Planet Week: Cutting methane is key to climate action

Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our Planet.

Last week, Tesla cracked $1 billion in profits. Hawaii became the first state to declare a climate emergency. And marine scientists discovered thousands of barrels of DDT — a toxic insecticide banned by the United States in 1972 — off California’s coast.

In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the Planet:

Monday, April 26

The world is underreporting carbon emissions

In our fight against climate change, we may have an even steeper hill to climb than we thought. A new study finds a gap of about 6.1 billion tons of carbon emissions — about the annual emissions of the U.S. — between country reports and independent climate models.

The underreporting isn’t intentional, but rather the collective result of the differences in metrics countries use to calculate emissions, reports Reuters. The research highlights the need to compare these estimates and close the gap. Once that happens, though, countries may have to adjust their climate goals to keep in line with their intended targets.

Biden’s fake burger ban

Republicans are once again using lies to block climate action. This time, they’re saying Biden’s new climate plan includes a ban on red meat (it doesn’t), writes Vox.

The false claim may have some bite among voters who don’t do their own research, though. In 2018, the U.S. consumed roughly 21% of all beef consumed globally, despite making up just 4% of the global population. To take away meat would be to take away an American way of life.

In other meat news, Epicurious, an American website that shares recipes, is permanently dropping beef from its list of ingredients, citing the planetary impact from emissions.

Wednesday, April 28

Cutting methane is key to climate action

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to reinstate Obama-era methane controls, after Trump rolled them back during his last days in office, reports Inside Climate News. The vote comes around the release of two major studies on methane, a greenhouse gas at least 84 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year span.

• One study, set to be released by the United Nations, says that reducing methane emissions must play a greater role in achieving climate goals. A summary of the report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, singles out the fossil fuel industry as the sector with the biggest potential to slash emissions at little or no cost.
• The other study finds that quickly cutting methane emissions could cut global greenhouse gases by 30%. Even without new technology, we could cut current methane emissions by half. The Washington Post has more.

Methane levels reached record highs last year, and they’re often overlooked in favor of CO2 cuts. But to follow through on all the recent climate goals, the world will have to address methane.

Air pollution disproportionately hurts Americans of color

People of color, including Black, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans, are exposed to more pollution from nearly every source than their white counterparts, according to a new study. The findings are not totally surprising — we have known that air pollution disproportionately impacts people of color — but they still raised eyebrows.

“We expected to find that just a couple of different sources were important for the disparate exposure among racial ethnic groups,” Christopher W. Tessum, who led the study, told The New York Times. “But what we found instead was that almost all of the source types that we looked at contributed to this disparity.”

Glaciers are melting fast — even with climate goals

Climate change is melting glaciers way faster than we thought, according to a new study. The research finds that glacier melt has doubled over the last 20 years and currently dumps about 328 billion tons of water into the ocean every year. USA TODAY has more on that.

In other glacier news, the world is set to lose 10% of glacier ice by 2050, even if we hit current climate goals. That’s enough water to fill Lake Superior, according to figures compiled for The Guardian.

Much of this melt may be locked in, but that’s not a reason to give up. If countries follow through on recent climate pledges, we can still limit future melt and the rising sea levels that come with it.

Thursday, April 29

Youth climate movement scores big win in Germany

The highest court in Germany just put more pressure on the national government to act on climate. On Thursday, the court ruled that a 2019 climate law, which aims to reduce emissions, fails to ease the burden of climate change on future generations.

Last year, nine youth climate activists challenged the 2019 law, as it only details cuts to 2030. With the latest ruling, Germany must revise the law to include how the country plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“These future obligations to reduce emissions have an impact on practically every type of freedom,” the court wrote. “Therefore, the legislator should have taken precautionary steps to mitigate these major burdens in order to safeguard the freedom guaranteed by fundamental rights.” The New York Times has more.

Big Oil is back in black

Big Oil is making money again. After pandemic-related lockdowns sent oil prices plummeting, profits have surged for the largest oil and gas companies, sending them back into the black for the first time in a year.

Over this year’s first quarter, BP earned $2.6 billion, above its expected profit of $1.4 billion; Shell earned $3.23 billion, ahead of the predicted 3.25 billion; and Total earned $3 billion, up from the average estimate of 2.35 billion. Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil earned $2.7 billion, and Chevron earned $1.4 billion. Much of this trend ties to the post-pandemic boom: With some countries opening back up, energy demand is souring — and so are oil prices.

“That recovery, which we had anticipated happening at some point in time, is happening sooner than we anticipated,” Exxon Chief Executive Darren Woods told The Wall Street Journal. “As economies are reopening and rebounding quicker, in some places, than expected, we are seeing a demand response.”

Bonus

Dutch bees have it good

You don’t have to be a scientist to know the global bee population is down. But across the Netherlands, bee hotels, bee stops, and honey highways are keeping urban populations steady — for now.

“An average of 18 to 20 bees and hoverflies were recorded in each garden during the count,” Vincent Kalkman, an entomologist at Naturalis, told The Guardian. “These numbers have remained steady over the years, indicating that there is no strong decline in urban gardens.”

Have a good week,

Brandon and Sam