Home Blog Page 59

Fossil fuel prices prepare for war; plus the Winter Olympics in 2050

By
-
Source: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

Fossil fuel prices are preparing for war this week. What happens next will change the energy picture in Europe permanently.

Oil is poised at about $96 a barrel. Natural gas futures in Europe shot up 7% Monday, and carbon contract prices hovered at about €92, as investors also sold stocks and bought gold ahead of what Western intelligence sources are broadcasting could be a Wednesday invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

As frantic last-minute negotiations between Western leaders and Vladimir Putin continue, markets are looking at three scenarios. An invasion will send fossil fuel prices soaring, with some analysts saying $120 a barrel is likely. A withdrawal of troops or an agreement will send prices plunging. Oil was at $70 before Christmas, with most of the recent buildup attributed to the Ukraine situation. . . .

Plus: Read how France’s new plans to build up to 14 more nuclear reactors in the next few decades dramatically highlight how at least one country in Europe hopes to cut its reliance on foreign oil and gas. And, why there are only four places in the world that will be able to host future Winter Olympic Games. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Cities That May Never Host the Winter Olympics Again Because of Climate Change

By
-
Source: debarshiray / Flickr

The Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter, produce no shortage of heroes and heart-tugging stories of athletes overcoming adversity to compete in the world’s most prestigious sporting events. (These are the greatest Winter Olympians in American history.)

For viewers of the Games, as well as for those who participate in them, the host city can hold memories as powerful as those formed of the competition itself. But if climate change continues unchecked, memories of host cities might be all we have.

According to projections by England’s research-focused Loughborough University and two independent sports and environmental organizations, depending on the level of future greenhouse gas emissions, some 13 of 20 venues that have hosted the Winter Olympics in the past (not counting this year’s Beijing) might be risky or non-reliable sites for the Games by 2080 and possibly by 2050. (Based on the study’s criteria, Beijing would fall into the “non-reliable” category.)

To determine the cities that may never host the Winter Olympics again because of climate change, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the report “Slippery Slopes: How Climate Change is Threatening the Winter Olympics,” produced by Loughborough University in collaboration with the Sport Ecology Group and Protect Our Winters. (Supplemental Olympics data came from Olympedia and from the official Olympics website.)

The researchers used two indicators – probability of a minimum daily temperature less than or equal to 0° C (32º F) and of a snow depth more than or equal to 30 cm (11.8 inches) – to project the likelihood that certain former Winter Olympics cities would be unable to safely host the Games in 2050 and 2080 in either or both low- and high-emission futures.

Another study by the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, projects that if global emissions of greenhouse gasses aren’t reduced on a major scale in the coming decades, only one of the 21 sites (including Beijing) that has previously hosted the Winter Olympics – Sapporo, Japan, where the Games were held in 1972 – would be able to safely host a Winter Olympiad by 2100. (These are 14 times the Olympics have been canceled, boycotted, or postponed.)

Click here to see cities that may never host the Winter Olympics again because of climate change

Climate change has already had its effect. An unusually warm winter in 2010 caused Olympic organizers in Vancouver to truck in snow. At the Games four years later at Sochi, Russia, organizers had to stockpile snow to make sure they had enough for a sufficient base for skiing events. And this year’s Beijing Olympics was forced to depend 100% on artificial snow – the first time that’s been the case (though Lake Placid, New York, pioneered its use in 1980). 

Artificial snow has environmental implications: To maximize its longevity, chemicals are added to the water to help prevent melting. These chemicals can damage flora covered by the snow, and runoff into rivers can affect nearby areas. 

The Loughborough University report adds that rising temperatures may force future Winter Olympics organizers to hold events in areas that pose logistical challenges, including substandard infrastructure, a lack of tourist amenities, and limited accessibility.

This Is the Electric Car With the Longest Range

By
-
Source: anyaberkut / iStock via Getty Images

The first electric cars were invented in the 1830s, and by the late 19th century were setting land speed records (the fastest exceeded 65 miles per hour) and were being used as taxis in the United States and the United Kingdom. At one point in the early 1900s, there were as many as nine electric car manufacturers in America. Improvements in the internal combustion engine and the mass production of cars using that technology spelled the end to vehicles powered by electricity, however – until recent times.

