Carbon to burn: UK net-zero emissions pledge undermined by biomass energy
The UK and EU say they plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, even as both pursue plans to burn massive amounts of carbon-producing wood pellets.
Articles by Justin Catanoso
Justin Catanoso is a professor of the practice at Wake Forest University and director of its journalism program from 2011-2016. His environmental reporting is often supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest.
EU sued to stop burning trees for energy; it’s not carbon neutral: plaintiffs
In a suit filed Monday, accusers say European nations burning wood pellets and chips for energy are putting the world at risk with carbon emissions greater than from coal burning.
COP24: Summit a step forward, but fails to address climate urgency
Poland climate meeting addressed some issues, including Paris rulebook, but fell far short. UN’s António Guterres to convene special September climate action meeting in New York.
COP24: Will they stay or will they go? Brazil’s threat to leave Paris
Jair Bolsonaro pledged to leave the Paris accord during his presidential run. But his Amazon agribusiness and mining expansion plans may pose a far bigger threat to forests and global climate.
COP24: Nations complicit in ignoring bioenergy climate bomb, experts say
Burning wood pellets, once deemed as carbon neutral, produces big CO2 emissions instead. But developed nations are cooking the books on bioenergy, toying with climate disaster.
COP24: Trumpers tout clean coal; protesters call it ‘climate suicide’
Demonstrators, subnationals, NGOs and COP24 delegates have moved beyond the Trump administration delegation’s public farce advocating coal as a viable climate solution.
COP24: US, Russia, Saudis downplay IPCC report in display of disunity
Vulnerable nations were eager to praise the IPCC report, the US was not. Environmental activist Tom Steyer sees another blue wave as the only route to global climate action.
COP24: World’s nations gather to grapple with looming climate disaster
As scientists’ warnings over climate catastrophe mount, will nonstate actors at COP24 in Poland be able to goad nations to finally take decisive climate change action?
Land rights, forests, food systems central to limiting global warming: report
Land-based options offer the best solutions to help nations meet their Paris carbon reduction goals and limit warming to 1.5 degrees C, says study in response to new IPCC climate report.
‘Guardians of the forest:’ Indigenous peoples come together to assert role in climate stability
SAN FRANCISCO – A half mile from the din of the Global Climate Action Summit and its 4,000 attendees in San Francisco, indigenous peoples from around the world came together in…
Putting the action in the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The second day of California Governor Jerry Brown’s three-day Global Climate Action Summit on September 13 put a hard emphasis on action, whether in speeches at…
Climate mitigation has an ally in need of recognition and land rights: indigenous peoples in tropical countries
As global warming continues to outpace the tepid international response, a range of environmentalists are raising their collective voice to demand full rights and recognition for those long associated with…
In Peru, a new president is faced with old conservation challenges
MANU NATIONAL PARK, Peru — There was movement in the understory deep in the dense rainforest off Trail 6. We saw a shadow scurry left to right, followed by more…
UN forest accounting loophole allows CO2 underreporting by EU, UK, US
Scientists say burning woody biomass is not carbon neutral, yet the United Nations IPCC appears to be ignoring its own guidelines, so substantial emissions aren’t getting counted. But nature knows.
Pope’s message to Amazonia inspires hope, but will it bring action?
Visit by Pope Francis to Peru brought needed attention to Amazon deforestation and indigenous suffering due to illegal mining, but will the pontiff’s words be a game changer?
Consensus grows: climate-smart agriculture key to Paris Agreement goals
The Global Landscape Forum met in Bonn this week and advocated for altering farming practices planet-wide to boost food security, profitability and soil carbon sequestration.
A reflection on COP23: Incremental progress but no industrialized country’s top priority (commentary)
I remember well the vibrancy that December evening in 2015 when word spread on the last day of the 21st UN climate summit that there would be an agreement —…
COP23: Leaders vie for protection of ‘incredibly important’ African peatland
BONN, Germany – A few weeks ago, international scientists, government officials and forest advocates visiting a remote community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed the presence of…
COP23: Alliance pledges an end to coal; other key summit goals unmet
19-nation pledge would reduce coal use by 3 percent; COP23 failed to see developed nations ramp up carbon targets, or offer real pathway for financing climate aid to developing nations.
COP23: U.S., wealthy nations curtail climate aid for developing world
In Bonn, Trump administration delegation provides cover for developed nations to stall financing for climate adaptation and loss for world’s most impacted developing nations.
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Environmental defenders in Peru’s Madre de Dios face double jeopardy
- Arson attack in Indonesia leaves activist shaken
- For embattled environmental defenders, a reprieve of sorts in 2018
Indonesias forest guardians
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
- On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
- In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
Amazon infrastructure
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
- Amazon fish kill at Sinop spotlights risk from 80+ Tapajós basin dams
Asian rhinos
- Search for a new home for Javan rhinos put on hold
- Keeping stray rhinos safe is a challenge on fringes of Nepal park
- Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem
