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Tag: Green technology

  • ‘I can’t afford cooking gas,’ shutdown of Kenya’s Koko biofuel firm wipes out clean cooking options

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    NAIROBI, Kenya — It was designed to be as simple as buying airtime: a quick tap on the dispenser, a few shillings and a cooking canister refilled. Now, more than 3,000 Koko fuel supply points across Kenya sit idle, with no fuel and no clear answers for the households that relied on them.

    For more than a decade, Koko Networks helped shift over 1.5 million Kenyan homes without access to public gas systems away from smoky charcoal stoves to bioethanol, marketed as a cleaner, modern way to cook. The steady blue flame became a symbol of Kenya’s push toward cleaner household energy.

    That promise has dimmed.

    After failing to win government letter of authorization that would allow them to sell carbon credits — permits that allow holders to emit certain amount of greenhouse gases — Koko abruptly shut down its fuel distribution network, bringing to a halt a model once hailed as a poster child of Africa’s green transition.

    In Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement, most Koko Networks outlets have closed, and some have removed the bioethanol dispensers altogether. Since 2014, Koko had imported bioethanol products. That ended abruptly in 2023 when the government withheld its import permit, forcing Koko to use local sources that were erratic and more expensive.

    That reality is setting in for Fredrick Onchenge. He used to serve up to 50 Koko customers a day. Now his machines are silent.

    “Initially, I was confused,” Onchenge said. “Then it dawned on me what had just happened. My livelihood was gone. I tried calling the salesperson, but their phone was switched off.”

    For many customers, their access ended with a text message announcing the shutdown. Kitchens that once cooked meals without smoke now have idle double-burner stoves — reminders of a system that stopped overnight.

    Grace Kathambi is weighing her options.

    “This was a life changer for me,” Kathambi said. “I could not afford the $8 needed to refill a gas cylinder, and Koko was my best alternative. With about 30 U.S. cents, I could buy enough Koko fuel to cook.”

    With the bioethanol supply cut off, households like hers must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive liquefied petroleum gas.

    “I cannot afford to use gas,” said Margaret Auma. “Koko made life very easy for those of us who earn little from casual jobs. We feel abandoned, yet it’s not our fault.”

    For weeks, Koko and the Kenyan government haggled over a crucial letter authorizing carbon credits and import permits for bioethanol made from molasses, a sugarcane by-product. The company needed those approvals to unlock millions of dollars in international financing that helped keep fuel prices low. Kenyan authorities held back, citing broader concerns about the credibility of carbon credits.

    Koko — which counted the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank as its investors, announced on Jan. 30 that without the approvals its business model was financially unsustainable and it was shutting down.

    “Koko’s case is uniquely multidimensional,” said David Ndii, Kenya’s presidential advisor on economic affairs. Ndii cited issues including the Paris Agreement framework, questions around the credibility of cookstove carbon credits, Kenya’s climate policies, carbon market regulations, the transparency of Koko’s business model and diplomatic considerations.

    He dismissed the prospect of state intervention, saying, “Even good doctors lose patients.”

    Kenya’s energy and treasury officials have declined to comment on the closure, which energy analysts say exposes weaknesses in how clean cooking is financed across Africa.

    “The clean cooking situation in Kenya, and across Africa is a serious crisis,” said Amos Wemanya, a senior analyst on renewable energy at Power Shift Africa. “This is not just about emissions or climate targets. It is about development, health, dignity and household survival.”

    Wemanya said models heavily reliant on carbon credits risk prioritizing markets over people.

    “We are not going to solve the clean cooking challenge through carbon math or carbon credit spreadsheets,” he said. “Carbon markets allow polluters to continue emitting while households, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries, still pay for the stoves and bear the risks when projects fail.”

    When such systems collapse, he added, it is households that suffer most.

    “They are the ones forced to revert to harmful alternatives like charcoal and paraffin,” Wemanya said.

    He said the Koko episode shows the priority should shift toward affordable electricity, especially in rural areas.

    “Clean cooking will not be solved through carbon credits,” he said. “The reality is that gas-based solutions were never a long-term climate solution. They simply shift households from firewood to imported fossil fuels. So, the bigger lesson here is that we need to move toward systems that truly work, primarily electricity powered by renewable energy.”

    For now, households like Auma’s must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive LPG.

    “What are we supposed to do? Go back to using charcoal in our one-room houses?” Auma asked. “That is the smoke and sickness we were trying to escape.”

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Climate activist predicts high electricity prices and Trump’s attacks on green energy will hurt GOP

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    RIPTON, Vermont — At a time when the Trump administration rolled back numerous environmental regulations while global temperatures and U.S. carbon pollution spiked, longtime climate activist Bill McKibben finds hope in something that didn’t seem that strong on a recent single-digit-temperature day: the sun.

    That sun has provided him cheap power for 25 years, and this month he installed his fourth iteration of solar panels on his Vermont home. In an interview after he set up the new system, he said President Donald Trump’s stance against solar and other cheap green energy will hurt the GOP in this year’s elections as electricity bills rise.

    After the Biden and Obama administrations subsidized and championed solar, wind and other green power as answers to fight climate change, Trump has tried to dampen those and turn to older and dirtier fossil fuels. The Trump administration froze five big offshore wind projects last month but judges this week allowed three of the projects to resume. Federal clean energy tax incentives expired on Dec. 31 that include installing home solar panels.

    Meanwhile, electricity prices are rising in the United States, and McKibben is counting on that to trigger political change.

    “I think you’re starting to see that have a big political impact in the U.S. right now. My prediction would be that electric prices are going to be to the 2026 election what egg prices were to the 2024 election,” said McKibben, an author and founder of multiple environmental and activist groups. Everyday inflation hurt Democrats in the last presidential race, analysts said.

    The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation’s largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies in the mid-Atlantic and keep electricity bills from rising even higher.

    “Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.

    Globally, the price of wind and solar power is plummeting to the point that they are cheaper than fossil fuels, the United Nations found. And China leads the world in renewable energy technology, with one of its electric car companies passing Tesla in annual sales.

    “We can’t economically compete in a world where China gets a lot of cheap energy and we have to pay for really expensive energy,” McKibben told The Associated Press, just after he installed a new type of solar panels that can hang on balconies with little fuss.

    When Trump took office in January 2025, the national average electricity cost was 15.94 cents per kilowatt-hour. By September it was up to 18.07 cents and then down slightly to 17.98 cents in October, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    That’s a 12.8% increase in 10 months. It rose more in 10 months than the previous two years. People in Maryland, New Jersey and Maine have seen electricity prices rise at a rate three times higher than the national average since October 2024.

    At 900 kilowatt-hours per month, that means the average monthly electricity bill is about $18 more than in January 2025.

    This week, Democrats on Capitol Hill blamed rising electric bills on Trump and his dislike of renewable energy.

    “From his first day in office, he’s made it his mission to limit American’s access to cheap energy, all in the name of increasing profits for his friends in the fossil fuel industry. As a result, energy bills across the country have skyrocketed,” Illinois Rep. Sean Casten said at a Wednesday news conference.

    “Donald Trump is the first president to intentionally raise the price of something that we all need,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, also a Democrat, said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “Nobody should be enthused about paying more for electricity, and this national solar ban is making everybody pay more. Clean is cheap and cheap is clean.”

    McKibben has been sending excess electricity from his solar panels to the Vermont grid for years. Now he’s sending more.

    As his dog, Birke, stood watch, McKibben, who refers to his home nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont as a “museum of solar technology” got his new panels up and running in about 10 minutes. This type of panel from the California-based firm Bright Saver is often referred to as plug-in solar. Though it’s not yet widely available in the U.S., McKibben pointed to the style’s popularity in Europe and Australia.

    “Americans spend three or four times as much money as Australians or Europeans to put solar panels on the roof. We have an absurdly overcomplicated permitting system that’s unlike anything else on the rest of the planet,” McKibben said.

    McKibben said Australians can obtain three hours of free electricity each day through a government program because the country has built so many solar panels.

    “And I’m almost certain that that’s an argument that every single person in America would understand,” he said. “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t say: ‘I’d like three free hours of electricity.’”

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    Swinhart reported from Vermont. Borenstein reported from Washington. Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • California wants to mix hydrogen with gas to cut climate pollution. Critics say that poses risks

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    Alma Figueroa began to worry when she learned that her gas provider wanted to test a controversial solution to curb global warming: blend hydrogen with natural gas to power her stove and other appliances. Figueroa, who has asthma and recently learned her lung cancer is back, worries about health risks.

    “I don’t want to be anyone’s experiment,” said Figueroa, 60, a resident of Orange Cove in California’s Central Valley.

    The Southern California Gas Co. wants to blend and inject hydrogen into the town’s gas infrastructure, after the state agency that regulates utilities directed them and other companies to launch pilot projects. Proponents see it as key to helping California reduce planet-warming pollution by curbing reliance on gas while integrating cleaner energy into existing infrastructure. It’s part of a statewide effort to create safety rules for hydrogen blending. But opponents say it poses unnecessary risks, and Orange Cove’s mostly Latino and low-income residents say processes are happening without transparency or their input. Projects in states such as Colorado and Oregon have also raised concerns.

    Interest in deploying hydrogen boomed during the Biden administration but has been hard hit with the Trump administration’s cancellation of billions of dollars for hydrogen technology and other clean energy projects, including $1.2 billion for a hydrogen hub in California.

    The Orange Cove project is one of five proposed in California to test how gas pipelines and the appliances they fuel hold up with different amounts of hydrogen. Hawaii has been blending for decades.

    Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent planet-warming gas that’s supercharging extreme weather worldwide, which often impacts low-income and communities of color the most.

    Supporters see green hydrogen as one way to cut emissions. It’s made with renewable energy sources such as solar or wind to power an electrolyzer, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, a carbon-free gas that can be used to generate electricity and complement intermittent renewable energy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has touted it “an essential aspect of how we’ll power our future and cut pollution.”

    Some see the 18-month proposed project in Orange Cove as one step in that direction. A solar farm would power the technology and direct the mixture, up to 5% hydrogen, to businesses and the town’s roughly 10,000 residents. The estimated $64.3 million project would be paid for with ratepayer money.

    A Minneapolis utility company estimated a blend of up to 5% green hydrogen would reduce carbon pollution by about 1,200 tons annually, the equivalent of removing 254 gas-powered cars.

    Janice Lin of the Green Hydrogen Coalition said it’s important to test blending. The U.S. has a vast network of gas pipelines — about 3 million miles, according to the Department of Energy — which can be used to move clean hydrogen while reducing reliance on gas, she said. If scaled, it could be cost-competitive and help industries that can’t fully electrify pollute less.

