Maine Climate Change Council legislation unveiled

Maine Governor Janet Mills has introduced proposed legislation to create a Maine Climate Change Council. While the bill had not been formally printed by the legislature's Office of the Revisor of Statutes as of May 1, the Governor's office posted a copy of the bill captioned, LR2478, An Act to Create the Maine Climate Council to Assist Maine to Mitigate, Prepare for and Adapt to Climate Change.

The draft bill includes a variety of provisions designed to advance clean energy goals:

• It includes language requiring the inclusion of more renewable resources in the state's electricity supply -- 80 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050. (Current law requires 40 percent of electricity sold at retail to come from renewable resources. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2017, about three-quarters of Maine's net electricity generation came from renewable energy resources, with 30% from hydroelectricity, 26% from wood and other biomass, and 20% from wind.)
• It repeals the existing law setting Maine's goals for reduction of greenhouse gases (which currently calls for a reduction to 1990 levels by 2010, to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and in the long term "reduction sufficient to eliminate any dangerous threat to the climate. According to the most recent report of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, in 2015 Maine's greenhouse gas emissions were 11.7 percent below 1990 levels.) It replaces this section with a new section, requiring reduction to 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules to ensure compliance with these new levels.
• It creates the Maine Climate Change Council to advise the Governor and Legislature on ways to mitigate the causes of, prepare for and adapt to the consequences of climate change. The council would be composed of up to about 40 people filling specific roles prescribed in the legislation such as business, youth, and science. The structure would include a scientific and technical subcommittee, plus working groups on transportation, coastal and marine issues, buildings, infrastructure and housing, working lands and ecosystems, and energy topics.
• It requires the Maine Climate Change Council to update the state climate action plan by December 2020, with further updates to the plan every 4 years thereafter. (The Maine Department of Environmental Protection released the current version of the climate action plan in 2004.) The bill also requires the council to report on progress toward implementing the climate action plan by December 2022, and every 2 years thereafter.

In a statement, Governor Mills said that the bill represents a step in combating the threat of climate change by "expanding our clean energy economy, and investing in our future by creating the Maine Climate Council and marshaling experts across the state to take urgent action." The bill's lead sponsor, Senator David Woodsome, is a Republican co-chair of the legislature's energy committee. Procedurally, next steps include the formal printing of the bill by the Revisor, followed by its reference to legislative committee for a public hearing to be scheduled in the coming weeks.

Massachusetts climate change executive order

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order last month setting a comprehensive approach to climate change.  Executive Order No. 569, Establishing An Integrated Climate Change Strategy for the Commonwealth, directs state agencies to take a portfolio of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect against the impacts of climate change, and improve resilience.

The order opens with acknowledgements that climate change and associated extreme weather events present serious threats.  It also notes the state's Global Warming Solutions Act, and the greenhouse gas emissions limits mandated by that law -- a 25% reduction below 1990 levels, achieved by 2020.  Following a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court earlier this year, regulations under that law must establish "declining annual aggregate emissions" for greenhouse gases.

Turning to action items, Executive Order No. 569 requires the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to publish a "comprehensive energy plan" within 2 years, with an update every 5 years thereafter.

The executive order also requires the Department of Environmental Protection to issue regulations to ensure that Massachusetts meets the 2020 statewide emissions limit required by the Global Warming Solutions Act.   Pursuant to the executive order, these regulations must be finally promulgated by August 11, 2017.

Executive Order No. 569 also requires coordination between the state's Energy and Environmental Affairs and Public Safety offices, with respect to strengthening community resilience, preparing for the impacts of climate change, and preparing for and mitigating damage from extreme weather events.  Within 2 years, this coordination will result in a Climate Adaptation Plan presenting a statewide adaptation strategy.

U.S., China ratify Paris climate agreement

The U.S. has formally ratified the global climate change agreement reached in Paris last year, as has China.  This moves the Paris climate agreement closer to legal effectiveness -- but more nations must accept the pact before it can enter into force.

