You Can Own a Backyard Direct Air Capture Plant for $750,000

The future of climate-friendly air travel might lie in a 20-foot shipping container that was dropped off on the campus of the University of Sheffield in England in late September. Inside the box is a system developed by Mission Zero Technologies, a London-based company, that extr … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Formula 1’s Bizarre Push for E-Fuels Suddenly Makes Sense

When four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel retired last year, he said the sport’s contribution to climate change played a part in his decision. At the time, his concern was mostly around F1’s contribution to carbon emissions — all that globetrotting required a lot o … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Americans Remain Extremely Concerned About Climate Change, Heatmap Poll Finds

Americans remain immensely concerned about climate change, with 70% calling it a serious problem and over one in three saying they are extremely concerned about the issue, Heatmap’s second Climate Poll has found, echoing results from its first survey last winter. Conducted in mid … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Americans Know About Solar. They Don’t Know About the Paris Agreement.

The biggest debates during the annual United Nations climate conference, underway this week in Dubai, always center around language. The Paris Agreement, the 2015 treaty significant for uniting almost every country in the world in supporting a common strategy to address climate c … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

It Was a Big Week for Weird Little EVs

The Americanization of electric cars is in full swing, with every U.S. automaker doing what it does best: building ever larger, heavier, and more spacious vehicles. So it's refreshing to see Stellantis, the parent company of Fiat, bringing its first new EV to the States in the fo … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

You Really Ought to Lease Your EV

Four years ago I drove my beloved brown dog home from the high desert beagle rescue in our little red EV. She sat silently in my wife’s lap, wondering what this new life might entail, and spent the ensuing months shedding stabby hairs on the seat cover and slobbering on the back … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

The ID.4 Could Be Volkswagen’s First EV Made With U.S. Union Labor

In Shawn Fain’s victory speech after the United Autoworkers won significant raises and benefits from the Big Three automakers earlier this fall, the union president promised to go on to accomplish what no other UAW president had managed to do. “We’re going to organize non-union a … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Ireland Just Set a New Wind Energy Record

The “green” puns pretty much write themselves. On Wednesday, Ireland set an all-time high for wind output on the Irish grid at 4,629 megawatts, Green Collective reports. By midnight Thursday, wind had accounted for a smidgen over 70% of Ireland’s total electricity demands for the … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

A Trade Storm Is Brewing in Dubai

The European Union launched the first stage of its carbon border tax this fall, and the world’s biggest emerging economies aren’t happy. As of October 1, the EU regulation officially known as the “carbon border adjustment mechanism” requires importers to report the emissions asso … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

COP28 So Far: A Cheat Sheet

It’s a “rest day” at COP28, which means there probably won’t be a ton of news coming out of Dubai as delegates take a breather before the climate talks shift into high gear tomorrow. That makes now a good time to reflect on what’s happened so far and what to expect as the confere … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Bill Gates on COP28, the Green Premium, and Trump’s Threat to Climate Tech

Eight years ago, at the Paris climate convention, Bill Gates committed $2 billion to fighting climate change.You have to admire his ROI. Since then, Breakthrough Energy, the set of Gates-linked climate groups, has become ubiquitous on the topic. It invested in dozens of climate-t … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

AM Briefing: Solar Milestone

Current conditions: Parts of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest could see record high temperatures today • Australia is in the grips of a ferocious heatwave • The Greek village of Metamorfosi has voted to relocate its residents to the nearby town of Palamas following devastating … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Republicans Weave a Climate Conspiracy at the Final Debate

Who, or what, was the biggest villain of the fourth Republican debate? Vivik “The Most Obnoxious Blowhard in America” Ramaswamy would, of course, be an easy pick. So too would “the three previous Republican debates,” which were all so painfully boring that most Americans probably … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Coral Bleaching Is a $9 Trillion Problem

Coral reefs are a thing of wonder, both organism and underwater infrastructure that houses thousands of species of fish. They are also, as you might already know, in grave danger. Climate change is contributing to massive waves of coral bleaching around the world, from the Great … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Al Gore Said Something Funny at COP28

Al Gore is done mincing words. In a TED Talk this past July titled “What the fossil fuel industry doesn’t want you to know,” the former U.S. Vice President and long-time climate champion took aim at the major oil and gas producers. “They have used fraud on a massive scale,” he sa … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Orsted Powers Up America’s First Major Offshore Wind Farm

Out in the Atlantic Ocean, 35 miles off the eastern tip of Long Island, sits a single, mammoth wind turbine. On Wednesday, its oscillating blades started sending power into the New York grid. The South Fork Wind Farm is officially the first utility-scale offshore wind project o … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Republicans’ Climate Whisperer Is Still At It