The most expensive electric car today, but also the one with the longest range, is the 2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R AWD with 19-inch wheels. However, the largest manufacturer of such vehicles by far is Tesla.

Tesla was founded in 2003 but did not have meaningful sales until its Model S sedan was released in 2012. In the fourth quarter of last year, it delivered 308,000 vehicles. Today, Tesla is the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of $948 billion (and its founder, Elon Musk, is the world’s richest man, surpassing even Jeff Bezos). GM, the largest conventional auto manufacturer based in America, has a market cap of $77 billion.

GM, along with every major car company in the world, has started to chase Tesla. Electric cars are considered the wave of the future. This is true for several reasons. One is global warming and the resulting anxiety about fossil fuels. Another is the cost of fuel. Yet another is pressure from governments that have started to set goals for the number of electric vehicles they expect to have on the road in the years ahead. The German government has begun a push to have 15 million electric vehicles by 2030. The Biden Administration’s goal is 30 million by that year. (As of now, these are the most eco-friendly cars on the market.)

Car companies have announced aggressive plans to move swiftly into the EV sector. GM has promised it will have 20 EV models by 2023. Ford management says it will be the number two electric car maker in the world within two years. While neither of the manufacturers can prove their claims, they are prepared to spend billions of dollars in pursuit of their goals.

Many Americans don’t want an electric car. According to a major piece of research from Deloitte, people worry about how far an electric car can go on one charge. In the United States, 20% of those surveyed said “driving range” was their primary concern. Only a modest number of EVs have a range of over 300 miles. Most gas-powered cars can go much further on a single tank of gas – typically 400 miles or more. (These are the best cities in the US to own an electric car.)

To determine the EVs with the longest range, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed an analysis published by Cars.com. The champion for long-distance driving, according to the site,, is the 2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R all-wheel drive with 19-inch wheels, which has a range of 520 miles. The study’s authors commented, “The Lucid Air has dethroned the Tesla Model S and taken over as long-range champion (at least for now).”

Click here to see the electric cars with the longest range.

Lucid is an extremely small car company and had sales of only $2.3 million in the third quarter of 2021. It lost $524 million during the same period. Stunningly, though, Lucid has a market cap of $62 billion, approaching that of GM.

The political backlash against climate solutions is just beginning; plus, Super Bowls and wildfires

By
-
Source: ilbusca / iStock via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

At first glance, the Siege of Ottawa started by truckers outside the Canadian Parliament two weeks ago was just another protest against Covid mandates. Over the past several days it has grown to something much more, both threatening the Canadian government and potentially spreading to the U.S.

So much so, that former Bank of Canada (and Bank of England) Gov. Mark Carney labeled it sedition in an editorial this week; an insurrection requiring police and military power to put an end to it.

Carney is, of course, one of the finance industry’s global leaders in pushing banks and monetary authorities to fight climate change, which over the past two years has ridden a parallel wave of global threat and political backlash alongside the pandemic. Now, just as the first real signs of a dangerous, new environment start to roil the way we all live, a political uprising against climate solutions is beginning to take place.

It started in Washington, where President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan was held hostage by a coal baron in his own party. It’s spread to the states, where some legislators are trying to prevent pension funds from working with any Wall Street entities that support a transition to renewable energy from oil and gas.

It’s spreading to the UK, where a group of Tory members of Parliament are working to upend Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s green agenda by blaming a Europe-wide fuel shortage on renewable energies, such as they did in Texas last year. It’s making its way to the Supreme Court, which hears a landmark case at the end of this month on whether the Environmental Protection Agency should have the power to regulate Greenhouse gases as pollutants.

And it’s reportedly stalling an already delayed move by the Securities and Exchange Commission to publish climate disclosure rules for public companies, amid concern anything too harsh will be sent to the courts and overturned.

The political war on climate solutions is only just beginning. Biden’s entire climate agenda — everything we can do to prevent global warming this decade — is hanging in the balance. It will be a key component of the midterm elections. And while it’s not yet an open insurrection as we see in Canada, we already know the damage party politics can do here in the U.S. to a working Democracy.

The battle has shifted from denial to defense. Like it or not, the worse climate change gets the more ferocious politics will become. Here and everywhere.

More insights below. . . .