At issue is the Paris Agreement, an agreement brokered at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  In December 2015, over 190 countries meeting under UNFCCC adopted the Paris Agreement agreement to limit global warming.  The Paris Agreement describes climate change as an "urgent threat" and a "common concern of humankind."  The agreement's aim is to strengthen global response to this threat, through a variety of means.  These include the creation of individual national commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increased adaptation to climate change, and assistance for developing nations.

But the Paris Agreement has not yet taken its full legal force, because it contains a provision limiting its effectiveness until enough nations agree to comply.  As is common for multilateral international agreements, the Paris Agreement calls for parties to express their consent to be bound by the agreement, by depositing instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the depositary established by the convention.  In this way, the agreement draws a distinction between Parties -- those signing the Agreement -- and those nations which have deposited their ratification instruments. 

Under its Article 21, the Paris Agreement "shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession."  Practically speaking, this means that as new countries submit their ratifications, the convention's secretariat must calculate the total greenhouse gas emissions of Parties that have ratified the Paris Agreement, as a percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions.  Once the 55 percent threshold is hit, the Paris Agreement will become legally effective and operational.  The UNFCCC has said that while it cannot predict when this will occur, "it is conceivable that the Agreement may enter into force before 2020."

On April 22, 2016, the Paris Agreement was opened for signature.  At the opening ceremony, 15 states deposited instruments of ratification.  By September 1, reportedly 24 states accounting for just over 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions had ratified the agreement.

The Paris Agreement's path to effectiveness advanced on September 3, when President Obama announced that the U.S. and China had formally joined the Paris agreement in a ceremony in China.  In recent years, these nations have been among the world's top emitters of carbon dioxide.  As described by the White House, "Both leaders expressed satisfaction with jointly joining the Paris climate agreement and pledged to work together and with other parties to bring the Paris agreement into force as early as possible."  The Obama administration also noted other recent U.S. climate actions taken jointly with China, including support for a proposed amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) globally, and efforts to address international aviation emissions.

Following the U.S.-China announcement, the convention secretariat announced that as of September 7, 27 states had deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 39.08% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Paris climate agreement walkthrough

On December 12, the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted Decision 1/CP.21, adopting the Paris Agreement under that convention. The Paris Agreement itself is 12 pages long, and includes a preamble and 29 articles.  Its details merit a close read, as parties spent countless hours negotiating every word and piece of punctuation in the document.  Some articles have many operative clauses and address topics like temperature change and greenhouse gas emissions, while other articles are more ministerial.  Billions of dollars, and maybe the fate of the world, rests on the terms of these legal documents and how they are implemented.

Here's a overview-level walkthrough of the Paris Agreement:

