Archive for the 'Climate' Category

PCAP Responds to Stalls in Climate Change Legislation with a “Plan B”

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

PCAP-8.10-coverwborderNow that Congress has failed to pass strong climate legislation this year, the Obama Administration has the opportunity to demonstrate its leadership and re-tool its role in supporting state and local governments in creating better solutions to address climate change.

To respond to this missed opportunity at enacting a comprehensive climate policy, the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) has drafted a fresh list of recommendations that President Obama can implement in the near term. As PCAP Executive Director William Becker, put it, “Congress has passed the ball back to President Obama. He should run with it.” Read more »


CNT’s Work as Important as Ever as Capitol Hill Climate Momentum Stalls

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

News that the Senate leadership in Congress has decided to indefinitely postpone passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year is tremendously disappointing. Though climate change regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, states and regions are still moving forward, many viewed this summer as the best opportunity for Congress to pass legislation that would create a national framework to transform our energy system and cut global warming emissions.

Today’s news from Capitol Hill underscores why CNT’s work is more important than ever. Since the day CNT opened its doors more than 30 years ago, our philosophy is that change comes at the neighborhood level. And although it is crucial for the United States to implement a federal-level strategy to improve our energy system and reduce our global warming pollution, many of the actions required to meet any national climate goal will occur at the local level. That means every community can and should continue to move forward and do its part. Read more »


The White House Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Holds Meetings

Monday, July 12th, 2010

The White House Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force is holding a series of meetings to “hear local and regional ideas, questions and concerns about climate change impacts and to describe Federal planning efforts already underway.” Three (in Florida, Oregon and Hawaii) have occurred. On Thursday July 15, 2010, the Chicago meeting will be held at the Metcalfe Federal Building from 1-5 PM. CNT President Scott Bernstein will participate in the “Great Lakes Urban Infrastructure Panel” at 3:30 PM.

This session, organized and co-hosted by the EPA and HUD, will focus on local and regional ideas and concerns about climate change impacts in the Great Lakes region, including impacts to urban infrastructure and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Read more »


New Exhibit on Climate Change Opens at Field Museum

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

cc-fieldCNT and its affiliates, CNT Energy and I-GO, were present at the opening of “Climate Change,” an exhibit organized by the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Field Museum and several other museums. The exhibit includes the Chicago Climate Action Room that highlights the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Several local organizations were invited to produce a panel about their work addressing climate change. CNT’s panel shows what the public can do to reduce their emissions while saving money. Our panel focuses on energy reduction at home and on the road as well as ways to green  communities. Read more »


Recent Developments in Addressing Climate Change: the American Power Act and USEPA Greenhouse Gas Regulation

Monday, May 17th, 2010

logo_smallTwo important climate change actions occurred at the federal level recently. The much-anticipated Kerry-Lieberman climate legislation, the “American Power Act”, was released while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a “Tailoring Rule” that sets thresholds for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from large sources, such as power plants—the next step in a process of regulating greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act that was launched by a Supreme Court decision in 2007. Read more »


Beyond the Inventory: Communicating Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategies

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Chicago-emissions-graph

"Chicago’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2000", copyright CNT, 2010.

When CNT set out to inventory Chicago’s greenhouse gas emissions, our goal was to give the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Change the information it needed to better understand where Chicago’s emissions come from and to establish a baseline for comparison in future years. In addition to that, we created a portfolio of emissions reductions measures to better understand the scale and scope of actions that needed to be taken to meet the city’s emissions reduction targets.

Beyond the City-commissioned research, our broader goal is to make our climate change analysis transparent and available for cities around the world to take action on reducing their impact on climate change. Soon this research will be available in the Journal of Great Lakes Research and it is our belief that the valuable information in this peer-reviewed, scientific journal can serve as a useful tool for cities to use a model.

Read more »


Comprehensive Climate Change Policy in Stalemate, But the Tides Still Turn

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Despite recent announcements from the Senate leadership that climate change legislation will be put off until spring of 2010 and questions about the fate of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, CNT is not discouraged about the future of climate action in the U.S. Yes, it is frustrating that Senate action may not occur until a year after the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act in June 2009, and that the Copenhagen talks may result in just an agreement to create a future agreement—rather than binding targets. But global warming is a problem we have created over many years and we are not going to solve it overnight.

CNT has been directly working on climate change issues for a decade and a half and indirectly working to address the problems that impact climate for our entire 31-year history as an organization. Despite recent setbacks, climate action is more on track today that it has been at any time since the Kyoto Protocol was signed (and maybe even before then, since the U.S. never ratified Kyoto).

Why such climate optimism despite the doom and gloom in the news? Many positive advancements are occurring that are not necessarily making the headlines. These examples are paving the way to not only a more definitive climate policy but to a broader awareness to the behavior changes we must take to reduce our greenhouse gas impact.

Read more »


Chicago Shares Valuable Lessons on Creating its Climate Action Plan

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

“Cities can really benefit from each other’s experience taking action on climate change,” states Julia Parzen, author of a new publication, “Lessons Learned: Creating the Chicago Climate Action Plan.”

This report, which documents the Plan’s process up until its public release on September 19, 2008, summarizes key lessons learned and provides a timeline and observations about each step. The City of Chicago benefited from the work of other cities as it created the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Because of funding from the Clinton Climate Initiative, Chicago was able to document the three phases—research, planning, and implementation—of the Chicago Climate Action Plan process. The report is being co-released by the Global Philanthropy Partnership, the City of Chicago, and ICLEI.

Read more »


Federal Climate Bill Gets ‘Yea’ in the House, G.R.E.E.N. Act and Location Efficiency Get Integrated

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Last Friday, H.R. 2454 – the American Clean Energy & Security Act (ACES), also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill – successfully passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 219 to 212. This Thursday, a Senate counterpart to the plan was officially unveiled by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The bill calls for an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, along with programs to encourage renewable energy production. This landmark legislation is the first to focus on comprehensive and direct solutions to climate change. The bill successfully targets climate change by focusing on short-term solutions like provisions for creating energy-efficient buildings—solutions that can reduce energy usage and save Americans money.

Read more »


New Maps Show that Urban Living Helps Curb Global Warming

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

CO2 mapsAt first glance, cities may appear to be a big source of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. But new research by CNT, which compares greenhouse gas emissions of city and suburban households, yields some surprising results.

CNT looked at emissions of carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, stemming from household vehicle travel in 55 metropolitan areas across the U.S. When measured on a per household basis, it found that the transportation-related emissions of people living in cities and compact neighborhoods can be nearly 70% less than those living in suburbs. See how this compares in your region at our newly redesigned Housing + Transportation Affordability Index site.

Read the full Press Release or try out the new site.






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CNT is a creative think-and-do tank that combines rigorous research with the implementation of effective solutions. CNT works across disciplines and issues, including transportation and community development, energy, natural resources, and climate change.


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