August 20-26, 2022
In this week's issue:
- California to Require Sales of Only ZEVs by 2035 (August 25, 2022)
- Racial Disparities Are Highest for Short Term PM 2.5 Exposure In The U.S. (August 19, 2022)
- Researchers Find Australian Wildfires Damaged Stratospheric Ozone Layer (August 25, 2022)
- Study Estimates Climate Change Threatens 11-16 Percent of U.S. Tree Species with Extinction (August 22, 2022)
- U.N. Names New Climate Executive Secretary from Island Nation of Grenada (August 19, 2022)
This Week in Review
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has unanimously adopted a regulation that will require car manufacturers, beginning in model year (MY) 2035, to sell exclusively electric or other zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the state of California. The regulation applies to automakers (not dealers) and covers only new vehicle sales. It does not apply to any existing vehicles, which will still be legal to own and drive. The “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulation calls for a phase-in of the new requirements, including meeting targets of 35 percent ZEVs by MY 2026 and 68 percent by MY 2030. The regulation is pursuant to an executive order issued in 2020 by Governor Gavin Newsom. The regulation also calls for manufacturers to provide consumers with information, assurances of battery durability and access to maintenance and repair of ZEVs similar to that offered for conventional engines in order to make ZEVs more accessible to all drivers. In addition to requirements for ZEVs, the regulations include provisions for low-emission vehicles (LEVs) in order to prevent backsliding and to continue to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines. Plug-in hybrid, full battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles count toward an automaker’s requirement. PHEVs must have an all-electric range of at least 50 miles under real-world driving conditions. Battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles will need a minimum range of 150 miles to qualify under the program, include fast-charging ability and come equipped with a charging cord to facilitate charging, and meet new warranty and durability requirements. In addition, automakers will be allowed to meet no more than 20% of their overall ZEV requirement with PHEVs. Seventeen other states, representing about 40% of car sales, have adopted California’s climate rules for cars under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, several have already signaled that they plan to follow the CARB rule approved yesterday. For example, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation in July 2022 applying similar restrictions in the Commonwealth after 2035, but the law depends on California adopting its own standard and receiving an EPA waiver for the Advanced Clean Cars II program.
For further information: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/barcu/board/books/2022/082522/prores22-12.pdf and https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/rulemaking/2022/advanced-clean-cars-ii and https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-moves-accelerate-100-new-zero-emission-vehicle-sales-2035
Researchers from the University of Utah have found that minorities and people of color (POC) are most affected during acute, short term exposure events to PM 2.5, suggesting that lowering of the PM standards in this arena may afford more equitable protection. The study, “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Short-Term PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposures in the United States”, was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. It used 2012-2016 census tract data compared against different concentrations and exposures of PM 2.5. “This national study of short-term air pollution exposure disparities revealed an environmentally unjust pattern for POC”, the authors wrote. Nationally, POC experienced significantly more days with PM2.5 concentrations greater than health based standards set by the EPA; fewer disparities were found at levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Disparities appear larger for short-term vs. long-term PM2.5 exposures nationwide”, the authors conclude, “We found worsening disparities as the short-term PM2.5 threshold increased from 15 to 25 to 35 μg/m3… This suggests that tightening/lowering the PM2.5 NAAQS toward WHO benchmarks might attenuate racial/ethnic exposure disparities.”
For further information: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP11479
Researchers from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom have linked Australia’s devastating 2019 wildfire season with the emergency and persistence of holes in the ozone layer in the stratosphere over the southern hemisphere. The fires, which burned through 5.8 million hectares of Australia’s east in late 2019 and early 2020, were so intense they caused dozens of smoke-infused pyrocumulonimbus clouds – normally caused by volcaniuc eruptions – to carry heat and particles into the upper atmosphere. The study, which appeared in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, traced a link from the unprecedented smoke released by the fires to the ozone hole above the Southern hemisphere. The researchers used satellite data to show that the pyrocumulonimbus clouds caused “four months of anomalous lower stratospheric warming, causing anomalous longevity of the ozone hole in 2020.” That stratospheric ozone hole was first created by pollution—particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are now regulated by the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987 and since ratified by 195 countries, including the United States. This treaty sharply reduced the amount of CFCs in the atmosphere, but the researchers warn that this progress is threatened and could backslide: “It is likely that future climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of wildfire events, increasing the probability of more frequent stratospheric [ozone hole] events in the future.”
For further information: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15794-3
A new study has estimated that 11-16 percent of tree species in the United States are threatened with extinction due to a range of issues, including invasive pests and diseases, climate change, increasing and intensifying wildfires and urban development. The study, entitled, “Data Sharing for Conservation: A Standardized Checklist of US Native Tree Species and Threat Assessments to Prioritize and Coordinate Action,” published in the journal Plants People Planet, details an effort begun in 2017 to create an updated checklist of trees native to the United States, including an assessment of extinction risk. The researchers found that there are 881 tree species native to the 48 contiguous states, of which 294 are endemic. Of the 881 species on the list, 165 are assessed as threatened or at risk. In addition to being threatened by climate change, trees have value in fighting it as well, as acknowledged by the researchers: “[t]he conservation and restoration of trees and native forests on a country-wide (and global) scale has enormous potential to mitigate climate change, particularly through sequestration of carbon.” Additionally, some of the other threats, including pests, and invasive species have been worsened by climate change. The cataloguing effort is part of the Global Tree Assessment, which is designed to analyze threats to the approximately 60,000 species of tress worldwide. The researchers found that most trees that are native to this country had never been assessed or their assessments were outdated.
For further information: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10305
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be led by Simon Stiell, a former government official from the Caribbean country of Grenada. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced Stiell’s appointment as UNFCCC Executive Secretary ahead of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) planned for Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022. Educated in the United Kingdom, Simon Stiell was a Senator in Grenada’s Parliament and held ministerial positions directing that country’s efforts on climate resilience and the environment. Stiell will be the first executive secretary to come from a small island developing nation.
For further information: https://unfccc.int/news/simon-stiell-appointed-new-unfccc-executive-secretary