Complete list of press releases

(Harrisburg, PA – April 21, 2016) A package of rules aimed at preventing groundwater contamination and other health and environmental risks associated with oil and gas activity cleared an important hurdle today as the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission voted to approve the regulatory package known as Chapter 78. The rules, which have been pending in the regulatory process for four years, are now cleared to be implemented.

Environmental Defense Fund praised the IRCC.

“Requiring Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry to meet higher standards is a no brainer,” said Andrew Williams, Senior State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager. “Every day community impacts are an inherent risk associated with the intensity of this industrial activity. Proper safeguards that protect the people and the places near this development from potential air and water pollution are vital.”

The Chapter 78 regulatory package is a key element of Act 13, the state’s oil and gas law — which went into effect in 2012 but had none of these important protections included:

·         improved water supply restoration standards,

·         public resource protections,

·         more oversight of waste management at well sites;

·         and stronger environmental assessments for hydraulically fractured well sites. 

Failure to approve Chapter 78 would have further delayed the almost four-year time period since Pennsylvania legislators voted Act 13 into law.

“We commend the Commission for taking this important step,” Williams said. “We look forward to working with the Wolf administration to put other important controls in place to protect the health and wellbeing of Keystone residents and the environment from the impacts of oil and gas development.”

(WASHINGTON/LONDON – April 21, 2016) – A bold new global goal for expanding carbon pricing around the world, announced today by the High-Level Carbon Pricing Panel, will require new policies – but could be accomplished through multiple scenarios, an analysis from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) shows.

In its Vision Statement released today, the Carbon Pricing Panel – convened by the heads of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund – called for efforts to double the share of global greenhouse gas emissions covered by carbon pricing by 2020, and double coverage again within the next decade. The Panel – featuring the leaders of Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, France, Germany, and Mexico, along with California, Rio de Janeiro, and the OECD – committed to pursuing actions to broaden, deepen, and enhance cooperation among carbon pricing systems around the world in support of the goal.    

“The leaders that have joined the Carbon Pricing Panel understand that the world must go further, faster to turn the corner on global emissions and to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement – and that putting a price on carbon is central to realizing that vision. Simply put, market-based policies make it possible for countries not only to meet the targets they announced prior to Paris, but to go beyond them – to cut climate pollution at the scale and pace the science demands,” says EDF President Fred Krupp.

“As the vision statement recognizes, to realize the full promise and potential of carbon pricing, we need to broaden it into new jurisdictions, deepen it where it already exists, and connect systems over time. The Paris Agreement gave countries all they needed to move ahead and cooperate through markets. Now the diverse leaders of the Carbon Pricing Panel have supplied a roadmap for action, a milestone to measure our progress – and a commitment that they will lead the way,” Krupp says.

Putting a price on carbon, through policies such as an emissions trading system (ETS) or a carbon tax, can be an attractive tool for countries to implement the emissions reductions targets they pledged in the lead-up to December’s Paris climate talks.

“The Panel’s visionary leadership is exactly what is needed if we are to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement,” says Dirk Forrister, IETA’s President and CEO. “Carbon pricing is key to enabling nations to proceed with confidence – and in turn could significantly increase ambitions. Already, 90 governments have indicated their interest in using international and domestic markets to fulfil their pledges under the Paris Agreement.”

“The Panel’s goals are ambitious, but achievable – especially if business responds constructively,” Forrister adds. “We pledge to do our part by helping to build business coalitions in support of carbon pricing policies that harness market forces to address the climate challenge. We also plan to support international market linkages that can drive down costs and enable greater ambition over time.” 

The EDF-IETA report, “Doubling Down on Carbon Pricing: Laying the Foundation for Greater Ambition”, illustrates a number of possible routes for achieving the dramatic expansion of carbon pricing envisioned by the Panel. The report presents four scenarios for meeting both of the Panel’s targets, to increase carbon pricing coverage from the current level of 12% of global emissions to 25% in 2020, and doubling to 50% coverage in the next decade. The scenarios show that the Panel’s goals are ambitious, in the sense that they will require action beyond what is currently anticipated — especially to reach the 50% goal.  At the same time, the report finds that the goals are achievable, given the existence of multiple plausible scenarios to meet them.

