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The vast majority of carbon dioxide emissions comes from a very small group of producers of fossil fuels and cement – with just 57 entities accounting for a whopping 80% of the total between 2016 and 2022. That’s the findings of a report released last week by the think tank InfluenceMap based on the CarbonMajors database. The single biggest culprit: China for its coal production, accounting for 25.8% of total global emissions. Among companies, the top three emitters were all state-owned entities: Saudi Aramco (which accounted for 4.8% of the global emissions), Russia’s energy giant Gazprom (3.3%) and state-owned Coal India (3.0%). Publicly traded companies were lower on the list. The top three culprits there, not surprisingly, were oil giants Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP, each with just over 1% of the global total. One of the most shocking parts of the report: Many companies had expanded production – and emitted more CO2 – since the U.N. Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 in an effort to curb climate change. Emissions from fossil fuels reached a peak in 2022 that was approximately 5% higher than in 2015.
The Big Read
Polaris/NEWSOM
Where’s The Tesla Semi?
Tesla has dominated the EV market for a decade and typically outpaced competitors in the segments it enters. But that may be changing. The company stunned investors last week with worse-than-forecast quarterly vehicle delivery results that were down 9% from the first three months of 2023. Elon Musk’s attempt to break into the heavy truck market with his highly touted Tesla Semi also seems to have hit some snags. The company launched the truck at the end of 2022 but has provided no delivery figures for it in the past 16 months. Importantly, it’s not registered to receive customer rebates in California, the nation’s top market for electrified commercial vehicles. That’s a big deal because the state offers rebates of up to $120,000 for electric big rigs to help curb exhaust and carbon pollution.
Instead, Nikola, the electric truckmaker with a troubled past, appears to have moved well ahead of Tesla for now. It delivered 40 hydrogen fuel cell trucks to customers in the fourth quarter, more than analysts expected. It also resumed shipping battery-electric trucks to customers that were recalled last year to fix battery pack flaws. If Nikola can raise funds to continue expanding production, it could be well-positioned to capitalize on tough new U.S. regulations for more heavy commercial vehicles to be electric starting in 2027, regardless of whether that power comes from batteries or hydrogen. And in California, hydrogen electric semis get a $240,000 rebate.
Hot Topic
Trenton Channel power plant, closed in 2022
Environmental Law & Policy CenterHoward Learner, executive director, Environmental Law & Policy Center on turning shuttered coal plants into parkland
How did you get the idea for the initiative you’ve called Power Plants to Parklands?
Almost 10 years ago, coal plants started to shut down around the Midwest. A lot of the coal plants in the Midwest are on the Great Lakes. They had what I would call lakefront property and everybody wants lakefront property. And they are already hardwired into the electric grid. So I asked some younger attorneys, “Take a look at the plants shutting down and let’s see exactly where they are and what’s next to them?” The Trenton Channel plant is south of Detroit, right on the Detroit River by Lake Erie and north of the plant is a park and to the south is a wildlife refuge. The Karn coal plant is right on the shores of the Saginaw River where it goes into the Saginaw Bay. To the east is a state wildlife park so there is an opportunity to develop a greenway that goes along the shoreway. And the third plant is the Campbell plant about 30 miles west of Grand Rapids right on the shores of Lake Michigan.
How did you go from that idea to working to develop these three plants?
We started looking at plants we thought would shut down. We kept tabs on these plants, and then I approached Consumers Energy [the CMS Energy subsidiary that owns the Karn and Campbell plants] and DTE Energy [which owns the Trenton one] about those plants being shut down. Along with community partners and others, we raised the possibility with them of the opportunity for greenways and parkland for public use and the opportunity to convert those sites for coal plants to clean energy. We view this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Is there an opportunity to do more than those three plants?
The model is innovate and replicate. We have a list of other plants that might shut down in other states in the Midwest. There are a lot of examples in the utility industry where if it is demonstrated somewhere else then other utilities feel more comfortable doing it.
How many of these plants are there?
There are more than 100 coal plants in the Midwest. I would say that around two-thirds of them are either shut down or at various stages of shutting down. Then, of course, nationally there are many more opportunities.
So could all of these old coal plants be turned into parkland?
Some are better than others. There are some places that are not as nice.
How do you put these deals together?
In most cases, the sites are owned by the utilities, so you’ve got to find a way to work with the owner. It’s an attractive proposition in many cases. What happens too often around the Midwest and nationally is that once a coal plant is shut down, it becomes an abandoned brownfield. A fence goes up to keep people out, it doesn’t produce any revenue and it’s an eyesore. For utilities that are already looking to develop solar or energy storage, they’re already hardwired into the grid. This is not a shut-down-the-coal-plant campaign. This is not an anti-utility campaign. We approach the utilities with, “This is a real opportunity and let’s talk about how we can work together.”
When will the first one open?
Consumers Energy has already announced publicly that at the Karn coal plant they will do 85 megawatts of solar. What we are hoping on the greenway is that the conceptual plan can be announced sometime this year, and then time can be spent moving from the conceptual plan to building it out.
What Else We’re Reading
The April 8 solar eclipse will briefly limit solar electricity generation across the country
Amid legal challenges, SEC pauses its climate rule
Tesla scraps low-cost cars plans amid fierce Chinese EV competition
Biden administration approves the nation's eighth large offshore wind project
Can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis?
More mining in U.S. backyards is inevitable to reach climate goals
Chevron owns Richmond, California’s primary news site. Many stories aren’t told
Catan’s new board game lets you pit fossil fuels against green energy
U.S. Steel is trying carbon capture. Experts aren’t impressed
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