Climate 411

Financing Forest Conservation: Guiding Quality Forest Finance in the Baku to Belém Roadmap

Aerial view of a Costa Rican rainforest. Flickr/ Francisco Guerrero 2020

By Mark Moroge and Zach Cohen 

At this November’s UN Climate Conference in Belém, progress on climate finance will be measured not just in pledges, but in delivery – including for forests, which are critical to regulating the climate, sustaining biodiversity, and supporting millions of people. The driving question: how do we get more money to the people conserving critical ecosystems at the speed and scale needed to make a difference? 

Last year’s climate conference in Baku set an ambitious goal to mobilize $1.3 trillion by 2035 for developing countries. Over the coming months, countries will provide inputs on a ‘Baku to Belém Roadmap’, guiding public and private sectors to deliver on this target. While scaling climate finance is essential, so is ensuring its quality. Strengthening the affordability, accessibility, and effectiveness of climate funding must be priorities to catalyze transformative action. 

As the Baku to Belém Roadmap takes shape, these principles of quality cannot just be abstractions – they need to be translated within specific sectors and contexts. This is especially true for the forest sector, where stakeholders face underlying barriers to securing the financing they need, and where there are ripe opportunities to unlock new resources, from leveraging public money to catalyze private investment, to deploying innovative models like the Tropical Forests Forever Facility.  Read More »

Posted in Brazil, Carbon Markets, Climate Finance, Extreme Weather, Indigenous People, REDD+, United Nations / Tagged , , , , , , | Authors: , / Leave a comment

States in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative take an important step forward — and there’s room to go further

On July 1, the ten states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) concluded their Third Program Review and announced updates that strengthen the regional cap on climate pollution, beginning in 2027. These changes also introduce new measures to protect energy affordability and reaffirm the program’s commitment to cutting pollution, promoting clean energy and supporting local communities. 

As Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) analysis shows, the case for program improvements is well supported — delivering clean electricity and critical climate and health benefits while ensuring consumer affordability. And there’s still room to do even more.

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Posted in Carbon Markets, Cities and states, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, News / Authors: , / Leave a comment

The Science Is Clear on the Dangers of Planet-Heating Pollution

This post was co-authored by EDF Climate Scientist Fiona Lo

The Trump EPA is now reconsidering, and reportedly intends to reverse, the Endangerment Finding – the science-based determination that climate pollution harms public health and welfare. That’s in spite of mountains of scientific evidence confirming that climate pollution is driving extreme weather events and putting people at risk.

The scientific evidence was clear that climate pollution endangers public health and welfare when EPA issued the Endangerment Finding in 2009 – but it is even clearer now:

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Posted in Basic Science of Global Warming, Clean Air Act, Extreme Weather, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, News, Policy, Science, Setting the Facts Straight / Authors: / Comments are closed

President Trump’s new tax law undermines clean energy when the U.S. needs it most

(This post was written by EDF Vice President for Political and Government Affairs Joanna Slaney)

President Trump just signed a deeply unpopular law passed by congressional Republicans — one that could thwart unprecedented American progress on clean energy and transportation. 

New polling shows that 67% of voters oppose the bill when they learn what’s in it. But the law puts the U.S. on a more expensive, more dangerous, and more harmful path, threatening $980 billion in gross domestic product and taking away 900,000 good-paying jobs in energy and manufacturing alone. Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions,  said, “This stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country.”  Read More »

Posted in Cars and Pollution, Energy, News / Authors: / Comments are closed

As New York continues to await cap-and-invest program, studies show just how impactful these programs can be

New York just experienced a brutal heatwave, with several cities experiencing the hottest days ever recorded, underscoring the urgent need to address the climate crisis. 

As temperatures heat up, so do energy prices as New Yorkers continue to struggle with higher cost of living and economic uncertainty. To make matters worse, across the country polluters and their political allies are working to stall progress and roll back the clock on climate action. In the face of those attacks, states must be the firewall. 

New York has the chance to lead by example — tackling climate change while reducing costs for many New Yorkers and spurring economic growth — through the adoption of a bold, economy-wide cap-and-invest program. 

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