Carbon pricing creates a powerful economic incentive to reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost, generating momentum and impetus for more ambitious climate action. As a result, carbon pricing can play a critical role in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement by helping countries to implement their targets and cut emissions even more in the future.  Nonetheless, simply expanding the coverage of carbon pricing will not meet long-run climate goals: the underlying policies must be sufficiently ambitious. The ultimate test of any climate policy is the emissions reductions it achieves.

An April 14 report, also by EDF and IETA, found countries see great potential in carbon pricing as a tool, and can surpass their Paris pledges by carbon pricing through carbon markets. In fact,90 countries included some mention of market-based policies in their pledges.

EDF and IETA are partners of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition. The Coalition brings together leaders from across government, the private sector and civil society to share experience working with carbon pricing and to expand the evidence base for the most effective carbon pricing systems and policies.

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About EDF:

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading international non-profit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on Climate Talks,Twitter and Facebook.

About IETA:

IETA is the voice of business on carbon markets around the world. Established in 1999, IETA’s members include global leaders in the oil, electricity, cement, aluminium, chemical, technology, data verification, broking, trading, legal, finance, and consulting industries.

(Washington, D.C. – April 20, 2016) Today, Walmart released its ninth annual Global Responsibility Report, which outlines its environmental and social activities for the past year. For the first time, this report includes information about the progress made on implementing the company’s sustainable chemistry policy.

According to Walmart, it has reduced the usage (by weight) of its designated high priority chemicals by 95 percent. It is expected that details about how this progress was made will be posted on Walmart’s Sustainability Hub in the coming weeks, along with the names of the high priority chemicals that have been targeted for reduction or elimination.

Environmental Defense Fund experts released the following statements:

“EDF has been working with Walmart to phase out chemicals of concern in consumer products in the home and personal care categories because product changes at Walmart help shift the market to safer choices for consumers. We look forward to Walmart’s public disclosure of the data behind their progress, including the identity of its high priority chemicals. We believe that Walmart’s actions paired with the forthcoming additional transparency will be a powerful combination that empowers similar actions by other retailers and suppliers.”

– Sarah Vogel, Vice President of EDF’s Health Program

“Approximately 80 percent of Americans shop at Walmart. When the retailer implemented a corporate sustainable chemicals policy in 2013, businesses across the supply chain paid attention. Two and a half years later, Walmart is showing real progress on that commitment, to the benefit of us all. That kind of corporate leadership not only moves dangerous chemicals off the shelf, it helps meet consumer demand for safer ingredients industry-wide.”

–Michelle Mauthe Harvey, EDF’s Supply Chain Director

Tomorrow marks six years since the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing more than 3.19 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier finalized the historic $20.8 billion settlement with BP – the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history – for the massive damages caused by the spill. Louisiana is poised to receive nearly $8 billion over the next 15 years from the settlement, or about half a billion dollars per year, which it will use to advance the largest environmental restoration program in the state’s history for the benefit of the region and nation.

As we remember April 20, 2010, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – released the following statement:

“Six years after the Gulf oil disaster, our region is embarking on the largest environmental restoration program of our time. How these unprecedented funds are spent affects all of us, and we must remain vigilant to make sure decision-makers invest in the best and most powerful ecosystem restoration projects. We must ensure this funding is used effectively and for its intended purpose – to restore the Gulf Coast for the people, industries and wildlife that depend on it.

“In Louisiana, the stage is set for continued progress on restoring the coast. With science-based restoration plans in place, and now dedicated funding to help pay for them, we can make great strides toward countering our land loss crisis. In the last decade, Louisiana has already invested billions of dollars from early settlement money and other funding on restoring the coast, including improving more than 27,000 acres of coastal habitat and constructing 45 miles of barrier islands and berms.

“We applaud Governor Edwards for his recent commitments to safeguard coastal funds for coastal restoration and protection. Moving forward, we must continue to hold our leaders accountable and ensure this money is not used for anything but its intended purpose. The future of Louisiana depends on a sustainable, restored coast.

“Louisiana has made remarkable advancements since the Gulf oil disaster six years ago. We must make sure our decision makers continue to prioritize comprehensive restoration and safeguard coastal funding – we may only have this chance to get it right.”

(Washington, D.C.) April 19, 2016 — The state of Nevada and federal agencies today announced the approved use of the Nevada Conservation Credit System to protect greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands.

The Nevada Conservation Credit System is an advanced approach to protecting greater sage-grouse habitat that ensures impacts are fully offset in a way that creates net benefit, leaving species better off. It does so by creating new incentives for industries to avoid and minimize impacts, and for private landowners and public land managers to preserve, enhance, and restore habitat.

