Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 26, 2025

When I lived in College Station, Texas, I kept dreaming about a Gulf Coast beach weekend escape from inland Texas. Even though this was early in the pandemic and the need for outdoor escapes was high, ultimately, I never made the trip. Honestly, I was kind of nervous about water quality. Whats the point of a beach adventure if you cant even go into the ocean?

Clean Water Act 246

Clean Water Act Ocean Sea Level Pollution Control 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 21, 2025

In the March 19th verdict in Energy Transfer v Greenpeace , a North Dakota county jury awarded more than $660 million to one of the largest energy companies in North America because Greenpeace supported the efforts of Indigenous Water Protectors in their protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This verdict is an outrage because it undermines Tribal leadership and sovereignty.

Fossil Fuels 265

Fossil Fuels 2008 Climate Change Government 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 19, 2025

Climate models are the main tool climate scientists use to predict how Earth will respond to more heat-trapping pollutants in the atmosphere. But what exactly is a climate model? Lets start off easy by breaking down the phrase climate model.” The climate is simply the weather averaged over a long period of time. A model in this case is a physical approximation of a complex system.

Atmosphere 241

Atmosphere Ocean Radiation Climate Scientist 241

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 18, 2025

In a new study released today, UCS attributes substantial temperature and sea level rise to emissions traced to the largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. And for the first time, we extend sea level projections into the future, quantifying how past heat-trapping emissions from the fossil fuel industry will impact the world for centuries to come.

Sea Level 246

Sea Level Fossil Fuels Climate Change 2020 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 18, 2025

The fossil fuel industrys role in driving climate change is undeniable, yet corporate accountability remains a contested space. As the scientific evidence strengthens, courts around the world are increasingly considering the role of major fossil fuel companies in climate-related damages. Our latest research published today in Environmental Research Letters adds a critical piece to this legal and scientific puzzle by quantifying how emissions from the worlds largest fossil fuel and cement produce

Sea Level 163

Sea Level Fossil Fuels Climate Change Ocean 163

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 17, 2025

The IPCC compiles scientific insights on climate change, informing policymakers and the public about risks and possible actions. One of its core tools is the use of future scenarios. Climate models and climate impact studies use emission scenariosestimates of potential future changes in heat-trapping emissionsto help us see how choices made about emissions today can shape tomorrows climate.

Radiation 242

Radiation Sea Level Climate Change Fossil Fuels 242

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 17, 2025

In the rush to integrate artificial intelligence into the economy, fast-moving information technology companies are running into a problem: slow-moving electric utilities. In more ways than one, the electricity supply so vital to running a data center simply doesnt respond the way Silicon Valley and big investors want. Broadly speaking, developers of data centers, which house the computers and servers that run AI tasks, are looking for three things: places to build, electricity to buy, and physi

Electricity 265

Electricity Nuclear Power Technology Technology 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 12, 2025

Climate models are the main tool scientists use to assess how much the Earths temperature will change given an increase in fossil fuel pollutants in the atmosphere. As a climate scientist, Ive used them in all my research projects, including one predicting a change in Southwestern US precipitation patterns. But how exactly did climate models come to be?

Atmosphere 196

Atmosphere Climate Scientist Ocean Fossil Fuels 196

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 6, 2025

This past week, I attended the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting in Hangzhou, China. Delegates from nearly 190 nations came together to discussand, in theory, make decisions aboutnext steps for the 7th assessment cycle. In previous posts, Ive explained what the IPCC is, why this assessment cycle is crucial , and highlighted its role in climate action.

Climate Change 233

Climate Change Carbon Dioxide Technology Technology 233

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 6, 2025

This past week, I attended the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting in Hangzhou, China. Delegates from nearly 190 nations came together to discussand, in theory, make decisions aboutnext steps for the 7th assessment cycle. In previous posts, Ive explained what the IPCC is, why this assessment cycle is crucial , and highlighted its role in climate action.

Climate Change 148

Climate Change Carbon Dioxide Technology Technology 148

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

There is an abundance of Native American imagery in the US imagination, and much of it is inaccurate: The Western films depicting cowboys winning against local Natives, Wild West TV shows, the classic tear rolling down the cheek of a man in a headdress as he looks at litter, or the picturesque images as Disneys Pocahontas sang about all the colors the wind holds.

Climate Change 64

Climate Change Waste Climate Scientist Cooling 64

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Two members of the US House, Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) have introduced legislation proposing the establishment of a bipartisan select committee to examine alternative electoral methods other than our current winner-take-all system. The Select Committee on Electoral Reform would investigate the issue, hold public hearings, and submit recommendations on how to create a healthier democracy.

Politics 307

Politics 2008 2021 Law 307

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

Wetlands exist in almost every corner of the United States, representing a total area larger than the state of California. While some have federal or state protection, many do not. And despite the proximity of wetlands to many communities in this country, few people truly understand either the value wetlands hold for our way of life or the threat they face from our industrialized system of agriculture.

