As President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry has been visiting foreign nations at a furious pace, most recently China. His mission: to save the planet from increasingly imminent climate disaster through coordinated global action on a massive scale. US climate policy to date has been limited and now is largely dependent on the proposed $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. However, avoiding climate disaster is only possible if ambitious actions are also taken by other nations with whom the US has limited influence.

While the United States is by far the largest source of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, China…

The Tokyo Olympic Games were memorable for numerous reasons, many having nothing to do with athletics. In addition to the year-long delay and ban on spectators due to the pandemic, much of the media coverage had to do with the extreme heat. A Spanish tennis player collapsed during her match and had to leave the court by wheelchair. The water temperature in Tokyo Bay, the site of long-distance swimming events, was described as being “hot as soup,” while a slalom canoe competitor described the artificial rapids as “like paddling in bathwater.” Beach volleyball courts were hosed down before matches (players…

Every week brings news of some new climate disaster. Recent extreme events have included record heat in the Pacific Northwest, wildfires across the west, and deadly floods in China and Germany. Reporting on each includes dramatic pictures and mortality data. Human nature being what it is, perhaps growing public awareness that we are all at risk from such events will finally bring about the scale and scope of international actions needed. (Others argue it mainly leads to despair. ) It is almost impossible to come to terms with the full scope and magnitude of what is at stake and how…

The dramatic collapse of the Champlain Tower in Surfside, Florida along the coast north of Miami Beach led to questions about the possible contributing role of climate change. Understanding why it happened is a pressing question, not only because of the more than 140 persons missing or dead attributable to the collapse but because of hundreds of similar buildings that line the coast housing tens of thousands of people. Multiple factors may have been involved including subsidence and saltwater flooding the basement garage, and initial reports are that a full explanation may take years to complete. …

In a previous post, I addressed the complex universe of corporate and financial claims to climate change leadership, lifting the veil on marketing claims to distinguish the good (and maybe good), bad, and truly ugly. So, what can and is being done to make companies and investors more responsive to climate change concerns? As it turns out, quite a lot. Announcements of relevant actions are being announced almost weekly at all levels — by national governments, U.S. agencies, state governments, and initiatives by international institutions, consortia of banks and investors, universities, and non-profit organizations.

A draft executive order prepared by…

The bigger they are, the harder they fall is a cherished belief among Americans especially when applied to large, politically powerful corporations. In recent weeks, Big Oil has joined the ranks of Big Tobacco and the makers of opioids in being called to task for its contributions to a major societal problem — in this case, climate change.

Exxon lost three board seats to a slate of clean energy reformers, an event almost without precedent. A Dutch court ordered Shell to significantly accelerate its planned greenhouse gas reductions. Chevron unsuccessfully opposed a shareholder resolution requesting the company to significantly expand…

There’s a growing sense of excitement among climate change experts, and it’s not about the jaw-dropping low prices of renewable energy that will help reduce the world’s CO2 emissions. Rather, it is an opportunity — the narrowest of windows — to make a huge, measurable reduction in the temperature of earth by reducing emissions of just a few pollutants.

If we time it right, we cool down the planet by 1 degree C this century compared to business-as-usual, keep warming below 2 degrees C, and avoid cooking our planet to a crisp. However, we must act quickly. The timing has…

Those of us who grew up with Kermit the Frog and his song are likely to think of “being green” as a binary state — either you are or you aren’t. But when it comes to corporate claims of good environmental behavior, and especially those with respect to climate change, there are many shades of green. Like the challenge in distinguishing shades of gray at dusk, it isn’t always easy to tell when a company’s claims to going green are credible. …