The 85-mile stretch of land along the lower Mississippi River in Louisiana is among the most studied industrial corridors in the country. Over the past several decades, advocates, scholars, and journalists have published numerous reports detailing the dangerous concentrations of toxic chemicals in the environment and their effects on the health of the region’s residents, many of whom are Black and low-income. It’s why the area is known around the world as “Cancer Alley.”

A report published on Thursday by Human Rights Watch sheds new light on the experiences of residents living near the region’s sprawling petrochemical complexes, and includes details of a first-of-its-kind analysis that found higher rates of poor birth outcomes among women living in south Louisiana. In the areas with the worst pollution, for instance, the report found that more than a quarter of babies are born with low birth weights, more than double the state average. 

The researchers put much of the blame on state regulators, who have repeatedly permitted plants in areas where the air is already choked with pollution and have failed to enforce federal standards. To that end, Human Rights Watch recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency initiate an investigation into whether the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality should be the agency administering the Clean Air Act in the state.

Human Rights Watch’s lead researcher on the report, Antonia Juhasz, told Grist that she hopes her team’s work will help to spur change at the state and federal levels. Headquartered in New York City, the organization is best known for its work documenting the cases of jailed activists, dictatorships, and humanitarian conditions in crisis zones around the world, not for its North America-based research. 

“We were hoping that we could provide additional research by applying Human Rights Watch’s unique model of going in and documenting harm in a very careful, interview-by-interview process that has been applied all around the world to human rights,” Juhasz said.

The study comes as the fossil fuel industry ramps up its build-out throughout the region, with at least 19 new petrochemical projects in the works, and as southern Louisiana comes under greater scrutiny. In 2022, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment David Boyd identified the area known as Cancer Alley as one of the 50 most polluted places on Earth. Boyd said these “sacrifice zones” represent “a stain upon the collective conscience of humanity.” 

Much of the new report is descriptive, painting a picture of giant industrial facilities belching out huge plumes of black smoke that drift over the homes, schools, and outdoor spaces where people live, work, and play. Juhasz interviewed 37 residents living in the nine parishes between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and found that severe respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and childhood asthma are common. 

“Residents said these ailments added stress to already at-risk pregnancies, resulted in children being rushed to emergency rooms and kept inside to avoid polluted air, missed days of work and school, sleepless nights due to wracking coughs, and the deaths of family members and friends,” the report reads.

It also details the results of a yet-to-be-published study finding rates of low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds) soared as high as 27 percent in census tracts with high levels of air pollution. By contrast, the national rate is 8.5 percent. (The analysis is currently under peer review for the publication Environmental Research: Health.) To complement this research, Juhasz interviewed people such as Ashley Gaignard, 46, a resident of Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish, which has the highest reported amount of toxic air pollution in the region, with more than 22 plants operating within its borders. All three of Gaignard’s children had low birth weights and two were premature. Her son Jason, 23, was born with an undeveloped lung. The condition contributed to severe lifelong asthma that has led to frequent emergency room visits and nebulizer treatments.

Juhasz said this research is important because birth outcomes are not often considered in studies of exposure to toxic air pollution. “Most women are unaware of this risk,” she said. “Most medical professionals are unaware of the risk. And so that information is not getting shared or acted upon.” 

The report lays out a list of recommendations to various state and federal agencies to improve conditions in Cancer Alley. In particular, Juhasz and her team suggested that the EPA initiate an investigation into whether it should withdraw the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s authority to administer the Clean Air Act in the state. In addition to weak enforcement protocols and a permitting process that repeatedly allows more industrial development in Black communities, the report notes, the state agency has adamantly denied claims that residents living near the region’s hulking chemical plants are getting sick from the pollution. 

A former EPA staffer and air pollution expert, Scott Throwe, said he doubts whether such an investigation would be fruitful, and he could not think of a time in his 30 years at the agency when one was conducted. But he agreed with the report’s argument that the federal government’s lack of action in Cancer Alley has been disappointing. At the start of his term in 2021, EPA Administrator Michael Regan promised to make the disproportionate pollution in Black neighborhoods across the country a priority for cleanup, and specifically visited Cancer Alley residents on a “toxic tour” of the South. More than three years later, Throwe said, not much has changed. 

