Secretary Kerry: Secure a Global Agreement to Reduce Aviation's Carbon Pollution

Jake Schmidt, International Climate Policy Director, Washington, DC

Aviation is a major contributor to global warming with its pollution projected to grow significantly if left uncontrolled. With devastating droughts, floods, fires, and storms devastating communities around the world, we need all the global warming reductions we can get. The aviation sector shouldn't be left off the hook to help address global warming. Next week Secretary Kerry has the chance to help advance an international agreement to cut aviation's global warming pollution. It is time for his leadership on this issue.

Key countries will meet - on March 25-27 - in Montreal for a "High-Level Group" meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) - the U.N. body established in 1944 to regulate international aviation. This High-Level Group-which includes representatives from the U.S., Europe, China, India, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico - are tasked with developing a global agreement to reduce aviation's carbon pollution. Unfortunately the negotiations aren't going well as the U.S. has been resisting proposals that put in place a global approach. Instead the U.S. has been favoring an approach that would leave the vast majority of emissions uncontrolled - those over the high-seas. This is a position that John Kerry dismissed when he was Senator. The U.S. is a major player in global aviation, so other countries like China and India aren't feeling the heat to shift their position as the U.S. isn't pressuring them to secure a real global solution.

After 15 years of waiting for international action, Europe put in place a law to control the carbon pollution from flights using European airports. But that law was challenged by U.S. airlines - like United and American airlines - and other countries. Now the European program has been put on hold for one year to allow for ICAO to put together an agreement to reduce aviation's carbon pollution. Failure to act on a global solution will automatically lead the European's to reinstate their program as the European Parliament recently reinforced.

The aviation sector should not be exempt from standards to combat global warming. Aviation is a significant contributor to global warming - it would be the 7th largest emitter in the world if it were a country. Left uncontrolled its emissions are projected to almost double by 2030. More efficient airplanes, technologies to fly smarter, and sustainable biofuels are already available. Implementation of these measures will help decrease carbon and other air pollution, while also saving costs on fuel.

But a recent study by a preeminent aviation researcher found that even the most aggressive deployment of technical, operational, and biofuels measures would still result in a growth in aviation's pollution (see figure).

A global agreement will help spur airlines to quickly introduce these technologies into their fleet and ensure that the carbon pollution from aviation doesn't grow unchecked. We don't have the luxury of waiting for the industry to implement these measures on their own - they need a policy that encourages them to speed up the deployment of these technologies.

As a senator, John Kerry was a leading advocate for action on global warming. Now, as the new Secretary of State, he has the opportunity to help reduce aviation's growing global warming pollution. As he said as a Senator regarding aviation: "We've got to have an international agreement." We couldn't agree more.

Please tell Secretary Kerry to act now to help reduce aviation's growing carbon pollution and secure an international agreement.

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Photo: Courtesy of Vox Efx under Creative Commons License.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/secretary_kerry_secure_a_gl

Protecting Mother Earth: Forward on Climate Rally

Denée Reaves, Program Assistant, International, Washington, D.C.

Despite the cold windy day today, more than 35,000 people came out for the Forward on Climate rally on the national mall to support action being taken on climate change. Groups representing every walk of life showed their solidarity in a peaceful friendly environment. Chants, dancing and bands abounded. Signs calling for a denial of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, limits on carbon pollution from power plants, and investment in renewable energies could be seen everywhere you looked. But although the atmosphere was jovial, the issues we are fighting for are not. Reverend Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus said it best when he compared this rally to the one attended by Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago; people came out to the mall then to fight for equality, but we are here now fighting for existence.

The rally, organized by 350.org, Sierra Club, NRDC and many others was graced by speakers such as 350.org founder Bill McKibben, Rebuild a Dream President and NRDC Trustee Van Jones, actor Rosario Dawson, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and many representatives from First Nations, including Chief Jacqueline Thomas representing the Yinka Dene Alliance from British Columbia, Canada. Each speaker that approached the podium revved up the crowd with their heartfelt words and important messages. But as I was listening to these wonderful speakers, what struck me most were not the people on the stage, but the people in the audience. The crowd was overwhelmingly filled with Millennials.

Every way I turned I saw the people of my generation standing, shouting, stomping and screaming for a change in the way we look at and deal with climate change in our country. It is of the utmost importance to me that those of my generation are taking the issues of climate change to heart, and they did not disappoint today. One girl stopped me as I was walking in my bright red NRDC Forward on Climate hat, and asked me where I got it from. I replied that I work with the organization. This girl had worked one summer in our Santa Monica office and claimed it was the best summer she had ever had, and further went on to tell me I had the best job in the world. She was right.