Bob Inglis was snorkeling in Australia’s Great Barrier reef in 2008 when he had what he called “an epiphany.’’ The then-Republican congressman from a very conservative district in South Carolina had scoffed at climate change throughout his two terms in the House, but his certaint … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

‘Humanity Has Opened the Gates of Hell’ and 9 More Times the UN Secretary General Slayed

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres opened his welcome speech at COP28 in Dubai on Friday with a present-day image of a warming planet. Just days before, he told world leaders, he was standing on the melting ice of Antarctica.“This is just one symptom of the sicknes … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

The Paragraph that Could Make or Break COP28

It’s day seven of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, and while today’s official talks and panels will focus on green solutions for cities, a debate about the future of fossil fuels is raging on the sidelines. Delegates argued well into the night Tuesday over the wording that will … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

AM Briefing: Keeping Cool

Current conditions: An atmospheric river brought life-threatening rain and flooding to Washington State • The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to another oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico • It is -52 degrees Fahrenheit in Yakutsk, Russia, one of the coldest cities in the world.THE TO … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

COP28’s Completely Predictable Crisis

The biggest annual event in climate diplomacy is the Conference of the Parties. This year is the 28th conference — hence COP28. As I’ll explain below, such a conference is vital for many reasons. Heatmap’s own Robinson Meyer is reporting there on the ground.But that importance ma … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

The Global Stocktake Draft Has Something to Make Everyone Mad

By the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, you’d think we’d have done it all before — but if you did, you’d be wrong. This year, for the first time, negotiators at the conference will produce what’s called a global stocktak … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

How John Podesta Is Thinking About the IRA’s Big Final Tax Credits

The remaining rules governing virtually all of President Joe Biden’s climate law — including some of its most important and generous provisions — will come out in the next several weeks, signaling a new era in the law’s implementation, a senior White House advisor told Heatmap in … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

AM Briefing: Al Jaber Plays Defense

Current conditions: Cyclone Michaung drenches Chennai, India, with 20 inches of rain in two days • Death toll from northern Tanzania floods rises to 63 • The high is 90 degrees in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, which voted this weekend to annex two-thirds of neighboring oil s … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Detroit Is About to Test the Bejeezus Out of Wireless EV Charging

One block of Detroit's hip Corktown neighborhood is now the home to the nation's first inductive charging roadway, allowing specially-equipped vehicles to charge while on the move.The electric road system is being deployed two years after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announ … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

In a Headline-Making Report, an Overlooked Insight About Carbon Removal

COP is always awash in new policy reports and scientific studies. It can be hard to figure out which are the most important. So I want to draw your attention to a particularly interesting report that came out in Dubai over the weekend. On Sunday, a consortium of climate science g … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Venezuela Essentially Approves a Petrowar

Under pressure from the U.S. to hold a free and fair election, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro upped the ante. On Sunday, the nation went to the polls — to vote to invade its neighbor and the world’s newest petrostate, Guyana.Approval was seemingly swift and suspiciously ove … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

AM Briefing: Catch Up on COP28

Current conditions: There’s a high risk of avalanches in the Cascade Mountains after a storm dumped up to 14 inches of snow • The AQI in Dubai is back down to 80 after spiking to 155 this weekend • The high is in the low 50s in Central Park, which has been without snow for a reco … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

The World Finally Agrees to Cut Emissions the Easy Way

Today is Methane Day at COP28 in Dubai, and there has been a slew of new commitments to wrangle the highly potent, short-lived greenhouse gas:➢ The Biden administration finalized the strongest-ever federal regulations in the U.S. covering the methane that leaks from existing oil … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Biden’s EPA Just Enacted Its Strongest Methane Rules Yet

One of the first things Joe Biden did on the day he was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States was issue an executive order on the climate crisis. In it, he directed the Environmental Protection Agency to set new standards for emissions of the potent greenhouse ga … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

A Hilariously Sad Chart of COP28 Climate Pledges

Early on Thursday, the first day of the UN Climate Conference in Dubai, world leaders secured an agreement for a fund that will help vulnerable nations deal with the impacts of climate change. My colleague Charu has written about the fund in more detail, but I was curious about o … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

What I Misunderstood About COP28

The third day of events are ending here at COP28 in Dubai. If you read any international coverage of the conference, you probably saw that King Charles III of the United Kingdom and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil spoke at the main session today, along with many oth … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

