Today, given route lengths and cargo capacity, it is possible to electrify 65% of medium-duty and 49% of heavy-duty trucks . Commercial fleets’ are responding to this promise, with announced commitments to electrification surpassing 140,000 vehicles in 2022 in the United States alone. Still, the number of electric fleet trucks currently on the road in the US is well under 1% of all medium and heavy duty trucks, and companies are facing a dearth of EV charging infrastructure to support the expans...
Feb 27, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 147
In this week's episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Darren Hau discuss falling natural gas prices and the impact of that on the energy transition, how leasing companies are responding to the EV industry, the need for more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), 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....
Feb 26, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 146
In the United States, nearly one quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions come from the 280 million vehicles that drive on the nations roads each year. And while fleet vehicles – including the ~5 million buses, garbage trucks, law enforcement vehicles and more that make up public fleets, and the ~6.5 million rental cars, taxis, delivery trucks, long-haul trucks, and more that make up commercial fleets – represent only a small fraction of those vehicles, they are an excellent target for early...
Feb 20, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 145
On today's episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss the IEA's 50th anniversary, Siemens' plans to open a US-based transformer plant, Ireland's energy woes, 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....
Feb 20, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 144
In the late 1970’s, English chemist Dr. James Lovelock and American biologist Dr. Lynn Margulis published a research paper hypothesizing that living organisms – without intention or agency – could have a regulatory effect on their environment that helped ensure their continued habitability. While the Gaia hypothesis they originated has remained controversial for the last four decades, it has provided a provocative explanation for why the Earth remained more or less clement over its ~4 billion ye...
Feb 13, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 143
In this episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler sits down with Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau to discuss potential responses to California's most recent torrential rains, how both California and the UK are responding to heat pumps, the EU's new emission targets and plan, 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....
Feb 13, 2024•14 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Passage of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 was a game changer in the United States’ effort to address climate change. The hundreds of billions of dollars the IRA has made available for clean energy and climate mitigation projects will likely double the pace of U.S. decarbonization. While this rapid expansion in clean energy development is tied to the sheer scale of the IRA (it is the largest climate spending bill ever passed ), how climate spending from this bill is taking place i...
Jan 30, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 141
On this week's episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss the consequences of the Biden administration's decision to delay the approval of a LNG export plant in Louisiana, some European countries' plans to transition away from coal , what happens when storms super charge windmills , 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....
Jan 29, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 140
This week on Climate News Weekly, host James Lawler is joined by Julio Friedmann, Darren Hau, and Canary Media Reporter Julian Spector. They discuss the various issues facing EV users and owners during the US' recent cold snap, new developments in British carbon capture projects , concerns that recent US electricity demand will strain the grid , and the latest developments in Hawaii's newest virtual power plant . Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@c...
Jan 23, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Since 2019, the cost of wind and solar electricity production has been lower than that from fossil fuels , and costs are projected to continue falling well into the next decade . But for renewable energy to truly dominate the electricity market, it needs to be cheap and reliable, even when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. That means the battery market needs to grow, too. So far, short-duration lithium batteries have dominated the market of grid-scale battery storage, but a rec...
Jan 16, 2024•36 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, Darren Hau and Eric Wesoff join James Lawler to discuss this week's climate news. Why is the Auxin solar tariff case still a thing? How did we manage to reduce global emissions while increasing GDP last year? China works to establish a vehicle-to-grid (VTG) case study. Meanwhile, more of Biden's 2020 voters now list climate change as their top priority. What does this mean for the 2024 election? Nathaniel Stinnett also joins Climate Now again to explain some key ...
Jan 15, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 137
In this week’s episode of Climate News Weekly, Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, and Darren Hau join James Lawler to discuss the US Treasury’s new guidance for what can qualify for a "green hydrogen" tax credit , Tesla no longer being the world's largest EV manufacturer , the EPA granting Louisiana the right to manage applications for deep geologic storage of CO2, and an update on a proposed Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) project in the Gulf Coast. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instag...
Jan 09, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 136
In January of 2023, a headline from Boston Consulting Group read: The voluntary carbon market [VCM] is thriving . Their evidence? A 4-fold increase in the value of the market in the course of a year, to a valuation over $2 billion USD and growing. Nine months later, Reuters headlined a very different take: Carbon credit market confidence ebbs as big names retreat , citing the first dip in the number of credits used by companies in at least 7 years. What was causing such rapid growth in the VCM? ...
Jan 01, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Join us for the second of our three-part series on voluntary carbon offset markets, where we take a look at three companies that have very different strategies for removing carbon from the atmosphere. Vesta aims to increase the amount of atmospheric carbon that the ocean can absorb by infusing coastal systems with sand composed of naturally reactive minerals like olivine. Mast Reforestation generates carbon offsets by maintaining and protecting forests in wildfire-prone areas. And Climeworks use...
Dec 25, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 134
The voluntary carbon offset market (VCM) – in which customers can pay for third-parties to avoid emitting CO2 or remove it from the atmosphere on their behalf – has existed for over 30 years , and has been controversial for nearly as long . On the one hand, the VCM can provide a path for hard-to-decarbonize sectors or businesses to reach net-zero emissions goals, and it can help finance development of important carbon removal technologies, like direct air capture . On the other hand, the market ...