“I was happy to see Mr. Reagan’s initial efforts and intentions, but unfortunately, I really think the follow-through has just been anemic,” he said. “I just don’t see the efforts to hold the states accountable.” 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Human Rights Watch blames Louisiana regulators for low birth weights in Cancer Alley on Jan 26, 2024.

In a major breakthrough, the first successful southern white rhino in vitro fertilization has been carried out by scientists. It could mean hope in the quest to save the northern white rhino, whose last remaining members — cousins of the southern rhino — are both female.

Neither of the two northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, are able to carry a pregnancy to term, AFP reported. They live under around-the-clock protection from poachers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

Since there are no remaining male northern white rhinos, the species is functionally extinct. Scientists from the BioRescue consortium have been trying to implant a lab-grown embryo from a northern white rhino into a southern white rhino surrogate.

While the recent IVF pregnancy was successful — after 13 attempts — it ended when the surrogate, bull and fetus were all killed by an unrelated bacterial infection in their enclosure, reported AFP and BBC News.

“We achieved something that was not believed to be possible,” said leader of the project Thomas Hildebrandt at a Berlin press conference, as AFP reported.

The pregnancy period is 16 months, and while the fetus was just 70 days old, the scientists said they believed it could have lived to term.

They will now try to replicate their success with embryos from other eggs harvested from Najin and Fatu, coupled with sperm preserved from two male northern white rhinos who died long ago.

Cesare Galli from Avantea, the lab in Italy where the eggs were in vitro fertilized, said the quality of the remaining northern white rhino sperm is “very poor.”

The process of placing the embryo — which takes a little under an hour — is carried out while the surrogate is under anesthesia, reported AFP.

“The sperm injection, the fertilisation, the liquid nitrogen, the thawing – this was never done before for rhinos. All of it could have failed,” Hildebrandt told The Guardian.

Sundan, the last male northern white rhino, died at Ol Pejeta in 2018.

Hildebrandt said the team hopes to “produce northern white rhino calves in the next two to two-and-a-half years,” AFP reported.

BioRescue collected eggs from Najin and Fatu from 2019 to 2021, when they were retired from the breeding program. According to Susanne Holtze, a scientist with Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, the team has preserved 30 frozen, fertilized eggs.

“To achieve the first successful embryo transfer in a rhino is a huge step,” Holtze said, as reported by BBC News. “But now I think with this achievement, we are very confident that we will be able to create northern white rhinos in the same manner and that we will be able to save the species.”

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Bumble bees are synonymous with summer, buzzing about pollinating flowers and crops. Now, one common North American bee may be joining the more than 70 pollinator species listed as endangered.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has found that petitions for nine new animal species may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, including the Southern Plains bumble bee.

Before federal wildlife officials make a final decision as to whether to officially list and protect the Southern Plains bumble bee, they will conduct a scientific assessment and hold a public comment period, a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity — who petitioned to have the bee listed as endangered — said.

“Southern Plains bumble bees have already disappeared from six states and desperately need Endangered Species Act protection to survive,” said Jess Tyler, author of the petition and an entomologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, in the press release. “The Act has an incredible track record of keeping species from going extinct and putting them on the path to recovery.”

One of North America’s largest bumble bee species, Southern Plains bumble bees have a less fuzzy appearance than some, owing to flat hairs on their abdomen, which look “slicked-back.”

Bumble bees live in colonies with one queen and as many as hundreds of worker bees. As “foraging generalists,” they gather nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers, meaning they can inhabit a broad range. They are essential pollinators for wild plants and crops that depend on insects to pollinate them.

Queen Southern Plains bumble bees can be as large as one inch, while workers can grow to three-quarters that size, reported The Guardian.

Southern Plains bumble bees were once found in 26 states in the Great Plains and southeastern Gulf coastal plain, the press release said. Half their population has been decimated over multiple decades, and they are no longer found in Maryland, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Indiana and New Jersey.

