WA’s rejection of carbon-neutral guidelines leaves LNG emissions booming

A Western Australian government decision to reject guidelines requiring major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects to be carbon neutral leaves Australia without a state or federal policy to address its biggest source of growth in heat-trapping emissions.

Chevron was required to offset some of the emissions from
 Wheatstone refinery, but the requirement was dropped by
the former Liberal state government when a national carbon
price was introduced in 2011. It still has not been reinstated.

The most recent federal government emissions report says the booming northern WA LNG industry is the main driver of an 0.9% increase in national emissions in the year to September, continuing a trend in place since 2015. LNG exports to Asian markets jumped 19.7% over those 12 months.

Related: Woodside applies to build big-polluting LNG plant – with no emissions plan

Authorities had hoped the rise in LNG emissions would be slowed by a carbon capture and storage project at the country’s largest natural gas development, Chevron’s Gorgon operation in the Pilbara, coming online early this year.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “WA’s rejection of carbon-neutral guidelines leaves LNG emissions booming.”

America Crowns a New Pollution King

For the first time in 40 years, power plants are no longer the biggest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. That dubious distinction now belongs to the transport sector: cars, trucks, planes, trains and boats.  

The big reversal didn’t happen because transportation emissions have been increasing. In fact, since 2000 the U.S. has experienced the flattest stretch of transportation-related pollution in modern record keeping, according to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The big change has come from the cleanup of America’s electric grid. 

The chart below shows carbon dioxide emissions from transportation exceeding those from electricity production in 2016 for the first time since 1978. The pollution gap has continued to widen further in 2017, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Read the Bloomberg story by Tom Randall - “America Crowns a New Pollution King.”