What's Earth Day worth?

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Apr 22, 2022 View in browser   By Debra Kahn Presented by Pollution problems persist more than half a century after the first Earth Day. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo It's Earth Day, in case you hadn't noticed. We sure have, judging by the number of pitches in our inbox (the award for most unassuming/least annoying goes to a poultry vaccine manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Ga., that's achieved carbon neutrality for its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Congratulations, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health!) The first Earth Day was in 1970, back when we were worried about garden-variety air, land and water contamination. Now, we're preoccupied with the preservation of the whole planet as a habitable place, on top of conventional pollution, which we still haven't fixed despite a whole phalanx of laws passed around then. Air pollution is better than it was, but it's still a huge problem (and it's not an either-or competitor with climate change, as some seem to think ). Forty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air quality, according to a report out yesterday from the American Lung Association. The pollution is inequitably distributed, unsurprisingly: People of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times more likely to live in a county with failing grades across the board. And we're backsliding in some spots: Pollution was worse in some areas of the country in 2020 than it's been in more than two decades, thanks to wildfires. All but one of the top 25 cities with the most days with high particle pollution were in the West. (The other one was Pittsburgh.) Almost all of the cities with the worst particle pollution from 2018-20 were in the West. | Courtesy American Lung Association "We've seen major reductions over time in terms of ozone pollution days dropping, particle pollution, annual levels," said Will Barrett, the Lung Association's national senior director for clean air advocacy. "Now we're seeing the curve bending in the wrong direction again." RELATED BAD NEWS — There's no robust way to account for the carbon emissions from wildfires, which are a huge and growing contributor to climate change. Canada's wildfire emissions in 2017 nearly equaled the entire country's emissions from all forms of energy use, Amanda Coletta, Chris Mooney, Brady Dennis, Naema Ahmed and John Muyskens report for the Washington Post. From the Post: "Under United Nations guidelines, countries can partly offset their fossil fuel emissions by subtracting the amount of carbon they claim their lands are absorbing. But that framework is beset with messy math, uncertainty and persistent controversy — creating a major chasm between countries' greenhouse gas balance sheets and what independent analyses say is going into the atmosphere each year." FOR THE TREES — Also on the tree-emissions front: President Joe Biden is signing an executive order today requiring the federal government to catalog old-growth forests and account for their carbon-storage potential. Older trees have a higher potential to store carbon and combat climate change but are also the most attractive to loggers. Robin Bravender and Marc Heller of POLITICO's E&E News have the story. A message from National Grid: There Is A Better Way. National Grid is announcing our path to a fossil-free energy future. By using renewable natural gas, and green hydrogen produced from water using wind energy, we can achieve a fossil-free energy future by 2050 or earlier.   YOU TELL US GAME ON – Happy Friday! Welcome to the Long Game, where we're delivering the latest on efforts to shape our future. Tuesday through Friday, we've got data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and more news to keep you in the loop on sustainability. Our team is sustainability editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn, reporters Lorraine Woellert and Catherine Boudreau and digital producer Jordan Wolman. Reach them at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com, lwoellert@politico.com, cboudreau@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Want more? Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still totally free!   INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     BUILDING BLOCKS BIDEN ON BACK FOOT — Biden used his first Earth Day in office as the backdrop for a triumphal U.S. return to the global stage on climate. The White House is spending its second one fighting news reports and unease among environmentalist allies that climate change has been overtaken by pressing political issues, like inflation and the war in Ukraine, as Jean Chemnick and Scott Waldman report for POLITICO's E&E News. "The press and the pundits may like to declare President Biden's climate agenda dead, but this week we will show how it is very much alive," a White House official said in a call with reporters. The administration is citing tighter controls on methane emissions, efforts to create a clean energy workforce and expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It's all a far cry from the $2 trillion in climate spending that Biden pledged on the campaign trail. Even those ancillary climate benefits of federal spending are being politically triangulated. The administration is touting emissions reductions from the bipartisan infrastructure law's funding for projects that might nudge people away from driving in busy city centers. But they don't have a way to measure them, as POLITICO's Tanya Snyder and Catherine Boudreau point out. That's not stopping Republicans from bashing the transportation provisions as furthering the administration's "woke agenda." Arianna Skibell of POLITICO's E&E News has more.   A message from National Grid:   WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — Crypto is making a lot of noise about lowering its carbon footprint. Don't buy the hype, warns the NYT. — There are enough renewables projects on the drawing board to get us to 80 percent carbon-free by 2030 , but transmission is still the roadblock. Canary Media has the story. — A eroded section of California's Highway 1 on the Sonoma coast is the state's first experiment with managed retreat. The Chronicle has a deep dive. — Thebiggest wildlife crossing in the world is set to open in Los Angeles today. LOOK AHEAD April 22 – The Brookings Institution holds a virtual discussion on "Climate change: Tackling a global challenge in Africa." 9:30 a.m. April 22 – The Middle East Institute holds a virtual discussion on "Innovations in Climate Resilience: Restoring the World's Mangrove Forests." 11 a.m. April 27 – Active Communications International hosts a North American Carbon Dioxide Utilization Summit. The two-day event brings in experts from industries that utilize carbon dioxide to discuss sustainable, technological and commercial aspects of CO2 utilization. 8 a.m. May 2 – Lux Research holds a debate in Boston on whether sustainability is the enemy of growth. 4 p.m. Events are listed in Eastern Time   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     A message from National Grid: National Grid is announcing our path to a fossil-free energy future for our customers and communities. Our fossil-free plan will help achieve the Northeast's aggressive climate goals and set a new standard for energy companies. We will use renewable natural gas, green hydrogen generated from wind and solar power, battery storage, and greater energy efficiency to make our National Grid system fossil-free by 2050 or earlier. Climate scientists say renewable natural gas is a win-win for the environment. There Is A Better Way to keep energy affordable, reliable, and clean. That's why we are creating a hybrid pathway that preserves customer choice while delivering the clean, affordable energy future our customers want and deserve. See How.     Follow us on Twitter Catherine Boudreau @ceboudreau Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Lorraine Woellert @Woellert Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman   Follow us

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