By Feargus O’Sullivan, City Lab Highlights Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, France, wants to limit the use of cars once the city lifts its lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Hildago notes that poor air quality can lead to an increased risk for fatal effects of COVID-19: “It will make the health crisis worse. … Read more
By Buddy Burch, The Climate Center In March 2020, we launched an update to the Survey of Global Activity to Phase Out Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Vehicles. This survey, which details leadership and innovation in pursuit of electrifying the transportation sector for a climate-safe future, has been an ongoing effort at The Climate Center. We … Read more
Let’s imagine it is April 2030. In the early 2020s, as the coronavirus pandemic swept the world, we in California finally addressed the climate crisis at the speed and scale science demanded. Nation & World Collaborating for Speed & Scale Climate Action Today, Earth Day 2030, we celebrate the deep systemic changes we have collectively … Read more
By John Boesel, CALSTART Highlights California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chairman Mary Nichols emphasizes the importance of banning internal combustions engine (ICE) vehicles during the CALSTART California 2030 Policy Summit. Nichols was previously opposed to the ban of ICE vehicles due to the potential backlash but stated at the Summit: “I’ve become convinced of the need … Read more
by Sean O’Kane, The Verge Highlights President Trump has reversed an Obama-era policy that made new cars more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, but faces lawsuits and pushback from various environmental groups and the State of California Under the new rule, automakers will now have to increase the average fuel economy of their new cars by … Read more
by Damian Carrington, The Guardian Highlights New research from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health suggests that air pollution is linked to higher death rates for people that have contracted COVID-19 compared to those living in areas with cleaner air. Living in a polluted city in the past has an effect on death … Read more
My how things have changed. Back in the day, when most of the electricity we used was derived from fossil energy sources, any reduction of electricity use was considered a good thing by those concerned about emission. Now that the grid is on a trajectory toward ever cleaner sources, the dynamic has changed. Fuel switching … Read more
Due to the COVID-19 disruption, the legislature has gone into recess until April 13 at the earliest. While the legislature is on recess, The Climate Center continues to analyze the bills that were introduced in February, and is in the process of determining positions on many of them. Below are several, but not all, of … Read more
By Adam Vaughan, New Scientist Highlights A new comprehensive study finds that electric cars are much more climate-friendly than their gas and diesel counterparts. Florian Knobloch at Radboud University in the Netherlands and his colleagues looked at the average emissions across many classes of car and the projected carbon emissions generated on average over a … Read more
by Jock Gilchrist and Buddy Burch Of all the problems we face in the wake of COVID-19, the slowdown of China’s EV manufacturing may not seem that important. However, this slowdown comes at a particularly bad time– when scientists are realizing just how deadly fossil fuel pollution actually is in the face of the pandemic. … Read more