    “The way to move us away and really clean our air and minimize our reliance on fossil fuels is by having a viable alternative,” she said.

    California needs to demonstrate that it can blend like other countries but there are still unknowns, said Alejandra Hormaza, who teaches renewable energy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The consensus is that up to 20% hydrogen by volume is safe, she said, but “we need more experimental work that uses real natural gas infrastructure to fully understand the impacts of hydrogen.”

    In 2022, several gas companies filed a joint application to pursue hydrogen blending. The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make a decision this year.

    SoCalGas first proposed testing hydrogen blending in facilities at the University of California, Irvine, in an affluent community. But it scaled back and revised its proposal following protests. When Orange Cove leaders expressed interest, the gas company identified the city an ideal candidate — it has various pipeline materials, including steel and polyethylene, a type of plastic, and only one gas feed coming in, allowing them ample control of the blend.

    Orange Cove city leaders voted unanimously in support. They did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment. But in an August public hearing, Mayor Diana Guerra Silva said the project would provide workforce opportunities for youth and boost business from visitors, according to a transcript.

    At the hearing, resident Angelica Martinez said the town could become a “pioneer” in hydrogen blending and “deserves the national recognition and attention for its willingness to implement such an innovative project.”

    Orange Cove is a citrus farming town home to mostly Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants, with 39% of the total population living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s an area with much pollution and the highest rate of asthma in Fresno County.

    Figueroa said the community historically hasn’t gotten involved in city politics, though they have launched a petition against the project and voiced concerns at public meetings. “I think the only reason they are wanting Orange Cove is because they don’t think there’s going to be pushback,” she said. Some residents said they’ve asked city officials to host a town hall about the pilot, but it has yet to happen.

    Research shows that burning hydrogen-blended gas into older appliances not designed for it can increase emissions of nitrogen oxides, pollutants that worsen asthma and are linked to other respiratory issues. It can deteriorate certain materials and leak more easily, increasing the risk of explosions because hydrogen is more flammable.

    Ryan Sinclair, an environmental microbiologist at Loma Linda University, said homes with older appliances are more vulnerable to these risks — in older infrastructure, a 5% mix can bump nitrogen oxides emissions an average of 8%. Residents can’t opt out unless they replace their gas appliances with electric ones, and Sinclair worries Orange Cove’s low-income residents don’t have the means to replace or maintain older ones. He said more health risk assessments are needed before starting hydrogen blending.

    Cal Poly’s Hormaza, who’s researched hydrogen leakage from gas systems for the last decade, said there’s insufficient research on whether hydrogen can increase leaks.

    There are also concerns about hydrogen’s potential to increase Earth’s warming. Research shows hydrogen can indirectly heat the planet by interacting with other gases.

    Environmental groups say hydrogen should only be used in high-energy industries such as aviation, cement or steel-making, which can’t easily be electrified. Others say that electrifying appliances, for example, are more efficient ways to reduce emissions.

    “To me, it’s just an absurd project. It’s (a) boondoggle” that exposes residents to unnecessary risks, said Michael Claiborne, directing attorney with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an advocacy group representing residents.

    If the projects are approved, SoCalGas has said it will employ safety measures before, during and after the project, including with leak surveys and detection technology, backflow prevention to keep hydrogen within the controlled area, and developing emergency responses.

    Orange Cove resident Francisco Gonzalez has friends with asthma and siblings with respiratory issues, so he worries about the health risks. His community is not against change or clean energy, he said, “but we are against being left out of the conversation.”

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    Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

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    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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  • Trump’s return brought stiff headwinds for clean energy. So why are advocates optimistic in 2026?

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    There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.

    Surveyed by The Associated Press, many described 2025 as turbulent and challenging for clean energy, though there was progress as projects connected to the electric grid. They said clean energy must continue to grow to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers and to lower Americans’ utility bills.

    Solar builder and operator Jorge Vargas said it has been “a very tough year for clean energy” as Trump often made headlines criticizing renewable energy and Republicans muscled a tax and spending cut bill through Congress in July that dramatically rolled back tax breaks for clean energy.

    “There was a cooldown effect this year,” said Vargas, cofounder and CEO of Aspen Power. “Having said that, we are a resilient industry.”

    Plug Power president Jose Luis Crespo said the developments — both policy recalibration and technological progress — will shape clean energy’s trajectory for years to come.

    Much of clean energy’s fate in 2025 was driven by booster Joe Biden’s exit from the White House.

    The year began with ample federal subsidies for clean energy technologies, a growing number of U.S.-based companies making parts and materials for projects and a lot of demand from states and corporations, said Tom Harper, partner at global consultant Baringa.

    It ends with subsidies stripped back, a weakened supply chain, higher costs from tariffs and some customers questioning their commitment to clean energy, Harper said. He described the year as “paradigm shifting.”

    Trump called wind and solar power “the scam of the century” and vowed not to approve new projects. The federal government canceled grants for hundreds of projects.

    The Republicans’ tax bill reversed or steeply curtailed clean energy programs established through the Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in 2022. Wayne Winegarden, at the Pacific Research Institute think tank, said the time has come for alternative energy to demonstrate viability without subsidies. ( Fossil fuels also receive subsidies.)

    Many energy executives said this was the most consequential policy shift. The bill reshaped the economics of clean energy projects, drove a rush to start construction before incentives expire and forced developers to reassess their strategies for acquiring parts and materials, Lennart Hinrichs said. He leads the expansion of TWAICE in the Americas, providing analytics software for battery energy storage systems.

    Companies can’t make billion-dollar investments with so much policy uncertainty, said American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet.

    Consequently, greenhouse gas emissions will fall at a much lower rate than previously projected in the U.S., said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University.

    Solar and storage accounted for 85% of the new power added to the grid in the first nine months of the Trump administration, according to Wood Mackenzie research.

    That’s because the economics remain strong, demand is high and the technologies can be deployed quickly, said Mike Hall, CEO of Anza Renewables.

    Solar energy company Sol Systems said it had a record year as it brought its largest utility-scale project online and grew its business. The energy storage systems company CMBlu Energy said storage clearly stands out as a winner this year too, moving from optional to essential.

    “Trump’s effort to manipulate government regulation to harm clean energy just isn’t enough to offset the natural advantages that clean energy has,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. “The direction is still all good.”

    The Solar Energy Industries Association said that no matter the policies in Washington, solar and storage will grow as the backbone of the nation’s energy future.

    Democrats and Republicans have supported investing to keep nuclear reactors online, restart previously closed reactors and deploy new, advanced reactor designs. Nuclear power is a carbon-free source of electricity, though not typically labeled as green energy like other renewables.

    “Who had ‘restart Three Mile Island’ on their 2025 Bingo card?” questioned Baringa partner David Shepheard. The Pennsylvania plant was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, in 1979. The Energy Department is loaning $1 billion to help finance a restart.

    Everyone loves nuclear, said Darrin Kayser, executive vice president at Edelman. It helps that the technology for small, modular reactors is starting to come to fruition, Kayser added.

    Benton Arnett, a senior director at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that as the need for clean, reliable power intensifies, “we will look back on the actions being taken now as laying the foundation.”

    The Trump administration also supports geothermal energy, and the tax bill largely preserved geothermal tax credits. The Geothermal Rising association said technologies continue to mature and produce, making 2025 a breakthrough year.

    Momentum for offshore wind in the United States came to a grinding halt just as the industry was starting to gain traction, said Joey Lange, a senior managing director at Trio, a global sustainability and energy advisory company.

    The Trump administration stopped construction on major offshore wind farms, revoked wind energy permits and paused permitting, canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopped federal funding for offshore wind projects.

    That has decimated the projects, developers and tech innovators, and no one in wind is raising or spending capital, said Eric Fischgrund, founder and CEO at FischTank PR. Still, Fischgrund said he remains optimistic because the world is transitioning to cleaner energy.

    An energy strategy with a diverse mix of sources is the only way forward as demand grows from data centers and other sources, and as people demand affordable, reliable electricity, said former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Landrieu, now with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, said promoting or punishing specific energy technologies on ideological grounds is unsustainable.

    Experts expect solar and battery storage to continue growing in 2026 to add a lot of power to the grid quickly and cheaply. The market will continue to ensure that most new electricity is renewable, said Amanda Levin, policy analysis director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

    Hillary Bright, executive director of Turn Forward, thinks offshore wind will still play an important role too. It is both ready and needed to help address the demand for electricity in the new year, which will become increasingly clear “to all audiences,” she said. Turn Forward advocates for offshore wind.

    That skyrocketing demand “is shaking up the political calculus that drove the administration’s early policy decisions around renewables,” she said.

    BlueWave CEO Sean Finnerty thinks that states, feeling the pressure to deliver affordable, reliable electricity, will increasingly drive clean energy momentum in 2026 by streamlining permitting and the process of connecting to the grid, and by reducing costs for things like permits and fees.

    Ed Gunn, Lunar Energy’s vice president for revenue, said the industry has weathered tough years before.

    “The fundamentals are unchanged,” Gunn said, “there is massive value in clean energy.”

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Study finds EVs quickly overcome their energy-intensive build to be cleaner than gas cars

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    DETROIT — Making electric vehicles and their batteries is a dirty process that uses a lot of energy. But a new study says that EVs quickly make up for that with less overall emissions through two years of use than a gas-powered vehicle.

    The study also estimated that gas-powered vehicles cause at least twice as much environmental damage over their lifetimes as EVs, and said the benefits of EVs can be expected to increase in coming decades as clean sources of power, such as solar and wind, are brought onto the grid.

    The work by researchers from Northern Arizona University and Duke University, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS Climate, offers insight into a transportation sector that makes up a big part of U.S. emissions. It also comes as some EV skeptics have raised concerns about whether the environmental impact of battery production, including mining, makes it worthwhile to switch to electric.

    “While there is a bigger carbon footprint in the very short term because of the manufacturing process in creating the batteries for electric vehicles, very quickly you come out ahead in CO2 emissions by year three and then for all of the rest of the vehicle lifetime, you’re far ahead and so cumulatively much lower carbon footprint,” said Drew Shindell, an earth science professor at Duke University and study co-author.

    The researchers evaluated several harmful air pollutants monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as emissions data, to compare the relative impact over time of EVs and internal combustion engines on air quality and climate change.

    Their analysis said that EVs produce 30% higher carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline vehicles in their first two years. That can be attributed to the energy-intensive production and manufacturing processes involved in mining lithium for EV batteries.

    They also sought to account for how the U.S. energy system might develop in coming years, assuming growth in clean energy. And they modeled four different scenarios for EV adoption, ranging from the lowest — a 31% share of vehicle sales — to the highest, 75% of sales, by 2050. (EV sales accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2024.)