Ongoing threats to the bumble bees and their grasslands habitat include pesticides, heavy grazing and crop conversion. Pesticides hinder reproduction, harm bees’ immune systems and reduce their survival rates. When grasslands are degraded, it limits the bees’ access to diverse sources of pollen and nectar.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 12 species of bumble bee are threatened with extinction in the U.S., but just two — Franklin’s bumble bee and the rusty patched bumble bee — are currently receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The other species the Fish and Wildlife Service found may warrant endangered species protection are the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, Railroad Valley toad, pygmy rabbit, Southwest spring firefly, yellow-spotted woodland salamander, white-margined penstemon and two fish species: Betta rutilans and Betta hendra.

“[W]e announce that we are initiating status reviews of these species to determine whether the petitioned actions are warranted. To ensure that the status reviews are comprehensive, we request scientific and commercial data and other information regarding the species and factors that may affect their status,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. “Based on the status reviews, we will issue 12-month petition findings, which will address whether or not the petitioned actions are warranted in accordance with the Act.”

The post Bumble Bee Species Found in 20 States Could Be Listed as Endangered appeared first on EcoWatch.

Researchers from The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland and the University of Graz in Austria have found PFAS from ski wax on the snowy slopes of ski resorts in Austria. The findings raise concern on the impact these “forever chemicals” could have on the local environment, particularly groundwater.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts, analyzed snow melt, soil and various ski waxes, which are typically used to protect skis and offer a smoother glide. Ski wax often contains PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, as these substances have water-resistant properties. But more and more studies are reviewing how long-lasting PFAS impact the environment and human health.

“These chemicals are called forever chemicals because they will need hundreds of years to break down. Because of this, they could accumulate or spread into the wider environment, including groundwater systems, which is the main concern,” Viktoria Müller, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

The researchers found 14 types of PFAS chemicals at Alpine ski slopes, and the PFAS levels found at ski resorts was higher than at non-skiing locations used as controls in the study.

“While there has been concern about the use of PFAS in ski wax for some time, this study on Alpine ski slopes showed that skiing will produce orders of magnitude higher concentrations of PFAS on to anywhere skiing is taking place where these types of wax area used,” Müller explained. “However, even where there is no skiing, there are still small detections because of how widely this chemical has now spread in the environment.”

The study follows recent bans on PFAS use in ski wax at some resorts and professional skiing events, including bans by The International Ski and Snowboard Federation and The International Biathlon Union. In January 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an alert on perfluorinated chemicals in ski wax, noting that some PFAS are toxic and long-lasting, even in small amounts. Studies have linked certain PFAS, such as PFOA and PFOS, to liver and kidney damage, thyroid disruption and cancer, according to the EPA.

Although the study found higher levels of PFAS in skiing areas and linked that ski wax may be a “significant source of PFAS”, the authors concluded that more research is needed to determine other potential sources of PFAS contamination, especially as there are few studies on PFAS in snow and soil.

“This study showed that public skiing can produce orders of magnitude higher PFAS concentrations in remote Alpine regions and can be a significant source of PFAS in soils,” the authors wrote. “However, other PFAS sources should be also considered.”

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When e-cigarettes, or vapes, came on the market in 2007, they were initially seen as…

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Climate activists have set their sights on a new target in the fight to slow global warming: utilities. 

Around a dozen communities across the country have launched campaigns to get rid of their investor-owned electric utilities — the for-profit companies that distribute electricity to three-quarters of U.S. households — and replace them with publicly owned ones. Calling their goal “public power,” advocates argue that existing utilities have saddled customers with high rates and frequent outages, while lobbying to delay rooftop solar and other climate policies. Advocates say local ownership of the power grid would lead to lower electric bills, a quicker transition to renewables, and greater accountability to customers.

In November, the movement for public power faced its biggest test yet in Maine. Residents voted on a referendum that would have replaced Maine’s two investor-owned utilities with a statewide public power company. Faced with an existential threat, the legacy utilities launched a $39 million advertising campaign to counter the initiative. The measure ultimately failed, with roughly 70 percent of voters opposed. 