The Forward on Climate Rally in DC was complimented by many sister rallies across the country. All of these rallies support the same cause: a better way of treating our planet, because as Chief Thomas' Medicine Woman grandmother put it when speaking about Mother Earth, "If you take care of the land, the land will take care of you."

Photo Credit: Josh Mogerman, NRDC

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dreaves/protecting_mother_earth_forw

More than 35,000 Rally to Protect Our Climate

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Director International Program, Washington, D.C.

On February 17, more than 35,000 braved the icy temperatures to take a message of hope for our climate to the President's doorstep. Marching in a human pipeline around the White House, people from across America and Canada also showed what real solidarity and neighborliness looks like.

Good neighbors don't push dirty energy projects such as the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that hurt communities, water and climate. Good neighbors and allies work together to bring leadership to tackle climate change and build a clean energy future. Good neighbors build solidarity around a common vision of the world we want for ourselves and our children: one without the threats of ever worsening climate change causing droughts, wildfires, floods and violent storms. That solidarity exists with the people of Canada and yet is overshadowed in the press by the latest attempt to push the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest for many reasons and should not be built. This is something that both Canadians and Americans are saying. At the rally today, Crystal Lameman from the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Alberta put it very well: "We can't eat money and we can't drink oil." And Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Yinka Dene Alliance in British Columbia said, "We have faith that people will do the right thing to protect Mother Earth."

Over time, the oil industry has found many ways to push the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. We have seen wildly exaggerated jobs numbers that falsely raised hope in areas that need work. We have seen arguments about energy security which were unbelievable considering this is a pipeline meant mostly for export. We have seen claims that if the US didn't take the tar sands it would go to Asia even though Canadians were saying "no" to pipelines to their west coast. And the latest? Today, a New York Times article focused on the foreign relations dynamic of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline decision. Posing the decision on this dirty energy project as something that is a choice between the environmental community and Canada is a false way of looking at it. Several points are worth considering:

• Canada and the United States have been friends and allies for a long time and will continue to be friends and allies long into the future. A single project that is in the interest of the oil industry, but not of Americans or Canadians, will not damage that relationship.
• Canada is already our largest supplier of oil. And Canada is our number one trade partner. A rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will not erase the massive trade connections that we already enjoy.
• The current Canadian federal government unapologetically speaks for the tar sands oil industry. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is from Alberta and has moved Canada and the province of Alberta away from earlier Canadian goals of fighting climate change to developing the economy based on oil.
• Many provinces in Canada are concerned about expansion of tar sands and are working hard to diversify their energy sources with clean energy, as well as with energy efficiency and conservation.
• The general public in Canada is very concerned about climate change and many people and First Nations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec who have experienced tar sands extraction, refining and the threat of tar sands pipelines are raising concerns in the same way that we in the United States are.

A rejection of the tar sands pipelines and of tar sands expansion is in the best interest of both Americans and Canadians. It will show tremendous leadership on the part of both of our countries to move together to tackle the climate change challenge by rejecting dirty fuels and moving forward with clean energy.

So let me come back to the wise words of Chief Jacqueline Thomas, immediate past Chief of the Saik'uz First Nation in British Columbia and co-founder Yinka Dene Alliance ("People of the Earth"): The Yinka Dene Alliance of British Columbia is seeing the harm from climate change to our peoples and our waters. We see the threat of taking tar sands out of the Earth and bringing it through our territories and over our rivers. The harm being done to people in the tar sands region can no longer be Canada's dirty secret. We don't have the billions of dollars that industry has. But we do have our faith that people will do the right thing to protect Mother Earth. The Forward on Climate Rally shows that we are not alone in the fight to stop tar sands expansion and tackle climate change.

Chief Jacqueline Thomas, Saik'uz First Nation, British Columbia

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sclefkowitz/more_than_35000_canadian

President Obama, Did You Hear Us?: Let's Move #ForwardOnClimate!

Elizabeth Shope, Advocate, Washington, D.C.

Today, I joined a crowd of more than 35,000 people including thousands of NRDC members and activists at the #ForwardOnClimate rally calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, set carbon standards for dirty power plants, and move forward with clean energy solutions.

Photo credit: Sung Hwang, NRDC.

Hip Hop Caucus President & CEO Reverend Lennox Yearwood MCed the speaker program, and kept the crowd pumped up despite the frigid temperatures and strong, icy winds. Before setting out on our march around the White House, we heard from inspiring speakers including NRDC Trustee and Green for All Founder Van Jones; Chief Jacqueline Thomas, Immediate past Chief of the Saik'uz First Nation in British Columbia and co-founder of the Yinka Dene Alliance; Crystal Lameman of the Beaver Lake Cree First Nation; Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse; Latinovations Founder and Dewey Squre Group Principal Maria Cardona; Tom Steyer, Investor and founder of the Center for the Next Generation; Mike Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director; and 350.org President Bill McKibben.