It’s Suddenly a Mystery Which EVs Will Qualify for a Tax Credit in 2024

If you’re in the market for a new car and considering cashing in on the $7,500 federal tax credit for an electric vehicle, I have good news. Also bad news. The good news is, starting January 1, the credit will be a lot easier to claim. You won’t need to meet a certain level of ta … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

What Really Happened on the First Day of COP28

Hello from Dubai, where the United Nations’ annual climate conference — that is, COP28 — officially began today. This was an enormous day for climate and environmental news around the world. Not only did COP28 begin with a surprising (and important) accomplishment, but the Enviro … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

A Climate Reparations Breakthrough at COP28

World leaders at the United Nations’ annual climate summit secured an early agreement on Thursday for a disaster fund that will help vulnerable nations dealing with drought, floods, or other costly damage caused by climate change. The agreement follows a lengthy negotiation proce … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Malaria Cases Are Spiking on a Warmer, Wetter World

The World Health Organization’s annual malaria report, released Thursday, for the first time includes a chapter “focused on the intersection between climate change and malaria” — and finds that climate change was a factor in a global increase in the disease. There were an estimat … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

The Cybertruck Is Interesting. Tesla Needs Boring.

While channel-surfing over Thanksgiving weekend, I stumbled upon The Aviator — specifically, the scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s Howard Hughes maniacally scrambles a fleet of biplanes to capture the greatest air combat scenes even filmed, and rants that he doesn’t care if the … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Hello from Dubai, Where the Fleece Quotient Is High

One tool I have developed in my years of climate reporting might be described as the fleece quotient. This is the idea that you can generally predict if something is a climate event — a category I consider in its broadest terms, including but not limited to a scientific conferenc … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

New ‘SAF’ Just Dropped

American Airlines will purchase sustainable aviation fuel from a first-of-its-kind facility under development in Texas called Project Roadrunner. Infinium, the company behind the project, will be converting a former natural gas refinery into a commercial “eFuels” plant where it w … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

John Kerry Unveils America’s​ Plans for COP28

In a press conference on Wednesday morning, U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry previewed the three main issues the U.S. will be focused on “securing strong outcomes” for at COP28, the United Nations climate conference that kicks off tomorrow:1. Acting on the global stocktake: Negotiat … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

24 States Are About to Set Climate Targets for the First Time

To date, less than half of all states have set forth targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Within two years, almost all of them will have official climate goals. Even Texas, even West Virginia, even Wyoming.It’s already been a big year for climate action in states whe … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

What Do Rich Countries Owe Their Old Colonies? More Than Once Thought.

At the height of Britain’s power, it was said that the sun never set on its empire. The crown’s tendrils stretched around the world, with colonies on every continent but Antarctica — though I’m sure if there had been anybody around to subjugate on the ice, the crown would have ha … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

American Airlines Is Buying Carbon Removal on the Cheap

American Airlines will purchase carbon credits from a biomass-based carbon-removal startup in a deal that could reshape how corporate emitters offset their emissions, The Wall Street Journal reports. The startup, Graphyte, collects carbon dioxide-absorbent agricultural byproducts … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Welcome to COP Week. Prepare to Be Overwhelmed.

If you live in the United States, work in climate, and were hoping for a sleepy post-Thanksgiving slide back into work mode, I have bad news for you. Every Monday morning, the Heatmap team gets together to take stock of what the week ahead looks like. Some weeks are relatively sl … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

EV Sales Just Hit Their Highest Level Ever in the U.S.

In case you needed more convincing that buyers still like EVs just fine, sales of electric and hybrid light-duty vehicles in the U.S. rose to their highest-ever level in the third quarter of 2023, according to data released Monday by Wards Intelligence. Electric-powered vehicles … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

A Climate Insiders’ Guide to Giving Tuesday

Fighting for clean air and water. Accelerating the green energy transition. Centering economic and racial justice. Engaging future generations of climate innovators.Nonprofits across the U.S. and around the world are tackling the problem of climate change in zillions of different … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

This Catskills House Is Cool, Cheap, and Off the Grid

Architect and Industrial designer Marc Thorpe runs a multi-disciplinary studio in New York. His innovative approach to architecture, branding and furniture design for clients including Under Armour, Moroso and Ligne Roset is rooted in the belief in an architecture of responsibili … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago

Boston’s Big Dig Was Secretly Great

If you’ve lived in Massachusetts at any point in the last 50 years, you’ve heard of the Big Dig. It’s infamous — a tunnel project that was supposed to bury an elevated highway in Boston to the tune of $2 billion that eventually ballooned in cost to $15 billion and took a quarter … | Continue reading


@heatmap.news | 1 year ago