Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

Zero-carbon homes exist. Can you really live in one?

Feb 2, 2024
A Malibu mansion and a more modest home in a middle-class neighborhood have something in common: net-zero carbon emissions.
Reclaimed wood, low-carbon concrete, solar panels and batteries make this home’s carbon footprint net zero.
Caleigh Wells/Marketplace

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture has been a COP28 priority

Dec 11, 2023
There’s been more than $3 billion pledged toward making global food systems more resilient in the face of climate change.
Food supply sustainability has been a focus at the U.N.'s climate conference, COP28.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Carbon accountants help firms keep their climate pledges

Jun 21, 2023
Before companies can cut emissions, they first have to measure their carbon footprint. The new service is in high demand.
“Electricity usage and refrigerant leakage ... are the two main sources of emissions,” says Cooper Elsworth of Watershed, Sweetgreen's carbon accountant. Sweetgreen plans to become carbon neutral this decade.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

A push for corporate climate disclosures in California could influence rest of U.S.

Mar 3, 2023
A proposed carbon emissions disclosure law in the world's fifth-largest economy could push such requirements into the mainstream.
If Senate Bill 253 goes into effect, roughly 5,400 companies in California would have to disclose greenhouse gas emissions generated by themselves, their suppliers, suppliers’ suppliers and consumers. Above, downtown Los Angeles.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Report: Greener fuels are best path to cutting carbon out of air travel

Dec 8, 2022
But so far, sustainable aviation fuels are expensive and not widely available.
The transportation sector is responsible for almost 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

How do you calculate a company's carbon footprint? The SEC is figuring that out.

Jan 19, 2022
Emissions by a company's suppliers and customers could count towards the total.
The SEC may soon require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Whether they'll also include emissions from suppliers — usually a larger proportion of emissions — is unclear.
Nilmar Lage/AFP via Getty Images
Solar panels are shown in Dry Lake Valley, Nevada, in June 2021. Investments in clean energy would both help countries minimize average global temperature increases and make clean energy rival the oil market.
Ethan Miller via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

More companies pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Sep 20, 2021
What do corporate pledges accomplish in the long run? And do they really work to bring about meaningful change?
Fumes rise from factories in Kawasaki, Japan, in 2009. More than 80 companies announced Monday that they're signing on to The Climate Pledge, which aims to get corporations to net-zero emissions by 2040.
Koichi Kamoshida via Getty Images

EU carbon tariff plan sparks controversy

Jul 19, 2021
The European Union proposes to impose tariffs on certain imports from countries deemed not to be seriously tackling climate change.
The EU is encountering pushback against a new plan to use trade policy to reduce carbon emissions in an effort to mitigate climate change.
Lukas Schulze via Getty Images

Biden administration plans "whole of government" approach to fight climate change

Apr 22, 2021
The administration will work with domestic and international government agencies as well as private finance.
The Biden administration is arguing that climate change is already a crisis affecting the whole economy, meaning it needs a proportionate response.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images