Climate action beyond Washington D.C.

🌍 Innovative Climate Action Worldwide 🌍 Exciting strides are being made in the fight against climate change across the globe: Korea: The environment ministry is enabling companies to subtract CO2 captured and stored underground from their emissions count. This CCUS technology offers a promising alternative to buying carbon credits, helping industries reduce their climate impact. EU: The EU Commission plans to streamline the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by 2025, aiming to simplify the carbon pricing system for imports, making it more efficient and effective. Canada: Montreal-based Deep Sky is pioneering carbon removal to combat climate change. Their goal is to extract and store CO2 underground. Despite challenges like energy efficiency and costs, experts emphasize the importance of combining carbon removal with emissions reduction. Kenya: Octavia Carbon is building Africa's first CO2 removal facility in the Great Rift Valley, using geothermal energy to capture 2 million tons of CO2 annually. Despite funding challenges, this project highlights Africa's potential in climate tech innovation. 💬 What are your thoughts on these initiatives? Crown Monkey #connections #ClimateAction #CarbonRemoval #Sustainability #Innovation #CCUS #CBAM #ClimateTech #post #CleanEnergy

Federal climate policy is disappointing. And overrated. Here's what nobody wants to admit: The biggest climate wins of the last decade came from states and corporations, and foreign governments, not Washington. California created the blueprint for emissions reporting. New York set the standard for climate risk disclosure. Texas led the renewable energy boom (thanks to IRA). US politicians on both sides of the aisle are too scared to pass a carbon tax or mandatory reporting standard. And still: 39% of global market cap is under SBTs 45% of F500 companies have a net zero target Illinois and NY are planning to follow CA's lead on reporting No single administration can stop this momentum, or solve the problem on their own. Markets have already decided. Capital has moved. Technology has evolved. Smart executives aren't waiting for Washington. They're preparing for what's inevitable. The question isn't if we'll have mandatory emissions reporting. It's whether your company will be ready when it arrives. What are your thoughts?

Real stories of climate action remind us that change is possible, and that we each have a role to play. This week’s newsletter highlights how individuals and communities are reshaping the future of clean energy and climate solutions. Good news: In New York’s Hudson Valley, professor Jeff Seidman turned research into action. By hosting a forum on battery storage for local officials, he helped shift the debate. Just months later, a local town lifted its moratorium on energy storage systems! Not so good news: In Oregon, outdated permitting laws + one determined activist are stalling wind and transmission projects. But smart siting tools prove we can expand clean energy without harming people or nature. Inspiration: Former pilot Todd Smith 🌱🌍👨✈️ left aviation to co-found Safe Landing, pushing for renewable fuels and a just transition for workers. His story shows how insiders can drive transformation from within. These real life stories prove that when individuals raise our voices—locally, strategically, and authentically—we can directly impact climate solutions. As always, please read and share!

It's easy to believe the news is exclusively full of doom and gloom–especially after a week like this one–but it’s important to remember that it can equally be full of incredible stories, like the ones I’m sharing today. This week’s Good Happens has stories spanning from rising elephant populations across Africa to natural flood defenses in England. The world’s renewable energy capacity grew at a record pace in 2023, which could put the world within reach of meeting a key climate target by the end of the decade. – https://lnkd.in/eReJsga8 Puerto Rico is now using batteries connected to residents’ rooftop solar panels to feed power back to its grid, helping to offer an alternative to fossil fuels and prevent potential blackouts. Solar systems with storage batteries soared in popularity after Hurricane Maria wiped out power across the islands, making the country uniquely suited to this kind of initiative. Distributed solar and micro grids are being pioneered in places where there have been public/governmental failure to provide services that many of us take for granted.– https://lnkd.in/eczCR4Tm  The world's megacities are showing signs of air quality improvement in the ongoing battle against air pollution. 25 cities showing significant improvements in air quality, attributed to various pollution reduction strategies such as pollution control and cleaner energy sources. – https://lnkd.in/eJNE6ZQu Washington, USA’s cap on carbon system has brought in over $2 billion for action on climate change, “spurring clean energy efforts, including a large-scale solar project by the Yakama Nation, and attracting green industries like clean hydrogen. The funding will also help families install energy-efficient (and money-saving) heat pumps and provide incentives for garbage trucks, delivery vans, and buses to go electric.” – https://lnkd.in/edDv5sqc The African elephant populations have stabilised in their southern heartlands after huge losses over the last century due to poaching, poisoning, and other threats. Analysis shows that protected areas connected to other places are far better than isolated “fortress” parks at maintaining stable populations. The total population of African elephants is now estimated to be 415,000. – https://lnkd.in/ecsZtKPC Poland plans to halt logging in 10 of its most ancient woodlands. Though this will affect only 1.5% of state-managed wood, it's a good first step in reducing deforestation. – https://lnkd.in/e5Fh7bkW UK farmers are holding off floods ‘the natural way’, planting trees, creating floodplains and rewilding rivers are among the new techniques being used to adapt to a heating climate. – https://lnkd.in/ea3Me4di The EU Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of anti-greenwashing legislation, a new directive to ban businesses from making misleading or hard-to-understand green claims aimed at consumers. – https://lnkd.in/eygvjppY #goodnewsfriday #sustainability

Cutting almost half of the U.S. carbon emissions need not wait on Washington. A paper shows that 23 climate-willing states in the U.S. can match a nationwide 46 % emission drop for less than 1 % extra cost. Still, the decentralized path concentrates power-sector emissions and demands border-carbon adjustments to prevent leakage, making political feasibility trade off against system optimization. By Gavin Mouat, Christopher Galik, Aranya Venkatesh, Katherine Jordan, Aditya Sinha, Paulina Jaramillo, and Jeremiah Johnson.