The following is a statement by Eric Holst, associate vice president of working lands at Environmental Defense Fund:

“The state of Nevada has shown strong leadership by investing in solutions for greater sage-grouse that also benefit Nevada’s agricultural, ranching and energy economies. The Conservation Credit System will create a robust mitigation market that will bring greater certainty and transparency to the state’s agriculture and energy industries, ultimately allowing both sage-grouse and the economy to flourish.”

“This is the first-ever habitat credit exchange approved by a federal agency, and creates a path for states like Colorado to formally launch their habitat exchange program.”

“Approval of the Nevada Conservation Credit System creates an impetus for other states to act on sage-grouse. In order to keep the bird off the endangered species list in the long run, there needs to be strong conservation and mitigation markets in place that can drive momentum on the ground quickly, in keeping with the promises made by the states.”

(Washington, D.C. – April 15, 2016) Some of the nation’s largest polluters and other Clean Power Plan opponents filed reply briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today, as part of their ongoing attempts to block the single biggest step America has ever taken to address the clear and present danger of climate change.

The Clean Power Plan establishes the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from its largest source – existing fossil-fuel fired power plants. The D.C. Circuit Court is now preparing for oral arguments in lawsuits about it. It’s the first time any court will consider the case on its merits. 

“The Clean Power Plan is firmly rooted in our nation’s successful clean air laws and time-tested solutions adopted under both Republican and Democratic Presidents,” said Tomás Carbonell, Director of Regulatory Policy and Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “Across the country, public support for climate action is strong and continues to grow – even in states whose officials are litigating against the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan is one of the most important steps we can take to protect our families, communities and businesses from the dangers of climate change while strengthening our clean energy economy.”

A large and diverse group of Clean Power Plan supporters is defending it in court as parties to the case, including: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);  a coalition of 18 States and seven cities and counties; a large group of power companies; three advanced energy trade associations representing more than 3,000 companies and organizations in the advanced energy sector; and a coalition of public health and environmental groups, including EDF. 

Rigorous amicus briefs supporting the Clean Power Plan have also been filed by hundreds of leaders across America with deep and diverse expertise including: Amazon; Apple; Google; Microsoft; Ikea; Mars Inc.; Adobe; Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts; 193 current Members of Congress; 54 cities, counties and mayors (including dozens in states litigating to obstruct these protections); former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; former Republican EPA Administrators William D. Ruckelshaus and William K. Reilly; organizations representing consumers and ratepayers, including Consumers Union; a broad cross-section of religious organizations; leading health and medical associations; and many of the nation’s leading experts on the electric grid, the Clean Air Act, and climate science.

Oral arguments will take place on June 2 before a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court. 

You can find all today’s amicus briefs, and all other legal briefs in the case, on EDF’s website. 

(Vancouver, WA – April 15, 2016) This week the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to allow three West Coast commercial fishing fleets to employ camera-based electronic monitoring (EM) systems. Beginning in 2017, commercial fishing vessels can substitute cameras for human observers. This move will simplify logistics, reduce costs and increase profits for fishermen.

As of 2017, the fixed-gear, shore-based whiting trawl, and mothership catcher vessel fleets will no longer be required to carry human observers on fishing trips, as they currently do under the “full accountability” fishery management system that regulates these fleets.

Some 26 vessels have been piloting the EM system since 2015 under exempted fishing permits (EFP). The total number of vessels eligible to carry cameras based on this decision could be as many as 45. Council action for bottom trawl vessels will take place in 2017.

“This is precedent-setting because it’s the first Council-authorized electronic monitoring system to move from pilot project to full implementation in U.S. waters for purposes of catch accounting,” said Shems Jud, pacific regional director for Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program. “The Council’s decision culminates several years’ worth of work by fishermen, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Council staff and NGOs.  This decision represents a watershed moment in fisheries co-management in this region, and may serve as a model for others.”

West Coast groundfish fleets have been operating with 100 percent observer coverage since the groundfish IFQ program launched in January 2011. Logistical challenges, uneven availability of observers and shoreside monitors, and high observer costs shouldered by fishermen have been a significant source of frustration among the fleet.

Under the “optimized retention” approach adopted by the Council, fishermen’s logbook entries will be the primary data source, and they will be checked against the videos by authorized third parties.