Dec 19, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 133
For our last episode of Climate News Weekly this year, we're reviewing the top climate space stories of 2023 according to our series regulars Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, and Darren Hau. Climate Now Host James Lawler and Managing Producer Emma Crow-Willard moderate a conversation spanning the latest COP28 deal, new developments in methane regulation and tracking, the climate crises that struck the world, EV growth, and more. Thank you for joining us, and see you next year! Follow us on Twitt...
Dec 18, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 132
How much CO2 is it possible to remove in the United States and at what cost? Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and researchers from more than a dozen institutions have completed a first-of-its-kind national assessment of carbon dioxide removal options, ranging from the role of cropland soils, carbon capture, CO2 transport, and more. In today’s episode, Climate Now interviewed several of the report’s authors to provide an overview of the negative emissions pathways—ones that physi...
Dec 11, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 131
Today in Climate News Weekly, we continue our coverage of COP28 with three people who each covered a different aspect of the conference. First, we speak with Julian Moore of Climatebase to discuss this COP's focus on how climate change impacts global health, while Julio Friedmann, regular contributor, sent us an updated on-the-ground recording of this experiences in Dubai. Finally, we invited Dina Cappiello to sit down with us after her return from the conference to give us her post-COP28 reflec...
Dec 11, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 130
On this week's episode of Climate News Weekly, host James Lawler sits down with Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Senior Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, to discuss an upcoming report on carbon dioxide removal, or CDR, titled "Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States." Additionally, two of our regular Climate News contributors, Dina Cappiello and Julio Friedmann, share their impressions, thoughts, and reactions to COP28, which is taking place in Dubai i...
Dec 04, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 129
In 2023, two major insurers joined a growing list of companies that will no longer offer new home insurance policies in California. In Florida, the situation is worse, with more than a dozen large home insurance companies retreating from the state. Both states have seen devastating property losses due to extreme forest fires and hurricanes - risks that are only increasing due to the changing climate. But why can’t the insurance companies simply adjust premiums to reflect the changing risk that c...
Nov 28, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 128
On this week's episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau as they discuss the latest US-China climate statement ahead of COP28, new developments in the EV space , the US's Fifth National Climate Assessment , the impact of climate change on Taylor Swift concerts , 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....
Nov 20, 2023•10 min•Season 1Ep. 127
In this week's episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Ben Hone, Climate Now's Marketing Manager sit down with Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder & Executive Director of the Environmental Voter Project, to go over last week's US elections and what they mean for climate action. Then, James is joined by Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau to discuss the past week's top climate headlines. They discuss the reality behind headlines claiming that EV adoption is slowing down , a lawsuit against Califo...
Nov 13, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 126
“Geoengineering” refers to the intentional intervention in Earth processes for the purpose of mitigating climate change. A controversial topic, geoengineering is typically divided into two categories: carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management. This second category, also known as SRM, made headlines this summer when the White House released a report that “ opened the door ” to future research on the topic. In principle, SRM includes any technology that could be used to reflect some of...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 125
On today’s Climate News Weekly episode, James Lawler is joined by Julio Friedmann. They pay tribute to Saleemul Huq , leading climate action advocate from Bangladesh who passed away on October 28, discuss issues facing the Panama Canal and how they impacts global trade , and have a conversation about two offshore wind stories: Ørsted's announcement that it is abandoning its New Jersey project and the Biden administration approval of the largest offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia . F...
Nov 06, 2023•12 min•Season 1Ep. 124
On today’s Climate News Weekly episode, James Lawler is joined by Dina Cappiello to discuss Chevron's latest acquisition of Hess , what really happens when CO2 is captured in the US , the severe impacts of Hurricane Otis and what they mean , 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....
Oct 30, 2023•10 min•Season 1Ep. 123
In 2015, Pope Francis - head of the Catholic Church - published Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home , a “papal cyclical,” or open letter, to the world’s more than 1.3 billion Catholics about the ethical imperative of addressing climate change, and the relationship between environmental stewardship and social justice. The publication had an impact: in church-goers’ confidence in the scientific evidence for climate change , in country leaders who cited it in the COP21 negotiations that led to ...
Oct 24, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 122
On today’s Climate News Weekly episode, James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Dina Cappiello discuss the need to invest in our grids to ensure a reliable energy transition , in the US and abroad , the sobering reality that climate change is speeding up species' extinctions , and how new European climate reporting rules for companies will impact future decision-making. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our co...
Oct 23, 2023•11 min•Season 1Ep. 121
On today’s Climate News Weekly episode, James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Dina Cappiello discuss Tesla's new prices for their electric vehicles , Exxon's massive purchase of rival Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion , the announcement of 7 new hydrogen hubs by the White House , and the latest on the EU's progress towards their climate goals . Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram . Contact us at contact@climatenow.com Visit our website for all of our content and source...
Oct 16, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 120
The US's energy system is at a crossroads. As more and more renewable energy projects come online and demand for electricity keeps rising , many utilities and developers are being asked to build more transmission infrastructure to bring all this power to consumers. In this episode, we explore the challenges faced in developing new long-distance, high-voltage transmission lines, and the importance of transmission expansion in connecting renewable energy resources to the grid and achieving nationa...
Oct 10, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 119
On today’s Climate News Weekly episode, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss how a US government shut down could impact firefighter pay , the oil and gas industry Adipec conference and what it means ahead of COP28, the latest EV sale numbers , and how Pope Francis' new letter, "Laudate Deum," relates to climate action. 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....
Oct 09, 2023•11 min•Season 1Ep. 118
