‘Green News Report’ – May 20, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: International Energy Agency releases landmark roadmap for the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050; Biden Administration moves to innovate buildings; PLUS: Ford unveils its game-changing all-electric F-150 Lightning truck… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): White House Brings Back Climate Scientist Forced Out By Trump Admin; Banks Always Backed Fossil Fuel Over Green Projects — Until This Year; Biden’s Climate Chops Face A Big Test On Old-Growth Forests; Planting A Million Trees In Semi-Arid Desert To Combat Climate Change; ‘Free-for-all’ used car export threatens climate goals; Kerry Says US Examining Carbon Border Tax… PLUS: Intruder Pests May Drain Trillions From Africa’s Economies, Study Finds… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• IEA releases landmark roadmap to reach net zero emissions by 2050:
• Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector (International Energy Agency):
  This special report is the world’s first comprehensive study of how to transition to a net zero energy system by 2050 while ensuring stable and affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling robust economic growth. It sets out a cost-effective and economically productive pathway, resulting in a clean, dynamic and resilient energy economy dominated by renewables like solar and wind instead of fossil fuels.
• VIDEO: Net Zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy system (International Energy Agency)
• Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 Are Possible, Landmark Report Says (E&E News/Scientific American):
  The International Energy Agency outlines the steps needed to overhaul energy systems to meet global warming goals.
• Oil companies told to stop drilling now to save the planet (CNN)
• New report spells out what it’ll take for the world to go net-zero (Grist):
  Innovation and behavior change are required, new fossil fuel reserves are not.
• A ‘narrow’ pathway to a net zero future for greenhouse gases, IEA says (Washington Post):
  To limit climate change, by 2030 the world must install the equivalent of the current largest solar park — every day. The rate of energy efficiency improvements will have to triple the rate of the past two decades. And by 2035, the sale of the internal combustion engine needs to be a thing of the past.
• The International Energy Agency Issues a Landmark Statement About Fossil Fuels (Bill McKibben, The New Yorker):
  The crucial turning points of the climate era can be found in a series of sentences, some of them pretty opaque, but all of them critical. The latest came on Tuesday morning in a report from the International Energy Agency, in Paris, and it could very well signal the start of the end of the fossil-fuel era.
• The IEA’s Seven Key Pillars Of Decarbonization (Forbes)
• Clearing up confusion – the IEA says we have the technology we need:
• Dr. Fatih Birol, IEA Director, explanatory tweet thread (Twitter):
  “Most of the reductions in CO2 emissions through 2030 come from technologies already on the market. But in 2050, almost half come from technologies that, while known, are still in development now. Big leaps in innovation are needed by 2030 to get these technologies ready in time.”
• Dr. Michael E. Mann, climate scientist, explanatory tweet thread (Twitter):
  The @IEA did NOT say that 50% of cumulative carbon emissions reductions through 2050 will come from “future tech”. They said that *IN 2050*, 50% of new reductions will come from new tech.
• Dr. Michael Mann explanatory tweet thread: (Twitter):
  What the @IEA *appears* to be saying is that by 2050, 50% of CONTEMPORANEOUS reductions will come from what we currently consider “future tech”. That’s NOT remotely equivalent to the Kerry assertion that 50% of the CUMULATIVE reductions THROUGH 2050 will come from “future tech”.
• VIDEO: Dr. Michael E. Mann interview about John Kerry’s recent comments downplaying the role that existing renewable energy technology can play in decarbonizing our economy (BBC)
• IEA Historically Underestimates Renewables, Overestimates Fossils (Climate Nexus)
• Biden Administration moves to innovate buildings:
• Biden administration announces new Energy Star standards, plans for emissions targets for federal buildings (Washington Post):
  The White House said that, for the first time, the government will develop “building performance standards” for federal facilities. It will also establish new Energy Star standards for heat pumps and invest in programs meant to boost adoption of the potentially emissions-saving technology…The EPA on Monday also announced a new home upgrade program to boost efficiency and electrification retrofits.
• White House announces effort to curtail emissions at federal buildings (Reuters)
• Biden administration to develop performance standards for federal buildings (The Hill)
• Ford unveils all-electric F150 Lightning truck:
• Biden Makes Electric Pitch At Ford Plant: ‘There’s No Turning Back’
• Ford Unveils Electric F-150 Lightning at Just Under $40,000 (The Street)
• 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning debuts with 300-mile range, priced from $53K (Autblog)
• Ford already has 20,000 reservations for new electric F-150 Lightning pickup (CNBC)
• VIDEO: F-150 Lightning Live Reveal (Ford Motor Company)
• VIDEO: The Rachel Maddow Show -Guest: Ford F150 Lightning Chief Engineer Linda Zhang

‘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

• White House Brings Back Climate Scientist Forced Out By Trump Admin (Washington Post)
• Banks Always Backed Fossil Fuel Over Green Projects — Until This Year (Bloomberg)
• Biden’s Climate Chops Face A Big Test On Old-Growth Forests (Huffington Post)
• Planting A Million Trees In Semi-Arid Desert To Combat Climate Change (Daily Climate)
• Metal Shredding Firm Sues Chicago Over Operating Permit (AP)
• Protected Areas Cover A Sixth Of Earth’s Land And Freshwater (AP)
• ‘Free-for-all’ used car export threatens climate goals (E&E News)
• Intruder Pests May Drain Trillions From Africa’s Economies, Study Finds (NY Times)
• Overwintering ‘Zombie’ Fires May Become More Common As Climate Changes (Reuters)
• Kerry Says US Examining Carbon Border Tax, Sees Risks (AP)
• Nations Must Drop Fossil Fuels, Fast, World Energy Body Warns (NY Times)
• Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? (BBC)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• 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).