Heat waves trace back to 180 ‘carbon majors’
Proof, it turns out, is in the pollution: A groundbreaking study published in Nature has linked emissions from the world’s top oil and gas firms to more than 200 major heatwaves over the past 20 years. Using data from EM-DAT, an international disaster database, the researchers plotted actual temperature patterns against those of a simulated pre-industrial climate. They found that modern heat waves were both more frequent and more severe due to, guess what, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Even more damning, the study determined that about half of the increased intensity of those heat waves traces directly to “carbon majors”—the name for a collection of 180 fossil fuel and cement producers that includes BP, Shell, and Exxon. In fact, the top 14 of these companies were responsible for 28% of global temperature rise.
What you can do: Familiarize yourself with who the carbon majors are and demand accountability from them by supporting organizations like Earthjustice. You can also join in on events like the “Make Billionaires Pay” march happening in cities across the U.S. this coming Saturday.
Keep 245 million acres of public lands protected
In a move that could open almost 245 million acres of protected public lands to mining and other plunderous activities like gas drilling, the Department of the Interior has announced its intention to rescind the 2024 Public Lands Rule. Established in 2024, the rule made land conservation and restoration an official use of government-managed acreage. Rolling it back would remove conservation’s equal standing with extractive practices like logging and drilling, undermining efforts to protect those areas as carbon sinks and safeguard delicate ecosystems. “These actions mark a dramatic escalation in the administration’s assault on public lands, prioritizing corporate interests and privatization over the interests of the American people,” the Sierra Club wrote in a statement.
What you can do: The Interior’s proposal will be open to public comment for 60 days, and you can record your opposition in the public register here. There isn’t a one-and-done template online yet to work from, but the Natural Resources Defense Council has some great tips for crafting a compelling comment.
Plug-in hybrids are no match for EVs
The window to cash in on federal tax breaks on a new EV closes in just 15 days. Of the questions that hold people up from making the switch, one item seems perennial: Is an EV really that much better than a plug-in hybrid (PHEV)? The European Environment Agency just added one more data point to the chorus of analyses shouting “Yes!” It looked at records from 127,000 on-board fuel consumption meters fitted to plug-in hybrids in 2023, and found that the cars emit five times more carbon dioxide than official figures published by automakers claimed. This new finding underscores a range of speed bumps for plug-ins making good on their promises, chief among them: Most drivers use theirs more like petrol-powered cars than they do EVs; in fact, North American PHEV owners use gasoline for 86% of their energy needs.
What you can do: Still have burning questions about the environmental impact, cost, or practicality of making the switch to an EV? We answered 13 of the most-common questions to help clear up any confusion—and keep you from stalling out if you’re still weighing cashing in on tax incentives before they vanish at the end of the month.
Businesses are missing the plot on carbon removal
Every roadmap to reaching net-zero emissions involves sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies pull emitted CO2 from the air and sock it away in a variety of places, from rocks and land to human-made structures. But, according to analysis from European think tank NewClimate Institute, the methods a number of companies use fall short. Of the 35 firms it looked into, the majority rely on “nondurable” storage options like tree planting, wetland restoration, and burying carbon in the soil. Some companies—including tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—are opting for more “durable” methods, such as injecting carbon into geologic formations, that can store carbon for 1,000 years or more. The rub? They’re doing so without making aggressive in-tandem efforts to curb emissions to hit their net-zero targets. At the same time, a recent analysis found the amount of carbon we can funnel into geological CDR may have been majorly overestimated.
What you can do: Understand that most carbon removal claims you see in the marketplace—including, a recent Nature Communications study re-emphasizes, carbon credits from airlines—are very likely greenwashing. And brush up on the four key calling cards of false eco promises.