Yet despite the defeat in Maine, public power supporters in California, New York, and Michigan told Grist that they’re just getting started. Their campaigns are at different stages — some of them are working to get a measure like Maine’s on the ballot, while others are just trying to convince local officials to study the feasibility of public power. Most of them face opposition from legacy power utilities. But all of them are optimistic about the long-term prospects of publicly owned utilities.

“Public power is a necessarily ambitious and visionary effort,” said Mohini Sharma, organizing director of Metro Justice, a grassroots organization advocating for public power in Rochester, New York. “And when you’re going up against multibillion-dollar corporations, there are going to be some losses along the way.”

Some advocates see a silver lining in the election outcome in Maine. In the state’s largest city, Portland, the vote won by a margin of 163 votes. 

Campaigners in San Diego say the results give them hope for what they can accomplish in a smaller, denser population as opposed to an entire state. “It pointed to the fact that if you can organize in a concentrated geographic area like a city, and pour effort and resources into it, even in Maine the result there was favorable,” said Bill Powers, chair of the advocacy group Power San Diego. 

This year’s push for public power could find its next major foothold in San Diego. In early December, Power San Diego launched a signature-gathering campaign to get a vote for a new, locally owned electricity distribution utility on this year’s ballot. If the group successfully certifies 80,000 signatures by July, equal to about 10 percent of registered voters in San Diego, residents of California’s second-largest city could decide in November whether to oust their current investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, for a municipal alternative.

A recent report by the California Public Advocate’s Office found that SDG&E’s rates have more than doubled over the last 10 years, and San Diego experiences some of the highest electricity prices per kilowatt-hour in the country. Last May, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that more than a quarter of all SDG&E customers were behind on their bills. 

Power San Diego argues that a new municipal utility would lower electricity rates by as much as 20 percent in the short term by operating as a nonprofit and taking advantage of lower-interest financing. A recent study commissioned by the city found that if San Diego is able to purchase SDG&E’s grid for $2 billion, on the low end of price estimates, ratepayers could save up to 14 percent each year with a municipal utility within the first decade. If the price ends up on the higher end at $6 billion, residents could see higher costs in the short term but long-term savings after 20 years, the report said.

The campaign says a municipal utility would greatly expand local battery storage and rooftop solar, prioritizing local energy generation over expensive investments in transmission lines, which move electricity from far-away solar, wind, and hydropower facilities.

But Anthony Wagner, communications manager for San Diego Gas & Electric, told Grist that the “Power San Diego initiative is a costly gamble that puts taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars with no plan and no guarantee of benefits.” If residents vote to form a public utility, the city of San Diego would then need to purchase SDG&E’s grid infrastructure using municipal revenue bonds — a cost that would be paid off gradually through electric rates. Wagner added that operating and maintaining the city’s utility system, which serves more than 1 million residents, requires expertise, and that “burdening the city with this essential service in addition to its existing responsibilities is risky and could compromise grid reliability.”

Commissioning a feasibility study — which evaluates the costs, benefits, and risks of public power — is one of the first steps in forming a municipal utility. But in Rochester, New York, efforts to fund such a study have reached a standstill. Advocates with Metro Justice, the local grassroots advocacy organization, are asking city and county officials to fund a study to evaluate the cost of creating a public power company to replace the city’s investor-owned utility, Rochester Gas and Electric. Residents have criticized the utility for its high rates, billing errors, and poor customer service, with some reporting monthly bills totaling thousands of dollars and hours-long call wait times. 

Shelby Cohen, senior manager of communications at Avangrid, RG&E’s parent company, told Grist that in response to complaints, RG&E “has made significant improvements to customer service, drastically lessening customer wait times, improving the accuracy of billing, and hiring hundreds of new staff.” Cohen also noted that “small rate increases are vital and needed to invest in maintaining, repairing, and replacing New York’s several decades-old aging infrastructure while meeting New York’s clean energy goals,” and that a municipal utility would compromise service and reliability “while putting taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars.” 

Sharma, the organizing director of Metro Justice, said the study will be crucial for clarifying if and by how much electricity rates would fall under a public utility, and enumerating other benefits — like job creation, improvements in reliability, and a transition to renewable power — that a municipal power company could achieve. 

