Jennifer Bojorhus: Minnesota's Environmental Review to Include Air Pollution→

Star Tribune:

GLEN STUBBE • STAR TRIBUNE

“As Minnesota ramps up the fight on climate change it will soon require developers to measure the greenhouse gases from large new projects.

The calculations will start in January as part of a nine-month pilot program to phase in detailed climate change questions into the state’s environmental reviews. The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) approved the pilot approach Wednesday, after years of work. It plans to collect feedback and make improvements on the revised form, called an environmental assessment worksheet, by the end of 2022 and then set final changes.
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Ceres: Risks to Banks from Climate Change→

Ceres:

“The report analyzes $2.2 trillion of exposure for syndicated loans. It finds that the annual value-at-risk from physical climate impacts on just the syndicated loan portfolios of major U.S. banks could approach 10 percent, and that two-thirds of banks’ physical risk comes from the indirect economic impacts of climate change, such as supply chain disruptions and lower productivity, with coastal flooding (driven by sea level rise and stronger storms) representing the largest source of direct risk.”

Ceres’s recommendations to banks can be found here.

Lauren Summer: Fossil Fuels Should Stay in the Ground to Reduce Disaster→

NPR:

Scott Heins

“With tens of thousands of people displaced by floods, wildfires and hurricanes this summer, researchers warn that the majority of untapped fossil fuels must remain in the ground to avoid even more extreme weather.

Fossil fuel producers should avoid extracting at least 90% of coal reserves and 60% of oil and gas reserves by 2050, according to a study published in Nature, to limit global temperature rise to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Even then, that gives the planet only a 50% chance of avoiding a climate hotter than that.

Global temperatures have already warmed about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s, due in large part to the burning of fossil fuels, which releases gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. As a result of the warming, droughts, storms and heat waves are becoming more extreme, causing a cascade of disasters.

The study finds that global coal and oil use would need to peak almost immediately and begin declining 3% annually until 2050. Even that rate is likely an underestimate of what’s needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the study’s authors say.”