Thursday’s subscriber insights: Record heat and wildfires greet Los Angeles Super Bowl

. . . . Record heat and a rare February brush fire greeted Super Bowl fans in L.A. this week as the unrelenting climate change that has gripped California in the past few years made its presence known for the Big Game. Just as the potential snowy locations for the Winter Olympics are dwindling worldwide as global warming bites, so too will future warm-weather Super Bowl locations. Green Bay, anyone? Read more here. . . .

. . . . The Biden administration’s $5 billion plan to install a charging station “spine” on interstate highways across the U.S. is attracting lots of competition, including from other countries. As Australia-based Tritium begins manufacturing in Tennessee, the race for position, both statewide and nationwide, is starting to get crowded. Read more here. . . .

. . . . One downside to electric vehicles is that it takes longer to charge them up than to fill up a gas tank. But that’s an upside for gas stations if they add charging stations or charging stations alone — they have more time to sell stuff like soda, snacks and so forth. And entrepreneurs are already on it. Read more here. . . .

. . . . Cervest, the London-based climate intelligence service, said today that Carol Browner, the former EPA Administrator and Director of the Obama Administration’s White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy has joined its climate tech Climate Intelligence Council (CIC). Cervest’s first product, which can track climate past and forecast future for a physical asset such as a hotel or hospital, is in testing and expected to debut later this year. . . .

. . . . Galvanize Climate Solutions, the investment and partnerships platform launched six months ago by Katie Hall and Tom Steyer, is beefing up its executive ranks with several key recent hires. Following the appointment of Nicole Systrom last month as chief impact officer, the operation today announced it hired Sachi Blue-Smith as chief people officer and Kacy Gerst as chief science and technology officer. The hires are in keeping with Galvanize’s goals to build a multi-purpose finance platform that finances, trains, and supports climate entrepreneurs all the way through their growth cycle. . . .

Editor’s picks: Leaders take a dip in One Ocean summit, while IEA is urged to tear down that paywall

World leaders in France for ocean summit

The One Ocean summit convened Wednesday in the French port of Brest, with as many as 40 world leaders coming together to focus on illegal fishing, decarbonization for shipping and ocean pollution reduction. The Guardian quotes the event organizer, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, as saying the group seeks to make “ambitious and concrete commitments,” and to generate  “unprecedented international political engagement.” The three-day summit “will also focus on efforts to improve governance of the high seas and coordinate international scientific research,” according to the report.

International Energy Agency urged to take down paywalls

Activists and academics are asking the International Energy Agency to take down its subscription paywall and make data free to all, according to a report from Inside Climate News. The agency, which publishes reports on global energy issues, charges almost $18,000 a year for a full subscription. The report says the IEA’s data is critical for researchers who are focused on climate change, and “experts say the 30 member countries that make up the IEA’s governing board — including the U.S., Germany and a number of the world’s wealthiest nations — can afford the fees, but for independent researchers or less wealthy countries, IEA paywalls are a major roadblock to climate-related research efforts.”

Climate solution companies’ performance

As more companies provide products and services to help reduce carbon emissions in the economy, the authors of this Harvard Business School Accounting & Management Unit working paper titled Climate Solutions Investments develop a methodology to identify those companies and create a sample of publicly listed climate solutions companies allowing us to study their geographic composition, accounting fundamentals, valuation ratios, and stock performance over time. The sample is equally split between developed and emerging markets with more companies located in China rather than the U.S. or the EU. In the abstract, the authors note, “A portfolio of climate solutions companies exhibits higher revenue growth, higher investments in research and development, and talent and lower profitability margin. The portfolio exhibits superior stock market performance since 2018, driven by solutions in energy, fuels, battery, and transportation. Finally, the portfolio’s returns exhibit very little correlation with the returns of portfolios that seek to reduce their carbon emissions by underweighting high carbon emission companies, suggesting that climate solutions portfolios are distinct from low carbon emission indices.” Authors: Alexander Cheema-Fox, State Street Associates; George Serafeim, Harvard Business School; Hui (Stacie) Wang, State Street Associates.

Words to live by . . . .

