New studies say biofuels make greenhouse gases worse

This post is brought to you by ? Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM ? ? “Love your work. Change your world.” Two new studies are giving biofuels a big fat thumbs down when it comes to their impact on greenhouse gases. This article gives a nutshell description of what the studies have to say: These studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development. The destruction of natural ecosystems whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces. Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse-gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted directly or indirectly, intentionally or not in new lands being cleared for food or fuel. “When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gases substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. —

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New studies say biofuels make greenhouse gases worse

Big business taking climate change more seriously

This post is brought to you by ? Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM ? ? “Love your work. Change your world.” A recent report shows that the largest companies are paying increasingly more attention to their energy use and carbon emissions. The world’s biggest companies are making climate change a higher priority, in part through more widespread disclosure of carbon emissions, according to an annual report released Monday by a nonprofit group. The report from Carbon Disclosure Project tracked how companies plan to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. “The big thing this year is the huge increase in the level of seriousness with which climate change is being incorporated into the corporate strategy of companies,” said Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Chief Executive Paul Dickinson. Not so surprisingly, the more they’re addressing the issue, the more they seem to be willing to talk about it… Among the 500 companies ranked by the Financial Times newspaper as the world’s largest by market capitalization, 75 percent responded to this year’s survey, up from 47 percent when the survey started four years ago. The response rate by companies in North America rose in all industry sectors, and nine of 10 sectors had a response rate of more than 50 percent. The increased willingness by companies to disclose their carbon emissions and find ways to reduce them reflects the changing political and regulatory landscape over energy efficiency. Of the companies that responded, 76 percent implemented programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, compared with 48 percent last year. —

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Big business taking climate change more seriously