Greetings!
It’s hard to look away from the climate crisis when it’s staring us in the face: the Midwest has been crippled by record breaking stretches of severe weather and the American West and the Middle East are sweltering through heat waves and fires. Meanwhile, runaway feedback loops appear to be underway in a rapidly warming Arctic and methane – a more potent greenhouse gas than previously thought – is rising unexpectedly.
As the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz writes for the Guardian (shared below), “we are already experiencing the direct costs of ignoring the issue – in recent years the [USA] has lost almost 2% of GDP in weather-related disasters, which include floods, hurricanes, and forest fires.”
You (or someone you know!) can help advance action here at home: Network Member, Vital Communities, is hiring a Climate Projects Coordinator. This role is on the cutting edge of advancing climate and energy solutions in the Upper Valley – read more from Vital Communities and share with your networks.
Best,
The EAN Team
Total Energy News – June 2019
Your Update on Vermont and National Energy News
Greetings!
It’s hard to look away from the climate crisis when it’s staring us in the face: the Midwest has been crippled by record breaking stretches of severe weather and the American West and the Middle East are sweltering through heat waves and fires. Meanwhile, runaway feedback loops appear to be underway in a rapidly warming Arctic and methane – a more potent greenhouse gas than previously thought – is rising unexpectedly.
As the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz writes for the
Guardian (shared below), “we are already experiencing the direct costs of ignoring the issue – in recent years the [USA] has lost almost 2% of GDP in weather-related disasters, which include floods, hurricanes, and forest fires.”
You (or someone you know!) can help advance action here at home: Network Member, Vital Communities, is hiring a Climate Projects Coordinator. This role is on the cutting edge of advancing climate and energy solutions in the Upper Valley –
read more from Vital Communities and share with your networks.
Best,
The EAN Team
News from the World
A Case for the Green New Deal
Joseph Stiglitz calls climate change “the third world war” and asks how we can afford not to take immediate and significant action to mitigate the crisis.
The Guardian,
Read More
International Energy Outlook
Despite some positive indicators, a report from the International Energy Agency shows that progress on reducing emissions is incremental at best.
Grist,
Read More
Progress in Oregon
At least one state is making progress: Oregon took a major step towards joining the Western Climate Initiative last week, and prospects seem good for the bill’s passage this session.
A story in two graphs
Relative to other states, Vermont has low per capita energy-related carbon emissions, as you can see on the right. We are one of only six states with carbon emissions below 10 tons/person (note: accounting for all GHG emissions, we’re closer to 16 tons as of 2015).
But that’s not the whole story –
our emissions have been rising since 1990
, not falling. Only three states (California, New York, and Massachusetts) have per capita energy CO2 emissions below 10 tons/person
and
have also achieved carbon emission declines below 1990 levels as of 2014.
Since Vermont has had largely carbon-free electricity, we had the benefit of low emissions early on. Now we have to engage in the harder work of
reducing emissions from our transportation and thermal sectors.
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The
Leveraging Change Speaker Series
is taking a brief hiatus for June, but we’re back in July and August with two great events at
Queen City Brewing
in
Burlington, VT.
Join us on
July 9th
for an overview of
VEIC’s latest Vermont Energy Burden report.
Then join us again on
August 8th
for a conversation about
BED’s Net Zero 2030 Roadmap.
We’ll be sharing more information about both events soon, so stay tuned!
Member Spotlight: Justin Johnson
“Vermont can’t solve the carbon problem alone – and it doesn’t have to! Forty-six nations and 24 sub-national jurisdictions, accounting for 20% of the world’s emissions, have a price on carbon. More than 1,400 companies, including 100 Fortune 500 companies have internal carbon pricing.
We can work together to create jobs and opportunity for the future.”
Learn more at
www.mmrvt.com
The Vermont Total Energy Ticker
Vermont Clean Energy jobs on the rise
The latest Vermont Clean Energy Industry report shows nearly 18,900 Vermonters working in the clean energy sector, with over 14,500 of them in full time jobs.
Legislative look back
At the end of the 2019 Vermont legislative session, many in the state reflect that little has changed in terms of action on energy and climate, while our emissions and fossil fuel use continue to rise.
Energy data saves money
The High Meadows Fund shares a case study from Housing Vermont of how investing in a data platform to monitor energy systems in affordable housing led to energy and cost savings.
Have an upcoming event or news story to share?
Let us know.