• Preamble: recognizes climate change as a "common concern of humankind" and an "urgent threat" to which an "effective and progressive response" is necessary, that least developed countries and others may have specific needs, and interactions with other social values like food security, decent work and quality jobs, and "the importance for some of the concept of 'climate justice'".
• Article 1 provides definitions for Convention, Conference of the Parties, and Party.
• Article 2 defines the Agreement's aim as "to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty," including a long-term temperature goal, a call for increased adaptation, and "making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."
• Article 3 requires all parties "to undertake and communicate ambitious efforts as defined in Articles 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 13" as "nationally determined contributions to the global response to climate change."
• Article 4 addresses the long-term temperature goal established in Article 2.  It requires each party to "prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions that it intends to achieve" and to pursue domestic mitigation measures.  Parties are expected to increase the level of ambition reflected in their nationally determined contributions over time.  Developed country parties are expected to take the lead, while supporting developing country parties and small island developing states.
• Article 5 calls for conservation and enhancement of sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, including forests.  
• Article 6 recognizes that some parties may choose to pursue voluntary cooperation in implementing their nationally determined contributions.  It establishes a mechanism to promote and track "internationally transferred mitigation outcomes."  It also defines a framework to promote non-market approaches.
• Article 7 establishes a global goal of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change.  It requires parties to engage in adaptation planning processes and actions.  It also requires periodic "adaptation communication" reporting to the secretariat.
• Article 8 addresses averting, minimizing, and dealing with "loss and damage" associated with the adverse effects of climate change, "including extreme weather events and slow onset events."  It uses the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts as its basis.
• Article 9 calls for developed country parties to provide financial resources to assist developing country parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation, and to take the lead in "mobilizing climate finance from a wide variety of sources, instruments, and channels."
• Article 10 promotes technology development and transfer to "improve resilience to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
• Article 11 calls for "capacity-building", to enhance the capacity and ability of developing country and vulnerable parties to take effective climate change action such as adaptation and mitigation.
• Article 12 requires cooperation on "climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information."
• Article 13 creates an "enhanced transparency framework for action and support" to build trust and confidence while allowing flexible and effective implementation.  It requires each party to regularly provide a "national inventory report of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases," and information on how it has provided financial, technology transfer and capacity-building support to other countries.
• Article 14 requires a "global stocktake" -- that the parties periodically "take stock of the implementation of this Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this Agreement and its long-term goals."  Article 14 provides that the Conference of the Parties shall undertake its first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter unless the Conference otherwise decides.
• Article 15 establishes an expert-based committee as "a mechanism to facilitate implementation of and promote compliance with" the Paris Agreement.
• Article 16 provides procedures for aligning future meetings of parties to the Paris Agreement with the meetings of the Conference of the Parties.
• Articles 17, 18, and 19 provide procedures for the Convention secretariat, Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and Subsidiary Body for Implementation established by the Convention to also apply to the Paris Agreement.
• Article 20 provides processes for signature, ratification, acceptance, approval and accession of the Paris Agreement.
• Article 21 provides that the Paris Agreement "shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession."
• Articles 22 and 23 provide processes for adopting any amendments or annexes to the Paris Agreement.
• Article 24 governs dispute resolution.
• Article 25 provides that each party shall have one vote, and establishes a process for "regional economic integration organizations" to vote as a bloc.
• Article 26 provides that the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the Depositary of the Paris Agreement.
• Article 27 prohibits any reservations being made to the Agreement.
• Article 28 provides a process for a party to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
• Article 29 governs the original of the Paris Agreement.

The final language of the Paris Agreement's 29 articles, and Decision 1/CP.21 adopting the Paris Agreement, were each adopted by consensus by all of the 195 member states and the European Union participating in the COP21 summit.  Decision 1/CP.21 and the Paris Agreement will play important roles going forward as the world tackles climate change.  Their language will shape business, government, society, and the environment. 

Obama links climate and health

President Obama has issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring this week, April 6-12, 2015, as National Public Health Week.  Climate change, and its impacts on human and environmental health, figure prominently in his proclamation.

The Obama administration has focused on climate change since taking office in 2009.  In 2013, President Obama released his administration's Climate Action Plan, calling for reductions in U.S. emissions of carbon and greenhouse gases, adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures, and global action.  He has also addressed climate change in his State of the Union speeches to Congress, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its proposed Clean Power Plan to reduce the carbon intensity of the nation's electric power sector.

While interest in addressing climate change arises from a broad range of factors, health plays an important role in the Obama administration's action on climate issues.  In this week's Presidential Proclamation on health, President Obama noted the interdependence of climate, environment, and human health:

America's public health is deeply tied to the health of our environment. As our planet becomes more interconnected and our climate continues to warm, we face new threats to our safety and well-being. In the past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting these individuals and many other vulnerable populations at greater risk of landing in the hospital. Rising temperatures can lead to more smog, longer allergy seasons, and an increased incidence of extreme-weather-related injuries and illnesses.

My Administration is dedicated to combating the health impacts of climate change. As part of my Climate Action Plan, we have proposed the first-ever carbon pollution limits for existing power plants -- standards that would help Americans live longer, healthier lives. And as we continue to ensure the resilience of our health care system, we are working to prepare our health care facilities to handle the effects of a changing planet. Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Its effects are felt today, and its costs can be measured in human lives. Every person, every community, and every nation has a duty to protect the health of all our children and grandchildren, and my Administration is committed to leading this effort.