Van Jones reminded us why all 35,000 of us were here at this rally: "You elected this President," he told us. "You made history... he needs to give you a chance to have a future. Stop being chumps." In addition to calling on us to continue fighting for our future, he called on President Obama to make the right decision, saying "all the good work you've done will be wiped away if you approve Keystone XL," and that approving the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be like jabbing a dirty needle into the U.S.

Crystal Lameman shared with us how tar sands development is affecting her community, and how industry is attempting to greenwash their dirty business. "Don't be fooled by their idea of what reclamation is," she said. "We can't eat money and we can't drink oil."

Keystone XL isn't the only tar sands pipeline currently under consideration that would facilitate an expansion of the tar sands - it is one of several. Chief Jacqueline Thomas spoke to us about Enbridge's Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline to British Columbia and the associated tanker traffic that would put the lands and waters of many First Nations at risk. More than 100 First Nations along the pipeline and tanker route have said their lands and waters are not for sale-that they will not allow the Enbridge Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline or similar tar sands projects to cross their lands, territories and watersheds, or the ocean migration routes of Fraser River salmon. Chief Jacqueline Thomas's speech highlighted the importance of protecting our lands and waters: "If we destroy the Earth, we destroy ourselves."

Maria Cardona's speech brought home the urgency of not just rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and curbing tar sands extraction, but of regulating our dirty power plants: "For millions of Americans, particularly minorities, clean air regulations are life-saving regulations."

We're going to have to keep fighting, though, and keep urging Congress and President Obama to stand up to polluters. As Senator Whitehouse told us, "Congress is sleepwalking through this crisis, and it's time to wake up... We're going to have the president's back and he's going to have our back... Let us be unshakeable."

Today, we were not just unshakeable but unified - young people and old people, Nebraska ranchers, members of First Nations and Native American tribes, environmental groups, labor activists, doctors and nurses, entrepreneurs, investors, and many more.

We marched. We danced to the marching bands that mixed themselves in with the crowds. We chanted. (And I have a favorite new chant from today: "Hey Obama don't be silly, we don't want no oil spilly.") And we have hope.

The way Tom Steyer put it in his remarks at the rally, it may not be easy, but there really is no choice: "The Keystone [XL] pipeline is not a good investment. We can't afford 40 more years of dirty energy. Today we have to dare to say no to the Keystone [XL] pipeline and create a clean energy future."

So President Obama, I hope you're listening- because it's time to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, set carbon standards for dirty power plants, and move #ForwardOnClimate.

Photo credit: Josh Mogerman, NRDC.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/eshope/president_obama_did_you_hear_

New video explains the climate threat from the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline

Danielle Droitsch, Director, Canada Project, Washington, D.C.

A new video released by NRDC and 350.org explains how the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a lynchpin enabling the climate intensive tar sands industry to grow unimpeded. The video also discusses cutting edge research from Oil Change International showing how tar sands oil causes more carbon pollution than originally estimated. Recently, four energy experts and climate scientists from Canada and the U.S. traveled to Washington DC with an urgent message: if we are to truly respond to climate change which is causing extreme life-threatening weather, we must reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Watch the video and join tens of thousands of others on February 17 for the Forward on Climate rally in Washington DC. Join us and send a message to the Obama administration to move forward on climate action. President Obama promised that "we will respond to the threat of climate change." As my colleague Dan Lashof said, delivering on that promise means setting carbon pollution standards for existing power plants and rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The video co-released by the NRDC and 350.org today brings the message from these four experts.

It features Dr. Danny Harvey, professor at the University of Toronto who noted that "The human race is in big trouble. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real. If Keystone is approved, we're locking in several more decades of fossil fuels and higher levels of carbon dioxide and global warming."

Dr. John Abraham, an Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas said the exploitation of tar sands will significantly worsen the climate. "Climate change is the story related to Keystone. The drought and heat wave in Texas cost Texans $5.2 billion. Hurricane Sandy cost us $70 billion. Some people say it's too expensive to develop clean energy. I say it's too expensive not to. We can choose to expand clean energy or make the crazy choice to extract and use the dirtiest of the dirty."

Lorne Stockman, Research Director for Oil Change International announced new research that shows that the emissions from tar sands oil are worse than originally believed. This is because the climate emissions from a byproduct of tar sands, petroleum coke which is made in the refinery process and is used in coal-fired power plants, have not been previously considered.