In June, the Rochester City Council agreed to allocate $500,000 for a feasibility study, but the funding was contingent on additional financial support from the Monroe County Legislature, whose jurisdiction includes Rochester. In November, county legislators voted against funding another $1 million, citing concerns over the costs and length of time required to form a public utility. Despite the setback, advocates aren’t dissuaded: Sharma said as new county legislators take office this month, Metro Justice will continue to organize for another vote to fund a study. 

Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a recent study commissioned by the city to evaluate public power produced mixed results. The report did not reach a firm conclusion on whether rates under a municipal utility would be lower than under the city’s current investor-owned utility, DTE Energy, due to potential litigation over the costs of buying the grid and future investments needed to improve grid reliability. The study also modeled scenarios for Ann Arbor to achieve 100 percent renewable power by 2030 but excluded a municipal utility as one of those options, arguing that forming the utility would likely take too long. 

Public power advocates in Ann Arbor strongly disagreed with that assumption. Don Lee, executive director of the advocacy group Ann Arbor for Public Power, said that the city council has the authority to vote for and launch a municipal utility well within the timeframe to reach 2030 decarbonization goals. Lee also noted that until recently, investor-owned utilities in Michigan were allowed to cap distributed energy generation like rooftop solar to just 1 percent of a utility’s annual average peak load. (A suite of statewide clean energy laws passed in November raised that cap to 10 percent.) In contrast, a municipal utility could rapidly expand rooftop solar, he said, as well as community solar systems, which are currently not allowed under DTE policies. 

If Ann Arbor formed a municipal utility, the campaign argues, the city could not only build out local clean energy sources, but also invest in a more reliable grid. Ann Arbor residents have experienced high rates and prolonged outages with DTE Energy, Lee said. Pete Ternes, a communications specialist with DTE Energy, did not respond directly to Grist’s questions about affordability and reliability, but pointed out that the city’s study concluded that working with DTE Energy would be the lowest cost option for Ann Arbor to reach its 2030 climate goals. He noted that 30 percent of Ann Arbor’s energy comes from wind and solar, and that the utility “will continue to submit carbon reduction goals to the Michigan Public Service Commission.” 

Ternes added that buying DTE Energy’s distribution system would come at a significant cost, and “does not include the cost of buying or generating electricity for customers or the ongoing costs of running the system once purchased.” Ann Arbor for Public Power has called for another study to further evaluate the costs and benefits of public power. 

Publicly owned utilities are far from new. Across the country, around 2,000 consumer-owned utilities serve more than 50 million customers, in places like Sacramento, Long Island, and the entire state of Nebraska. Unlike investor-owned utilities, public utilities don’t pay dividends to shareholders and have access to tax-exempt, low-interest municipal bonds.

Supporters say the benefits of public power are wide ranging. Customers served by publicly owned utilities often have smaller electric bills — on average about $15 lower per month than with an investor-owned utility, according to the American Public Power Association, an industry group representing consumer-owned utilities. They also tend to experience more reliable service than investor-owned utility customers, with on average about half the annual duration of interrupted power. 

And while public ownership is no guarantee of climate leadership, advocates say the community-oriented structure can lead to a more rapid switch to renewables. In Kauaʻi, Hawai‘i, residents bought their for-profit utility — a willing seller — in 2002 and created a locally owned electric cooperative. The Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative now sources 60 percent of its electricity from renewables, almost double the percentage generated by nearby investor-owned Hawaiian Electric. Meanwhile, many consumer-owned utilities, from Burlington, Vermont, to Greensburg, Kansas, were among the first in the country to achieve 100 percent renewable power.

In recent decades, however, most municipal takeover attempts have failed, owing to the high costs of not only buying out existing utilities’ assets, but also funding legal efforts to defend against pushback. Since 2000, more than 60 cities have attempted to replace investor-owned utilities with a public alternative, but only nine have succeeded, according to a study commissioned by the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing investor-owned utilities. They include Jefferson County, Washington, and Winter Park, Florida, which took over their power systems within two and four years, respectively. 

