‘Green News Report’ – April 20, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: ‘Frightening’ U.N. global climate assessment warns climate change and sea level rise are accelerating; U.S. and China agree to cooperate on climate action; Biden to hold virtual climate leaders summit on Earth Day; Interior Sec. Haaland revokes Trump-era orders; PLUS: Nation’s largest coal mining union backs shift away from coal mining to renewable energy jobs… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Spare yourself the guilt trip this Earth Day – it’s companies that need to clean up their acts; How the U.S. could halve climate emissions by 2030; Grid operator releases transmission road map that could help unlock renewables; California says it’s time for giant carbon vacuums; Huge plastics plant faces calls for environmental justice, stiff economic headwinds; Biden Administration releases $8 billion in Puerto Rico disaster funding… PLUS: Exxon floats $100 billion carbon storage project requiring public, private financing.. and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Tricky path for President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate:
• The U.S. credibility chasm on climate change (Axios):
  “The way to rebuild the trust is for this Administration to first explain how the United States will achieve its Paris target and then also provide a concrete plan for enhancing ambition by 2030.”
• Biden feels heat on emissions goal as climate summit nears (AP)
• Biden will hold a big climate summit this week to reestablish U.S. leadership. Not everyone may follow. (Washington Post/MSN)
• Joe Biden To Reveal US Emissions Pledge In Key Climate Crisis Moment” (Guardian UK)
• US, China agree to cooperate on climate action:
• U.S. and China agree to cooperate to “tackle the climate crisis” (AP)
• US and China agree to cooperate on climate change after talks in Shanghai (CNN):
  “The United States and China will continue to discuss, both on the road to COP 26 and beyond, concrete actions in the 2020s to reduce emissions aimed at keeping the Paris Agreement-aligned temperature limit within reach,” the statement said.
• ‘Frightening’: WMO/UN State of the Global Climate report:
• World running out of time to tackle climate crisis: UN (AFP/Yahoo News):
  2021 must be the year of action for protecting people against the “disastrous” effects of climate change, the United Nations said on Monday ahead of a crucial US-convened summit.
• VIDEO: António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) on the report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020 (United Nations WebTV)
• VIDEO: Joint press conference, State of the Global Climate in 2020 (United Nations WebTV)
• UN warns of climate ‘abyss’ as 2020 confirmed as one of 3 hottest years on record (Reuters/Yahoo News):
  2020 was one of the three hottest years on record, marked by wildfires, droughts, floods and melting glaciers, a United Nations report said on Monday, prompting the U.N. Secretary-General to say the world stands “on the verge of the abyss”.
• COVID-19 hasn’t slowed global warming: Earth’s carbon dioxide levels highest in over 3 million years, NOAA says (USA Today):
  At that time, sea levels were as much as 78 feet higher, the average temperature was 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in pre-industrial times, Greenland was mostly green, and Antarctica had trees.
• Largest coal miners’ union backs shift to renewable energy:
• America’s largest coal miners’ union supports clean energy (with conditions) (Grist):
  “Change is coming, whether we seek it or not.”
• Miners’ union backs shift from coal in exchange for jobs (AP)
• VIDEO: Sen. Joe Manchin & UMWA President Cecil Roberts (National Press Club):
  Joseph Manchin III, the senior senator from West Virginia and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will join with the president of the United Mine Workers of America. Cecil E. Roberts Jr., as Roberts announces the UMWA’s principles for addressing climate change, energy transition, and government policies that affect workers in coal production and other parts of the energy sector.
• A coal miners union indicates it will accept a switch to renewable energy in exchange for jobs. (NY Times):
  The mine workers’ plan…calls for the creation of new jobs in Appalachia through tax credits that would subsidize the making of solar panel and wind turbine components, and by funding the reclamation of abandoned mines that pose a risk to public health. The mine workers are also calling for spending on research on carbon capture and storage technology…
• Preserving Coal Country: Keeping America’s coal miners, families and communities whole in an era of global energy transition [PDF] (United Mine Workers of America)
• Interior Sec. Haaland revokes Trump’s moves to expand fossil fuel extraction:
• Interior head Haaland revokes Trump-era orders on energy (AP):
  Haaland called the orders by her predecessors, Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, “inconsistent with the department’s commitment to protect public health; conserve land, water, and wildlife; and elevate science.
• Haaland revokes a dozen Trump orders (The Hill)
Despite the revocation of the Trump-era order on coal, a department spokesperson, however, denied that the coal move reinstates the Obama era leasing ban. The official said the announcement doesn’t immediately take action on coal development, and that the agency is continuing to review a path forward.

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• Spare Yourself the Guilt Trip This Earth Day – It’s Companies That Need to Clean Up Their Acts (EcoWatch)
• How The U.S. Could Halve Climate Emissions By 2030 (NPR)
• Greta Thunberg to testify in Congress on Earth Day (Politico)
• Texas Politicians Aim to Penalize Wind and Solar in Response to Outages. Are Renewables Now Strong Enough to Defend Themselves? (Inside Climate News)
• Transmission road map could help unlock renewables (E&E News)
• As Biden targets 100% clean electricity, strategies emerge to reliably integrate rising renewables (Utility Dive)
• Clock’s running out on climate change. California says it’s time for giant carbon vacuums (LA Times)
• Fall in cost of financing renewable energy projects: Oxford University (Economic Times India)
• In Latest Disappointment From Yellen, John Morton Is Treasury’s New Climate Counselor (Revolving Door Project)
• Huge plastics plant faces calls for environmental justice, stiff economic headwinds (Washington Post)
• Exxon floats $100 billion carbon storage project requiring public, private financing (Reuters)
• Jackson, Miss., Won’t Release Email About 2020 Water System Problems (AP)
• Paint Stripper Methylene Chloride Caused More Deaths Than Trump EPA Identified (The Hill)
• Biden Admin Releases $8 Billion In Disaster Funding For Puerto Rico (The Hill)
• GAO Raises Concerns About Government Inspections Of Offshore Pipelines (The Hill)
• Business Booming in America’s Forests. Some Aren’t Happy About It. (NY Times)
• How Canada Is Trying To Protect Its Last Three Spotted Owls (Guardian UK)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Explainer: The ‘Green New Deal’: Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).