“What this decision does is transfer responsibility for catch accounting from the federal government to vessel operators, where it should be,” said Heather Mann, executive director of the Midwater Trawler’s Cooperative, an Oregon-based organization representing 18 whiting vessels. “Skippers will use their logbook to track their catch, and electronic monitoring is there to verify that their logbook is accurate. This decision is a long-overdue acknowledgement that West Coast groundfish fishermen are responsible stewards of their fishery.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The oil and natural gas industry has moved into first place as the highest sources of U.S. methane emissions, according to a long-awaited inventory published today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report, which measures emissions from 1990 through 2014, reveals that the sector’s methane emissions are 34 percent higher than the agency’s previous estimates, with the industry pumping more than 9.8 million metric tons of pollution into the atmosphere each year. 

“Data gathered in the field shows that the oil and gas methane problem is much larger than government or industry was telling us, and today EPA is rightly making a necessary set of corrections, said Mark Brownstein, Vice President of EDF’s Climate and Energy Program. “Fortunately, major reductions in methane pollution are possible with some simple technologies and systematic efforts to find and fix leaks. Some companies are already going in the right direction. National standards are needed to ensure that all companies play by the same set of rules.”

EPA has updated the way it calculates emissions, based on a vast and growing body of peer-reviewed science published in recent years, which accounts for much of the increase over previous estimates. However, data using the new calculations also show that emissions grew 1.6 percent from 2013 to 2014, and 11 percent from 2010 to 2014. 

Methane is a potent climate pollutant responsible for approximately a quarter of today’s global warming, and the report confirms that the oil and gas sector is the largest source of our nation’s methane pollution, beating out livestock and agricultural production for the first time. 

(Washington, D.C. – April 15, 2016) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized its determination that the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are appropriate in light of costs, and in the process reaffirmed the enormous public health benefits of reducing mercury, arsenic, acid gases and other toxic air pollution.

EPA’s limits on these hazardous contaminants are one of the most important public health safeguards adopted in the history of our nation’s clean air laws. Today’s action is in response to a June 2015 Supreme Court  opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, when a sharply divided Court ruled 5-4 that EPA must consider the costs of regulation in making its threshold determination whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate hazardous air pollution from power plants. EPA had considered costs in establishing the resulting emissions standards.  

“EPA’s landmark safeguards address the scourge of mercury and other toxic smokestack pollution in our air, our water and our food. Today’s final finding confirms that the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are a vital and highly cost-effective investment in cleaner air and a safer environment for our communities,” said Graham McCahan, Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund, which was a party to the case. “The enormous health benefits of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are based on the strongest possible science. EPA’s analyses also show these protections are clearly cost effective.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants — including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and hydrochloric acid gas — from power plants, the largest source of those pollutants. 

The pollutants covered by the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are dangerous to human health even in small doses—mercury causes brain damage in infants and children, metal toxics like chromium and nickel cause cancer, and acid gases cause respiratory problems. When fully implemented, the Mercury Standards will prevent up to 11,000 deaths and tens of thousands of other serious health problems each year.

When EPA wrote the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in 2011, it found that the public health benefits of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were up to $90 billion annually, and far exceeded compliance costs. However, the Supreme Court found that EPA should have also considered the costs in its initial, or threshold, decision to regulate these hazardous pollutants. 

The Court did not overturn the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but it remanded them to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court refused to vacate the standards while EPA performed its consideration of costs, so the standards have already started protecting Americans from dangerous pollutants. And since 2011, major power companies have dramatically reduced their estimates of the costs to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, while the body of scientific evidence supporting them has grown. 

In today’s final finding, EPA has fulfilled the directives of the Supreme Court. Based on a thorough and careful analysis, today’s finding confirms that the cost of compliance for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is eminently reasonable when considered in light of the serious public health and environmental hazards of toxic emissions from power plants:

“[EPA’s approach] places value on the statutory goals of achieving prompt, permanent, and ongoing reductions in significant volumes of [hazardous air pollution] and on the important, and, in many cases, unquantifiable advantages of reducing the significant hazards to public health posed by such emissions, including addressing the risk to the most exposed and most sensitive members of society.” (Finding, Page 6)

You can find more about the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, including all legal briefs, on EDF’s website.