But elsewhere, the process can be “torturous,” said Richard Sedano, president and CEO of the Regulatory Assistance Project, an energy policy nonprofit. He cites Boulder, Colorado, as one notable example. Frustrated with the lack of clean energy progress from its investor-owned utility, Xcel Energy, the city embarked on what would become a decade-long struggle to form a municipal utility in 2010. A series of legal challenges initiated by Xcel and other delays ended up costing taxpayers close to $29 million. In 2020, residents voted to ditch the effort and instead enter into a 20-year agreement with Xcel that would hold the utility to certain climate commitments, including achieving 100 percent clean electricity. 

Sedano credits Boulder for successfully applying pressure on Xcel to switch to more renewables but wonders if there are less costly solutions to communities’ concerns about investor-owned utilities. One option is for state regulators to set utility performance standards, which reward or penalize utilities based on certain defined criteria, such as the rate at which they connect solar projects to the grid. Sedano also points to community choice aggregation programs, or CCAs, as another way for local governments to provide cheaper and cleaner power. In states with CCA programs like California and Illinois, cities and counties can purchase or generate their own electricity, which is then delivered to customers through the investor-owned utility’s distribution grid. 

Working closely with investor-owned utilities, however, can present its own challenges. San Francisco’s Public Utilities Commission, or SFPUC, already generates or purchases more than 70 percent of the city’s electricity supply through its CCA program, CleanPowerSF, and its publicly owned hydroelectric and solar power provider, Hetch Hetchy Power. The city coordinates with the local investor-owned utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, to deliver that supply through PG&E’s poles and wires. Over the years, city officials have accused the utility of requiring exorbitant infrastructure upgrades to connect municipal facilities using the SFPUC’s power supply to the grid, including public transit, affordable housing, and street lights. The city claims that the costs of the utility’s obstruction and delays have totaled more than $20 million. PG&E did not respond to multiple phone calls from Grist.

That’s why San Francisco city officials, including the SFPUC and Mayor London Breed, want to buy out the city’s portion of PG&E’s grid and create a fully public power system. In 2019, city officials offered PG&E $2.5 billion to purchase the city’s electrical grid, but the utility refused, saying the offer was too low. The city is petitioning for a formal evaluation of PG&E’s assets by the California Public Utilities Commission, and hopes to negotiate with the utility once their value is determined.

Barbara Hale, assistant general manager of power services at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, said that if San Francisco succeeded in taking over the local grid, customers would see lower rates, fewer barriers to connecting rooftop solar and battery storage, and local decisions “focused on what San Francisco needs, not what shareholders need.” She pointed out the SFPUC already has a strong track record of generating and distributing clean power, and continues to expand rooftop solar and battery storage. 

Hale said that the city is currently focusing on communicating those benefits to San Francisco residents. “One of the lessons we take away from [Maine’s] experience is the importance of us continuing to talk about what value we bring,” she said. 

That message is especially important when going up against powerful opposition from investor-owned utilities, said Sharma, from Rochester. “When fighting for something this big against an opponent that is going to outspend you in misinforming the public, it is very important that we’re able to counter that misinformation with real facts and a real concrete vision,” she said. 

In San Diego, campaigners say residents are more than ready to hear their case. 

“Until this initiative came forward, there was a general sense of resignation when it came to the electric utility,” said Powers. “Like, ‘We want rooftop solar but we can’t get it,’ or ‘These rates are out of control, but there’s nothing we can do.’ And now we have an initiative where people can act, and they can actually do something about it.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Meet the communities trying to take over their local electric utility on Jan 25, 2024.

Can you drink your daily cup of joe more sustainably? If you’re like me, you…

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The European Union is in the process of drafting a climate target for 2040 to serve as a bridge between its net greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 55 percent by 2030 and its goal of net zero by 2050, reported Reuters.

New draft documents from the European Commission said the EU must invest about $1.64 trillion a year starting in 2031 to achieve its net-zero goal, the Financial Times reported.

