Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Bad news. As U.N. climate summit begins, global carbon emissions are now on the rise again; France suspends fuel tax hikes after violent 'yellow vest' protests; Greenland's ice melt has gone into overdrive, new study says; PLUS: Good news. World's largest shipping company targets 100% zero emissions by 2050... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): We're destroying the climate faster than we thought; Tackling climate change could save millions of lives, report says; Major changes needed to feed world population in 2050; Trump to rollback sage grouse protections to open more land for oil drilling out West; Trump EPA proposes rolling back another Obama-era coal rule; US coal consumption drops to lowest level since 1979; Final hurdle cleared in California’s solar mandate for new homes; Luxembourg to become first country to make all public transport free... PLUS: Poisoned Cities, Deadly Border... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Global carbon emissions are rising again:
• 'We are in trouble.' Global carbon emissions reached a record high in 2018 (Washington Post):
  
  As nations continue climate talks in Poland, the message of Wednesday's report was unambiguous: When it comes to promises to begin cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change, the world is well off target.
• Climate reality check: Global carbon pollution up in 2018 (AP)
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerate Like a 'Speeding Freight Train' in 2018 (NY Times)
• Why fossil fuel emissions are increasing - again (San Jose Mercury News)
• 'Brutal news': global carbon emissions jump to all-time high in 2018 (Guardian UK):
  
  "The global rise in carbon emissions is worrying, because to deal with climate change they have to turn around and go to zero eventually...We are not seeing action in the way we really need to. This needs to change quickly."
• Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are Up Again. What Now, Climate? (NPR)
• The Global Carbon Project: 2018 Global Carbon Budget (Global Carbon Project)
• UN Paris Agreement: COP24 negotiations now underway in Poland:
• Live updates on COP24 from Associated Press (AP)
• Live updates from CNN International: COP24 climate conference - World facing 'greatest threat in thousands of years' (CNN International)
• Secretary-General's remarks at the opening of the COP 24 (United Nations):
  
  We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change. Climate change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later before it is too late. For many, people, regions even countries this is already a matter of life and death. This meeting is the most important gathering on climate change since the Paris Agreement was signed. It is hard to overstate the urgency of our situation.
• 'The Virus Is Spreading': A Conversation With Harjeet Singh at COP24 (Pacific Standard Magazine)
• COP 24: Transparency, ambition and carbon markets on the Paris rulebook agenda in Katowice (Environmental Defense Fund)
• The Paris Agreement rulebook explained (Climate Change News)
• U.S. plans to 'showcase ways to use fossil fuels' at a U.N. climate conference (Washington Post)
• New study finds Greenland's ice melt has "gone into overdrive":
• Greenland's Ice Melt Is in 'Overdrive,' With No Sign of Slowing (Inside Climate News):
  
  The ice sheet is adding more to sea level rise than any time in the last three and a half centuries, new research suggests. Could it be nearing a tipping point?
• Sea levels may rise more rapidly due to Greenland ice melt (Guardian UK)
• What Greenland's 'unprecedented' ice loss means for Earth (National Geographic)
• France's Macron suspends planned fuel tax hikes:
• France Suspends Fuel Tax Increase That Spurred Violent Protests (NY Times)
• France To Suspend Fuel Price Hike Amid 'Yellow Vest' Campaign (CNN)
• VIDEO: Who are the 'gilets jaunes' (yellow vest) protesters? (France 24)
• How France's 'Yellow Vests' Differ From Populist Movements Elsewhere (NY Times):
  
  Too little, too late: That was the reaction of the so-called Yellow Vest protesters to the French government's sudden retreat this week on a gas tax increase. The Yellow Vests, who have thrown France into turmoil with violent protests in recent weeks, say they want more, and they want it sooner rather than later - lower taxes, higher salaries, freedom from gnawing financial fear, and a better life..."The gas tax was only the beginning," said Tony Roussel, a spokesman for the movement in Marseille. "Now there are all the other taxes. There are salaries. There is the minimum wage."
• What's happening in France? The 'yellow vest' movement explained (Al Jazeera)
• Xcel Energy becomes first major utility to target 100 percent clean energy by 2050:
• Xcel Energy is first major US utility to commit to going 100 percent carbon-free (David Roberts, Vox):
  
  Its CEO, Ben Fowke, is part of the leadership at the Edison Electric Institute, the main utility trade group. It is the first major US utility to pledge to go completely carbon-free. So make no mistake: This is industry-shaking news.
• Xcel commits to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 (Utility Dive)
• Xcel Energy Vows 100 Percent Carbon Reduction By 2050 (Colorado Public Radio)
• Xcel Energy wants carbon-free electricity by 2050 (Denver Post)
• World's largest shipping company pledges 100 percent zero emissions by 2050:
• VIDEO: Maersk wants to slash carbon emissions from shipping to zero. But it needs help (CNN)
• Maersk pledges to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050 (Financial Times):
  
  World’s largest container shipping group throws down challenge to industry..."We will have to abandon fossil fuels. We will have to find a different type of fuel or a different way to power our assets. This is not just another cost-cutting exercise. It’s far from that. It’s an existential exercise, where we as a company need to set ourselves apart,” Soren Toft, Maersk’s chief operating officer, told the Financial Times.
• World's largest container shipper Maersk aims to be CO2 neutral by 2050 (Reuters):
  
  Denmark’s Maersk said on Wednesday it aimed to have carbon neutral vessels commercially viable by 2030 by using energy sources such as biofuels and would cut its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
• Shipping giant Maersk lays out plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 (CNBC):
  
  Maersk says that to achieve its target, carbon neutral vessels need to be commercially viable by 2030.
• Sails make a comeback as shipping tries to go green (AP)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

• We're Destroying the Climate Even Faster Than We'd Thought (NY Magazine)
• Tackling climate change could save millions of lives, report says">Tackling climate change could save millions of lives, report says (CNN)
• Report: Major changes needed to feed world population in 2050 (Food Dive)
• EPA chief Andrew Wheeler to announce major environmental rollback alongside fossil-fuel-funded front group. Here's what you need to know about the National Black Chamber of Commerce (Media Matters)
• Trump to rollback sage grouse protections to open more land for oil drilling out West (Reno Gazette-Journal)
• Trump EPA proposes rolling back another Obama-era coal rule (Washington Post)
• Luxembourg to become first country to make all public transport free (Guardian UK)
• Final hurdle cleared in California’s solar mandate for new homes (PV Magazine)
• ALEC: Rightwing Taskforce Secretly Approves Anti-Environment Resolutions (Guardian UK)
• Poisoned Cities, Deadly Border (Desert Sun)
• Carbon Emissions From Rich Nations Set To Rise in 2018: IEA (Reuters)
• US Coal Consumption Drops To Lowest Level Since 1979 (AP)
• Tackle global warming with hope, not fear (Dr. Michael Mann, Politico Europe)
• World must triple efforts or face catastrophic climate change, says UN (Guardian UK)
• Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 2: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [PDF] (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wants to phase out all gas vehicles by 2040 (Pamplin Media Group)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world's bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak - sooner than you think.
• A beginner's guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it's possible for the whole world to run on renewables - we merely lack the "political will." So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
• No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
  
  If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

d

                 

Article Categories: United Nations, Environment, France, Green News, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Greenland, Transportation, Paris Agreement, European Union, Emmanuel Macron, Carbon Tax