“Climate change isn’t an ‘issue’ to add to the list of things to worry about, next to healthcare and taxes. It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message — spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions — telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet. Telling us we need to evolve.” — Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Cities Where Hurricanes Would Cause the Most Damage

By
-
Source: Darwin Brandis / Getty Images

2021 was a historic year for natural disasters in the United States. There were a record 18 weather and climate disasters costing more than $1 billion each in the first nine months of 2021, according to a report from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Wildfires, severe storms, tornadoes, and extreme temperatures resulted in 538 deaths and $104.8 billion in damage nationwide from January through September — eclipsing totals from all of 2020. 

Going forward, climate change will likely only continue to contribute to the increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, including hurricanes — the deadliest and most destructive classification of natural disaster threatening the United States. Over the past two decades, hurricanes have killed an average of over 300 Americans per year and resulted in overall damage totaling nearly $1 trillion. 

Hurricanes that threaten the United States form in the North Atlantic Basin and pose a perennial risk to communities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. According to a recent report from CoreLogic — a property information, analytics, and data provider — nearly 8 million single-family homes are at risk of storm surge damage from hurricanes, and over 31 million homes are at risk of damage from hurricane winds nationwide. These risks are disproportionately shouldered by metropolitan areas along the Eastern Seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Using data from CoreLogic’s 2021 Hurricane Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 15 cities where hurricanes would cause the most damage. Metro areas are ranked by the number of single-family homes at risk of storm surge damage. 

Over one third of the metro areas on this list are located in Florida. Another three are in Louisiana, and two are located in the Northeastern United States. Each of these places has faced the threat of major hurricane damage in recent decades — some have narrowly dodged the worst devastation, while others, like New Orleans in 2005, have not been so lucky. Here is a look at the before and after pictures of the worst hurricanes in American history. 

Click here to see the cities where hurricanes would cause the most damage

To determine the cities where hurricanes could cause the most damage, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on hurricane risk in metropolitan areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts from CoreLogic’s 2021 Hurricane Report. CoreLogic is a property information, analytics, and data provider. Metropolitan areas were ranked based on the number of single-family residential structures less than four stories at moderate or greater risk of damage from storm surge flooding in the 2021 hurricane season. Supplemental data on the estimated reconstruction cost value of the at-risk homes also came from CoreLogic and includes the cost of materials, equipment, and labor that would result from reconstruction of these homes after 100% destruction. Data on population for each metro area came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are one-year estimates.

The $550 billion question: Can the climate provisions of Build Back Better be revived?

By
-
Source: Drew Angerer / Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(Bill Sternberg is a veteran Washington journalist and former editorial page editor of USA Today.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — In 2010, when Democrat Joe Manchin first ran for the U.S. Senate, he shouldered a rifle and fired a hole through a mock copy of his party’s comprehensive energy legislation. “I’ll take dead aim at the cap-and-trade bill, because it’s bad for West Virginia,” Manchin vowed in a campaign ad.

Manchin never got to fire away at the bill, which perished in the Senate before he got there. But a few weeks ago, Manchin rhetorically shot down the biggest climate investment in American history, telling Fox News Sunday that he wouldn’t provide the decisive 50th vote for President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” package of roughly $2 trillion in social and climate programs.

In recent days Manchin has made it clear that the expansive version of Build Back Better that passed the House of Representatives last fall, and was pending in the Senate, is “dead.” Now the $555 billion question in Washington is whether the climate provisions that were wrapped into the moribund legislation can be resurrected in one form or another.

It’s hard to overstate the stakes for green tech companies and their investors, not to mention Earth as a whole. Robinson Meyer, author of The Atlantic’s Weekly Planet newsletter, calls it the only “climate-change story that really matters in the United States right now.” The Rhodium Group says that, without new policy actions, the U.S. will fall far short of its 2030 targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Climate claim report yields few winners, but these few companies shone through

By
-

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

A few weeks back, we forecast that 2022 would be the year when corporate climate pledges faced measurable results, both by institutional lenders and by organizations dedicated to holding greenwasher’s feet to the fire, so to speak.

This week’s report by the NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch was a perfect example. It examined the “integrity” of net zero pledges of 25 top companies and found more than 20 simply weren’t going to get anywhere near what they had promised. They either relied too much on dubious carbon offsets or simply neglected to include parts of their businesses that polluted from their efforts, such as the Scope 3 emissions of their vendors and suppliers. You can read who they are here, and in our insights section below.