This week the Obama administration announced further actions to protect communities against the impacts of climate change.  These actions include convening stakeholders to prepare for a White House Climate Change and Health Summit later this spring that will feature the Surgeon General, and an Adaptation in Action Report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Obama administration also announced an expansion of its Climate Data Initiative to include more than 150 health-relevant datasets on climate.data.gov.  President Obama unveiled the Climate Data Initiative in 2014 to host data related to climate change that can help inform and prepare businesses and citizens for the impacts of extreme weather.  The newly released datasets are designed to help the public answer questions, including:

• In what ways does the changing climate affect public health where I live?
• What risk factors make individuals or communities more vulnerable to climate-related health effects?
• How can public health agencies, communities, and individuals plan for uncertain future conditions?

Obama administration releases National Climate Assessment

The Obama administration has released its third National Climate Assessment, a document designed as a public presentation of the administration's comprehensive scientific assessment of how climate change is impacting the U.S. people and economy.

A view from the Lincoln Memorial to U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C.

The National Climate Assessment summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future.  Produced as a collaboration between over 300 experts guided by the 60-member National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, the report was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Climate Assessment has a broad scope, in terms of both types of impacts and regions covered.  Thematically, it analyzes impacts on seven sectors – human health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture, forests, and ecosystems – and on the bigger-picture interactions between these sectors.  Geographically, the report also assesses key impacts on all U.S. regions: Northeast, Southeast and Caribbean, Midwest, Great Plains, Southwest, Northwest, Alaska, Hawai'i and Pacific Islands, as well as a more general look at coasts and oceans.

The report states that that increased scientific scrutiny has led to "increased certainty that we are now seeing impacts associated with human-induced climate change":

While scientists continue to refine projections of the future, observations unequivocally show that climate is changing and that the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from burning coal, oil, and gas, with additional contributions from forest clearing and some agricultural practices.

Outcomes predicted under possible future scenarios include continued increases in average air and water temperatures, changes in rainfall and precipitation patterns, air quality decreases, sea level rise, and ocean acidification.  These changes can disrupt systems for food production, harm human health, or damage property and risk safety through flooding.

The National Climate Assessment also summarizes options for responding to climate change.  These include mitigation: reducing the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Efforts to limit emissions or promote carbon sequestration are considered mitigation efforts.  Other possible responses focus on adaptation: preparing for and adjusting to new conditions -- for example, building levees and seawalls, or promoting farmers' growth of crops more suitable to the changing conditions.

In all, the report provides insight into the Administration’s approach to addressing climate change, and can help people and businesses both minimize risks and identify new opportunities.

The full National Climate Assessment can be explored on the government's climate change website globalchange.gov, or can be downloaded.  The entire report, downloaded in print quality resolution, clocks in at over 170 megabytes.

Report: climate change poses risks to US energy sector

Climate change poses significant risks to U.S. energy infrastructure, and the reliability and cost of the services it enables, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The report - U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Report (4.2MB PDF) was developed as part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to support national climate change adaptation planning and to advance the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal of promoting energy security. These efforts are embodied by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and Strategic Sustainability Planning process established under Executive Order 13514.

The report is predicated on the findings that the U.S. climate is changing, and that these changes impact energy resources and infrastructure. As the report states, "Climatic conditions are already affecting energy production and delivery in the United States, causing supply disruptions of varying lengths and magnitude and affecting infrastructure and operations dependent upon energy supply." The report provides over 30 recent examples of energy infrastructure adversely impacted by climate change-related events such as power plant outages due to high temperatures or low water availability, storm damage to transmission lines, oil wells, pipelines and generators, and flooding-related disruption of fuel transportation systems.

Building on these findings, the report identifies a broad set of risks posed by climate trends, including increasing temperatures, decreasing water availability, and increasing storms, sea level rise, and flooding, as well as the current and potential future impacts of these climate trends on the U.S. energy sector. According to the report, each of these trends will independently, and in some cases in combination, affect the ability of the United States to produce and transmit electricity from fossil, nuclear, and existing and emerging renewable energy sources. These changes are also projected to affect the nation’s demand for energy and its ability to access, produce, and distribute oil and natural gas.