    The researchers said the average of those four models found that for each additional kilowatt hour of lithium-ion battery output, carbon dioxide emissions drop by an average of 220 kilograms (485 pounds) in 2030, and another 127 kilograms (280 pounds) in 2050.

    The consistent decrease in CO2 emissions from EVs is “not only driven by the on-road vehicles, but also reduction that has been brought due to electricity production,” said lead author Pankaj Sadavarte, a postdoctoral researcher at Northern Arizona University.

    Greg Keoleian, a University of Michigan professor of sustainable systems who wasn’t involved in the research, called it a “valuable study” that echoes other findings and “confirms the environmental and economic benefits” of EVs.

    “Accelerating the adoption of battery electric vehicles is a key strategy for decarbonizing the transportation sector which will reduce future damages and costs of climate change,” he said.

    Shindell, the Duke researcher, said the grid will evolve to have more solar and wind power.

    “When you add a bunch of electric vehicles, nobody’s going to build new coal-fired power plants to run these things because coal is really expensive compared to renewables,” he said. “So the grid just overall becomes much cleaner in both the terms of carbon emissions for climate change, and for air pollution.”

    Outside experts agreed — as long as the policy landscape supports it. That hasn’t been the case under President Donald Trump, who has worked to boost fossil fuels and restrain solar and wind power development.

    “The great news is the rest of the world isn’t slowing down in terms of its embrace of this technology,” said Ellen Kennedy, principal for carbon-free transportation at RMI, a clean energy nonprofit. As for the U.S., she said, “I think it’s important to keep in mind states and local governments, there’s a lot that’s happening on those fronts.”

    One thing the study didn’t address was recycling or disposal of batteries at the end of their life. Kennedy said battery recycling will improve, helping to address one of the environmental impacts of their production.

    The study comes at a notable time given the challenges that EVs face in the U.S.

    EVs have seen more interest in recent years as an alternative to gas-powered cars and trucks — particularly as they become more affordable and charging infrastructure becomes more available.

    But growth has slowed amid shifting federal policy toward EVs and an industry step back from ambitious EV production promises.

    Former President Joe Biden set a target for 50% of all new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. But Trump reversed that policy, and Congress has terminated federal tax credits for an EV purchase. The administration has also targeted vehicle pollution rules that would encourage greater uptake of EVs in the U.S., and the president has attempted to halt a nationwide EV charging buildout.

    “The study is important to show how really misguided the current administration’s policies are,” Shindell said. “If we want to protect us from climate change and from the very clear and local damage from poor air quality, this is a really clear way to do it: Incentivize the switch from internal combustion engines to EVs.”

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    Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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    Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Republicans vote to roll back Biden-era restrictions on mining and drilling in 3 Western states

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    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans have voted to roll back restrictions on mining, drilling and other development in three Western states, advancing President Donald Trump’s ambitions to expand energy production from public lands.

    Senators voted 50-46 Thursday to repeal a land management plan for a large swath of Alaska that was adopted in the final weeks of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Lawmakers voted to roll back similar plans for land in Montana and North Dakota earlier this week.

    The timing of Biden’s actions made the plans vulnerable to the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to terminate rules that are finalized near the end of a president’s term. The resolutions require a simple majority in each chamber and take effect upon the president’s signature.

    The House approved the repeals last month in votes largely along party lines. Trump is expected to sign the measures, which will boost a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.

    Trump ordered approval of the Ambler Road project earlier this week, saying it will unlock access to copper, cobalt and other critical minerals that the United States needs to compete with China on artificial intelligence and other resource development. Copper is used in the production of cars, electronics and even renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines.

    The road was approved in Trump’s first term, but was later blocked by Biden after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou and other wildlife and harm Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting and fishing.

    The Biden-era restrictions also included a block on new mining leases in the nation’s most productive coal-producing region, the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. On Monday, the Trump administration held the biggest coal sale in that area in more than a decade, drawing a single bid of $186,000 for 167.5 million tons of coal, or about a tenth of a penny per ton.

    Trump has largely cast aside Biden’s goal to reduce climate-warming emissions from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels extracted from federal land. Instead, he and congressional Republicans have moved to open more taxpayer-owned land to fossil fuel development, hoping to create more jobs and revenue. The Republican administration also has pushed to develop critical minerals, including copper, cobalt, gold and zinc.

    A decision on whether to accept the recent bid from the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. is pending, and the lease cannot be issued until the Montana land plan is altered. The dirt-cheap value reflects dampened industry interest in coal despite Trump’s efforts. Many utilities have switched to cheaper natural gas or renewables such as wind and solar power.

    Administration officials expressed disappointment that they did not receive “stronger participation” in the Montana sale. In a statement, Interior Department spokesperson Aubrie Spady blamed a “decades long war on coal” by Biden and former Democratic President Barack Obama.

    Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said the repeal of the land-management plan in his state was “putting an end to disastrous Biden-era regulations that put our resource economy on life support.”

    Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska called the Biden-era plan for 13 million acres in the central Yukon region “a clear case of federal overreach that locks up Alaska’s lands, ignores Alaska Native voices … and blocks access to critical energy, gravel & mineral resources.”

    The GOP legislation “restores balance, strengthens U.S. energy & mineral security and upholds the law,” Sullivan said in a statement.

    Democrats urged rejection of the repeals, arguing that Trump’s fossil fuel-friendly agenda is driving up energy prices because renewable sources are being sidelined even as the tech industry’s power demands soar for data centers and other projects.

    “We are seeing dramatic increases in the price of energy for American consumers and businesses and the slashing of American jobs, so that Donald Trump can give an easy pass to the fossil fuel industry,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Wednesday on the Senate floor.

    Last week, the administration canceled almost $8 billion in grants for clean energy projects in 16 states that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election.

    Ashley Nunes, public lands specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, said Republicans were unleashing “a wholesale assault on America’s public lands.” Using the Congressional Review Act to erase land management plans “will sow chaos across the country and turn our most cherished places into playgrounds for coal barons and industry polluters,” she said.

    ___

    Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

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  • Trump admin cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects as attacks on reeling industry continue

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    WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department on Friday canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects, the latest attack by the Trump administration on the reeling U.S. offshore wind industry.

    Funding for projects in 11 states was rescinded, including $435 million for a floating wind farm in Northern California and $47 million to boost an offshore wind project in Maryland that the Interior Department has pledged to cancel.

    “Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “Thanks to President Trump, we are prioritizing real infrastructure improvements over fantasy wind projects that cost much and offer little.”

    The Trump administration has stepped up its crusade against wind and other renewable energy sources in recent weeks, cutting federal funding and canceling projects approved by the Biden administration in a sustained attack on clean energy sources that scientists say are crucial to the fight against climate change.

    President Donald Trump has vowed to restore U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market and has pushed to increase U.S. reliance on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas that emit planet-warming greenhouse gases.

    California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called Duffy’s action “outrageous” and deeply disappointing.

    Trump and his Cabinet “have a stubborn and mystifying hatred of clean energy,” Huffman said in an interview. “It’s so dogmatic. They are willing to eliminate thousands of jobs and an entire sector that can bring cheap, reliable power to American consumers.”

    The canceled funding will be redirected to upgrade ports and other infrastructure in the U.S., where possible, the Transportation Department said.

    Separately, Trump’s Energy Department said Friday it is withdrawing a $716 million loan guarantee approved by the Biden administration to upgrade and expand transmission infrastructure to accommodate a now-threatened offshore wind project in New Jersey.

    The moves come as the administration abruptly halted construction last week of a nearly complete wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Interior Department said the government needs to review the $4 billion Revolution Wind project and address national security concerns. It did not specify what those concerns are.

    Democratic governors, lawmakers and union workers in New England have called for Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to reverse course.

    Trump has long expressed disdain for wind power, frequently calling it an ugly and expensive form of energy that “smart” countries don’t use.

    Earlier this month, the Interior Department canceled a major wind farm in Idaho, a project approved late in former President Joe Biden’s term that had drawn criticism for its proximity to a historic site where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.

    Last week, with U.S. electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, Trump lashed out, falsely blaming renewable power for skyrocketing energy costs. He called wind and solar energy “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve any wind or solar projects.

    “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

    Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand from artificial intelligence and energy-hungry data centers, along with aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change.

    Revolution Wind’s developer, Danish energy company Orsted, said it is evaluating the financial impact of stopping construction on the New England project and is considering legal proceedings.

    Revolution Wind was expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes. In addition to hampering the states’ climate goals, losing out on all that renewable power could drive up electricity prices throughout the region, Democratic officials say.

    Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. Those include reviewing wind and solar energy permits, canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopping work on another offshore wind project for New York, although construction was later allowed to resume.

    Some critics say the steps to cancel projects put Americans’ livelihoods at risk.

    “It’s an attack on our jobs,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said of the move to stop construction of Revolution Wind. “It’s an attack on our energy. It’s an attack on our families and their ability to pay the bills.”

    Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said his union is “going to fight (Trump) every step of the way, no matter how long it takes.”

    Under Biden, the U.S. held the first-ever auction of leases for floating wind farms in December 2022. Deep waters off the West Coast are better suited for floating projects than those that are anchored in the seabed, officials said.

    ___

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  • Trump blames renewable energy for rising electricity prices. Experts point elsewhere

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    WASHINGTON — With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs.

    Trump called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site.

    Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change.

    The rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has fueled demand for energy-hungry data centers that need power to run servers, storage systems, networking equipment and cooling systems. Increased use of electric vehicles also has boosted demand, even as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to restrict tax credits and other incentives for EV purchases approved under the Biden administration.

    Natural gas prices, meanwhile, are rising sharply amid increased exports to Europe and other international customers. More than 40% of U.S. electricity is generated by natural gas.

    Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to lower Americans’ electric bills by 50%. Democrats have been quick to blame him for the price hikes, citing actions to hamstring clean energy in the sprawling tax-and-spending cut bill approved last month, as well as regulations since then to further restrict wind and solar power.

    “Now more than ever, we need more energy, not less, to meet our increased energy demand and power our grid. Instead of increasing our energy supply Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to the clean energy sector, killing jobs and projects,” said New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

    The GOP bill will cost thousands of jobs and impose higher energy costs nationwide, Heinrich and other critics said.

    A report from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan think tank, found the GOP tax law will increase the average family’s energy bill by $130 annually by 2030. “By quickly phasing out technology-neutral clean energy tax credits and adding complex material sourcing requirements,” the tax law will “significantly hamper the development of domestic electricity generation capacity,” the report said.

    Renewable advocates were more blunt.

    “The real scam is blaming solar for fossil fuel price spikes,” the Solar Energy Industries Association said in response to Trump’s post.