Nathan Lemphers, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Pembina Institute talks about how Keystone XL is a critical ingredient to significant expansion of tar sands. He dispels the myth being promoted by the tar sands oil industry that tar sands development is inevitable with our without Keystone XL.

These experts also counter the notion that the climate impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline are small compared to total U.S. global greenhouse gas emissions. In short, approving Keystone XL would open the gateway to dramatic new development of tar sands oil and far more harm to our climate. Continuing to enable the expansion of tar sands in the face of catastrophic climate change is precisely a step in the wrong direction.

As Dr. Harvey best said, "There is no better time to say no to further expansion [of tar sands], to say no to business as usual, and to begin the process of turning things around. If we don't say no now, when will we say no?"

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ddroitsch/new_video_explains_the_cli

Time to Dump Dirty Diesels Worldwide

Peter Lehner, Executive Director, New York City

When I took over the environmental prosecution unit of the New York City Law Department in 1990, I conducted an informal survey of everyone I knew, asking: What's the worst environmental problem in New York City? By a big margin, people said it was the black smoke coming out of trucks and buses, emitted from a tailpipe at the same level as kids' heads.

Today, few people would even mention it. Real change happened here, and relatively quickly. Ducking to avoid a smelly cloud of toxic, cancer-causing diesel exhaust is a reflex that New Yorkers need rarely call upon, thanks to clean air laws and strict emission standards on diesel. When the last of the dirty diesels are phased out across the country, around 2030, we'll be saving about 26,000 lives each year.

Diesel pollution from buses in Jakarta (courtesy Asian Development Bank via Flickr)

In the developing world, however, diesel is still a killer. (Diesel emissions certainly played a role in China's recent off-the-charts smog.) Dirty diesel engines, along with power plants and traditional cookstoves, are major generators of particulate matter--more commonly referred to as soot--which is responsible for 3.2 million premature deaths each year, worldwide.

Diesel engines are also a major contributor to climate change. At the heart of every diesel soot particle lies a light-absorbing, heat-emitting core of what's called black carbon. According to a major new study published last week, black carbon is the second largest human-made contributor to global warming. It has twice the global warming impact previously thought. And diesel engines are responsible for 20 to 25 percent of the world's black carbon emissions.

So diesel exhaust is not only a deadly public health risk, but a powerful agent of global warming as well. Yet we know from experience that we can slash diesel pollution, quickly and effectively.

In the United States, programs to clean up diesel have been remarkably effective. When New York City got rid of its dirty diesel buses (in response to a campaign spearheaded by NRDC), particulate emissions from the fleet dropped 97 percent. Black carbon emissions were likely cut by a similar amount through that effort. In California, total black carbon emissions have fallen nearly 50 percent in the past 25 years, largely due to strict diesel emission standards.

New diesel engines in this country are now 90 to 95 percent cleaner than engines that were sold just a few years ago, thanks to a national low-sulfur fuel standard and emissions standards that have made new filter technologies standard equipment on all new trucks and buses. America's clean diesel programs are expected to prevent 26,000 premature deaths every year.

Similar programs around the world have the potential to save millions of lives--and can also help put the brakes on global warming in the short term. Unlike carbon dioxide, black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant. It takes effect quickly, and wears off quickly. When we pump less of it into the atmosphere, the benefits are almost immediate.

Diesel vehicles in developing nations burn high-sulfur fuel and lack even the most basic emissions controls, exposing people to nearly 100 times as much toxic pollution, while also generating tons of global warming pollution. Because diesel pollution occurs in densely populated areas, right at breathing level, it has an outsized impact on human health, making diesel a critical target in the fight for clean air. And because diesel exhaust produces black carbon, which has now been confirmed as a major global warming pollutant, it's also a critical target in the fight to curb climate change.

NRDC, a founder of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, has been working on cleaning up diesel pollution throughout the developing world.

Through the partnership, countries around the world have started working toward creating a standard for ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. This fuel is already available in some major world cities, including Delhi, Hong Kong, Mexico City, and Beijing, but its use is not widespread, and certainly not standard.

The partnership's previous success in eliminating lead from gasoline worldwide-a move that is expected to generate $2.4 trillion in health, social, and economic benefits--lends hope that it could achieve similar success with diesel. Cleaning up diesel worldwide would prevent millions of premature deaths from cancer, heart attacks, and lung disease. It would also help to quickly reduce global warming pollution. Along with our efforts to counter the long-term, potent effects of carbon dioxide, it makes eminent sense to tackle short-acting pollutants like black carbon as well. Dumping dirty diesel is an excellent way to start.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/plehner/time_to_dump_dirty_diesels_w