Clean Water Act 265

Clean Water Act Climate Change Conservation Environmental Protection 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Sea levels are rising, and science shows they will continue to rise for generations due to heat-trapping emissions that have already been released. This highlights a profound and enduring climate injustice: future generations will face the consequences of todays decisions. The effects of these emissions are already unfolding, but the full extent of their impacton coastlines, communities, and ecosystemswill play out over lifetimes to come.

Sea Level 306

Sea Level Carbon Dioxide Fossil Fuels Ocean 306

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

I was on vacation with friends on a cold and windy January day when the power went out. It was lunchtime and we were on a ski mountain. The lights flickered, black smoke rose from the back-up generators, and hardly anyone noticed. The local utilitys website predicted that the power would be back on for the area by 4:30 that afternoon. This experience, not far from Seattle and with ties to the information tech industry, highlights some of the issues surrounding the electric power needs of data ce

Nuclear Power 245

Nuclear Power Electricity Clean Energy Technology 245

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 23, 2025

Theres been a lot of talk about nuclear power recently. Plant owners have been making plans to restart their retired nuclear power plants, Google signed the first corporate deal to purchase energy from small modular nuclear reactors, and the US pledged to triple its nuclear generating capacity by 2050. As one energy news outlet put it, 2024 was a breakout year for the US nuclear power sector at least on paper.

Nuclear Power 246

Nuclear Power Clean Energy Technology Technology 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 17, 2025

As the known drinking water nerd amongst my friend group, I have been informally fielding questions about whether their water is safe to use near the wildfires in Southern California. Some common questions Ive heard include: How do I know if I can drink the tap water? Can I shower with it? When will it be safe? Beyond more generally getting the facts right on the water and wildfire issues in California, as this Guardian headline suggests, its smart to assume the worst about the safety of drinkin

Fossil Fuels 265

Fossil Fuels 2017 Electricity Regulations 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 14, 2025

As the climate crisis deepens, so does the urgency to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for decades of deception. Governments representing more than a quarter of the US population have filed lawsuits against major corporations including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP, seeking justice for the harm caused by their lies about the dangers of their products.

Fossil Fuels 247

Fossil Fuels Climate Change Law Government 247

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 7, 2025

The year 2023 was by far the warmest in Earths recorded history, and perhaps in the past 100,000 years , shattering the previous record set in 2016 by 0.27C (0.49F). According to recent data from NOAAs National Center for Environmental Information, 2024 is likely to be even warmer than 2023. Scientists are sounding the alarm because this warming is shockingly bigbigger than what we would have expected given the long-term warming trend from fossil fuel-caused climate change.

2024 291

2024 2023 Fossil Fuels Atmosphere 291

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 30, 2024

The end of every year is a great time for taking stock of what the year has broughtincluding in terms of clean energy in the power sector. As it turns out, 2024 has provided a whole lot of clean energy progress as fodder for that stock-taking. Heres a taste, from US projects, technologies, electrons, and investment, to happenings in the world as a whole.

Clean Energy 280

Clean Energy 2024 Wind Power Renewable Energy 280

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a cleaner option than gasoline alternatives and are essential for reducing emissions that cause climate change and illnesses. UCS has estimated the minerals needed to electrify passenger vehicle sales in the United States and our recent report has exciting findings– we can electrify using less minerals than previously thought!

Recycling 313

Recycling Electricity Climate Change Air Pollution 313

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 17, 2024

As 2024 winds down, with its parade of climate-and extreme weather-fueled disasters , people across the nation are feeling the sharp pinch of rising insurance premiums and dropped policies. There are other factors at play hereincluding growing development in flood-prone and wildfire-prone areas and fundamental inequities and information gaps in the insurance marketbut all of that is being exacerbated by worsening flooding, wildfires and intensified storms.

Climate Change 265

Climate Change Fossil Fuels Regulations 2024 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 11, 2024

For the first time, the Arctic Report Card assessed that the Arctic is faltering as a reliable area for storing carbon away from the atmosphere ( Natalie et al., in Arc2024 ). It was its first failing grade after thousands of years holding onto more carbon than released to the atmosphere. As a scientist who has conducted research in the Arctic, this is truly alarming for me.

2024 256

2024 Carbon Dioxide Sea Level Atmosphere 256

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

In 2022 I visited Glacier National Park for the first time with two close friends. We spent five days backpacking through the backcountry, and I was enthralled by the park’s vastness and beauty and the chance to see glaciers for the first time in my life. While I loved camping out in the wild, as a trail runner I couldn’t help but think of ways to travel lighter, cover more territory, and see even more of this breathtaking landscape.

Climate Change 246

Climate Change 2030 Fossil Fuels Carbon Emissions 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Another year, another legislative session. Much like a sine graph , this year had highs and lows. Also like a sine graph, Union of Concerned Scientists will keep moving forward no matter what (and backward technically, but I am political science major and way out of my depth here, so let’s pretend they only move forward, give me kudos for an awesome simile, and get to the recap!).