    “Farmers, families, and businesses choose solar to save money, preserve land, and escape high costs of the old, dirty fuels being forced on them by this administration,” the group added.

    Wind and solar offer some of the cheapest and fastest ways to provide electric power, said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, another industry group. More than 90% of new energy capacity that came online in the U.S. in 2024 was clean energy, he said.

    “Blocking cheap, clean energy while doubling down on outdated fossil fuels makes no economic or environmental sense,” added Ted Kelly, director of U.S. clean energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group.

    Energy Secretary Chris Wright blamed rising prices on “momentum” from Biden-era policies that backed renewable power over fossil fuel sources such as oil, coal and natural gas.

    “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office,” Wright told POLITICO during a visit to Iowa last week. About 60 percent of the state’s electricity comes from wind.

    Not all the pushback comes from Democrats.

    Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who backs wind power, has placed a hold on three Treasury nominees to ensure wind and solar have “an appropriate glidepath for the orderly phase-out of the tax credits” approved in the 2022 climate law under former President Joe Biden.

    Grassley said he was encouraged by new Treasury guidance that limits tax credits for wind and solar projects but does not eliminate them. The guidance “seems to offer a viable path forward for the wind and solar industries to continue to meet increased energy demand,” Grassley said in a statement.

    John Quigley, senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, said the Republican tax law will increase U.S. power bills by slowing construction of solar, wind, and battery projects and could eliminate as many as 45,000 jobs by 2030.

    Trump administration polices that emphasize fossil fuels are “an extremely backward force in this conversation,” Quigley said. “Besides ceding the clean energy future to other nations, we are paying for fossil foolishness with more than money — with our health and with our safety. And our children will pay an even higher price.”

    ___

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  • Wood pellets production boomed to feed EU demand. It’s come at a cost for Black people in the South

    Wood pellets production boomed to feed EU demand. It’s come at a cost for Black people in the South

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    GLOSTER, Miss. (AP) — This southern Mississippi town’s expansive wood pellet plant was so close to Shelia Mae Dobbins’ home that she sometimes heard company loudspeakers. She says industrial residues coated her truck and she no longer enjoys spending time in the air outdoors.

    Dobbins feels her life — and health — were better before 2016, when United Kingdom energy giant Drax opened a facility able to compress 450,000 tons of wood chips annually in the majority Black town of Gloster, Mississippi. To her, it’s no coincidence federal regulators find residents are exposed to unwanted air particles and they experience asthma more than most of the country.

    Her asthma and diabetes were once under control, but since a 2017 diagnosis of heart and lung disease, Dobbins has frequently lived at the end of a breathing tube connected to an oxygen cannister.

    “Something is going on. And it’s all around the plant,” said the 59-year-old widow who raised two children here. “Nobody asked us could they bring that plant there.”

    Shelia Mae Dobbins holds part of her oxygen tube inside her home in Gloster, Miss., Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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    Shelia Mae Dobbins walks with her oxygen tube inside her home in Gloster, Miss., Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Wood pellet production skyrocketed across the U.S. South. It helped feed demand in the European Union for renewable energy, as those coutries sought to replace fossil fuels such as coal. But many residents near plants — often African Americans in poor, rural swaths — find the process left their air dustier and people sicker.

    Billions of dollars are available for these projects under President Joe Biden’s signature law combating climate change. The administration is weighing whether to open up tax credits for companies to burn wood pellets for energy.

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    Shelia Mae Dobbins cries as she talks about her health inside her home in Gloster, Miss., Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    As producers expand west, environmentalists want the government to stop incentivizing what they call a misguided attempt to curb carbon emissions that pollute communities of color while presently warming the atmosphere.

    Despite hefty pollution fines against industry players and one major producer’s recent bankruptcy, supporters say the multibillion-dollar market is experiencing growing pains. In wood pellets, they see an innovative long-term solution to the climate crisis that brings revenue necessary for forest owners to maintain plantations.

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    Birds fly past a pile of wood used to make pellets during a tour of a Drax facility in Gloster, Miss., Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Biomass boom

    After the European Union classified biomass as renewable energy in 2009, the Southeast’s annual wood pellet capacity increased from about 300,000 tons to more than 7.3 million tons by 2017, according to research led by a University of Missouri team.

    Federal energy statistics show about three dozen southern wood pellet manufacturing facilities account for nearly 80% of annual U.S. capacity. Most pellets are used for commercial-scale energy overseas.

    The market brought hope for revitalization to small, disadvantaged communities. But interviews with residents of towns with large Black populations, from Gaston, North Carolina, to Uniontown, Alabama, surfaced complaints of truck traffic, air pollution and noise from pellet plants.

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    Dan Caston, an employee of Drax leads a tour of their plant in Gloster, Miss., Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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    Dan Caston, an employee of Drax, shows some of the wood pellets their plant produces in Gloster, Miss., Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Gloster has become the poster child for such tensions. In 2020, Mississippi’s environmental agency fined Drax $2.5 million for violating air emissions limits. Gloster is exposed to more particulate matter than much of the U.S. and adults have higher asthma rates than 80% of the country, according to an Environmental Protection Agency mapping tool. Median household income is about $22,000; the poverty rate is triple the national level.

    Spokesperson Michelli Martin said Drax in 2021 installed pollution controls, including incinerators to decrease carbon emissions. An environmental consulting firm found “no adverse effects to human health” and that “no modeled pollutant from the facility exceeded” acceptable levels, Martin said.

    The company recently committed to annual town halls and announced a $250,000 Gloster Community Fund to “improve quality of life.”

    But critics aren’t swayed by showings of corporate goodwill they say don’t account for poor air. Krystal Martin, of the Greater Greener Gloster Project, returned to her hometown after her 75-year-old mother was diagnosed with lung and heart problems.

    “You don’t really know you’re dealing with air pollution until most people have breathed and inhaled it for so long that they end up sick,” she said.

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    Krystal Martin, a Gloster native, shows pamphlets to residents Myrtis Woodard and Shelia Mae Dobbins, right, during a community meeting she organized regarding health complaints against the Drax facility in Gloster, Miss., Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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    Krystal Martin, a Gloster native, shows pamphlets during a community meeting she organized regarding health complaints against the Drax facility in Gloster, Miss., Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Brown University assistant epidemiology professor Erica Walker is studying health impacts of industrial pollutants on Gloster residents. Walker said fine particulate matter can travel deep into lungs and reach the bloodstream.

    “It can also circulate to other parts of our body, leading to body-wide inflammation,” she said.

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    A man crosses the street in downtown Gloster, Miss., Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Subsidies for an upstart industry

    Environmentalists are calling on Biden to stop aiding an industry they believe runs counter to his green energy goals. At the annual United Nations climate conference, The Dogwood Alliance urged attendees to phase out wood pellets.

    Enviva — the world’s largest wood pellet producer — had already received subsidies through the 2018 farm bill signed by former President Donald Trump, according to Sheila Korth, a former policy analyst with nonpartisan watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense.

    But Korth said the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act made tax credits available to companies that create pellets for countries in Europe and Asia.

    Elizabeth Woodworth, interim executive director of the US Industrial Pellet Association, said the money is a small part of lRA allocations and noted emerging technologies require government subsidies. The industry argues that replanting of trees will eventually absorb carbon produced by burning pellets.

    “We need every single technology we can get our hands on to mitigate climate change,” Woodworth said. “Bioenergy is a part of that.”

    Scientific studies have found firing wood pellets puts more carbon immediately into the atmosphere than coal. Pollution from biomass-based facilities is nearly three times higher than that of other energy sectors, according to a 2023 paper in the journal Renewable Energy.

    In a 2018 letter, hundreds of scientists warned the EU that the “additional carbon load” from burning wood pellets means “permanent damages” including glacial melting.

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    A resident crosses the street for a community meeting regarding health complaints against Drax in Gloster, Miss., Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Expansion plans and more burning?

    Drax — with plants operating in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi — is heading west.

    The corporation signed an agreement in February with Golden State Natural Resources to identify biomass from California’s forests. The public-private venture hopes to build two plants by year’s end and produce up to 1 million tons of wood pellets annually. Another Drax project in Washington would produce 500,000 tons a year.

    The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Rita Frost, who fought plants in the South, said the deal will endanger California’s low-income Latino communities much like she says the industry threatened Black southern towns.

    “It’s an environmental justice problem that should not be repeated in California,” Frost said.

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    An employee walks toward a pile of lumber to be used during a tour of a Drax facility in Gloster, Miss., Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

    Biomass, including wood pellets, accounted for less than 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    But a key federal decision could draw more companies into pellet combustion — not just production.

    The White House is looking into whether biomass facilities should receive tax credits meant for zero-emission electricity generators. The Treasury Department is weighing whether biomass’ potential long-term carbon neutrality is sufficient even if its production increases emissions in the short term.

    Spokesperson Michael Martinez said they are “carefully considering public comments” and “working to issue final rules that will increase energy security and clean energy supply as effectively as possible.”

    Some environmentalists doubt the energy alternative is ultimately carbon neutral. The Southern Environmental Law Center fears the credits could be the incentive needed for the U.S. to join Europe in scaling up the burning of pellets.

    “The threat here is really the growth of biomass energy production in the U.S. itself,” said senior attorney Heather Hillaker. “Which obviously will add to the total carbon and climate harms of this industry globally.”

    ___

    Pollard reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Watson reported from San Diego. Contributing were video journalist Terry Chea from San Francisco and reporter Matthew Daly from Washington, D.C.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Exclusive: Google is backing a Danish startup ‘brewing’ CO2 that’s decarbonizing the future

    Exclusive: Google is backing a Danish startup ‘brewing’ CO2 that’s decarbonizing the future

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    What if you could turn all the bad emissions from fossil fuel-intensive industries into plastics, paints and more? That’s the dream behind Copenhagen-based climate tech startup Again, which has raised $43 million in Series A funding from Google Ventures (the venture arm of Google parent Alphabet) and HV Capital, Fortune exclusively reveals. 

    The company will use the funds to devote more resources to researching food and feed products that can be made of carbon dioxide. 

    Cofounder Max Kufner told Fortune that the company plans to roll out its first operations by the end of 2025 or early 2026 at the latest.

    Again’s technology pumps carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere into bioreactors. Bacteria then convert this carbon into valuable products used to make plastics, paints, and soaps.  

    Refining petroleum to extract different chemicals is responsible for 4% of the world’s direct greenhouse gas emissions, or about 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, making the petrochemicals industry the third most polluting in the world.   

    COURTESY OF AGAIN

    Again has raised about $100 million to date, partly from a European Union grant and partly from venture capital funding. The company received a $10 million injection from GV, ACME Capital and Atlantic Labs to set up a production site. 

