Climate News Recap

Lofty Pledge to Cut Emissions Comes With Caveat in Norway – New York Times. Norway has been stunning speculators with its pledges to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and then by 2030. This article reports on the disappointment that much of Norway’s promise relies more on offsets than policies that make actual reductions. Similar realities and hurdles are likely to proliferate as we get more serious about global warming policy, and this is a challenge policy-makers must overcome.

New Limits to Growth Revive Malthusian Fears – Wall Street Journal. This article is sort of Jared Diamond’s book Collapse in brief in that it’s an exploration of how modern societies are handling economic, industrial and population growth as it merges with dwindling natural resources. Two questions emerge – Can we handle the management challenge, and can the earth handle us?

Even with stricter CAFE standards than our own, China Facing Renewed Fuel Shortages – AP. “China’s leaders are facing renewed pressure over shortfalls in diesel and gasoline, with lines growing at filling stations in major cities Monday as the gap widens between international crude oil values and centrally controlled fuel prices.”

Sharp to invest $729 million in new solar cell plant – Reuters. A Japanese company has recently announced how much capital funds it will be putting into its upcoming solar cell manufacturing plant. I think the real story is simply that this is another example of how international businesses are committing to building a green energy base, while American companies are not. Sharp intends to compete with a large German solar cell production company, both to act as exporters of the solar cell technology. We need to pay more attention to this market before we lose the potential to have an edge in it.

– Kari M.