Sometimes it's best not to dare the public to do the research, especially if you're trying to persuade them of something that isn't true. Almost two years ago, Inside Climate News published a significant expose that confirmed Exxon's own scientists had agreed that human carbon emissions contributed to global warming as early as July 1977. But as... Exxon knew climate change was real, ads told public it wasn’t
Sometimes it's best not to dare the public to do the research, especially if you're trying to persuade them of something that isn't true. Almost two years ago, Inside Climate News published a significant expose that confirmed Exxon's own scientists had agreed that human carbon emissions contributed to global warming as early as July 1977. But as... 
On August 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would reopen the Comment Period for the vehicle-emission standards for model years 2022 through 2025 it had finalized in January. The auto industry and its lobbyists had complained that the agency had moved too quickly, despite its issuance last summer of a voluminous Technical... 
As corporate average fuel economy requirements that started in 2012 continue to tighten, automakers have turned to an entire arsenal of tactics to reduce the fuel their vehicles burn. Downsized and turbocharged engines, transmissions with many more gears, lighter-weight structures, better aerodynamics and more all add incrementally to efficiency... 
The best analog to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's latest action might be for the U.S. Geological Survey to undertake a "scientific critique" of theories that the world is round. After all, numerous authoritative sources over the years have raised doubts that the Earth is not flat. Surely their views deserve to be aired. Late last week, it... ![Electric-car wells-to-wheels emission equivalencies in MPG, May 2017 [Union of Concerned Scientists]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/electric-car-wells-to-wheels-emission-equivalencies-in-mpg-may-2017-union-of-concerned-scientists_100608699_t.gif)
Electric cars have no tailpipe emissions when running. But unless they're charged entirely on renewable energy—still statistically unlikely today—there are emissions associated with generating the electricity used to charge their batteries. For several years now, rigorous "wells-to-wheels" analyses of the carbon-dioxide emissions... ![Electric cars dominate U.S. climate-friendly vehicles [data: U.S. EIA; map: Climate Central]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/electric-cars-dominate-u-s-climate-friendly-vehicles-data-u-s-eia-map-climate-central_100608171_t.gif)
The question is a reasonable one: electric cars may be zero-emission, but what about the electricity to recharge them? While renewable energy is growing globally, burning fossil fuels is still the source of most electric power today. The good news is that in most areas of the U.S., the "wells to wheels" carbon-dioxide emissions associated with... 
During President Donald J. Trump's half-hour meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday, the pope gave the president a copy of his 2015 encyclical calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. It is unclear whether the U.S. president will peruse the document. Back at home, however, his administration is continuing unabated in... 
Carlos Ghosn, the man behind the Nissan Leaf electric car and now the chairman of the Renault Nissan Alliance, isn't the first to say it. But his recent comment that cities are driving the push for electric cars is an important one, because it indicates a prime market for their advantages. The result is that city governments all over the world are... ![The White House, Washington, D.C. [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/white-house_100170583_t.gif)
While the news headlines on President Donald Trump mostly address potential scandals, his administration has also lagged significantly in appointing top-level officials to run government agencies. Those that have been appointed often have an adversarial relationship to the missions of the agencies they run. Scott Pruitt, for example, is now... 
California has by far the most aggressive climate-change policies in the nation, and the state is a global leader in plans to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. It's also the world's eighth-largest economy, with a growing population, soaring economic output, and a resolutely progressive legislature. While its zero-emission vehicle policies may get...