Tag - carbon-emissions

 
 

CARBON EMISSIONS

Voters in countries representing more than 40% of the world’s population, including India, Indonesia and the U.S., will go to the polls between now and the end of 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2023
Democracy and climate politics are set to collide next year
Voters in countries representing more than 40% of the world’s population will go to the polls between now and the end of next year.
Researchers prepare to conduct a mapping survey of a reforested area on a hillside near Chiang Mai, Thailand.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 18, 2023
In Thailand, drones help solve forest carbon capture riddle
Drones are part of an increasingly sophisticated arsenal used by scientists to understand forests and their role in the battle against climate change.
A deal was reached at the eleventh hour of COP28 in Dubai on Wednesday, with countries committing to transition away from fossil fuels to meet climate goals.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2023
It’s time to kick our addiction to fossil fuels
The COP28 deal is historic in that it calls for a transition away from fossil fuels for the first time, but it's too weak to tackle the climate emergency.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, of the United Arab Emirates, addresses the plenary, after a draft of a negotiation deal was released, at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023
Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels
More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the deal to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition.
While broad-based action at the COP28 summit is critical, the fact is that just a few key actors such as the U.S., China and India have the power to bring about a radical reduction in global emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023
COP28 can deliver progress on climate change, but will it?
Committed global climate action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge.
A wind farm near near Golmud, Qinghai province, China
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023
The promise of China’s sustainable-development path
As of this month, China has (since 2017) approved 572 “ecological civilization construction demonstration zones.”
Cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant in Germany. While surface temperatures might stabilize quickly after reaching net-zero, other shifting parts of the climate are harder to slow once set in motion.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Nov 17, 2023
Amid climate efforts, will net-zero emissions be enough?
A new study suggests uncertainty about how climate systems will respond after emissions stabilize is an argument for reducing them as quickly as possible.
An agent inspects a tree extracted from the Amazon rainforest during an operation to combat deforestation in Para State, Brazil, on Jan. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 14, 2023
Forests key to climate fight along with cutting fossil fuels: study
Restoring global forests could sequester 22 times as much carbon as the world emits in a year, meaning trees are a key tool in fighting climate change.
Coffee is served from a Toyota-developed fuel cell food truck at an event in Hita, Oita Prefecture, in October.
BUSINESS / Tech / Regional voices: Chubu
Nov 13, 2023
Toyota's fuel cell vehicles include food trucks and mobile offices
The carmaker is offering a variety of ways to utilize FCVs by taking advantage of their lack of tailpipe emissions and ability to generate electricity.
The world’s carbon footprint is split into three roughly equal portions: China, all developed nations and the rest of the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2023
How China’s downturn could save the world
The world’s carbon footprint is split into three roughly equal portions: China, all developed nations and the rest of the world.
A ceremony marking the opening of the carbon credit market at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on Oct. 11
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023
Why all carbon credits aren’t created equal
Because the carbon credit market is unregulated and completely voluntary, it’s been able to get away with a lack of scrutiny.
Climate activists demand that the World Bank stop fossil fuel financing on the first day of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, on Oct. 9.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2023
Telling countries not to be poor is bad climate advice
As developing nations bear the brunt of the costs of climate change; the world's richer states need to pay up.
While there should be a balance between entrepreneurial innovation and environmental responsibility, pollution should be the primary concern, not economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2023
Embracing the green growth mindset
Some high-carbon economic activities need to shrink while low-carbon, high-efficiency sectors need to grow.
Trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks at a ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday to launch a new platform for the trade of carbon credits.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2023
Carbon pricing platform kicks off at Tokyo Stock Exchange
More than 180 organizations, including oil firms and regional banks, have decided to participate in the platform.
A Jera thermal power plant
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023
Japan climate group calls for ban on top power firm's emission claims
The group says the ads may mislead consumers as Jera fails to mention that the ammonia the utility plans to use would emit CO2 during production.
The higher interest rates that many countries are now experiencing are raising the costs of renewable electricity, the prices of which are dependent on the upfront expenditures needed to build new facilities.
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2023
What happens when renewable energy isn’t so cheap?
Renewable prices are determined by the upfront cost of building facilities whereas fossil-fuel energy prices are a mix, including fuel costs.
The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2023
Japan to discuss carbon storage with Malaysia
Japan plans is to store 120 to 240 million tons of carbon dioxide per year underground, which is 10% to 20% of current output.
Identifying a sustainable product can involve evaluating claims about emissions, plastic use, water waste and packaging recyclability.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 19, 2023
Regulators are trying to stop greenwashing before it gets worse
The range of agencies tackling dubious sustainability claims is indicative of its ambiguity and breadth.
A report by the Climate Overshoot Commission said that potentially dangerous experimental geoengineering methods — including controversial "solar radiation modification" — need to be halted until they have been researched thoroughly.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Sep 15, 2023
Risky geoengineering should be banned, climate group says
Cutting CO2 emissions is vital, but potentially dangerous geoengineering methods need to be halted until they have been researched thoroughly.
An industrial park in Shanxi Province, in the heart of China’s coal country
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 9, 2023
World falling dangerously short of climate goals: U.N. report card
The Paris Agreement has successfully driven climate action, but "much more is needed now on all fronts," the U.N.'s first official progress report said.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’