    Founded in 2021, the company was born from a research project developed over 10 years at the Danish Technical University, Stanford, and MIT. That gave Again a leg up when it launched, as much of the learning curve of developing the technology had been crossed, making it easier to build the company and focus on scaling up.  

    Torbjørn Jensen and Alex Nielsen, academics involved in the research, later became cofounders at Again, along with early-stage investor Kufner. 

    Climate tech has expanded 45 times in the last decade, according to Dealroom. But as global temperatures and extreme weather events continue rising, there’s still a need for significantly more.  

    Again’s technology helps solve one of climate technology’s biggest barriers—the ability to scale it. One of the biggest challenges with modern climate tech companies is that they’re trying to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turn it into a very small form and pump it back into the earth, Kufner explains.  

    Jensen told Fortune that the process of capturing and converting carbon dioxide efficiently is what makes Again stand out. 

    “We are basically cleaning up the emissions and we just so happen to also produce a super valuable product at the same time,” he said. “But it needs to be cheap, it needs to be robust, it needs just to operate 24/7 all year round.”

    Recommended Newsletter: CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about–and from inside–the C-suite. Subscribe Now.

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  • Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia

    Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia

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    MOUNT STORM, W.Va. — Down a long gravel road, tucked into the hills in West Virginia, is a low-slung building where researchers are extracting essential elements from an old coal mine that they hope will strengthen the nation’s energy future.

    They aren’t mining the coal that powered the steel mills and locomotives that helped industrialize America — and that is blamed for contributing to global warming.

    Rather, researchers are finding that groundwater pouring out of this and other abandoned coal mines contains the rare earth elements and other valuable metals that are vital to making everything from electric vehicle motors to rechargeable batteries to fighter jets smaller, lighter or more powerful.

    The pilot project run by West Virginia University is now part of an intensifying worldwide race to develop a secure supply of the valuable metals and, with more federal funding, it could grow to a commercial scale enterprise.

    “The ultimate irony is that the stuff that has created climate change is now a solution, if we’re smart about it,” said John Quigley, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

    The technology that has been piloted at this facility in West Virginia could also pioneer a way to clean up vast amounts of coal mine drainage that poisons waterways across Appalachia.

    The project is one of the leading efforts by the federal government as it injects more money than ever into recovering rare earth elements to expand renewable energies and fight climate change by reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

    For the U.S., which like the rest of the West is beholden to a Chinese-controlled supply of these valuable metals, the pursuit of rare earth elements is also a national security priority.

    Those involved, meanwhile, hope their efforts can bring jobs in clean energy to dying coal towns and clean up entrenched coal pollution that has hung around for decades.

    In Pennsylvania alone, drainage from coal piles and abandoned mines has turned waterways red from iron ore and turquoise from aluminum, killing life in more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of streams. Federal statistics also show about 470 square miles (about 1,200 square km) of abandoned and unreclaimed coal mine lands host more than 200 million tons of coal waste.

    The metals that chemists are working to extract from mine drainage here are lightweight, powerfully magnetized and have superior fluorescent and conductive properties.

    One aim of the Department of Energy is to fund research that proves to private companies that the concepts are commercially viable and profitable enough for them to invest their own money.

    Hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law is accelerating the effort.

    Department officials hope that by the middle of the 2030s this infusion will have spawned full-fledged commercial enterprises.

    The two most advanced projects funded by the department are the one in West Virginia treating mine drainage and another processing coal dug up by lignite mining in North Dakota.

    The first could be an important source of a number of critical metals, such as yttrium, neodymium and gadolinium, used in catalysts and magnets. The latter could be a major source of germanium and gallium, used in semiconductors, LEDs, electrical transmission components, solar panels and electric vehicle motors.

    Researchers at each site are designing a commercial-scale operation, based on their pilot projects, in hopes of landing a massive federal grant to build it out.

    The alternative would be to develop new mines, disturb more land, get permits, hire workers, build roads and connect power supplies, tasks that take years.

    “With acid mind drainage, that’s already done for you,” said Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the Water Research Institute at West Virginia University.

    Ziemkiewicz began the mine drainage project almost a decade ago, helped by federal subsidies. He had envisioned it as a way to treat runoff, recover critical minerals and raise money for more mine cleanups in West Virginia.

    But the Biden administration’s ambitious funding for clean energy and a domestic supply of critical minerals broadened that goal.

    At the facility, drainage from a one-time coal mine — now closed and covered by a grassy slope — emerges from two pipes, and dumps about 800 gallons per minute into a retention pond.

    From there the water is routed through massive indoor pools and a series of large tanks that, with the help of lime to lower the acidity, separate out most of the silicate, iron and aluminum. That produces a pale powdery concentrate that is about 95% rare earth oxides, plus water clean enough to return to a nearby creek.

    The Department of Energy is funding research on coal wastes in various states.

    “There are literally billions of tons of coal ash and coal waste lying around, across the country. And so if we can go back in and remine those, there’s decades worth of materials there,” said Grant Bromhal, the acting director of the Department of Energy’s Division of Minerals Sustainability.

    Not only coal, but old copper and phosphate mines also hold potential, Bromhal said.

    The country won’t be able to recover metals from all of them right away, but technologies the department is helping develop can satisfy a substantial part of demand in the next 20 to 30 years, Bromhal said.

    “So if we get into the tens of percents or 50%, I think that’s in the realm of possibility,” he said.

    Other solutions to obtain more of these metals are retrieving them from discarded devices and shifting sourcing to friendly nations and away from geopolitical rivals or unstable countries, analysts say. For now, there is only a handful of critical or rare earth mineral mines in the United States, although many more are being proposed.

    One final subsidy will be required from the federal government: buy the reclaimed metals at a price that guarantees a commercially viable operation, Ziemkiewicz said.

    That way China can’t simply buy up the product or use its market dominance to drive down prices and scare away private investors, he said.

    Quigley, a former environmental protection secretary of Pennsylvania and a one-time small-city mayor in coal country, hopes to see a facility like Ziemkiewicz’s come to the Jeddo mine tunnel system in northeastern Pennsylvania.

    The Jeddo has defied decades of efforts to treat its flow, which drains a vast network of abandoned underground mines.

    It is a massive source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, producing an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 gallons per minute.

    Bringing the Little Nescopeck Creek back to life could put people to work cleaning up the stream and creating recreational opportunities from a newly revived waterway, Quigley said.

    “This could mean a lot to coal communities, to a lot of people in the coal region,” Quigley said. “And to the country.”

    ___

    Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

    ___

    Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • New Jersey seeks fourth round of offshore wind farm proposals as foes push back

    New Jersey seeks fourth round of offshore wind farm proposals as foes push back

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    LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. — New Jersey is seeking a new round of proposals to build wind energy farms off its coastline, forging ahead with its clean energy goals even as local opposition and challenging economics create blowback to the effort.

    The state Board of Public Utilities on Tuesday opened a fourth round of solicitations for offshore wind farms, giving interested companies until July 10 to submit proposals.

    “Advancing this solicitation really demonstrates that we are committed to seeing the economic development that offshore wind is bringing to New Jersey and will continue to bring, as well as the clean energy that is so important for the residents of the state,” said the board’s president, Christine Guhl-Sadovy.

    There are currently three preliminarily approved offshore wind projects in New Jersey.

    One from Chicago-based Invenergy and New York-based energyRE. Called Leading Light Wind, would be built 40 miles (64 kilometers) off Long Beach Island and would consist of up to 100 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.

    Another, called Attentive Energy Two, would be built 42 miles (67 kilometers) off Seaside Heights and would not be visible from the shoreline. It is a joint venture between Paris-based TotalEnergies and London-based Corio Generation, and it would power over 650,000 homes.

    The third is Atlantic Shores, a joint partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC. It would generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes and would be 8.4 miles (13.5 kilometers) off the coast of Long Beach Island.

    New Jersey has set a goal of getting 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2035, and it wants to become the East Coast leader in offshore wind.

    “The strong wind resources off New Jersey’s shoreline are well-suited to the development of a robust offshore wind program,” said Kira Lawrence, a senior policy advisor with the board. “New Jersey remains committed to ensuring that natural resources including fish, marine mammals, birds and other wildlife are protected throughout the development, construction, operation and decommissioning of offshore wind projects.”

    Most of the state’s environmental groups support offshore wind as a way to phase out the burning of fossil fuels that contribute to climate change and the severe weather that New Jersey and other places have experienced.

    “To achieve the necessary carbon emission reductions to protect our communities from the climate crisis, we need a major transition in our energy sector now,” Anjuli Ramos-Busot, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, wrote in comments submitted to the board before its vote. “Offshore wind is the future, and one of our greatest clean energy solutions that will benefit the local communities here in our state without the further burning of fossil fuels.”

    Other comments sent to the board oppose offshore wind projects as economically unsound and environmentally risky.

    “If the NJPBU and other agencies along with the offshore wind developers are so sure that there will be no negative impact on fishing, tourism or real estate, then these claims should be guaranteed in the solicitation, along with appropriate penalties if harm to the tourism, fishing and real estate values occurs,” the group Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach wrote to the board.

    Many offshore wind opponents blame site-preparation work for a spate of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast over the past year and a half. But numerous federal and state agencies say there is no evidence of a link between the projects and the animal deaths. some of which were attributed to ship strikes or entanglement with fishing gear.

    Last October, the Danish wind giant Orsted scrapped plans for two wind farms off New Jersey, saying they were no longer feasible economically.

    ___

    Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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  • Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants

    Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities. He also plans to expand his New Deal-style American Climate Corps green jobs training program.

    The grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which unveiled the 60 recipients on Monday. The projects are expected to eventually reduce emissions by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and save households $350 million annually, according to senior administration officials.

    Biden’s latest environmental announcements come as he is working to energize young voters for his reelection campaign. Young people were a key part of a broad but potentially fragile coalition that helped him defeat then-President Donald Trump in 2020. Some have joined protests around the country of the administration’s handling of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

    Senior administration officials said young Americans are keenly invested in the Biden climate agenda and want to actually help enact it. The Climate Corps initiative is a way for them to do that, the officials said.

    Solar is gaining traction as a key renewable energy source that could reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, which emit planet-warming greenhouse gases. Not only is it clean, but solar energy can also boost the reliability of the electric grid.

    But solar energy can have high costs for initial installation, making it inaccessible for many Americans — and potentially meaning a mingling of environmental policy with election-year politics.

    Forty-nine of the new grants are state-level awards, six serve Native American tribes and five are multi-state awards. They can be used for investments such as rooftop solar and community solar gardens.

    Biden is making the announcement at northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park, about 30 miles southwest of Washington. It was established in 1936 as a summer camp for underprivileged youth from Washington, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps to help create jobs during the Great Depression.

