The Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management Division (DeAM) recently released a scientifically researched report which gives investors an analysis of climate change policies and shows risk factor to 109 countries, states and regions on key government mandates and supporting policy frameworks. This report provides DB’s investors a reference for policies that are being discussed at upcoming “Climate Change Summit” in Copenhagen (Denmark).
The Sustainability Institute launched the Climate Scoreboard this week as the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen. The Scorecard interactive online tool is designed to enable the public, journalists and other interested parties to view daily update on how much future warming would be avoided if commitments and proposals currently under consideration were to be incorporated in a global treaty and fully implemented.
By David Daddio on Comments Off on The Illusive Dream of Modern American Rail
The United States system of high speed and intercity railroads is way behind when compared to Europe and Asia, where key corridors regularly approach or exceed 200 mph and have average speeds three and sometimes even four times faster than Amtrak. Commentators often compare America’s train systems to that of a developing country. There was a frenzy last April, when President Obama committed $8 billion in stimulus funds to improve the country’s train network and asked Congress for another $5 billion over five years. Unfortunately,this seemingly large influx of cash will do relatively little to increase train performance in most areas.
In a major new announcement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare also explicitly stating that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat. This conclusion by the EPA has been reached after a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideration of public comments.
Climate change officials are expressing confidence that the a comprehensive international climate change deal would be reached at UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Carbon Offsets are responsible for a huge debate within the environmental and sustainability sectors. Do they help? Are standards adequate to achieve the goal of the scheme? Sould they be banned? This article presents an arguement in support of carbon offsetting, covering the basic theory and issues behind the idea.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $104.7 million in funding for seven new research and testing facilities located in DOE national laboratories. The announced projects will support the development and improvement of clean energy and efficiency technologies that are in the US strategic national interest. The new funding is supporting research in techniques to reduce the cost to manufacture carbon fiber on a large scale; finding ways to improve efficiency and lower costs for car batteries; and for developing net-zero energy building technologies.
President Obama is faced with some of the same challenges former President Eisenhower faced when he was confronted with a patchwork of county and state highways that impeded interstate commerce. History is repeating itself. President Obama’s goal of securing 25 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025 is restricted by state regulators who fail to cooperate on interstate goals. President Eisenhower granted the Bureau of Public Roads authority to plan and place the new, interstate highways and Steinberg is advocating for the Obama administration to extend the same authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in order to update the grid.
Just as President John F. Kennedy inspired America to race to the moon, the need to go green is a call to action that shares similarities. Both are challenges for America to step up to the plate in the area of scientific progress. Just as the Soviet Union challenged U.S. technological power with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, nations around the world today are advancing in the environmental sciences like never before. If America is to remain economically and socially strong in this era of globalization, we must join in this cause or risk losing the prestige that we have so long enjoyed.
