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☆ EPA issues new auto rules aimed at cutting carbon emissions, boosting electric vehicles and hybrids
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Kevin Lamarque | ReutersThe Biden administration announced new automobile emissions standards Wednesday that officials called the most ambitious plan ever to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles. The rules come as sales of electric vehicles, which are needed to meet the standards, have begun to slow. The agency is finalizing the rule as sales of clean vehicles, including plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, hit record highs last year. At the same time, the Democratic president needs cooperation from the auto industry and political support from auto workers, a key political voting bloc. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that White House officials "don't have any concerns" about the final EPA rule.

Persons: Joe Biden, Kevin Lamarque, Michael Regan, Regan, Biden, Karine Jean, Pierre, ″, we're, Manish Bapna, Amanda Leland, Dan Becker, Donald Trump, Becker, Trump, Biden's Organizations: Detroit Auto, Reuters, Biden, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Democratic, United Auto Workers union, White, Natural Resources Defense, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity Locations: America, Detroit , Michigan, EVs, Detroit, China

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is setting tougher standards for deadly soot pollution, saying that reducing fine particle matter from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year. Soot pollution has declined sharply in the past two decades, even as the U.S. gross domestic product has increased by more than 50%, Regan said. Bakersfield tied with Visalia in California's San Joaquin Valley as the most polluted city for year-round particle pollution. Wildfires in the western U.S. were a major contributing factor to increased levels of particle pollution, the report said. Six of the 10 cities with the most soot pollution were in California, and two more were in the West: Medford, Oregon and greater Phoenix.

Persons: —, Biden, Michael Regan, Harris, “, Obama, Joe Biden, Regan, we’ve, Manish Bapna, Ben Jealous, Jeffrey Zients, Barack Obama, Donald Trump Organizations: WASHINGTON, Environmental, Environmental Protection Agency, Industry, Biden, Democratic, Administration, Natural Resources Defense Council, EPA, Sierra Club, Republican, Companies, and Paper Association, National Association of Manufacturers, White House, American Lung Association, Visalia Locations: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Bakersfield , California, Fresno , California, Bakersfield, California's San Joaquin, U.S, California, West, Medford , Oregon, Phoenix

That has been a sticking point for the United States in months of discussions with Beijing on climate change. The United States and China have an outsize role to play there as nations debate whether to phase out fossil fuel. That is significant because the current Chinese climate goal addresses only carbon dioxide, leaving out methane, nitrous oxide and other gases that are acting as a blanket around the planet. Then, early this year, an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had floated over the continental United States. When it comes to climate change, no relationship is as important as the one between the United States and China.

Persons: Biden, Xi Jinping, ”, David Sandalow, Clinton, Obama, Sandalow, they’re, Mr, John Kerry, Xie Zhenhua, “, Xi, Manish Bapna, ” Mr, Bapna, Kerry, Xie, Valerie Volcovici, Nancy Pelosi, Kerry’s, optimistically, . Biden, Donald Trump, Keith Bradsher Organizations: Hamas, Columbia University’s Center, Global Energy, International Energy Agency, U.S ., Cooperation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Beijing, Republican Locations: Bohai, Weifang, China, United States, Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel, Beijing, Dubai, United Nations, United Kingdom, U.S, California, ”, Europe, American, America

☆ Biden pledges $500 million to fight Amazon deforestation, but Congress must approve
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

President Joe Biden announced plans to boost U.S. funding to slash deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest and to help developing countries combat climate change during a meeting with world leaders on Thursday. The president, during a virtual meeting with the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, committed $500 million over five years to reduce deforestation in Brazil. Biden also pledged $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations-led program aimed to help developing countries become more resilient to climate change and transition to clean energy sources. The funding comes after the president in 2021 pledged to work with Congress to quadruple U.S. climate support for developing countries to $11.4 billion each year by 2024. The president's request for additional climate funding will likely face strong opposition from the Republican-controlled House.

Their agreement to talk again about climate thawed relations frozen earlier this year after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China by visiting Taiwan. Teresa Ribera, Spain's climate minister, said she was hopeful that the rapprochement would energise negotiations. “This unequivocal signal from the two largest economies to work together to address the climate crisis is more than welcome; it’s essential," Bapna said. Heading into the last week of the two-week conference progress has been slow, frustrating negotiators who are struggling to find consensus on how rich countries should help developing nations meet the cost of climate-fuelled disasters. The outcome on that issue, referred to in climate talks as "loss and damage", could define the perceived success or failure of the COP27 talks.

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