Climate 411

OSHA takes important first steps to address growing risks of heat to workers

By Stephanie Jones / Published: February 8, 2022

As climate change intensifies heat-related risks in the workplace, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing regulations that would provide critical protections for workers from heat hazards in indoor and outdoor settings — a process that should incorporate consideration of climate impacts and the firsthand expertise of affected workers.

As an initial step in the rulemaking process, last fall, OSHA announced its intent to propose a rule and requested public comment on how to design a heat standard that will provide effective protection. Environmental Defense Fund and the Institute for Policy Integrity recently submitted joint comments supporting OSHA’s efforts to protect workers and urging that the agency design standards that account for the disproportionate impacts of extreme heat on marginalized communities and the increased heat risk that workers will face due to climate change.

Laboring under high heat can lead to heat exhaustion, stroke, kidney disease, and other maladies. Heat also makes workplace injuries more likely, with studies finding increased rates of accidents like ladder falls and even helicopter crashes. A day of over 100°F is associated with a 10-15% increase in traumatic workplace injuries, compared with a 60°F day. Climate change exacerbates these harms, driving up temperatures, humidity, and the frequency and severity of extreme heat events.

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Posted in Economics, Extreme Weather, Health, Jobs, News, Partners for Change, Policy, Science / Read 5 Responses

Pass major climate investments to keep our commitment to environmental justice

By Saachi Kuwayama / Published: February 3, 2022

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Passing major climate investments are a long-overdue step to address environmental injustice throughout the United States. They will reduce the pollution that causes climate change and impacts public health, create high-quality jobs, and make long overdue investments in communities overburdened by pollution. The climate provisions passed in the House version of Build Back Better stand to be the most significant environmental justice investment ever passed by Congress.

More clean trucks and buses: Because of their proximity to trucking routes and ports, low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to dangerous smog- and soot-forming pollutants – causing a slew of health problems, including heart and lung disease. Build Back Better invests billions to reduce this harmful pollution and support workforce development in the hardest hit areas.

Replace toxic lead pipes: More than nine million homes in 11,000 communities across the U.S. still get their water through a lead pipe, posing serious health risks. Investments from Build Back Better complement those from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by giving EPA the resources it needs to create jobs and prioritize lead pipe replacement to protect children in low-wealth families and communities of color. 

Jobs protecting Americans from climate change: The Civilian Climate Corps would train a new, diverse workforce of 300,000 dedicated to combating the climate crisis and create a pathway to good-paying jobs. This investment is especially important for young people, people of color, and those with a high school diploma or less, who face barriers to accessing high-quality jobs.

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Posted in Climate Change Legislation, News, Policy / Read 1 Response

Colorado legislators passed a law to cut pollution from industry, but regulators have yet to deliver

By Katie Schneer / Published: January 31, 2022
Cement plant west of Pueblo, CO.

Cement plant west of Pueblo, CO. Photo by Jeffrey Beall

As the 2022 legislative session in Colorado gets underway – with many climate and environmental issues on the agenda – it’s important to take stock of what legislators accomplished on this front last year. One key action we’ve been tracking closely and hope to see progress on this year: Curbing climate pollution from industry and manufacturing.

On top of Colorado’s existing obligation to cut emissions across the economy, established in the state’s Climate Action Plan in 2019 (HB 19-1261), the legislature passed an additional mandate last year directing the state’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) to adopt rules that ensure climate pollution from the industrial and manufacturing sector falls 20% below 2015 levels by 2030.

As we detail below, even with this further direction from legislators and some positive steps, progress on reducing emissions continues to be slow. In the fall, the Commission adopted a new rule that takes aim at climate pollution from four specific industrial facilities in Colorado. The new rule marked an important step forward as the first rule directly regulating climate pollution from one of the state’s major source categories, though together these facilities account for just 2% of the statewide emissions (see Figure 1 below).

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Posted in Cities and states, Greenhouse Gas Emissions / Comments are closed

Power companies, businesses, and experts support EPA authority to address climate pollution at Supreme Court

By Michael Panfil / Published: January 28, 2022

More than a dozen amicus curiae – or “friend of the court” – briefs were filed in support of EPA in West Virginia et al. v. EPA, a Supreme Court legal challenge brought by coal companies and their allies in an effort to undermine EPA’s authority to safeguard human health and the environment from the climate pollution emitted by power plants.

Amicus briefs are common in Supreme Court cases and can provide the Justices with important information or arguments from entities that are not themselves party to the legal challenge. But the amici supporting EPA here are especially notable for their breadth and expertise. They represent a far-reaching set of interests and entities, including a large coalition of the nation’s power companies, former power company leaders, major American businesses and manufacturers, power sector experts, climate scientists, legal scholars, medical and public health experts, almost 200 members of Congress, and the Edison Electric Institute – which represents numerous companies that would themselves be regulated under any hypothetical EPA rule filed in support of EPA’s authority here.

Such a substantial showing of amici underscores the significance of maintaining EPA’s authority to regulate climate pollution and protect human health and the environment in the face of aggressive attacks from the coal petitioners and their allies.

Here’s more about the amicus briefs:

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Posted in Clean Power Plan, EPA litgation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, News, Policy / Comments are closed

Why we need a global stocktake that works

By Kelley Kizzier / Published: January 25, 2022

UN climate agency’s upcoming review puts a spotlight on Paris Agreement implementation 

Day 1 plenary of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. UNclimatechange via Flickr

This post was co-authored by Maggie Ferrato, Senior Analyst for Environmental Defense Fund

In the wake of the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, it’s clear that current climate targets are not enough to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goals, despite dozens of updated national climate plans and the plethora of announcements made on the sidelines of COP.

With COP26 now in the rearview, it is time to look ahead toward what needs to happen next for the world to get on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

The good news is that Paris Agreement was designed to ratchet up ambition over time. One of the elements written in the Paris Agreement, a process known as the global stocktake (GST), just kicked off. The two-year process risks becoming a bureaucratic check-the-box exercise that doesn’t produce any real benefit to the climate. However, if implemented properly, the stocktake offers an important opportunity to increase countries’ climate ambition enough to set the world on the right path to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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Posted in International, Paris Agreement, United Nations / Comments are closed

It’s been a big year for climate innovation. Where do we go next?

By Natasha Vidangos / Published: January 24, 2022

This blog was co-authored by Danielle Arostegui, Manager, U.S. Climate at EDF.

climate technologies

PC: iStock

2021 saw major momentum for U.S. climate innovation: the research, development and scaling up of new solutions needed to tackle climate pollution, create jobs across the U.S. and reduce energy costs. President Biden reiterated his pledge to deliver a $400 billion investment in climate innovation over 10 years. The Department of Energy, led by Secretary Jennifer Granholm, began creating and reorienting key innovation programs toward taking on the climate challenge. And Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which makes significant investments in emerging solutions like energy storage, carbon dioxide removal, clean hydrogen and more, all of which may play a role in helping us achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

This momentum is buoyed by strong voter support for climate innovation across parties: A recent Morning Consult poll found that nearly three-quarters of adults support U.S. investment in climate innovation, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Meanwhile, we’re seeing a continued push in the Senate for the largest-ever climate bill, the Build Back Better Act, which would make historic investments in clean power, clean transportation and environmental justice, along with some targeted innovation funding.

The takeaway? This past year has created a significant and much-needed step forward in advancing climate innovation, which makes now a good time to take stock of the progress we’ve made and areas where we still have work to do to meet the climate test.

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Posted in News / Comments are closed