In the latest of several climate agreements among Pacific Coast governments, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have signed a new partnership recommitting the region to climate action. The Statement of Cooperation (SOC) promotes collaboration … on accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy, investing in climate infrastructure, …and protecting communities from climate effects, such as drought, wildfire, heat waves and sea-level changes. The SOC includes a major focus on equity, ensuring no communities are left behind in the transition to a low-carbon future. …The Pacific Coast of North America represents a thriving region of 57 million people with a combined GDP of $3.5 trillion. Through the Pacific Coast Collaborative, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and the cities of Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles are working together to build the low carbon economy of the future. They share ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 80% by 2050.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), which invests on behalf of the country’s CPP pension scheme, used its influence as a major institutional investor to push 35 companies to make “material“ commitments and improvements to climate-related disclosures and practices in the past year, according to its latest report on sustainability investing made public Wednesday. …CPPIB, which invests in public and private companies including direct investments, voted in favour of climate-related shareholder proposals that sought deeper disclosures on topics such as operational emissions management, asset portfolio resilience and public policy, the report said. Richard Manley, managing director, said the approach with public companies in the portfolio is to articulate clearly how the Canadian pension believes sustainability-related factors should be integrated to inform strategy and enhance returns or reduce risks in the business.
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VANCOUVER — An environmental group is in court accusing the British Columbia government of failing to report if its climate plans will achieve key greenhouse gas emissions targets, as required by a provincial law. Harry Wruck, a lawyer representing Sierra Club BC, told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that climate change accountability legislation from 2019 requires the government to publish annual reports that outline progress toward emissions targets for 2025, 2040 and 2050. Wruck said annual reports are the only mechanism for transparency and accountability, if they include details on how close or far the government is to meeting its targets. …Sierra Club BC wants the province to come up with a new accountability report for 2021 by filling in the gaps of missing information on its progress toward meeting emissions target for 2025. 
British energy company Drax Group is defending itself following the release of a BBC investigation that alleges the firm is cutting down “primary forests” in British Columbia to turn into wood pellets. After buying out local manufacturers, Drax is the largest producer of wood pellets in B.C., owning or having a stake in eight plants and accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the province’s production. …In a written statement, the B.C. Ministry of Forests said the province is following up with Drax to ensure, as the firm has stated, they are not using quality logs harvested from old growth forests. It would not make economic sense for a pellet company to do so because, historically, the mills have paid up to $25 per cubic metre for fibre sourced from residual harvesting piles in contrast to the $140 to $160 per cubic metre paid for a quality log used to produce lumber…
The Fort Nelson First Nation says it is “on the doorstep” of a new forest economy in the Northern Rockies region after securing what it calls a “major forestry tenures commitment” from the provincial government. In a news release Wednesday, the First Nation said the provincial forests ministry has offered a number of forest licenses amounting to 1.26 million cubic metres of timber a year, “making it one of the largest forest tenures commitments ever made to a First Nation in history.” The First Nation says the licenses, committed to in a July 2022 letter from government, are to enable to the construction and operations of a new pellet plant in partnership with Peak Renewables. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime for our people,” Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharleen Gale said in a statement.:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/IJHOL6KI7JCVLERDZ4HKWJAD5E.JPG)
Drought that stretched across three continents this summer — drying out large parts of Europe, the United States and China — was made 20 times more likely by climate change, according to a new study. Drought dried up major rivers, destroyed crops, sparked wildfire, threatened aquatic species and led to water restrictions in Europe. It struck places already plagued by drying in the U.S., like the West, but also places where drought is more rare, like the Northeast. China also just had its driest summer in 60 years, leaving its famous Yangtze river half its normal width. Researchers from World Weather Attribution… say this type of drought would only happen once every 400 years across the Northern Hemisphere if not for human-caused climate change. Now they expect these conditions to repeat every 20 years. …With an additional 0.8 degrees C degrees warming, this type of drought will happen once every 10 years.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Sept. 14 voted in favor of proposals for a revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII). The proposals aim to raise the share of renewables in the European Union’s final energy consumption to 45 percent by 2030. They also address the use of woody biomass. The MEPs decision, in part, allows biomass energy, including primary woody biomass, to continue counting towards the renewable energy targets. MEPs, however, also adopted amendments calling for phasing down the share of primary wood biomass counted as renewable energy. …Under the proposal, the energy share from solid biomass fuels derived from primary woody biomass cannot exceed the share of the overall energy consumption of the average of such fuel in 2017-2022, based on the latest available data. Bioenergy groups are welcoming the adoption of the REDIII but stress that the new definition of primary woody biomass raises some concerns.
