Last week, the third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels, also known as CAAF/3, hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organization — the United Nations agency charged with international aviation cooperation — committed to a more sustainable future for global aviation by adopting the new ICAO Global Framework for Cleaner Fuels. This development builds on ICAO 2022 General Assembly’s adoption of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In a move that will protect communities across the country, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will soon finalize new rules to reduce methane and other toxic, smog-forming pollution from the nation’s oil and gas industry.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that’s fueling much of the climate crisis due to the excessive warming it creates during its lifetime in the atmosphere. Methane makes up about 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., but it’s responsible for over 25% of current warming.
Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline – H2 can leak easily through joints and valves (if they are not correctly tightened).
Enthusiasm for hydrogen as a climate-friendly fuel of the future is everywhere. Hundreds of hydrogen energy projects worth more than $500 billion have been announced, and The International Energy Agency says hydrogen demand could increase sixfold by 2050.
Scientists, though, are confident that this leak-prone gas can warm the climate when it escapes into the atmosphere. Just how much warming will depend on how much hydrogen is emitted, and that remains a giant question mark. That’s why Environmental Defense Fund set out to identify the climate risks of future hydrogen emissions and help develop technology that can detect how much hydrogen escapes from today’s infrastructure.
EDF’s groundbreaking 2022 study explained how unchecked hydrogen emissions can severely undercut the climate benefit of switching from fossil fuels to hydrogen. We found that if it’s not done right, using hydrogen could be worse for the near-term climate than the fossil fuels it would replace.
Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) meets with oil industry and environmental group leaders at kick-off event for orphan well remediation program in Adams County, CO
By Adam Peltz and Meg Coleman
Across the country, a million or more orphaned oil and gas wells threaten the climate, public health, groundwater and surface waters and hamper local economic development. Help is on the way thanks to a major federal effort to invest $4.7 billion in closing orphan wells under the Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells Act as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but the scale of the problem is vast.
In order to get a handle on these orphaned wells, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján , Democrat, and North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, Republican, worked together to secure well closure funding in BIL. Now, they have reintroduced the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act and a bipartisan group in the House led by Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, Democrat, and republican Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice have introduced a companion bill. This important, bipartisan legislation would invest more than $150 million over the next five years to help find an estimated 800,000 undocumented orphan wells, reuse those we can for beneficial purposes and ultimately close all of the rest more effectively and affordably. While partisan politics seem to divide the Capitol these days, it is exciting to see leaders on both sides of the aisle come together to address orphan wells.
By Adam Peltz and Elizabeth Lieberknecht
Recently, Louisiana, under the leadership of Gov. John Bel Edwards, became the latest state taking action to curb pollution and waste from oil and gas production. In a new proposal, the state says it will limit natural gas venting and flaring and attempt to reduce the risk of thousands of idle wells becoming orphaned. Both actions will help create jobs, protect taxpayers and safeguard the environment. Here’s how.
By Nini Gu
On Thursday, July 20th we saw a major shift in how methane emissions from oil and gas sources can be regulated, and to no one’s surprise it came from the nation’s leading state on this issue: Colorado.