Contacts:
IETA: Katie Kouchakji, press@ieta.org
EDF: Jennifer Andreassen, jandreassen@edf.org 

LONDON/WASHINGTON DC, 14 April – The use of market mechanisms can help governments cut emissions even more than the minimum amounts offered in pledges under the Paris Agreement, according to a new report by IETA and Environmental Defense Fund.

With national leaders set to sign the Paris Agreement on 22 April and signalling their commitment to taking it forward, this new analysis highlights an important economic underpinning to its ultimate success. The paper analyses the 188 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for the Paris Agreement and finds that 90 of these plans mention access to a carbon market will be needed to achieve the respective government’s goals. In several cases, the INDC specifies that a greater goal is possible, if market access and climate finance are available.

Since many INDCs represent the minimum of what governments will do to fight climate change, access to an international carbon market could provide the sound economic foundation to allow climate ambition to be raised – while driving costs down.

The Paris Agreement recognises the valuable role of market-based approaches (including the use of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes) in enabling ambitious reductions in climate pollution.¹ Next month, climate negotiators will meet in Bonn to begin work on guidance for emissions accounting to further support cross-border transfers of mitigation outcomes, as well as rules governing a mechanism for mitigation and sustainable development. 

“Market mechanisms are an important tool in the climate change fight, as their inherent flexibility allows environmental goals to be met faster and at lower cost than old-style regulations,” says IETA CEO and President Dirk Forrister. “As governments make preparations to implement the Paris Agreement, we urge them to accelerate work on the market elements of the agreement and to engage with all stakeholders in a transparent, open manner.

“The business community has a wealth of experience with the world’s carbon markets that policymakers can utilise in forming the rules for the next generation of these systems.”

The paper also considers what the Paris Agreement means for the potential formation of “carbon clubs” to advance climate action. For example, governments could cooperate in the development of rules and standards to ensure the integrity of international emissions trading and to promote greater harmonisation among domestic carbon markets. Numerous economic studies have shown that such cooperation could lower the costs of effective action, leading to even greater emissions cuts than what could be accomplished by countries acting on their own.

“The Paris Agreement was a landmark in the fight against climate change – and the provisions on international cooperation, including through markets, were the unsung hero of the agreement,” says Nathaniel Keohane, Vice President for Global Climate at Environmental Defense Fund.

“Markets have a critical role to play in realising the promise of Paris, by helping countries not only to meet the INDCs they have already announced, but to ratchet up their ambition going forward. The good news is that the Paris Agreement provides all the foundation that countries need to move forward with market-based policies, not only in their domestic actions but also through international cooperation.”

The full paper is available online.

NOTES

1 See article 6 of the Paris Agreement

NEWS RELEASE
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to consider withdrawing its approval of 30 toxic chemicals known as ortho-phthalates from use in food packaging and food handling equipment.

The decision is in response to a food additive petition from the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, Clean Water Action, Consumer Federation of America, Earthjustice, Improving Kids’ Environment, and Learning Disabilities Association of America – groups all concerned by the adverse health effects of ortho-phthalates at the levels typically seen in food. “These chemicals are a serious threat to pregnant woman, their developing fetuses and children,” said Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director at EDF. “But, manufacturers continue to use ortho-phthalates – from farm to fork – even though there are alternatives.”Ortho-phthalates are a class of chemically- and pharmacologically-related substances used as plasticizers, binders, coating agents, defoamers, gasket closures, and slimicide agents. They are used in cellophane, paper and paperboard, and plastics that come in contact with food.

Several reports have found numerous ortho-phthalates in everyday food. While these chemicals are used in many consumer products other than food, the primary source of exposure appears to be food, presumably from their FDA-approved use in food packaging and handling equipment. From lower IQ in young children to malformation of the male genital tract, academic studies have linked some of these chemicals to a variety of reproductive, developmental and endocrine health problems.

“We’ve known these food packaging chemicals are dangerous for a while, but the food processing industry has not acted. They are not protecting the public from these toxins, so now it’s time for FDA to do so,” said Peter Lehner, Senior Attorney for the Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program at Earthjustice.

In a reminder of how arcane the law can be, FDA rejected two requests in the petition on technical grounds. First, it rejected the NGO’s request to ban the ortho-phthalates that the Consumer Products Safety Commission has proposed to ban from children’s toys, pacifiers, teething rings and other products. Congress had already banned the use of some of these ortho-phthalates in 2008 in these products.

