Climate Change

A new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), a top government watchdog, says the yearly cost of climate change to the federal government is tens of billions of dollars and rising rapidly — yet US President Donald Trump still refuses to acknowledge basic science.

Two EESA staff are set to receive a prestigious Director’s Award from Berkeley Lab’s Directorate at a ceremony on November 30. ...

Fellow Heather Coleman writes about four critical things to watch as the negotiations in Bonn over the "Paris Rulebook" unfold in November.

Just hours after President Trump’s Rose Garden speech in June announcing plans to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the governors of three states — California, Washington, and New York — announced their remedy. They formed the U.S. Climate Alliance, and called on other states to join them in continuing to push ahead on fighting climate change. ...

On the eve of international climate talks taking place in Bonn, Germany, a new study led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego evaluates the extent to which parties to the historic Paris Agreement on climate have considered the oceans in their plans to address climate change. The study shows that while many countries include the oceans, a striking number do not.

A sweeping Obama-era climate rule could prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths per year by 2030, the Trump administration has found in its analysis of the plan, projecting that the plan could save more lives than the Obama administration said it would. The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is moving to repeal the plan.

Fellow Dena Adler writes that recent storms could usher in a wave of climate change-related lawsuits. The litigation dodges the sticky issue of climate change attribution – facilities and municipalities are liable for failing to undertake adequate preparatory, safety, and control measures without needing to prove a link between global climate change, the particular storm, and actual harms suffered.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “Most utility customers spend just 8 minutes per year thinking about their electricity bill.”

Increasing environmental uncertainty coupled with rapidly changing market conditions in the Gulf of Maine raise important questions about the ability of Maine’s commercial fishermen to adapt. How resilient is the industry to these shifting waters? Who is best positioned to adapt and who is most vulnerable?