But amid the doom and gloom, a couple of companies came through with efforts worth spotlighting. Maersk (DK:Maersk.b), the Danish shipping giant which has pledged to move to sustainable fuel, was cited as the top performer of the 25. Apple (AAPL), Vodafone (VOD), Sony (SONY), and Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY) received honorable mention for their efforts. Of these, only shares of Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom are higher early this year, though Apple is flat.

Decarbonization is a long-term play, but it’s important that as more companies pledge to cut emissions, investors look to separate the serious ones from the rest of the pack, as they will be first to realize the benefits.

Something to think about while reading BP’s quarterly earnings today. They were the highest in eight years on soaring oil prices, but the company also said it would ramp up research spending on “transition” businesses such as renewable energy and set a new Scope 3 goal for 2030. More smoke and mirrors, or will an oil company, like a shipping company from Denmark, actually lead the way?

More insights below. . . .

Putin’s climate calculations weigh heavy on Ukraine invasion plans

. . . . Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who with an economy based on oil and gas is no friend of efforts to transition to renewable energy, is faced with a number of climate change challenges as he decides whether to invade Ukraine, writes David Callaway. Chief among them is that his leverage as the provider of up to 40% of Europe’s energy lessens by the week as spring approaches. And the same weather that has led to record heat and wildfires in Siberia this winter is also mucking up any ground invasion plans by turning what should be frozen land to mud. On the other hand, from an economic standpoint, Putin already has everything he needs, as surging oil prices create a windfall for oil and gas exports, as long as he keeps them running. . . .

Read the full story

Tuesday’s subscriber insights: Where the streets are paved with EV charging systems

. . . . The race to develop fast and easy charging stations to service the electric vehicle boom has now spread to the streets, the actual streets that is. Several companies are building technology to place chargers under roads so that you can charge your car either while driving or at least in parking lots afterward. The technology would take away another hesitation of drivers from going EV, if successful. Read more here. . . .

. . . . A new report that questions the integrity of the climate pledges of 25 top global companies is creating a buzz this week for drawing out how companies can manipulate their promises to achieve net-zero emissions status. Expect more of these as data improves and big investors set more measurable targets. Read more here . . . .

. . . . Remember those battery-powered toy locomotives you had as a kid? Well, now real trains in the U.S. are going to battery power. Unlike in Europe, where most lines are electrified, American trains tend to run on diesel, at least for long journeys. Batteries provide a pollution solution, and it’s already happening. Read more here. . . .

. . . . Did you know McDonald’s produces more emissions than Norway? In large part that because of the methane gas produced by its vast cattle herds. Now a group of entrepreneurs is targeting seaweed-based feed to help cattle digest better without impacting their weight or milk. Read more here. . . .

Editor’s picks: Using renewables in high-temp manufacturing; USDA funds climate-friendly ag projects

Renewables eyed for high-temp manufacturing

Rondo Energy, a California-based cleantech energy company, says it is developing a “thermal battery” — a heat system that could deliver the high temperatures needed to produce manufactured products including glass and cement. E&E News quotes John O’Donnell, Rondo’s chief executive, as saying, “This is the missing link for a very fast and profitable elimination of scope 1 emissions from industry.” According to the company, the heat system would turn wind and solar power into a source of intense heat, side-stepping the fossil-fuel systems currently used. Rondo said it has raised $22 million from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures; and Energy Impact Partners.

USDA funds ag projects to cut emissions

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday a new $1 billion initiative to support efforts to cut in half by 2030 greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. farm sector. The funds, from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, will pay for projects that reduce or capture methane emissions on dairy farms, and programs that use carbon-capture farming practices. Vilsack made the announcement at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. He toured the university’s research and lab facilities to discuss the institution’s work on how climate change influences water resources, ranching and forestry practices.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Countries Where Climate Change Is Most Evident

By
-
Source: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Climate change is affecting the entire world, but not all countries are affected equally. Each year, Germanwatch, an environmental organization that promotes global sustainability and equity, lists the 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events for the reporting year as well as the 10 countries most affected over the previous two decades. 