In particular, significant risks identified include:

• Thermoelectric power generation facilities are at risk from decreasing water availability and increasing ambient air and water temperatures, which reduce the efficiency of cooling, increase the likelihood of exceeding water thermal intake or effluent limits that protect local ecology, and increase the risk of partial or full shutdowns of generation facilities
• Energy infrastructure located along the coast is at risk from sea level rise, increasing intensity of storms, and higher storm surge and flooding, potentially disrupting oil and gas production, refining, and distribution, as well as electricity generation and distribution
• Oil and gas production, including unconventional oil and gas production (which constitutes an expanding share of the nation’s energy supply) is vulnerable to decreasing water availability given the volumes of water required for enhanced oil recovery, hydraulic fracturing, and refining
• Renewable energy resources, particularly hydropower, bioenergy, and concentrating solar power can be affected by changing precipitation patterns, increasing frequency and intensity of droughts, and increasing temperatures
• Electricity transmission and distribution systems carry less current and operate less efficiently when ambient air temperatures are higher, and they may face increasing risks of physical damage from more intense and frequent storm events or wildfires
• Fuel transport by rail and barge is susceptible to increased interruption and delay during more frequent periods of drought and flooding that affect water levels in rivers and ports
• Onshore oil and gas operations in Arctic Alaska are vulnerable to thawing permafrost, which may cause damage to existing infrastructure and restrict seasonal access, while offshore operations could benefit from a longer sea ice-free season
• Increasing temperatures will likely increase electricity demand for cooling and decrease fuel oil and natural gas demand for heating

Looking on the brighter side, the report notes that while climate change will, on balance, create challenges and costs for the energy sector, there are potential benefits to the energy sector as well. Examples include reduced average heating loads during the winter in parts of the United States, such as New England, and the opening of new regions to offshore oil and gas exploration due to shrinking sea ice cover in the Arctic. The report also covers adaptation actions underway, as well as other major opportunities to prepare for climate change through adaptation. Nevertheless, on balance, the report finds that the magnitude of the challenge posed by climate change on an aging and already stressed U.S. energy system could outpace current adaptation efforts, unless a more comprehensive and accelerated approach is adopted. Will the U.S. follow that path? What measures will it include? Will it make a difference?

Long Island utility exec resigns, hurricane response blamed

The Long Island Power Authority announced this week that its Chief Operating Officer, Mike Hervey, has resigned from LIPA effective at the end of 2012.

LIPA is a political subdivision of the State of New York.  LIPA was formed in 1985 as a non-profit municipal electric utility to take over the assets of former investor-owned utility Long Island Lighting Company.  Today, LIPA owns the electric grid in most of Long Island.  LIPA does not own electric generation assets on the island but serves 1.1 million customers with electricity generated off-island.  Its electric distribution network was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy, with over 1.1 million customers losing power.  As of earlier this week, 10,000 customers just east of New York City were still without power, while 35,000 more farther onto Long Island suffered significant flood damage and will need repairs before electric service can be restored.  County executives and other leaders are calling for federal involvement, and have criticized LIPA for its management of the restoration process.

In a statement released November 13, LIPA Chairman Howard E. Steinberg stated that he had accepted Hervey's resignation, with regret, on behalf of the Board of Trustees.  The announcement noted that Hervey had worked for LIPA for 12 years, including serving as CEP for two years.

Also on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo formed a commission to investigate utility companies' storm preparedness and management.  Governor Cuomo used his powers under the Moreland Act to form the commission, whose mandate also includes an examination of the regulatory and legal structures for oversight of utility operations.  Citing storms including Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and Hurricane Sandy in the past two years, Governor Cuomo also addressed the adaptation process of adjusting "to the reality of more frequent major weather incidents".

One utility executive has already resigned, and the commission's investigation will soon be under way.  What other changes lie ahead for utility companies in New York and elsewhere as a result of utility responses to hostile weather?