Search Climate Insights Directory

The report examines the economic landscape of the Louisiana River Parishes, highlighting a paradox where high industrial activity from petrochemical plants masks significant unemployment, worker outflow, and high household debt. It finds that while median incomes are higher than the state average, they fall below the regional living wage for families, and the population is experiencing a gradual decline. The workforce is characterized by a high concentration of low-skill 'Tier 3' jobs and a reliance on commuting outside the community for employment.

The report details significant economic distress in the Navajo Nation, characterized by low median household incomes, high unemployment, and a workforce that must largely seek employment outside the community. While average annual wages have increased, they remain below living wage standards for most industry clusters. The region faces demographic challenges, including a declining youth population and limited housing availability due to complex land-use and leasing requirements.

The report critiques the GWP* (Global Warming Potential Star) metric, arguing that while it may be useful for specific climate modeling, its application to national or sectoral policy is unfair and scientifically misleading. Unlike the standard GWP, which uses a zero-emission baseline, GWP* evaluates current emissions relative to past levels, potentially rewarding countries with historically high emissions and penalizing developing nations. The authors contend that this approach can be used to justify continued methane pollution, particularly in the livestock sector, and advocate for a 'multi-basket' approach that sets separate targets for short-lived pollutants like methane and long-lived gases like CO2 to ensure equitable and effective climate action.

The report assesses decarbonisation strategies for refineries across four major regions, focusing on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. It evaluates technologies such as carbon capture, blue and green hydrogen, and the transition to biorefineries (specifically the HEFA process) or clean fuels facilities. Regional analysis shows that while the US and GCC benefit from cheap natural gas for blue hydrogen, Europe is trending toward green hydrogen imports and biorefinery revamps. Singapore's strategy is heavily influenced by its status as a global trading hub and its lack of domestic natural gas or carbon storage resources. The report concludes that energy efficiency projects are generally the most immediate and viable, while large-scale carbon capture and hydrogen transitions require significant policy support and infrastructure development to be economically feasible.

The Clean Air Task Force testifies in support of Colorado Senate Bill 24-212, stating that the bill helps the state meet its decarbonization goals by providing counties with technical support, model codes, and wildlife best management practices for siting renewable energy infrastructure.

The document argues that hydrogen blending is neither an economical nor an effective way to decarbonize natural gas users, noting that low-concentration blends provide insignificant emissions reductions and high-concentration blends require significant infrastructure upgrades.

The document examines the limitations of current GHG accounting, particularly the Scope 2 Market-Based method, which allows companies to claim zero emissions through annual matching of renewable energy certificates (RECs) without necessarily reducing actual grid emissions. The authors propose a dual approach: improving attributional accounting to require hourly and locational matching of carbon-free electricity (CFE) to consumption, and implementing consequential accounting to measure the actual marginal impact of company actions on the atmosphere. This framework aims to incentivize a diverse portfolio of CFE, including firm and dispatchable resources, rather than just low-cost variable renewables.

The paper identifies three fundamental flaws in the current GHG Protocol Scope 2 Market-Based method: it fails to accurately measure emissions based on the timing and location of electricity use, it does not value firm CFE and balancing resources, and it does not prioritize actions that reduce real-world emissions. To address these, the authors propose five key improvements: implementing location-matching based on deliverability, adopting hourly time-matching, treating all forms of CFE (compliance, non-bypassable, and voluntary) equally, ensuring EACs are allocated to those who financially support them, and removing 'grid CFE' from inventories unless substantiated by EACs. The authors also suggest establishing a standardized 'Baseline' CFE score for utility service areas to better distinguish between required and voluntary procurement efforts.

The report argues that achieving net-zero aviation emissions by 2050 requires a multi-fuel approach because sustainable biofuels alone cannot meet projected energy demands. It examines synthetic fuels (e-fuels) as a scalable drop-in solution, though currently expensive, and analyzes the potential of hydrogen and ammonia for regional and domestic flights. While electrification is limited to niche urban air mobility, the report suggests a 2050 fuel mix comprising 86% bio- and synthetic SAF and 14% zero-carbon fuels (hydrogen and ammonia) as a plausible path to decarbonization, provided there is massive scale-up of low-carbon hydrogen production and supportive policy frameworks.

