covers the accident involving a wind turbine off the coast of Massachusetts , bipartisan grid permitting reform legislation , and the EPA's latest round of funding for climate pollution . The team...
Jul 29, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Ethanol-to-jet is one pathway to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Until recently, this pathway was out of reach for commercial production. That changed this year when LanzaJet opened the world's first ethanol-to-SAF plant , the Freedom Pines Fuels Plant, in Soperton, Georgia. LanzaJet projects that the plant will produce nine million gallons of SAF in its first year in operation . In our third installment of our sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) series, we sat down with LanzaJet's Vice Pre...
Jul 23, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Darren Hau begin this episode with a discussion of the latest extreme weather events, including Hurricane Beryl and record-breaking heat over the last year . Up next, James, Darren, and Julio discuss developments in the EV industry like Tesla's market share falling below 50 percent and falling battery prices . Later, Darren and James discuss a copper deposit discovered with the hel...
Jul 16, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Sustainable aviation fuel can use a variety of feedstocks , from used cooking oils to oily seeds. When those feedstocks are heated under high pressure with a catalyst, the process produces hydrocarbons - the essential component in fuel . This process is called HEFA, Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids . One company using this process to produce sustainable aviation fuel is Montana Renewables , based out of Great Falls, Montana, where they reconfigured equipment previously used in petroleum re...
Jul 09, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 167
In the latest installment of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Dina Cappiello (RMI) discuss a variety of stories on climate, sustainability, and technology. Dina and James cover a breaking story out of the Supreme Court : the ruling that ended Chevron deference and slashed the power of regulatory agencies. Later, James and Dina analyze the Economist's special report on solar and a tax on methane emissions from gassy cows and pigs . Also covered this week: a new angle on climate-related insur...
Jul 02, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 166
Aviation accounts for 12% of CO2 emissions from transportation and 2% of all CO2 emissions globally . Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is fuel made not from petroleum hydrocarbons, but from other sources of carbon and hydrogen . These non-fossil hydrocarbons include waste oils, plant-derived oils , and more complex sources like woody biomass and municipal solid waste ; even CO2 can serve as a source of carbon to make hydrocarbons. Derived from all of these sources and more, approximately 160 mill...
Jul 01, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. Host James Lawler, joined by Julio Friedmann (Carbon Direct), begins this episode with follow-up coverage of heat-related fatalities at the Hajj pilgrimage . Up next, James and Julio discuss two tales of climate risk- one relating to critical infrastructure and the other relating to the insurance industry . Later, the team covers a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court and pushback against the UN's biodiversity trea...
Jun 24, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 164
The US Department of Energy (DOE) was established in 1977 with two key missions : to carry out defense responsibilities relating to nuclear weapons, and to bring together under one department the "loosely knit amalgamation" of various energy projects which were, at the time, scattered across the United States government. The Department of Energy Organization Act created the Department to better coordinate national energy strategy in the face of new challenges – namely, two OPEC energy crises and...
Jun 17, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 163
On this week's Climate News Weekly , James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss the latest in global climate news. Up first, James and Julio cover the latest developments in Europe; namely, green parties suffering losses in the latest elections as EU steelmakers risk missing their climate targets despite billions in subsidies. Our hosts also discuss climate impacts around the world , from record temperatures making the Hajj pilgrimage particularly perilous to a deluge in Florida. James and Julio r...
Jun 17, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. Emma Crow-Willard and co-hosts Julio Friedmann (Carbon Direct) and Heather Clancy (GreenBiz) begin by discussing why the OECD’s $100 billion in climate finance for developing nations is better late than never . Later, the team covers international stories, including record-breaking temperatures in New Dehli and Kenya’s president visiting the United States to discuss climate goals and trade. Next, our hosts cover the...
Jun 04, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 161
Climate Now is back to tackle six of the biggest stories in recent climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, and Darren Hau discuss recent developments in the U.S., from electric grid planning and finance to the Department of Energy's list of 10 national interest energy corridors . The team also digs into BHP's bid for Anglo American with one metal at the center of it all: copper. Our hosts round out this week's news by discussing the biggest year over year jump in CO2 at Maun...
