Complete list of press releases

(BOSTON, MA) After more than a year awaiting a decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today issued an order that rewards inefficient, higher polluting power plants that are unable to compete, increasing consumer costs by billions in the PJM wholesale electricity market, which spans portions of 13 Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia.

“Today’s decision sent shockwaves through the energy industry. Not only does FERC’s decision threaten to increase prices and ignore the value state clean energy resources provide to system reliability, it sets a bad precedent for the integrity of wholesale electricity markets across the U.S. Wholesale electricity markets should offer states a path to achieve environmental goals, not act as an impediment to them. EDF stands ready to engage with all stakeholders on holistic solutions that use competition to achieve sustainable environmental outcomes.”

• N. Jonathan Peress Senior Director, Energy Markets & Utility Regulation, Environmental Defense Fund

Today’s decision pertains to PJM’s capacity market, which is used to ensure there’s enough power reserves in the region to maintain reliability during extreme weather or other unplanned events. Many states within PJM have set aggressive clean energy targets, using rebates, credits and other incentives to encourage the deployment of clean energy and to compensate these resources for their environmental benefits to society. FERC’s decision today brings clarity to the role it believes state clean energy resources should play in a regional market that serves 65 million people.

(DENVER) Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) voted unanimously to adopt new rules to reduce harmful air and global warming pollution from oil and gas operations across the state.

“Today, the AQCC made important progress in protecting Colorado’s air and climate from pollution from the state’s oil and gas industry. As the Trump administration continues to attack federal methane regulations, Colorado’s leadership is more important than ever.”

• Matt Garrington, Manager of State Campaigns for EDF’s Energy Program

Additional background

The strengthening provisions adopted today include the following requirements:

• semiannual leak detection and repair for low-producing wells statewide,
• stronger tank controls for low-producing wells,
• expansion statewide of the “find and fix” program for malfunctioning controllers and valves known as “pneumatic” devices,
• a ground-breaking performance based standard to reduce emissions across the transmission segment of the oil and gas supply chain, and
• requirement that operators calculate and report all pollution, including methane emissions, to the state on an annual basis.

In 2014, Colorado became the first state in the nation to regulate industry’s methane pollution and strengthened standards on the Front Range in 2017. Those rules have led to a significant drop in the number of leaks at well sites across the state.

However, even with the adoption of today’s regulations there is still a significant gap between 2030 greenhouse gas emission projections and the reductions required under Colorado’s historic new climate legislation. That law requires the AQCC to draft a comprehensive regulation by July 2020 setting forth the path to secure those reductions. EDF estimates that an additional 4-5 million metric tons of reductions can be realized over the next decade by additional regulations of the oil and gas sector, including today’s strengthening provisions, leaving at least a 43 million metric ton gap.

Emissions from oil and gas development create significant air pollution. The U.S. EPA recently determined that much of the Denver metropolitan region continues to fail to meet federal ozone standards, posing a significant health risk to the area’s residents. VOC pollution from oil and gas operations is a primary source of ground-level ozone along the Front Range.

The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission has already announced its 2020 schedule in which it has committed to looking at technological innovations to cut methane pollution further such as requiring zero-emission controllers and valves known as “pneumatic devices” and continuous or high frequency leak monitoring systems.
 

(WASHINGTON, DC – December 19, 2019) Congress passed a bipartisan year-end government funding bill that makes major investments in numerous Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) climate priorities.

The funding bill specifically increases investments for clean energy innovation research and development for clean transportation, renewable power, and energy efficiency technologies, environmental protections, public health programs, agriculture conservation, climate research, and adaptation.

“These bipartisan and record-level climate investments to expand research and development and bolster clean car technology reflect the growing urgency on Capitol Hill to transition to a 100% clean future. While the climate resources in the funding bill are promising investments, Congress missed an important opportunity to include critical clean energy tax incentives in the year-end deal. We need to grab every opportunity to make progress — the climate crisis will not wait for incremental change.”

• Elizabeth Gore, EDF Senior Vice-President, Political Affairs

(Harrisburg, Pa. – Dec. 17, 2019) On the heels of what he termed the federal government’s “irresponsible rollback of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Gov. Tom Wolf today took action as his Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)  presented a draft rule to the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) that seeks to cut emissions of methane and other harmful pollutants from the state’s unconventional natural gas industry.

A potent greenhouse gas, methane is emitted from thousands of existing sources of natural gas infrastructure across Pennsylvania. Emissions of methane account for a quarter of the global warming we are currently experiencing.

“We congratulate Gov. Wolf and his administration for advancing strong policy to address methane pollution from the state’s natural gas operations,” said Andrew Williams, director of regulatory and legislative affairs, Environmental Defense Fund. “As the second largest natural gas producing state in the nation, Pennsylvania has a responsibility to protect our environment and safeguard families and future generations from this growing pollution threat.

“The good news is that industry is increasingly on board, with companies including Shell and ExxonMobil – both operating in Pennsylvania – now expressing support for methane regulation. Gov. Wolf and his team know that a strong economy and a healthy environment not only can coexist, but are interdependent. We look forward to a constructive rulemaking process that results in strong methane policy that a clear majority of Pennsylvanians support.  “

In order to strengthen the draft rule and minimize loopholes and exemptions, DEP should:

• Remove the exemption for low-producing wells that, in aggregate, generate a significant amount of harmful pollution in Pennsylvania; and
• Eliminate the provision that relieves operators of their responsibility to conduct frequent inspections of equipment simply because previous inspections did not reveal significant leaks.