The UK is urged to establish a methane import standard aligned with the EU's Methane Regulation to drive global emissions reductions and protect its own export competitiveness. By setting a methane intensity performance standard of 0.2%, the UK could contribute to a reduction of 25,465 kt of methane globally and up to 124 kt domestically. The brief also recommends a formal Methane Action Plan, a legal ban on routine venting and flaring by 2026, and increased financial contributions to methane abatement projects via international financial institutions.

The Power Decarbonization Funding Tracker lists various US federal incentives for power sector decarbonization. It categorizes funding into three sectors: Transmission and Electric Grid, which includes the $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program and the $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program; Clean Firm, featuring the $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program and $2.5 billion for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program; and Rural Electrification, highlighted by the $9.7 billion Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program and the $2.025 billion Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Additionally, it identifies key tax credits for clean electricity production, investment, and carbon sequestration.

The 2024 Three Seas Summit emphasized the necessity of regional coordination and private capital to advance energy transition and infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe. Key priorities include strengthening ties with the EU and U.S., supporting Ukraine's reconstruction, and leveraging a portfolio of 143 priority projects—primarily in transportation (51%) and energy (39%)—to build economic competitiveness and climate resilience.

The report identifies 219 facilities in Pennsylvania eligible for 45Q tax credits, emitting 82.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually. While the Lockport and Knox formations offer a theoretical storage capacity of 510 to 1,640 million metric tons, low permeability across most assessed saline aquifers poses a significant challenge to commercial viability. Alternative storage options include depleted oil and gas fields, CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and the Marcellus and Utica shales, though the latter requires further research.

The document argues that Poland, as Europe's third largest hydrogen producer, must transition from carbon-intensive production to a clean hydrogen economy to decarbonise its industrial and transportation sectors. It recommends prioritising 'no regrets' sectors, adopting a technology-neutral production approach, and carefully planning imports via pipelines or ammonia to manage limited domestic resources.

The study assesses three geofluid scenarios and three power generation models, concluding that an unwashed open cycle plant is the most efficient pathway for superhot rock energy. It identifies a technology gap in steam turbine design, which is rated at TRL 5-6, while other surface equipment is rated TRL 8-9. The report recommends dry cooling (Air-Cooled Condensers) to minimize water consumption and estimates the surface facility capital cost at $1,988.50 USD/kW.

The document explains that section 45V's requirement to evaluate lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions necessitates a systemwide approach to electricity sourcing for hydrogen production. It warns that without strict guardrails, electrolytic hydrogen could produce 10–40 kg CO2e/kg H2 due to grid impacts. To achieve near-zero systemwide emissions, the author advocates for the 'three pillars': incrementality, hourly matching, and deliverability.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) argues that the U.S. Department of the Treasury must implement strict guardrails for the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit to prevent increased greenhouse gas emissions. Key recommendations include requiring project-specific upstream emissions data for natural gas feedstocks, prohibiting negative emissions values from biomethane or fugitive methane, and awarding credits on a kilogram-by-kilogram basis rather than annual averages. CATF strongly supports the 'three pillars' of electricity-based production—incrementality, hourly matching, and deliverability—to avoid systemwide grid emissions, while opposing a blanket 5% incrementality exemption, which Rhodium Group analysis suggests could increase cumulative emissions by 1.5 billion metric tons through 2035.

The Clean Air Task Force proposes a two-step method for section 45V tax credits to prevent producers from losing top-tier credits due to brief periods of grid electricity use during maintenance or supply disruptions.

The Clean Air Task Force asserts that including soil organic carbon (SOC) in the GREET model for section 40B SAF tax credit eligibility contradicts the requirement for a methodology similar to CORSIA, which does not credit SOC. The author argues that SOC sequestration is too variable and impermanent to be reliably verified, noting that the Treasury would need to establish complex regional baselines and implement novel claw-back provisions to prevent tax credits from being awarded for emissions reductions that are later reversed.

The policy brief contends that fixed upstream emission rates for methane and CO2 in the 45VH2-GREET model create economic distortions by penalizing low-emission hydrogen producers and rewarding those with higher-emission supply chains. It proposes replacing these fixed rates with project-specific data from the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) to ensure tax credits align with actual lifecycle emissions.