May 21, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 160
According to the CDC , the spread of vector-borne diseases ( those spread by blood-feeding bugs like mosquitos, ticks, and fleas ) is linked to climate change. Rising temperatures and humidity influence breeding rates and can extend the range of disease-spreading bugs, bringing diseases to areas that have never seen a case. What are the ways that climate change can influence the spread of disease? How can we best track this spread to get ahead of it and avoid worse impacts? To find out what we n...
May 15, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 159
Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau join James Lawler to discuss the latest climate news: Tesla lays off its supercharger team , historic flooding and heat in Asia , $11 Billion committed to the World Bank , G7 agree to phase out coal by 2035 , and several new rules from the CEQ and EPA to advance permitting reform and expand solar in the United States. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources...
May 06, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 158
Just over 70% of humanity’s energy consumption comes from hydrocarbons like coal, oil, and natural gas. The world is dependent on hydrocarbons, not just for energy but also for plastics, contact lenses, and computers, and so many other things. Using hydrocarbons like fossil fuels for energy has also led to huge amounts of climate change-causing emissions. So, knowing how important hydrocarbons are to modern society, how can we also ensure that they do not become our downfall? This week, we sat d...
Apr 30, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 157
This week, Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau join James Lawler to talk about the latest climate news. The news of the week covers Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol's latest comments on Europe's energy plans, a new innovation in home insulation with Aeroseal that could help reduce energy use (born from a U.S. National Lab), RMI's new home energy tool , the increase of coal capacity , but also of wind in 2023, JP Morgan's reality check on fossil fuel phase-out, and Sco...
Apr 22, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 156
This week on Climate News Weekly , James Lawler is joined by Dina Cappiello. They discuss the latest on green banks, the recent turmoil at the SBTI, the power of solar sheep, and more. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode....
Apr 12, 2024•12 min•Season 1Ep. 155
This week on Climate News Weekly , James Lawler sits down with Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau. They discuss the passing of climate leader Richard Benedict, a new geoengineering experiment, new California rules for energy distribution and use, and the emergence of a new biomass startup. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode....
Apr 08, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 154
This week on Climate News Weekly , James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss coal-fired power plant closures in New England, how the DOE is spending billions to spur innovation in technologies to decarbonize top-emitting industries, the role that AI can play in a variety of climate change fighting efforts, and more. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode....
Apr 01, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 153
In the U.S. alone, 162 million people will experience a worse quality of life due to the changing climate within the next 30 years. Rising sea levels stand to displace 13 million Americans in the long run while wildfires and other risks are likely to displace millions more . With 3.2 million American climate migrants to-date, it’s time to start thinking about what our country’s future might look like. Even these statistics may be vast underestimates because nailing down someone’s exact reason fo...
Mar 26, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 152
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by Julio Friedmann and Canary Media Reporter Julian Spector. Julio reports on his experience at CERAWeek, and discusses rising energy demand. Julian shares his thoughts on new battery construction projects. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode....
Mar 25, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 151
In 2023, electric vehicle drivers reported that, when pulling up to one of the more than 140,000 EV public charging stations across the United States, something went wrong about 21% of the time , leaving them unable to charge their vehicles. Such unreliability in charging availability could be crippling to what needs to be rapid growth in the EV market , and produces particular challenges to fleet operators considering EV adoption. They will be dependent on reliable EV charging to ensure their b...
Mar 21, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 150
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by GreenBiz Editor at Large Heather Clancy, as well as regular contributors Dina Cappiello and Julio Friedmann. They discuss the latest updates to the Science Based Targets Initiative dashboard and what they really mean for companies' climate goals, what happens at the Aspen Ideas: Climate festival and CERAWeek, as well as the DOE's latest Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge, and more. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Fac...
Mar 20, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 149
This week we're joined by Dina Capiello and Julio Friedmann to talk about the latest climate news. The IEA released its global warming emissions report for 2023 , and emissions continue to rise, but at a slower rate than in previous years. Meanwhile, to better track those emissions, EDF launched its long-anticipated MethaneSAT on March 4th, a satellite that will measure methane pollution worldwide. And on March 6th the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) released its final rules to re...
Mar 11, 2024•12 min•Season 1Ep. 148
