Super Typhoon Trami, which as of Tuesday afternoon was the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, is projected to hit Japan this weekend. The storm is likely to be weaker by then, but it will follow on the heels of severely damaging Super Typhoon Jebi, which brought a record high storm surge to Osaka Bay, flooding Osaka Kansai Airport.
The big picture: Super Typhoon Trami is one of the more powerful — and photogenic — storms to form in the northern hemisphere so far this year. Yet again it appears Japan will feel its worst effects, beginning in the Ryukyu Islands on September 28 or 29. It's also possible the storm will curve out to sea without hitting the most populous Japanese islands.
President Trump moved his criticism of OPEC from Twitter to the United Nations on Tuesday with remarks hitting the cartel for "ripping off the rest of the world."
The big picture: His comments come as crude oil prices are at their highest level in four years. They follow Sunday's meeting of OPEC ministers and allied producers — notably Russia — that ended without an agreement for new production increases.
NEW YORK — CEOs of the world’s biggest oil and natural gas companies are pledging to cut their emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by one-fifth despite staying silent on the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback on the matter.
Why it matters: The announcement made Monday by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a group of top oil companies that represent nearly a third of the world’s oil and gas production, is a significant move given methane's impact in warming the planet is far greater in a shorter time span than carbon dioxide.
Over the past year, the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has acted on the market to reduce the number of available CO2 allowances in its cap-and-trade system. Initiated in 2005, it is the largest such system in the world designed for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, whereby businesses must purchase a permit at a set price in order to emit CO2.
What's new: The ETS' recent action, along with the increase in post-recession industrial productivity, has led to more than a 320% rise in CO2 allowance price, to around 22 euros per ton. This is good news insofar as CO2 emissions will likely decrease, but might jeopardize the competitiveness of businesses worldwide.
A sea level research and communications group's rapid analysis of the storm surge from Hurricane Florence has found that 1-in-5 of the homes impacted along the Carolina coast wouldn't have fared so badly had sea levels not risen significantly since 1970.
Why it matters: Sea level rise is one of the most significant effects of climate change that is already impacting society, and its footprint is only projected to grow. For example, the report also projects far more flooding from a similar, Florence-type storm in 2050.
Super Typhoon Trami exploded in intensity from a tropical storm on Saturday to the verge of Category 5 intensity on Monday. The storm is slowly moving northwestward, spinning closer to Taiwan and southwestern Japan.
The big picture: Super Typhoon Trami is expected to reach the equivalent of Category 5 intensity as it moves slowly over some of the warmest waters in the Northern Hemisphere. By Sept. 29, it will be nearing Japan's Ryukyu Islands and northern Taiwan. Given the track uncertainty this far in advance, the storm is considered a landfall threat to Taiwan.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), a group of top oil companies that now includes ExxonMobil and Chevron, has committed to a 20% cut in methane emissions by 2025, reports Reuters.
Why it matters: Per the Environmental Defense Fund, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas in the first two decades of its release. The announcement by OGCI is another sign of how America’s biggest oil companies, under pressure from investors and lawsuits, are joining most other U.S. corporations in working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Owners of a troubled, over-budget nuclear power project in Georgia will decide today whether to cancel the ongoing construction of two new reactors.
Why it matters: The expansion of Southern Company's Vogtle site is the only nuclear power project underway in the country. Its demise would be a major blow to the industry that has seen hopes for a U.S. renaissance fade.
Addressing climate change isn’t just about moving to cleaner forms of energy anymore. It’s about literally taking out some of the heat-trapping gases already in our skies.
Why it matters: There is so much buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, scientists say we’ve reached a point that some needs to be removed to limit Earth’s temperature rise and avoid the worst impacts of a warmer world. Technology exists to do it, but it’s costly, zany-sounding and not well known. That's starting to change now.