    Biden used executive action last year to create the American Climate Corps modeled on Roosevelt’s New Deal. He is announcing Monday that nearly 2,000 corps positions are being offered across 36 states, including jobs offered in partnership with the North American Building Trades Unions.

    Biden has often used Earth Day as a backdrop to further his administration’s climate initiatives. Last year, he signed an executive order creating the White House Office of Environmental Justice, meant to help ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm.

    He has tried to draw a contrast with GOP congressional leaders, who have called for less regulation of oil production to lower energy prices. Biden officials counter that GOP policies benefit highly profitable oil companies and could ultimately undermine U.S. efforts to compete with the Chinese in the renewable energy sector.

    Biden will use his Virginia visit to discuss how “a climate crisis fully manifest to the American people in communities all across the country, is also an opportunity for us to come together,” said White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi.

    He said the programs can “unlock economic opportunity to create pathways to middle-class-supporting careers, to save people money and improve their quality of life.”

    The awards came from the Solar for All program, part of the $27 billion “green bank” created as part of a sweeping climate law passed in 2022. The bank is intended to reduce climate and air pollution and send money to neighborhoods most in need, especially disadvantaged and low-income communities disproportionately impacted by climate change.

    EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said she was “looking forward to these funds getting out into the community, giving people skills, putting them to work in their local communities, and allowing people to save on their energy bills so that they can put those dollars to other needs.”

    Among those receiving grants are state projects to provide solar-equipped roofs for homes, college residences and residential-serving community solar projects in West Virginia, a non-profit operating Mississippi solar lease program and solar workforce training initiatives in South Carolina.

    The taxpayer-funded green bank has faced Republican opposition and concerns over accountability for how the money gets used. EPA previously disbursed the other $20 billion of the bank’s funds to nonprofits and community development banks for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, additional energy-efficient home improvements and larger-scale projects like electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.

    ___

    St. John reported from Detroit.

    ___

    Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants

    Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities. He also plans to expand his New Deal-style American Climate Corps green jobs training program.

    The grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which unveiled the 60 recipients on Monday. The projects are expected to eventually reduce emissions by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and save households $350 million annually, according to senior administration officials.

    Biden’s latest environmental announcements come as he is working to energize young voters for his reelection campaign. Young people were a key part of a broad but potentially fragile coalition that helped him defeat then-President Donald Trump in 2020. Some have joined protests around the country of the administration’s handling of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

    Senior administration officials said young Americans are keenly invested in the Biden climate agenda and want to actually help enact it. The Climate Corps initiative is a way for them to do that, the officials said.

    Solar is gaining traction as a key renewable energy source that could reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, which emit planet-warming greenhouse gases. Not only is it clean, but solar energy can also boost the reliability of the electric grid.

    But solar energy can have high costs for initial installation, making it inaccessible for many Americans — and potentially meaning a mingling of environmental policy with election-year politics.

    Forty-nine of the new grants are state-level awards, six serve Native American tribes and five are multi-state awards. They can be used for investments such as rooftop solar and community solar gardens.

    Biden is making the announcement at northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park, about 30 miles southwest of Washington. It was established in 1936 as a summer camp for underprivileged youth from Washington, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps to help create jobs during the Great Depression.

    Biden used executive action last year to create the American Climate Corps modeled on Roosevelt’s New Deal. He is announcing Monday that nearly 2,000 corps positions are being offered across 36 states, including jobs offered in partnership with the North American Building Trades Unions.

    Biden has often used Earth Day as a backdrop to further his administration’s climate initiatives. Last year, he signed an executive order creating the White House Office of Environmental Justice, meant to help ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm.

    He has tried to draw a contrast with GOP congressional leaders, who have called for less regulation of oil production to lower energy prices. Biden officials counter that GOP policies benefit highly profitable oil companies and could ultimately undermine U.S. efforts to compete with the Chinese in the renewable energy sector.

    Biden will use his Virginia visit to discuss how “a climate crisis fully manifest to the American people in communities all across the country, is also an opportunity for us to come together,” said White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi.

    He said the programs can “unlock economic opportunity to create pathways to middle-class-supporting careers, to save people money and improve their quality of life.”

    The awards came from the Solar for All program, part of the $27 billion “green bank” created as part of a sweeping climate law passed in 2022. The bank is intended to reduce climate and air pollution and send money to neighborhoods most in need, especially disadvantaged and low-income communities disproportionately impacted by climate change.

    EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said she was “looking forward to these funds getting out into the community, giving people skills, putting them to work in their local communities, and allowing people to save on their energy bills so that they can put those dollars to other needs.”

    Among those receiving grants are state projects to provide solar-equipped roofs for homes, college residences and residential-serving community solar projects in West Virginia, a non-profit operating Mississippi solar lease program and solar workforce training initiatives in South Carolina.

    The taxpayer-funded green bank has faced Republican opposition and concerns over accountability for how the money gets used. EPA previously disbursed the other $20 billion of the bank’s funds to nonprofits and community development banks for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, additional energy-efficient home improvements and larger-scale projects like electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.

    ___

    St. John reported from Detroit.

    ___

    Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • India’s clean energy boom slows as new solar projects get delayed. Experts say it can pick back up

    India’s clean energy boom slows as new solar projects get delayed. Experts say it can pick back up

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    BENGALURU, India — For years, renewable projects in India have been growing steadily, from small-town rooftop solar installations to large-scale projects across the desert and long stretches of wind turbines and solar panels on farmland all contributing to the country’s climate goal of transitioning to clean energy.

    But a mix of policy decisions, politics and supply chain issues meant solar projects in 2023 have been marred in delays and uncertainty, making the country fall short of its annual clean energy installation target in a year that saw heat records topple and devastating floods batter the country. Experts say this is a significant dent in the country’s ambitions, but some are confident that the shortfall can be made up this year.

    A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the country only installed 13.7 gigawatts of clean energy last year, like wind, solar and nuclear, compared to 16.3 gigawatts in 2022. India needs to install 40 gigawatts a year to meet its goal of installing 500 gigawatts of clean energy — enough to power 51 million homes in the country — by the end of the decade.

    The shortfall “means that meeting the 2030 target for clean energy is highly challenging,” said Charith Konda, part of the team that put together the IEEFA’s analysis.

    Solar module prices have dropped substantially worldwide in recent years, but in India, they have been subject to conflicting import tax policies, with the government first ordering high import taxes and then backtracking within the space of a year. This created a “wait and watch” attitude among solar project developers, said Vinay Pabba, chief operating officer of Hyderabad-based renewables company Vibrant Energy.

    It takes up to two years for solar projects to come online after all agreements and paperwork are finalized, he said, so “changing policies in timeframes lesser than that creates a lot of uncertainty.”

    Numerous projects, both big and small and across different states, have been hit with monthslong delays because of solar project developers holding off making new orders, said Gurpreet Singh Walia, a consultant for renewable energy projects in India.

    Konda said that incentives to encourage domestic manufacturing of solar modules, rather than importing them from abroad, conflicted with the country’s goal of installing renewable energy at speed.

    And since what was being domestically produced in India was preferred by countries like the United States for their own energy transition over Chinese manufacturers, a huge increase in exports of solar power parts from India meant there was less supply available for local projects, analysts say.

    Experts also say fossil fuel lobbying in the country meant policies to encourage renewable growth have fallen short.

    Between 2008 and 2022, India added the third-most solar power capacity of any country — behind only China and the United States — and the sixth-most wind power, according to the Global Energy Monitor. But in those 15 years, the amount of coal capacity added in the country was well over double that of wind and solar, the Global Energy Monitor’s data shows.

    “People in positions of power and decision-makers do not believe that renewable energy can provide firm power” because they are not convinced that batteries can store enough renewable energy to make reliable and consistent electricity when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, said Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, an independent energy analyst based in New Delhi. “When it comes to getting real power, coal is still considered the best option in India.”

    That view means the country, the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is still installing new coal every year as electricity demand surges because of development and population growth. More than 75% of India’s electricity is made from coal-burning, but it plans to have 50% of its growing electricity needs from renewable sources by the end of the decade.

    But some analysts believe that most of these issues have now been ironed out and that India can make up for the shortfall of new projects this year.

    There was a sharp rise in solar modular imports toward the end of last year, suggesting that a lot of the delayed projects will soon be completed, said Vinay Rustagi who tracks and analyzes the clean power sector for the financial research firm Crisil.

    “We can expect a record 2024 in that sense,” he said. But he warned that even if India makes up for lost ground, “this kind of volatility is not good for the market on the whole. It detracts from the ambitious targets the government has set.”

    Hogeveen Rutter added that a slew of new tenders for renewable energy projects issued in 2023 is a positive signal that India will install a lot more clean power in the coming years.

    But even if the country does make up for the slow growth last year, he warned that India’s renewable energy targets are just “arbitrary figures, rather than linked to the resource planning process.” India’s demand growth alone is enough to justify 50 to 55 gigawatts of clean power additions annually, and that demand is expected to continue to rise rampantly in the coming decades.

    Without more ambitious clean energy targets, the country’s renewable growth — however significant — won’t reach its full potential, Hogeveen Rutter said.

    “There are incredible entrepreneurs and innovators in both renewables and storage who are truly world-class just waiting to be unleashed,” he said. “As soon as the targets are moved in line with India’s demand, there is no doubt India can become a clean energy powerhouse.”

    ___

    Associated Press data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed to this report from Hartford, Conn.

    ___

    Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Why Taylor Swift’s globe-trotting in private jets is getting scrutinized

    Why Taylor Swift’s globe-trotting in private jets is getting scrutinized

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    PHILADELPHIA — For weeks, scrutiny over singer Taylor Swift’s travel in private jets has been bubbling up on social media, with people pointing out the planet-warming emissions of carbon dioxide released with every flight.

    The megastar is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, one of the NFL’s most celebrated players. The growing romance between the couple has been closely watched, with Swift showing up at several games—which has meant much travel on private jets. The chatter got even louder the last few days after the Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, sending them to the Super Bowl, which is in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.

    Swift, the hitmaker whose dominance of pop culture now includes the first tour to gross more than $1 billion, is the latest in a long list of celebrities, government officials and elite businesspeople to come under scrutiny about private jet travel. A look at Swift’s recent travel, carbon dioxide emissions from private jets versus commercial planes and one of the most common, albeit controversial, solutions floated to address such pollution.

    SWIFT’S CARBON FOOTPRINT

    If Swift attends the Super Bowl, she will be traveling from Tokyo, where she is on tour. That will mean more than 19,400 miles (30,500 kilometers) by private jet in just under two weeks. Just how much carbon dioxide will that be?

