Search Climate Insights Directory

The Clean Air Task Force asserts that draft rules from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) contain exemptions that would allow a large portion of oil and gas sites to avoid emissions reduction requirements. By analyzing NMED's own helicopter flyover surveys from 2019 and 2020, the authors found that at least 57% of sites with large, visible emissions would be exempt under the draft rules, specifically those with calculated potential volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions of less than 15 tons per year.

Singapore aims for climate neutrality after 2050, focusing on hydrogen as a key decarbonization enabler due to its limited renewable energy potential. The country's economy is heavily export-oriented, with industrial activities and the power sector contributing 46% and 39% of GHG emissions, respectively. Singapore is exploring low-carbon hydrogen for electricity generation, heavy-duty transport, and industrial fuel, while considering ammonia for maritime bunkering. While blue hydrogen is feasible, the lack of domestic geological formations for CO2 storage necessitates partnerships with neighboring countries. Singapore leverages its position as a global port and refining hub to aim for a future role as a hydrogen hub within a developing global supply chain.

The document outlines the role of zero-carbon fuels (ZCF), primarily hydrogen and ammonia, in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas targets. It identifies transportation and industry as key demand drivers and evaluates production pathways, including electrolysis and fossil-based reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The guide highlights that while electrolysis is commercially available, 'blue' hydrogen (fossil CCS) currently provides significant scale, with some projects in the US and Canada already operational.

The briefing outlines how the SCALE Act would drive the deployment of CO₂ infrastructure in the U.S. through cost-sharing for storage hubs, increased EPA permitting funding, and the creation of the CO₂ Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (CIFIA) for low-interest loans. It argues that shared 'hubs' are essential for decarbonizing emissions-intensive industries like steel and cement and for scaling Direct Air Capture. The author highlights a 'chicken-and-egg challenge' where capture projects cannot proceed without infrastructure, and infrastructure cannot be funded without committed capture projects. While other nations like Canada, Norway, and the UK have implemented significant funding for such networks, the U.S. currently lacks an equivalent policy, risking a loss of competitiveness despite the existence of the Section 45Q tax credit.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) supports the CLEAN Future Act, describing it as a blueprint for economy-wide decarbonization. CATF highlights the bill's focus on transmission planning, community assistance for clean energy transitions, the reduction of methane 'Super Pollutants', and the deployment of clean energy technologies. Additionally, the organization notes that the bill's Clean Electricity Standard is designed to accelerate power sector decarbonization while ensuring affordability and fairness.

The Units Conversion Worksheet provides specific multipliers to convert between various units of measurement for five gases: hydrogen, methane, propane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. It covers conversions for mass (e.g., lb to kg), volume (e.g., kg to Nm3), energy (e.g., kg to GJ-HHV), and cost (e.g., $/kg to $/GJ-HHV). The data is adapted from the NIST Standard Reference Database 23 (DLL 10.0).

The document argues for a dual strategy of cutting both carbon dioxide and super pollutants—methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon, and tropospheric ozone—to reduce warming in the next two to three decades. It highlights that reducing black carbon and tropospheric ozone can lower warming in days to months, while HFC and methane reductions work over 15 years. The authors call for specific U.S. actions, including cutting oil and gas methane emissions to 65% below 2012 levels by 2025, ratifying the Kigali Amendment, and tightening National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone smog.

The Clean Air Task Force asserts that the EU's draft TEN-E regulation neglects geologic storage, which is essential for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and achieving negative emissions. The author calls for the regulation to cover the full carbon capture and storage value chain, including various transport modes like ships and trucks, and to ensure non-discriminatory third-party access to infrastructure.

The Clean Air Task Force proposes that the Biden-Harris Administration should increase domestic carbon reduction commitments to reach net-zero by mid-century, fully utilize Department of Energy funding for advanced technologies, implement a 24-7 clean electricity procurement strategy for federal facilities, and establish rigorous EPA regulations for power plants and methane emissions.