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases including methane and carbon is essential to meeting the climate commitments laid out by Gov. Wolf as part of Pennsylvania’s participation in the U.S. Climate Alliance.

(HOUSTON – Dec. 16, 2019) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of the Inspector General on Monday released a report faulting the agency for its inadequate response to the extra air pollution in the heavily industrial Houston area in the days after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

The Inspector General found that the EPA and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) failed to initiate air quality monitoring efforts in time to assess the health risks of the additional pollutants, which included cancer-causing chemicals like benzene. The agencies also did not consider the cumulative impact of people’s exposure to multiple pollutants at one time, especially in the communities closest to industrial facilities.

“Hurricane Harvey put into sharp focus the failures of EPA and Texas in responding to environmental disasters,” said Elena Craft, Senior Director for Climate and Health at Environmental Defense Fund. “Both are ill-equipped and ill-prepared to assess and communicate threats to people’s health during emergencies. They must develop a rigorous plan for active air quality monitoring, sharing as much information as they can about environmental sampling in real time. The public has a right to know about pollution hazards, especially in times of crisis.”

The report focused on the management failures as oil refineries and petrochemical plants released at least 340 tons of additional toxic air pollution in greater Houston because of shutdowns, restarts and malfunctions.
 
The Inspector General also highlighted the agencies’ lack of transparency with air monitoring data. Communities were unaware of the agencies’ activities and results, and this “can diminish public trust and confidence,” the report concluded.

TCEQ declined to participate in the investigation. The Inspector General said it never received a response from the state agency “despite several conversations to arrange for written answers” to its questions.

“Texans deserve a state environmental agency that does everything in its power to protect their health and safety,” Craft said. “Unfortunately, TCEQ consistently fails to inform vulnerable communities about the threats they may face from nearby industrial facilities. The agency’s leadership seems numb to the consequences of its inaction.”

(NEW YORK, NY) Scientists announced today that they have successfully used data from an orbiting satellite to not only identify, but also measure methane surging from a major blowout at an Ohio natural gas well last year. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the results mark a breakthrough for a burgeoning technology and the growing list of public, private and non-profit ventures aiming to use satellites to track and reduce otherwise-invisible methane emissions from the oil and gas and other industries worldwide.

Readings were taken by the TROPOMI instrument, launched by the European Space Agency just a few months before the event. It is the first time methane from an oil or gas incident has been both detected and quantified using satellite data gathered during a routine global survey.

"Methane emissions are a huge contributor to climate change. But source locations are often unpredictable and can occur in out-of-the-way places all over the globe. These new results show the opportunity for satellites to help see and quantify emissions no matter where they are," said report co-author Dr. Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. "Regular, widespread data like this offers an invaluable tool for industry and public officials alike to understand problems and identify effective solutions." 

Along with EDF's Dr. Ritesh Gautam, the other co-authors include scientists from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and Utrecht University.

Hamburg is also the project co-lead for the EDF subsidiary MethaneSAT, which is scheduled to launch a new satellite of its own in 2022 that will measure methane from oil and gas regions across the globe weekly, identifying and quantifying smaller emission events and more widely dispersed sources not discernable with current technology.

Surprise explosion and an emissions mystery

On Feb. 15, 2018, an explosion occurred at a new well in Belmont County, Ohio. The blowout led to the uncontrolled release of natural gas (which is mostly methane) for the next 20 days. While operators and officials knew at the time that it was a major incident, the actual volume of gas released was not directly measured. 

On first learning of the situation, Dr. Gautam asked the Dutch SRON TROPOMI team headed by Dr. Ilse Aben at SRON whether their newly commissioned system might have captured it. TROPOMI data gathered on Feb. 27, the 13th day of the event, showed that the damaged well was pumping out approximately 120 tons of methane per hour, which is twice the peak emission rate of the widely-reported Aliso Canyon event in California in 2015.

Assuming the observed rate reflected an average for the 20-day period, total emissions from the Ohio event would have totaled about 60,000 tons. That figure is comparable to one-quarter of the entire state of Ohio's reported annual oil and gas methane emissions.

Spotlighting a valuable tool

Successful quantification of the Ohio blowout demonstrates the growing opportunity for satellite remote sensing to provide robust and regular accounting of methane emissions worldwide. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, human-made methane emissions of which are responsible for more than a quarter of the warming we're experiencing today. Because they have historically been difficult to measure, methane emissions are often underreported.

For example, a five-year series of studies organized by EDF recently concluded that emissions from the U.S. oil and gas sector were a full sixty percent higher than EPA estimates. Research has also shown that large, unpredictable events — referred to in the literature as "super-emitters," of which the Ohio incident was an extreme case — are responsible for a disproportionate share of total oil and gas methane emissions. But these emissions have generally not been included in EPA inventories.

These factors underscore the importance of regular, widespread monitoring and measurement, and explain the rapidly growing interest in space-based instruments, which have the potential to provide comprehensive estimates of methane emissions, how much and where. 

"TROPOMI is part of an emerging ecosystem of methane-tracking satellites that will offer a growing range of specialized capabilities. Together, these systems are going to play a crucial role as companies, countries and stakeholders work to cut emissions of this potent greenhouse gas," EDF's Gautam said.
 

(MADRID – