As society becomes increasingly aware of the impacts, risks, and opportunities associated with climate change, investors must broaden the scope of their environmental due diligence to include climate change considerations in their asset valuations and management strategies. Methods are needed to evaluate whether assets are vulnerable to business disruption due to the physical impacts of
[continue reading…]

Has your company or organization invested in carbon offsets? Carbon offsets are proving an important tool for companies that want to reduce the impact of their carbon footprint. An offset is achieved through the funding of a “green project” that reduces emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases (e.g. nitrous oxide, methane) in the
[continue reading…]

2015 will pass by soon. While we live our day-to-day lives and careers, it’s easy to miss trends that establish themselves in a small number of years or even in a single year. Yet this is happening with energy. Some new “realities” that are likely unstoppable, even by those who prefer the status quo or
[continue reading…]

ABC News reported today that the G7 group of industrial nations had pledged to phase out fossil fuel use by the end of the 21st century. According to the ABC report, the leaders stressed that “deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions” were required. The Wall Street Journal reported that The leaders of the seven
[continue reading…]

From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) At the direction of President Obama and after an unprecedented outreach effort, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on June 2, 2014 the Clean Power Plan proposal, which for the first time cuts carbon pollution from existing power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution in the
[continue reading…]

  “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.” Thus begins the Headline Statements from
[continue reading…]

In recent years, while some debated whether climate change was real or not, preparing one’s assets for the impacts of climate change was not a priority. This attitude seemed to change with Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Coast of the United States nearly a year ago. Many people felt that the storm was a
[continue reading…]

Carbon emissions trading will start in China at pilot sites in July 2013 for major emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and organizations in other industries should prepare for a national emissions trading system that could start as early as 2015. As part of China’s efforts to meet their global commitment to reduce carbon intensity (per-unit
[continue reading…]

Our knowledge of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and experience dealing with it have greatly increased over the past decade, but CCS is still far from living up to its potential in stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and mitigating climate change impacts. To deploy CCS on a larger scale, the following economic, social, and legal barriers
[continue reading…]

In April 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 17th annual U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory, The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2010. The report shows overall GHG emissions in 2010 increased by 213 million metric tons or 3.2 percent from the previous year, despite the sluggish economy. According
[continue reading…]