“It doesn’t make sense to ban some ortho-phthalates from children’s toys, and phase them out of vinyl flooring, but still approve them for contacting food. Ortho-phthalates can cause reproductive and developmental effects,” said Lisa Lefferts, Senior Scientist, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Second, FDA declined to review five ortho-phthalates that were approved before 1958. In the coming days, petitioners will use another regulatory process – a citizens petition – to request action on these matters.

FDA has six months (180 days) to determine if there is a “reasonable certainty of no harm” for all 30 of these ortho-phthalates as a class. If there is not adequate data for a particular chemical in the class, FDA must assume that chemical also has reproductive, developmental and endocrine toxicity based on its precedential decision on long-chain perfluorinated compounds.

If FDA’s agrees with the petition, it will issue a rule that removes its approvals for the ortho-phthalates. Once that rule was published in the Federal Register, it would be illegal to sell any foods that contacted packaging or equipment using the ortho-phthalates in question.

For more information please see the original petition and FDA’s letter. 

(SAN FRANCISCO – April 11, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) today announced Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the largest utility in the United States, is launching a new pilot to accelerate energy efficiency retrofits in existing buildings by providing interest-free loans to energy performance contractors who use ICP’s Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ (IREE) certification. ICP’s IREE certification brings rigorous measurement and verification metrics to energy efficiency retrofit projects, standardizing the way such projects are developed and brought to market — and making them more attractive to investors and building owners alike.

 Once approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the PG&E pilot could unleash a wave of private investment in energy efficiency retrofits across California, and provide a model for similar efforts in other states. The pilot will help implement the energy efficiency provisions of recent California state legislation (AB 802).

 “ICP and PG&E are welcoming a new era of market-driven energy efficiency performance,” said Matt Golden, Project Director for EDF’s Investor Confidence Project. “By establishing a series of benchmarks and best practices for the retrofitting of existing buildings, ICP slashes transaction costs, accelerates project timelines, and shows a clear path to profitability for the finance and performance contracting sectors.”

 The interest-free loans will be provided under a pilot in PG&E’s existing On-Bill Financing (OBF) program, giving qualifying energy efficiency projects in existing commercial and multifamily buildings access to up to $100,000 at zero percent interest. Under the terms of the program, qualifying projects will show positive cash flow for building owners – meaning loan payments will be less than bill savings.

 “PG&E’s new pilot with EDF’s Investor Confidence Project helps take things to the next level,” said Gavin Purchas, EDF Director, California Clean Energy. “By creating a robust market for the financing of energy efficiency retrofits, PG&E is at the cutting edge of a true transformation in how we use, value and securitize energy savings.”

 EDF’s ICP is also running a pilot through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), and is the standard for property-assessed clean energy loans (PACE) in the state of Texas. Additional ICP programs for building owners, investors, and performance contractors exist in a half-dozen other states in the U.S. and across the European Union. The addition of PG&E’s OBF Pilot is a significant milestone for ICP, which came to fruition in 2014.

 For more information on the Investor Confidence Project, visit www.EEperformance.org.

The administration of Ohio Gov. John Kasich today announced plans to reduce air pollution from oil and gas operations in the state. Ohio plans to issue permits for new and modified equipment at compressor stations – facilities that pressurize gas before moving it through pipelines – requiring companies to check for leaks on a quarterly basis and quickly fix the leaks they find.

The new permits build on the state’s existing clean air protections by targeting not only the emissions of  Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – which can contribute to smog – but also emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas responsible for approximately a quarter of the global warming impacts we’re experiencing today.

“We applaud Governor Kasich for, once again, stepping forward to deliver clean air protections that Ohio communities deserve and joining other leading states in regulating harmful methane emissions,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “Today’s announcement underscores that fast-growing recognition that, for natural gas to meet its promise as a lower-carbon fuel, methane emissions can’t go unchecked.”

The plan follows a similar policy the Ohio EPA put in place in 2014 that sets a baseline of quarterly leak detection practices at oil and gas production facilities, and adds to the growing list of states tackling methane emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the natural gas gathering sector – the section of the supply chain that includes compressor stations – may be emitting as much as 1.7 million metric tons of methane, a significant increase over previous estimates.

“Requiring operators to systematically check equipment for leaks is a proven, cost-effective way to reduce harmful emissions and associated risks to public health and the environment,” said Andrew Williams, Senior State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager. “We commend the administration for taking this important step and look forward to working with OEPA and other stakeholders to strengthen the proposal.”