Fossil Fuels 246

Fossil Fuels Recycling Clean Energy 2004 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

We’ve all seen those click-bait headlines, making some bold claim about how one new invention or innovation might “save the world.” But in reality, there isn’t one quick fix to the challenges our climate is facing. Saving the planet requires us to rethink how we farm, redesign our buildings and cities, and incorporate high-tech solutions into manufacturing.

Climate Change 246

Climate Change Technology Technology Waste 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

At this point, I’d wager that pretty much everyone in the US either has been affected or knows someone who has been affected recently by a natural disaster-related electric power outage. Often the households dealing only with a power outage, and not also fire, flood , or freeze directly threatening their lives and property, are the lucky ones. That doesn’t reduce the hardship of a power outage.

Fossil Fuels 246

Fossil Fuels Electricity Cooling Waste 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

Gas power plants have a problem. And it’s a problem that affects all of us. In extreme weather, when electricity demand is at its highest and the grid needs gas plants the most, gas plants have been failing at alarming rates. In the worst instance , widespread gas plant failures led to rolling blackouts that impacted millions of people for days on end.

Fossil Fuels 291

Fossil Fuels Clean Energy Electricity Technology 291

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Energy storage, or the storing of electricity for later use on the power grid, plays an important role in the clean energy transition. Many states have established targets or goals for deploying increased amounts of storage on the grid. Illinois is currently considering policy proposals to establish a statewide energy storage target. To inform the amount of storage the state should seek, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) conducted a modeling analysis of the Illinois power system to assess

Fossil Fuels 163

Fossil Fuels 2030 Electricity Clean Energy 163

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Last month, 44 climate scientists from 15 countries wrote an open letter to the Nordic Council of Ministers highlighting the risk of a potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a critical ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean. In the letter, the climate scientists stress that the risk of an AMOC collapse due to climate change has been greatly underestimated according to new observational evidence.

Climate Scientist 307

Climate Scientist Ocean Sea Level Climate Change 307

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The annual UN climate talks, COP29, will kick off on November 11, just days after the US elections and in a year of numerous consequential elections around the world. Coming at the end of what is certain to be the hottest year on record , with millions of people experiencing devastating climate-fueled disasters and global heat-trapping emissions still rising , this COP has a sobering backdrop.

Fossil Fuels 290

Fossil Fuels Paris Agreement Renewable Energy Climate Change 290

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The housing affordability crisis in the United States is particularly hard for renters. Nearly half of American renters —and over 56% of Black renter households—spend more than 30% of their income in rent. And throughout the country, our longstanding housing shortage and affordability crisis are coming into closer and closer contact with the climate crisis.

Fossil Fuels 246

Fossil Fuels Government 2014 2018 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Coming up for a vote in early November is a resolution advanced by the Ireland and New Zealand delegations to the United Nations (UN) to commission a critical new scientific study on the effects of nuclear war. The study, which would be the first under UN auspices in more than 30 years, would be run by an independent scientific panel of 21 members and would examine the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war on local, regional, and planetary scales.

Radiation 359

Radiation Atmosphere Climate Change 2023 359

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 17, 2024

It is mind- bog -gling, syllable pun intended, that scientists still do not know how many wetlands lost protection in last year’s crippling of the Clean Water Act by the Supreme Court. A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science said the range of possible protection loss is between a fifth of nontidal wetlands to nearly all of them. Lead author Adam Gold , a watershed researcher for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the wild uncertainty is because the court arbitrarily created a new stan

Carbon Dioxide 300

Carbon Dioxide Clean Water Act Ocean 2019 300

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Across the U.S., health and environmental policies do too little to protect people and communities from harmful chemicals and pollution. One key reason is that the nation’s environmental laws and rules consider each chemical or facility in isolation, but no one is exposed to one chemical at a time from one source at a time. In the real world, people—especially those living in overburdened communities—are exposed to multiple sources of pollution at once, which interact with each other and r

Fossil Fuels 332

Fossil Fuels Environmental Protection Law Regulations 332

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Data use for everything from video conferences to cryptocurrency to calendars, and related data center construction, is booming. Infrastructure and resources for those data centers are relatively scarce. How will we go forward? Is this a lawless frontier for an industrial revolution that breaks the bounds of human activity, or will we find constraints and apply limits that protect the health and welfare benefits of our society and economy?

Electricity 291

Electricity Clean Energy Nuclear Power Renewable Energy 291

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 15, 2024

Power plants fueled by methane gas have a serious climate problem. The fuel, commonly known as natural gas, now powers the biggest portion of US electricity generation—more than 40 percent. It has also grown to be the largest source of carbon pollution from the US power sector, even as zero-carbon renewable energy has been growing by leaps and bounds.

Renewable Energy 307

Renewable Energy Fossil Fuels Electricity Nitrogen Oxides 307