The Most Hopeful Climate Stories of the Year
The Most Hopeful Climate Stories of the Year
15 climate stories you might have missed in 2022
For many climate advocates, 2022 was a year that brought hope. After decades of failed efforts, the United States finally passed a climate bill. And not just any climate bill. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may be the biggest climate bill in history.
But the federal climate bill wasn’t the only sign of climate progress in 2022. Leaders around the world took significant action this year. Meanwhile, investment in key climate solutions like electric vehicles, offshore wind, and heat pumps grew faster than ever before.
Two U.S. climate policies you might have missed
Democrats quietly strengthen the EPA
Earlier this year, the conservative Supreme Court restricted the federal government's ability to fight climate change. They justified the decision by claiming that Congress had never instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate fossil fuel pollution.
It was a crushing blow for the environmental community. Over the last decade, the EPA has successfully forced fossil fuel companies and utilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
In passing the IRA, Democrats quietly strengthened the EPA and restored its ability to regulate carbon pollution.
How’d they do it? In the bill text, they defined carbon dioxide as an “air pollutant.” The New York Times’ Lisa Friedman explains:
That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the E.P.A. the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.
The Senate ratifies the Kigali Amendment
In September, the United States passed a major climate policy that received far less attention than the IRA, when the Senate ratified the Kigali Amendment.
Today, virtually every refrigerator and air conditioner uses industrial chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These chemicals work great as refrigerants, but when they leak, they release potent planet-warming gasses into the atmosphere.
In 2016, more than 100 countries met in Kigali, Rwanda and signed an agreement to phase down HFCs. The United States didn’t sign the agreement.
But, in the years that followed environmentalists found an unlikely ally: the cooling and refrigerating industry. Unlike fossil fuel companies and utilities, who have spent recent decades fighting environmental policy, refrigerant companies supported the Kigali Amendment.
After years of negotiations and lobbying, 69 senators voted in September to ratify the Kigali Amendment and join 137 other nations in phasing down HFCs.
According to the EPA, “The ambitious phase down schedule will avoid more than 80 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050—avoiding up to 0.5° Celsius warming by the end of the century—while continuing to protect the ozone layer.”
States pass ambitious climate policies
California bans gas-powered cars and passes a massive climate bill
In August, just after Democrats passed the IRA, California passed their own ambitious climate policy when regulators announced a rule that bans the sale of new gas-powered cars and light trucks by 2035.
But the new regulation won’t just affect Californians. 17 states have car emissions standards tied to California. At least 12 of them are expected to follow California in banning gas vehicles. As one of the largest car markets in the world, California’s decision is likely to push automakers to invest more in electric vehicle manufacturing.
In September, California announced another major climate policy when legislators approved a $54 billion climate bill. The bill includes:
$6.1 billion for electric vehicles
$14.8 billion for transit, rail and port projects
$8 billion to modernize and decarbonize the electric grid
$2.7 billion to mitigate wildfire risks
$2.8 billion for drought-related water programs
The bill also extended the life of Diablo Canyon, a nuclear power plant that was set to close early, to the frustration of many climate advocates. The power plant provides 9% of the state's electricity and 17% of its clean electricity.
East coast states pass clean energy and net-zero bills
A number of East Coast states passed ambitious clean energy laws in 2022.
In May, Connecticut lawmakers signed two bills requiring the state to obtain 100% of its electricity from emissions-free sources by 2040 and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
Rhode Island signed an even more aggressive clean electricity bill in June. With its new Renewable Energy Standard, Rhode Island aims to buy 100% clean electricity by 2033.
According to the League of Conservation Voters, 40% of people in the United States now live in a state dedicated to 100% clean electricity.
Earlier in the year, Maryland and North Carolina passed bills that aim to go even further than decarbonizing the electric grid and transportation sector. Both states passed policies that aim to decarbonize their entire economies by 2050.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts passed a sweeping bill that will accelerate the deployment and adoption of clean energy technologies like offshore wind and electric vehicles.
Washington becomes the first state to require heat pumps in new homes
Homes in America are responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. But few states have taken steps necessary to phase out fossil-fuel powered appliances and require clean electric alternatives like heat pumps.
This year, Washington became the first state to adapt their building code to require heat pumps in new homes. In doing so, they beat out California, which is in the process of updating its building code to phase out gas appliances.
Democrats gain four trifectas
In both Congress and the states, Republicans — often backed by fossil fuel donors — continue to oppose meaningful climate policy. As David Roberts has written, one of the most effective ways to pass climate bills is to elect Democrats.
In November, Democrats gained trifectas in four states: Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts. All of these states are expected to pass important climate policies over the next two years.
Europe passes bold climate policies
The EU responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with renewable energy push
A few months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Union responded with a plan to dramatically reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas. To achieve this goal, European countries plan to invest in energy efficiency measures and renewable energy.