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 7, 2016) Recent reports say the monarch butterfly faces a high probability of extinction in the next two decades if conservation efforts cannot reverse the loss of critical milkweed habitat. To help put the monarch on a path to recovery, the Monarch Joint Venture has added the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to its roster of conservation partners.

Recovering the monarch population is going to require the participation of tens of thousands of landowners across many millions of acres that cross state lines. Fortunately, EDF is developing a new conservation tool  — the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange — which is especially well suited to enrolling large numbers of working landowners (i.e., farmers, ranchers and forest landowners) in an incentives-based program that can quickly restore milkweed to a broad swath of American farmland.

EDF’s goal in establishing the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange is to enable a sustained recovery of the monarch – improving breeding grounds in the United States which will ultimately result in larger populations of monarch returning to the overwintering habitat in Mexico.

“We are thrilled to engage in this work with the Environmental Defense Fund, and welcome them as a Monarch Joint Venture partner,” said Wendy Caldwell, program coordinator of Monarch Joint Venture.

“At EDF, we place a high value on collaboration and diverse partnerships as a way to achieve positive conservation outcomes,” said David Wolfe, director of conservation strategies at EDF. “The expansive range of the monarch and the sheer volume of conservation needed for this species require a concerted and coordinated effort among a wide variety of public and private entities.”

“Working with the Monarch Joint Venture offers a diverse partnership of agencies, non-governmental organizations and research institutions that together make an all-star team of monarch defenders,” Wolfe added.

EDF has a rich history of science-based wildlife and environmental conservation. In 1967 a small group of scientists who won a ban on DDT incorporated as the Environmental Defense Fund. Since then, EDF has moved almost entirely to finding and fostering collaborative solutions to environmental challenges – designing innovative strategies, providing analysis and tools, and building the capacity of partners.

“EDF has an excellent track record on developing science-based conservation tools, and I’m glad to see them bring this expertise to monarch recovery efforts,” said Dr. Karen Oberhauser, University of Minnesota researcher and co-chair of the Monarch Joint Venture steering committee.

EDF’s approach is unique in that it focuses on developing and implementing incentives for agriculture and industry to participate in solutions for wildlife.

“This is an essential time to use this approach to conserve the North American monarch butterfly population,” Oberhauser added.

To learn more about EDF and the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange, please visit: www.edf.org/monarch.

(NEW YORK – April 6, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) received the prestigious Finance for Resilience (FiRe) award yesterday at The Future of Energy Summit hosted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Over one thousand investors and energy experts voted for innovative ideas that have the potential to accelerate financing for clean energy globally.

“EDF’s Investor Confidence Project is an innovative and actionable intervention that will bring needed investment in energy efficiency to buildings in cities around the world,” said Dr. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director of Climate Policy Initiative, the FiRe secretariat. “By winning FiRe, the Investor Confidence Project has demonstrated its credibility with investors. We are looking forward to supporting EDF taking this intervention to scale, and expanding into emerging markets.”

The theme for this year’s prize was driving investment in clean energy, prompted by a concern that investment to limit carbon pollution currently falls short of what is needed to address climate change. The Investor Confidence Project tackles this issue by bringing rigorous measurement and verification metrics to energy efficiency building retrofits, standardizing the way such projects are developed and brought to market — and making them more attractive to investors and building owners alike.

“Imagine if we could transform cities around the world with clean, efficient buildings, unlock billions of dollars of investment, and help turn the corner on climate change,” said Andy Darrell, Environmental Defense Fund’s Chief of Strategy, Global Energy & Finance, who presented at the Summit. “The Investor Confidence Project’s approach can be adapted to any city or real estate portfolio. Being part of the FiRe community is a tremendous opportunity to introduce ICP to a global audience that can help take energy efficiency to market on a mass scale.”

Improving building efficiency is key to a clean energy future because buildings make up nearly 40 percent of global energy consumption — and can waste up to half of it. ICP was one of eight finalists chosen from a pool of over 40 proposals, and one of four FiRe winners resulting from a competitive pitch process.

So far, ICP programs are operational in the U.S. and in Europe, including a pilot through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) and as a standard for property-assessed clean energy loans (PACE) in Texas. ICP Europe received a grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, and recently launched a set of protocols to define European best practices for predicting energy savings, optimizing performance, and monitoring the results of energy efficiency investments.