Urban forests – street trees, municipal parks – in the United States are estimated to span 51.5 million hectares of land and hold 800 million metric tons of carbon. In a new study published in One Earth and funded by Yale University and the US National Science Foundation, scientists examined the economic benefits of creating circular systems for urban biomass. “Substantial urban tree waste is generated and underutilized in the U.S ,” the study authors stated. “Circular utilization of urban tree wastes has been explored in the literature, but the life-cycle environmental implications of varied utilization pathways have not been fully understood.” Researchers tackled the life-cycle environmental implications of managing and utilizing uban tree waste to determine the best means of diversion and reuse. …Five scenarios were identified as “different pathways” to waste diversion. Scenario 1 explored landfilling, while others studied biochar, composting and other methods.
An environmental campaigner has been ejected from an event sponsored by the power station operator Drax at the Labour party conference after criticising the company’s use of biomass. The owner of the North Yorkshire power station sponsored a debate on Tuesday on Britain’s net zero climate goals on the fringes of the political party’s conference in Liverpool. The company’s group director of corporate affairs, Clare Harbord, was on the panel. Climate campaigners have accused Drax of greenwashing and argue that its biomass operations, which burn wood to produce electricity, are far from green and can even increase the CO2 emissions driving the climate crisis. The talk in Liverpool was titled “Reaching net zero: how can the UK boost energy security and invest in green jobs?” Several campaigners interrupted the discussion to question Drax’s green credentials.
KUALA LUMPUR – A new funding pact between Indonesia and Norway to cut carbon emissions by protecting and restoring rainforest should kick-start similar deals between the Southeast Asian country and rich nations, said green groups, which broadly back the partnership. Indonesia abruptly ended its previous accord with Norway a year ago, due to apparent disagreements and slow progress in releasing payments based on the results of work to curb forest loss. The new five-year collaboration, outlined in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked by ministers in Jakarta last week, will provide annual payments in line with evidence showing emissions from deforestation have been avoided or reduced through conservation efforts. …There is a risk that Indonesia’s government will curb deforestation to an extent but continue to allow some commodity-driven felling in the name of “progress”, while freezing much-needed reforms to secure indigenous peoples’ rights, he added.
BRUSSELS — A vote last week by the European Parliament marks a first step toward new restrictions on burning “primary woody biomass” for renewable energy under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The Parliament’s proposal, to be finalized after negotiations with the European Council and Commission, would end subsidies for energy generated by burning most forest biomass by 2024. …On the heels of the vote, a group of NGOs from across the EU have filed a 
The UK beer industry is under threat, as rising carbon dioxide (CO2) prices could impact production – and even cause a shortage of the beverage ahead of the busy Christmas season. CO2 plays a crucial role in the beer-making process, from carbonation to packaging, meaning brewers are facing the pressure to meet costs. Carbon Herald reports prices of the gas have currently peaked at £2,800 per tonne. Three months ago, producers were paying £250 per metric tonne of CO2. The production of CO2 has been impacted partly due to rising wholesale gas prices. As the gas is a bi-product of fertiliser, the rising costs meant many fertiliser plants in the UK were forced to close. Last month, US fertiliser group CF Industries – which produces about a third of this country’s supply of CO2 – announced it would be shutting down its ammonia plant in the UK.
