A new study related to climate change moves the debate from the science of it all to its impact on the economy.  The report— “Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey,” by Ceres, a nonprofit group advocating for sustainability leadership—takes a look at how not including the risks associated with climate change may affect the business of insurance companies. “The insurance sector is a key driver to our overall economy,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres.

More than 300 businesses and 600 facilities are expected today to take part in California's bidding process for credits, as part of the ambitious law AB 32 which set up a cap and trade program designed to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The auction will take place in spite of lawsuit filed yesterday by the California Chamber of Commerce challenging the authority of the auction process as well as raising concerns with the potential costs businesses could incur.

After decades of overrunning Southern landscapes, the much maligned kudzu vine has found its way to Northeast Ohio. Although the short growing season in the Great Lakes region largely prevents the plant from flowering, and thus producing rapidly, a botanist with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History worries that potentially milder winters as a result of climate change could change that equation. 

Stateline Midwest ~ January 2012

The benefits of using biomass residuals — the byproducts from activities such as agriculture and forestry — as an energy source are clear for the Midwest.

The New Hampshire State Senate voted 18-6 to amend the state's cap and trade program, witch is part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), to allow utility companies more control over the use of auction proceeds for energy efficiency. The bill also changes a consumer rebate formula that would slightly decrease monthly rates for consumers. The bill now goes to the House, where leaders are unsure of its prospects as their body passed legislation requiring a repeal of the entire cap and trade program rather than just changing administrative functions.

TransCanada has faced many hurdles in its multi-year effort to get a new 1,700-mile oil pipeline built. But this fall, the energy infrastructure company ran up against perhaps its stiffest opposition yet — from concerned residents and lawmakers in the state of Nebraska.

The West is running out of water … well, almost. Northwestern and Northcentral Western states are seeing an increase in precipitation and the Southwestern and Southcentral areas are, as expected, experiencing decreased rain. Add to this a temperature increase of five to seven degrees Fahrenheit in key river basins, a lower-than-predicted snowpack—a key feeder of Western water—and you end up with the perfect mixture of short-term events and long-term impacts that are likely to decrease Western stream flow up to 20 percent across several river basins. This session focused on the critical issue of Western water, how states can work and are working together, and what the federal government is doing to assist.