The plan will increase the EU’s 2030 target for renewables from the current 40% to 45%. To achieve those goals, the European Commission also announced new permitting reforms.
The same day that the EU announced their new plan, four European countries announced they will build 150 GW of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2050, enough clean energy to power 50 million homes.
Europe passes bill to reduce deforestation
At the beginning of December, European Union policymakers announced a first-of-its-kind law that will prevent companies in Europe from selling products linked to deforestation.
Beef, palm oil, coffee and many other products sold on global markets cause huge environmental damage. Between 1990 and 2020, 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the European Union — were lost to deforestation. As a result, biodiversity levels are declining faster than any time in recorded history and carbon trapped in forests is going into the atmosphere.
Environmentalists hope that the bill is the first of many in Europe’s efforts to slow the rate of deforestation around the world.
Europe passes first carbon border tax
A week later, more good environmental news came from Europe. On December 13, the European Union and member states announced a preliminary agreement to create the world’s first carbon border tax.
For more than a decade, Europe has had a law that caps the amount of greenhouse gasses companies can emit into the atmosphere. The new law would require EU trading partners to pay a fee unless they have similar laws that curb emissions. The hope is that this will force other countries like China to put a price on carbon and cut their emissions.
Brazil and Australia elect climate leaders
Climate voters swing Australia’s election
Australia has long been considered a climate laggard. Its climate targets have been weak and out of line with what experts say is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. Like the United States, the fossil fuel industry has corrupted its politics and fought common sense regulations.
In May, Australians voted overwhelmingly for candidates that campaigned on climate in what many dubbed its first “climate election.” Polls conducted after the election found that climate change was the most important issue for swing voters.
Brazil votes to protect the Amazon rainforest
In October, Brazilians voted in what may have been the most consequential election for the planet in 2022.
The two candidates in Brazil’s election couldn’t have been more different. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who previously served as president, helped cut the country’s deforestation rate by 80% while he was in office. His opponent, Jair Bolsonaro, cut funding for environmental protections while in office, which made deforestation rates soar between 2019 and 2022.
Voters elected Lula, who pledged to bring back his progressive environmental policies and protect the Amazon rainforest.
But Brazilians aren’t the only ones who will benefit from Lula’s leadership. The Amazon rainforest stores an estimated 150 to 200 billion metric tons of carbon. According to an analysis by Carbon Brief, Lula’s policies could cut Brazil’s deforestation rate by 89% by 2030.
EVs, offshore wind, and heat pumps take off
Automakers invest billions in electric vehicles
For decades, the world’s largest automakers have fought regulations that would reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Many of them, like Toyota, are still doing just that. But recently passed climate policies are finally forcing these corporate giants to invest in electric vehicles.
In 2021, Reuters set out to understand how much the largest automakers in the world planned to invest in electric vehicles by 2030. They tallied a total of $515 billion in planned investment. Just a year later, they found that automakers had doubled their electric vehicle investment plans. By October 2022 the largest automakers planned to invest $1.2 trillion in electrification.
Consumer demand for electric vehicles is growing too. Globally, 13% of passenger vehicles sold in the first half of 2022 were electric. While the United States (7%) continues to lag behind Germany (26%), the UK (24%), and China (23%), demand appears to be growing quickly. Between January and March, EV sales in America were up 76% compared to the year before.
America is finally building offshore wind farms
Today there are just two offshore wind farms operating in the US, with a paltry 42 megawatts (MW) of capacity. By comparison, Europe has about 1,000 times more offshore wind capacity than the US.
When the Biden-Harris administration took office, they set a goal of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. In February 2022, they took their biggest step towards meeting that goal when the U.S. Interior Department’s offshore wind auction attracted a massive $4.37 billion worth of bids. To put that in perspective, the last offshore oil and gas auction attracted $192 million in bids.
Once built, the new wind farms could supply enough electricity to power about 2 million homes.
And the Interior Department is just getting started. A few months after their record-breaking auction, they held another auction that could provide 1 GW of offshore wind capacity off the coast of the Carolinas, enough to power about 500,000 homes.
As Emily Atkin and I recently wrote, the fossil fuel industry is doing everything they can to block offshore wind projects. But the increasing scale of America’s offshore wind ambitions is making that task difficult.
Heat pump market grows around the world
Unlike fossil fuel furnaces, heat pumps run on electricity, which can in turn be powered by renewable energy. Decarbonizing buildings will require billions of these appliances to be swapped out over the next few decades.
In the first half of the year — partly in response to rising energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the Netherlands, Italy and Austria saw huge growth in heat pump sales.
Over the summer, the Energy Department released data showing that the share of homes that use a heat pump rose from 10% to 14.4% between 2015 and 2020.
What did I miss?
To write a single story that covers all the good climate news of 2022 would be impossible. I have no doubt that I missed a lot of important developments, especially those outside of the United States and Europe, where I have less reporting expertise.
Let me know in the comments below what I missed. And if you enjoyed this story, share the good news on social media.
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