The submission argues that the proposed legislation should be based on Article 192 TFEU for environmental protection and calls for a comprehensive framework including mandatory measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), rigorous leak detection and repair (LDAR), and a ban on routine venting and flaring (BRVF). It emphasizes the need for granular data, the inclusion of abandoned wells and mines, and the establishment of methane intensity standards, such as a 0.2% limit for the upstream oil and gas industry by 2025, to drive innovation and align with EU climate targets.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) welcomes the final IRS guidance on the 45Q tax credit, stating it provides necessary certainty for developers of carbon capture, removal, and storage projects. While CATF supports the IRS's decision to limit credits to captured and utilized carbon oxide rather than CO2 equivalence lifecycle analyses, it notes that the IRS rejected CATF's proposal for public reporting procedures for projects using the ISO standard for CO2-EOR. CATF argues that further measures are needed to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century, including a direct pay mechanism and further extensions of the commence construction deadline.

The document outlines the specific points of methane and CO2 leakage and combustion within the oil and gas industry. It argues that reducing these emissions is critical for meeting the 1.5 degree warming target, noting that methane is 80x more damaging than CO2 in the short term and that existing technologies can reduce these emissions at low cost. The supply chain is broken down into production and processing (onshore and offshore), transmission and storage, and distribution to end users.

The report provides a comprehensive overview of European CO2 storage capacity, highlighting the North Sea Basin and the Norwegian shelf as the most prospective areas. It details storage potentials in saline aquifers, hydrocarbon fields, and storage reservoirs across various European regions, while also mapping stationary emission sources, noting that power generation is the dominant emitting sector.

The UK is implementing a tiered 'Cluster Sequencing Process' to deploy industrial CCUS and low-carbon hydrogen, aiming for 10 GW of hydrogen production and 6-9 Mt CO2 per annum of industrial capture by 2030-2035. While the government has developed five distinct business models to provide capital and revenue support, industry stakeholders report that delivery is 6 to 12 months behind schedule. The UK possesses a significant competitive advantage in storage capacity, with an estimated 78 Gt of CO2 storage potential, the largest in Europe.

The Clean Air Act has significantly improved U.S. air quality and public health since 1970, with benefits outweighing costs by 30-to-1 in 2020. However, the Clean Air Task Force notes that communities of color and low-income populations still suffer disproportionate pollution burdens, and the Trump Administration's rollbacks of climate and methane regulations have undermined the Act's goals.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) condemns the EPA's decision to keep ozone standards that the organization claims are insufficient to protect public health, particularly during a respiratory pandemic. CATF argues that evidence supports a stronger primary standard of 60 ppb to prevent respiratory symptoms and lung impairment, and notes the EPA's failure to establish a science-based secondary standard for ecosystems as required by a court.

The Clean Air Task Force criticizes the EPA under Andrew Wheeler for rushing through rules that support "uncontrolled generation" and disregard climate science and public health. The author argues that the EPA is ignoring statutory protections and legal requirements, such as the APA and CRA, to implement rollbacks on methane, ozone, coal ash, and carbon rules before the administration's tenure ends, vowing that these actions will be challenged in court.

The Clean Air Task Force supports the SCALE Act, a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives to accelerate the deployment of CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure. The Act focuses on four areas: supporting carbon utilization technologies, providing low-interest loans and grants for transport infrastructure via the CIFIA program, expanding cost-sharing for commercial-scale saline geologic storage through the CarbonSAFE program, and increasing EPA funding for Class VI storage well permitting.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) supports the European Commission's revision of the TEN-E regulation for its alignment with the EU's 2050 climate neutrality goal. While welcoming the inclusion of carbon dioxide and clean hydrogen transport, CATF argues that the regulation should be expanded to include geologic storage of CO2, a wider range of CO2 transport modalities (including ships, trucks, and trains), and the retrofitting of pipelines to ensure a robust decarbonization framework.

The Clean Air Task Force argues that the EPA's decision to maintain current particulate matter standards ignores scientific evidence and career staff recommendations for a tighter standard (as low as 8 µg/m 3), thereby undermining public health and environmental justice for low-income communities and people of color.