    While exact carbon emissions depend on many factors, such as flight paths and number of passengers, a rough estimate is possible, said Gregory Keoleian, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. Traveling 19,400 miles on a Dassault Falcon 900LX, one of Swift’s jets, could release more than 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, he said.

    That would be about 14 times as much as the average American household emits in a year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    How realistic commercial travel would be for Swift is open for debate. After all, she’s so famous that, even if she wanted to, flying on commercial flights might be chaotic for an airline crew and any public airport she frequents. Keoleian said there are other important ways that public figures flying private can address climate change, such as through their influence on public attitudes and perceptions, investments and who they vote for.

    The controversy over Swift’s use of private jets illustrates the “great disparity” between the wealthy and lower-income people when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions each person generates, said Julia Stein, a professor at University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

    “You’re seeing this play out on kind of a microcosmic scale (with Swift), but that’s true too of industrialized countries their carbon emissions historically,” she said.

    OTHERS SCRUTINIZED

    Swift is the latest of many famous people to be scrutinized over pollution from their globe-trotting. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio and many others have periodically gotten attention for their travel on private jets.

    “It’s striking that Ms. Swift gets so much of the outrage when private jet customers are overwhelmingly men over 50,” said Jeff Colgan, a professor of political science at Brown University. “The focus really should be on a broader class of people.”

    Big events, from Olympic Games to the annual U.N. climate summit have also been criticized because of the thousands of people flying in to attend, travel that all contributes to climate change.

    All air travel creates emissions, though private jets produce much more per person. A 2023 study by the Institute for Policy Studies found that private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants per passenger compared to commercial planes.

    CARBON OFFSETS

    One often discussed way to address air travel pollution is paying for carbon offsets, which aim to balance out emissions released. For example, trees pull carbon out of the air, so offset programs include planting trees that, at least in theory, balance out pollution from air travel.

    Gates has defended his travel by private plane by saying he purchases offsets and supports clean technology and other sustainability initiatives. Swift’s publicist did not respond to a query from The Associated Press, but told The Washington Post that the singer purchases offsets. The publicist didn’t provide details.

    Still, there are many questions about the effectiveness of offsets. They are loosely regulated and investigations by news organizations in recent years have shown some programs overestimate how much carbon is being captured or have questionable practices.

    “Offsets are still the Wild West of climate change and have been riddled with fraud, failed projects, and dubious effectiveness,” said Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, a group that publicizes climate solutions. “Planting trees, for example, might work — or not — depending on how the forests are managed in the long run.”

    Foley, along with many climate scientists and policy experts, argue that instead of offsets for air travel, it would be much better to sharply reduce the use of planes, particularly of private jets, while developing cleaner fuels. Several airline companies are also developing planes that are powered by electricity, and thus will not have emissions.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Why tech will remain the economy's biggest growth engine

    Why tech will remain the economy's biggest growth engine

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    Every year, Fortune publishes the Future 50, a ranking of the world’s largest public companies by their long-term growth prospects, co-developed with Boston Consulting Group (read more on the Future 50 and our methodology). In this series, we assess trends related to the future growth potential of businesses.

    A small fraction of all companies is responsible for the majority of wealth creation in the stock market over the long term: A recent study of 28,000 U.S. firms shows that almost all net shareholder value created between 1926 and 2022 was attributable to only 2% of the sample. 

    Leading the pack in terms of total value generated—over the entirety of the nearly 100 years studied—are digital technology players, specifically, the “MAMAA” companies (Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet), which now constitute more than a quarter of the value of the entire S&P 500. All five are currently among the 10 most valuable firms worldwide—with Nvidia and Tesla rounding out the stable of tech giants among the top 10. Across the Pacific in China, players like Tencent, Alibaba, and privately held ByteDance lead the valuation rankings.

    Stumbling blocks for the tech sector      

    Recently, however, the growth promise of the technology sector has seemed less certain. In China, the government launched a crackdown on its tech champions and their superstar CEOs, enhancing data privacy measures and increasing its antitrust vigilance. Now, the CCP is putting pressure on digital entertainment players by severely restricting internet usage for minors. In the U.S., increased public scrutiny over the impact of social media (which is alleged to cause depression and contribute to social polarization) is putting pressure on players like Meta, while Amazon finds itself facing a landmark monopoly case. 

    Rising geopolitical tensions are also affecting tech players—from the Biden administration doubling down on export controls of advanced chip manufacturing equipment to China, to the much-discussed TikTok ban, or the recent calls to halt a partnership between Ford Motor Co. and Chinese battery manufacturer CATL. 

    Finally, there are the layoffs, now totaling over 400,000 workers through 2022 and 2023 (or roughly 4% to 5% of the total US tech sector workforce). While these are partially correcting for pandemic-era over-hiring, they also reflect a shift in investor focus from long-term promises to short-term payoffs, in reaction to increased interest rates that make riskier long-term investments less attractive. Higher rates have also contributed to the current venture capital “winter,” in which deal counts and values have fallen to 2020 levels and startup exits as well as capital raised are at long-time lows.

    Given these significant headwinds, it is no wonder that Fortune’s ranking of the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies is no longer dominated by the tech industry. The top 10 are now firmly rooted in the physical realm, selling building materials or wires, refining steel, manufacturing cars, or drilling for oil. Only 17% of the included players are from the tech industry—roughly the same representation as, say, the energy sector—while the MAMAA companies are nowhere to be found.

    Does this indicate that tech is no longer the growth engine of the economy? Or, as Fortune CEO Alan Murray suggested, will the trend towards dematerialization and digital technologies continue?

    Tech evidence from the Future 50

    A look at the data suggests that technology will remain a key growth engine. The Future 50—an annual ranking, co-developed by Fortune and BCG, which assesses the long-term growth prospects of the world’s largest public companies—continues to be dominated by firms from the IT and communications sectors. Those sectors have consistently captured around half of the top 50 spots since the ranking’s inception in 2017. So far, the promise of growth potential of the Future 50 has consistently borne out, with all annual cohorts outperforming the S&P 500 as well as the S&P 500 Growth indices on revenue growth.

    How can we reconcile the headwinds the tech sector is currently experiencing with its high future potential?

    For one, there is a difference of time scales. In the short term, economic and geopolitical turbulence has created significant stumbling blocks. But in the long term, the invention and proliferation of new technologies will continue to drive improved standards of living, as it has throughout human history—and it will unlock growth and profits for the companies that provide these technological solutions. 

    Moreover, it is worth differentiating between technologies, which are not equal in terms of the growth potential they create—as a closer look at the 2023 Future 50 reveals. 

    On this year’s list, B2B-software providers, which are enabling the AI revolution, achieve particularly strong representation (e.g., cloud firms like No. 1 Snowflake or No. 6 Cloudflare, cybersecurity players like No. 2 Datadog or No. 3 Crowdstrike, and big data analysis firms like No. 18 Palantir). This is consistent with the valuation rally driven by generative AI that several tech giants experienced in 2023. Also well-represented among the Future 50 are cleantech players (e.g., EV manufacturers No. 5 Li Auto and No. 13 NIO, and solar panel as well as battery manufacturers such as No. 10 EVE Energy, No. 12 Sungrow, and No. 17 Suzhou Maxwell), as the global demand for sustainable technologies continues to rise.

    However, merely embracing the most-hyped technologies will not be sufficient for companies to achieve sustainable growth. So, how can companies turn technology into competitive advantage—and how can investors separate the wheat from the chaff? 

    Turning technology into advantage

    It is prudent to recall the AI boom of the 1980s, which was centered on “expert systems” that were meant to emulate human problem-solving in highly specialized domains, following rules defined by experts—for example, identifying compounds based on spectrometer readings. 

    In business, the most famous such system is XCON, deployed at computer manufacturer Digital Equipment Corporation to automatically select components based on customer requirements. It reportedly saved the firm around $25 million per year by reducing errors and enhancing the speed of the assembly process. As a result, corporations around the world began to develop their own expert systems and a hardware industry sprang up around these investments. However, most companies were unable to identify use cases for their systems or found that the costs of upkeep were prohibitive. As such, more than 300 AI companies had shut down or been acquired by 1993, ending the first commercial wave of AI.

    To create value, new technologies need to be embedded into specific applications, and be accompanied by revolutions in operating and business models, which ultimately weave them into the wider social fabric. For example, a spark plug, in isolation, is not a revolutionary technology. Placed in an internal combustion engine that powers a car, that is driven by a person, within a society that has roads, traffic laws, and a culture of automobile use, it reveals its revolutionary potential. 

    Similarly, the MAMAA companies were able to turn the technology of the internet into mammoth valuations only by creating digital platforms and assembling an ecosystem of suppliers, contributors, as well as customers that used and benefited from them. This, in turn, required defining new ways of not just capturing, but sharing value among ecosystem participants, and developing new forms of leadership across the ecosystem that relied not on authority, but cooperation.

    Four prerequisites for advantage

    Our research has identified four prerequisites for how to apply technologies in a way that unlocks advantage—and the Future 50 companies demonstrate how to put them into practice.

    1: Identifying a specific application

    For one, an explicit thesis for how a new technological solution will create value for customers is required. For example, how can the technology be applied to help customers execute existing “jobs to be done” to a higher level of quality, or to make new valuable jobs feasible? 

    Many companies are now exploring the implications of generative AI for their business—with CEOs having major fear of missing out—but many limit themselves to identifying potential efficiency improvements (e.g., enhancing the productivity of software developers). As the technology becomes more widely available, any advantages it enables in terms of operational efficiency will be erased. 

    Recognizing this, Future 50 No. 2 Datadog is not content creating large language models (LLM), but rather developing tools that allow its customers to monitor and optimize how their proprietary models perform. 

    2: Defining a unique approach

    Moreover, companies need to deploy their technology in a way that is difficult to replicate. This is particularly crucial with technologies that are “born commoditized,” like LLMs, many of which are open-source.

    For example, No. 48 Spotify realized that the value proposition of a music streaming service would not only be the ability to instantly access songs listeners already know, but also the ability to discover new artists or albums they may enjoy. It developed “Discover Weekly,” a personalized playlist of recommended new music—predicting songs an individual may find appealing based on data collected from millions of users exploring Spotify’s catalogue. By facilitating customer exploration, Spotify has created a source of competitive advantage that depends on the size of its userbase and the power of its algorithms—which are more difficult for competitors to imitate than the breadth of its catalogue or the reliability and sound quality of its app.

    3: Capturing and sharing the value

    Next, companies need a plan for monetizing their new offerings. For example, building a website in the late 1990s did not automatically translate into increased value generation (though not having a website could be disadvantageous). Recognizing this, companies like Alphabet’s Google are now racing to define how to monetize GenAI tools—as their current main revenue driver, advertising, seems to be less appropriate for use with chatbots than traditional web search.