The persistent message from the reports is that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more damaging as a result of climate change. A second message is that poor countries are overwhelmingly the most consistent and hard-hit victims. (Landmarks are not immune to the ravages of climate change. These are natural landmarks already damaged or destroyed by climate change.)

To find 20 countries that are most affected by climate change, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index 2021 as well as previous reports. The CRI measures and analyzes the effects of climate from extreme weather events. 

Many poorer countries tend to have a natural vulnerability to the ravages of extreme weather because of their geography and topography. In addition, their less resiliently-built environments further exacerbate their vulnerability. They are also least able to protect themselves from harm and recover from damage. Eight out of 10 of the most impacted countries in 2019 (as listed in the 2021 report) are low- to low-middle- income countries. Half of the countries are considered to be among the least developed economies in the world.

Ironically, the countries suffering the most are also the ones contributing the least to the climate crisis. The 10 countries on the most affected list contributed 2.21% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. In the same year, the population of those countries totalled over 695 million, 8.95% of the world’s population. (These are the 20 countries responsible for nearly all global emissions.)

These facts were widely discussed at last November’s climate summit in Glasgow, with the leaders of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations pleading for fairness and assistance in the global struggle with global warming.

Click here to see the countries where climate change is most evident
Click here to read our detailed methodology

Putin’s climate calculations weigh heavy on Ukraine invasion plans

By
-
Source: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with China’s Xi Jinping last week at the start of the winter Olympics was more than just a political snub to Western leaders, who largely boycotted the games to protest human rights abuses. It came tied up with an important natural gas deal.

Putin agreed to boost Russian shipments of gas to China through its Siberian pipeline by about 60% in the next few years, effectively removing a potential economic weapon the U.S. might need against China should it attack Taiwan. The fact that natural gas is taking center stage in both of the potential biggest invasion scenarios since World War II is a clear sign of the way climate change and the fossil fuel transition are becoming intertwined with geo-political policy.

But perhaps more important, it is dictating, and limiting, in many ways, Putin’s available strategic options. The world is a lot different than the last time Putin used Russia’s natural gas supplies to push Europe around, in 2006, when he was also making threats against Ukraine. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Foods With the Worst Environmental Impact

By
-
Source: luoman / Getty Images

When it comes to the impact certain foods have on the environment, it’s not surprising that meat and dairy products top the list. But you might be surprised that foods we’ve been told are good for us may not necessarily be good for the environment.

To find the foods with the worst environmental impact, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the research article, “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers,” published in Science magazine in 2018. Foods are ranked by greenhouse gas emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilogram of food product.

Impacts from food production include water use and water pollution, depletion of natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental pollutants.

Rice, for example, provides 20% of the world’s calories intake, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Brown rice also has certain beneficial nutrients, according to Cleveland Clinic. But rice production generates methane emissions and uses a lot of water during its production. Microbes in flooded rice paddies produce methane, and some of that is emitted into the atmosphere. Per nutritional unit, 1,000 kcal, rice has a much lower environmental impact. (These are the 20 countries responsible for nearly all global emissions.)

Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, and tofu is a source of iron and calcium. However, the production of both of these products often causes deforestation. According to World Wildlife Magazine, the practice of cocoa farmers clearing tropical forests to plant new cocoa trees rather than reusing the same land in West Africa is responsible for 70% of the country’s illegal deforestation. Dark chocolate ranks second highest on the list for greenhouse gas emissions per 1 kg of food. Tofu ranks 20th.

Olive oil is an essential part of the Mediterranean diet and is good for heart health. However, its production can cause negative environmental impacts such as depletion of resources, degradation of land, and waste generation. 

The production of nutrient-rich eggs hurts the environment via the emission of greenhouse gasses and the contamination of soil and water. 

Aquaculture, including crustacean and fish farms, have helped address food insecurity in areas where the population is growing rapidly. The negative environmental impacts include nutrient buildup when there is concentration of fish in one area. This can lead to excessive levels of fish waste that deplete the water of oxygen, creating algae blooms. (Another pollutant of water is plastic. These are plastic waste generation values across countries.)

Click here to see the foods with the worst environmental impact
Click here to read our detailed methodology

1...585960...69Page 59 of 69

Popular Posts

© 2024 24/7 Wall St. and Callaway Climate Insights