“The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050 – an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal, and is a legally binding target thanks to the European Climate Law,” the European Commission has said. “All parts of society and economic sectors will play a role – from the power sector to industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and forestry.”

The document expressed that the big investment is meant to lower the price of inaction as global heating ramps up, reported the Financial Times. And if global temperatures can be kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels or cooler, the EU could save $2.61 trillion from 2031 to 2050 and reduce net fossil fuel import costs by $3.05 trillion.

Some in the agriculture and industry sectors have said the requirements of the EU’s climate law are too strict considering the increased inflation and lingering effects of the energy crisis.

The document draft said the green transition presents an “opportunity” for the EU to become a “leading force in the clean technology sectors, stabilise energy bills, create the good jobs of the future, improve our quality of life, and protect ourselves against the worst effects of climate-related hazards,” according to the Financial Times.

The document said the EU’s electricity sector would need to be almost entirely decarbonized by about 2040 in order to achieve the target. There would also need to be an overall fossil fuel consumption reduction of 85 percent along with a transition to green industries. And to get to a goal of a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, there would need to be “close to” a $718 billion annual investment from 2031 to 2050. 

Much of the investment would be in the underdeveloped technology of carbon capture to trap residual emissions. Another draft addressing carbon management said 496 million tons must be captured each year by 2050 in order to achieve net zero.

The new document mentions that the use of fertilizers, livestock breeding and other agricultural activities are predicted to become the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.

The executive arm of the EU is set to publish the document on February 6. It will help inform the establishment of the 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution — a goal for emissions reductions in the bloc that is required to be agreed upon by all 27 governments leading up to next year’s United Nations COP30 climate conference.

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According to Electricity 2024, a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity demand worldwide is expected to accelerate during the next three years, a press release from the IEA said. However, the additional demand is forecast to be covered by clean energy technologies.

Nuclear power is on course to reach a record high in 2025 as renewables continue to expand quickly, enabling the generation of low-emissions energy sources to outpace the demand for power.

“The power sector currently produces more CO2 emissions than any other in the world economy, so it’s encouraging that the rapid growth of renewables and a steady expansion of nuclear power are together on course to match all the increase in global electricity demand over the next three years,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, in the press release. “This is largely thanks to the huge momentum behind renewables, with ever cheaper solar leading the way, and support from the important comeback of nuclear power, whose generation is set to reach a historic high by 2025. While more progress is needed, and fast, these are very promising trends.”

The new report is the IEA’s yearly analysis of policies and developments in the electricity market. It provides forecasts for supply, demand and carbon emissions from the power sector through 2026.

The report found that global electricity demand growth is expected to speed up to a 3.4 percent average from this year through 2026, even after falling slightly last year to 2.2 percent because of less power consumption by advanced economies.

Approximately 85 percent of the global increase in demand for electricity is predicted to come from India, China and Southeast Asian countries.

At the same time, record-setting generation from solar, wind, hydro, nuclear and other low-emissions power sources should reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, the report said.

Low-emissions sources made up just shy of 40 percent of the planet’s electricity generation in 2023, but that is expected to increase to nearly half by 2026.

According to the report, renewables are on course to comprise a third of total power generation by early next year, surpassing coal. When global generation of fossil fuels falls to less than 60 percent, it will be the first time in more than 50 years.

“The decoupling of global electricity demand and emissions would be significant given the energy sector’s increasing electrification, with more consumers using technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps,” the press release said.

Demand for electricity in the United States and Europe was down last year, with many developing and emerging economies — in response to growing populations and industrialization — recording growth that is on track to continue through 2026.

Per capita electricity use in Southeast Asia and India has increased rapidly, while in Africa it has been effectively at a standstill for more than 30 years.

“Electricity use is a key indicator of economic development in any country, and it’s a grim sign that it has flatlined in Africa on a per capita basis for over three decades,” Birol said in the press release. “Access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for all citizens is essential for African countries to achieve their economic and climate goals. The international community needs to work together with African governments to enable the urgent progress that is needed.”

The post Green Energy Sources Will Meet World’s Growing Electricity Demand for Next Three Years: IEA Report appeared first on EcoWatch.