    In a world dominated by business ecosystems, companies also need to ensure that their approach to value capture does not alienate other participants. For example, No. 9 DoorDash has defined a system in which value is provided to all players on its platform: Buyers gain convenience; merchants and payment providers unlock an additional revenue stream; and Dashers get access to a flexible work model.

    4: Renewing the advantage

    Finally, companies need to be able to renew their competitive advantage when others catch up. The MAMAA companies have all embraced this, evolving substantially over time by embracing new growth engines at critical junctions. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, for example, pivoted his firm’s software business from a product to a service model.

    The Future 50 also embody this virtue. No. 14 Snap has long been a pioneer in social media, with competitors like Meta copying several of its features over the years. In an ever more crowded space, Snap keeps exploring new avenues to monetize and expand its userbase: For example, it recently struck a partnership with Amazon Fashion, in which shoppers browsing eyewear products can use Snapchat’s augmented reality features to virtually try on glasses. 

    Similarly, No. 49 CATL, the largest global manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, has started pivoting to sodium-ion batteries, which rely on more abundant materials and are cheaper to produce. The firm announced it would start mass production this year, with the new technology being included in production cars in China as of Q4.

    The importance of the operating model 

    Technology guru Andrew McAfee posits that underlying the remarkable performance of the Silicon Valley giants is not just that they are at the center of a technological revolution, but also, that they are leading a revolution in how business is done—which he describes as the Geek Way.

    Our analysis confirms that the Future 50 tech players share several cultural and structural characteristics which heighten their grow potential and help them avoid a descent into bureaucracy. They invest heavily in R&D and, as a result, have larger and higher-quality patent portfolios; they have relatively youthful and stable leadership; they have leaner corporate structures; and they have a more pronounced long-term strategic orientation. For the Future 50, we assess that orientation with a natural language processing-based approach, weighing the frequency with which company leadership discusses short-term vs. long-term issues in official filings. 

    ***

    Despite significant short-term headwinds, technology is poised to remain the growth engine of the global economy. However, as AI and other technologies—like cleantech and synthetic biology—are set to change business and the world, investors should remain prudent: Embracing these technologies will not be sufficient for companies to gain an advantage—rather, unlocking sustainable growth will require identifying an application of these technologies that solves a valuable problem, a unique deployment towards this end, a way to capture and share the value that is created, and a capacity for continuous renewal.

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    Martin Reeves, Adam Job

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  • Business group estimates several hundred thousand clean energy jobs in EV, battery storage and solar

    Business group estimates several hundred thousand clean energy jobs in EV, battery storage and solar

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    A nonpartisan business group that advocates for clean energy estimates that 403,000 jobs will be created by the 210 major energy projects announced since the Inflation Reduction Act took effect in mid-2022.

    At least $86 billion in investments have been announced, with the biggest job gains in expected in the electric vehicles, battery storage and solar energy sectors, said the report issued Wednesday by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).

    The IRA, signed August 2022, contains $500 billion in new federal spending to lower healthcare costs, increase tax revenues and address climate change by offering incentives so clean tech companies innovate and manufacture in the U.S.

    “We’re in the biggest economic revolution we’ve seen in generations thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and other clean energy policies,” said E2 executive director Bob Keefe.

    The EV sector had the strongest response to the IRA and represents 58% of investments when the projects were being announced. This sector is expected to support 185,700 jobs annually for five years. Battery storage is expected to support 48,000 jobs, and solar is expected to support 35,000, both annually for five years.

    New jobs indirectly related to the announced projects could include lumber mills hiring more staff to handle growing demand for construction materials and restaurants getting busier because construction workers at new factories are starting to eat there.

    Form Energy is a company building multi-day batteries in Weirton, West Virginia that committed to creating 750 permanent jobs at its factory by 2028. CEO Mateo Jaramillo said the company’s ability to scale quickly is due to support from the state and federal governments.

    “We would not have Weirton without West Virginia and we would not be going as fast as we’re going without the IRA,” Jaramillo said.

    Christopher Chung, CEO of Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, a nonprofit public-private organization, said North Carolina is one of the many states in the South seeing growing clean technology investment. “Bipartisan legislation at the federal level has really juiced the pipelines of activity for us when it comes to economic development, especially attracting foreign direct investment,” he said.

    Chung said many North Carolina community colleges partner with private companies to develop local training programs and job opportunities. “As community colleges develop a rhythm for training the type of workers these companies need, that’s going to enhance the appeal of our workforce and state as a business location to more and more these clean energy companies,” he said.

    Such a significant investment in climate action comes with hurdles to cross in the labor sector, experts say.

    Although investments in clean energy are “on hyperdrive,” other factors were supporting the clean energy labor transition before the IRA, said Joseph Kane, a researcher at the Brookings Institution nonprofit research organization. These factors include growing pressures to reduce planet-warming gases, changing consumer behaviors, and clean technology becoming cheaper and more efficient.

    Kane said state and local leaders who receive funding for clean energy will have to be increasingly attentive to workforce development since some people aren’t aware of these job opportunities or don’t have access to relevant training.

    Labor shortages in the clean energy sector, particularly in construction, manufacturing, and electrical work are notable, said Thomas Kwan, director of sustainability research at Schneider Electric, an energy management and industrial automation company.

    Kwan also said other circumstances that could impact job creation include the permitting process for clean energy projects, which can be complex and lengthy, as well as critical mineral supply chain issues, such as geopolitical forces and changes that could happen in the broader energy market.

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    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Electrical grids aren’t keeping up with the green energy push. That could risk climate goals

    Electrical grids aren’t keeping up with the green energy push. That could risk climate goals

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    FRANKFURT, Germany — Stalled spending on electrical grids worldwide is slowing the rollout of renewable energy and could put efforts to limit climate change at risk if millions of miles of power lines are not added or refurbished in the next few years, the International Energy Agency said.

    The Paris-based organization said in the report Tuesday that the capacity to connect to and transmit electricity is not keeping pace with the rapid growth of clean energy technologies such as solar and wind power, electric cars and heat pumps being deployed to move away from fossil fuels.

    IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press in an interview that there is a long line of renewable projects waiting for the green light to connect to the grid. The stalled projects could generate 1,500 gigawatts of power, or five times the amount of solar and wind capacity that was added worldwide last year, he said.

    “It’s like you are manufacturing a very efficient, very speedy, very handsome car — but you forget to build the roads for it,” Birol said.

    If spending on grids stayed at current levels, the chance of holding the global increase in average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the goal set by the 2015 Paris climate accords — “is going to be diminished substantially,” he said.

    The IEA assessment of electricity grids around the globe found that achieving the climate goals set by the world’s governments would require adding or refurbishing 80 million kilometers (50 million miles) of power lines by 2040 — an amount equal to the existing global grid in less than two decades.

    Annual investment has been stagnant but needs to double to more than $600 billion a year by 2030, the agency said.

    It’s not uncommon for a single high-voltage overhead power line to take five to 13 years to get approved through bureaucracy in advanced economies, while lead times are significantly shorter in China and India, according to the IEA.

    The report cited the South Link transmission project to carry wind power from northern to southern Germany. First planned in 2014, it was delayed after political opposition to an overhead line meant it was buried instead. Completion is expected in 2028 instead of 2022.

    Other important projects that have been held up: the 400-kilometer (250-mile) Bay of Biscay connector between Spain and France, now expected for 2028 instead of 2025, and the SunZia high-voltage line to bring wind power from New Mexico to Arizona and California. Construction started only last month after years of delays.

    On the East Coast, the Avangrid line to bring hydropower from Canada to New England was interrupted in 2021 following a referendum in Maine. A court overturned the statewide vote rejecting the project in April.

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  • Company drops plan for gas power plant in polluted New Jersey area

    Company drops plan for gas power plant in polluted New Jersey area

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    WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — Opponents of a natural gas-fired power plant planned for an already polluted low-income area in New Jersey celebrated Thursday after hearing the company that proposed the project no longer plans to build it, citing low energy prices.

    Competitive Power Ventures wanted to build a second plant beside one it already operates in Woodbridge, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Newark. The company previously said the expansion is needed because of growing demand for energy, pitching it as a reliable backup source for solar and wind energy when those types of power are not available.

    But in a statement Wednesday night, the Silver Spring, Maryland-based CPV said market conditions have deteriorated to the point where the project is no longer feasible.

    Company spokesman Matthew Litchfield said CPV’s agreement with PJM Interconnection, a regional power transmission organization, required it to either begin construction or terminate the agreement by Sept. 30.

    “In light of current PJM market conditions that do not support construction of the project at this time, CPV had to withdraw from the interconnection agreement,” he said.

    Litchfield said market prices for energy were too low, and that unlike many other types of generation projects, including offshore wind and nuclear power, the natural gas plant wouldn’t be subsidized by the state.

    “These prices currently do not support the construction of the project,” he said.

    The company will continue to operate its existing plant, he added. It’s evaluating uses for the adjacent land where the second power plant had been proposed.

    A wide coalition of residents from Woodbridge and surrounding low-income communities, environmental and social justice groups opposed the project, saying it would have placed an unacceptably high health burden in an area that already deals with serious pollution.

    In public hearings regarding the proposal, area residents said their children developed chronic breathing problems, including some so severe that the children had to be rushed to hospitals.

    The American Lung Association gives Middlesex County, which includes Woodbridge, a grade of “F” for ground-level ozone pollution. That type of pollution is caused by car exhaust, the burning of natural gas, and other human activities, according to the EPA. It’s known to exacerbate lung problems.

    New Jersey’s environmental justice law is designed to prevent overburdened communities from having to accept additional sources of pollution. Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2020, it did not apply to the CPV proposal, which completed its air quality permit application in 2017, before the law took effect.

    “The CPV power plant scheme would have dumped air pollution into already overburdened communities, and undermined the Murphy administration’s climate goals,” said Charlie Kratovil, an organizer for Food & Water Watch. “The inspiring grassroots movement to stop this plant won a major victory for clean air, environmental justice, and our climate.”

    He noted that two other gas-fired power plants remain under consideration in the state, both proposed by government agencies in Newark and Kearny, and called on the governor “to back up his rhetoric with decisive action to stop all fossil fuel expansion projects.”

    Anjuli Ramos Busot, director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, said the project would have pumped over 2 million metric tons of additional planet-warming greenhouse gases into the environment, increasing the state’s output by 2%.

    “The people won against the polluters in New Jersey,” she said. “Our state does not need more natural gas. “This is a massive victory for our communities, environmental justice, and in the fight against climate change.”

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    Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly known as Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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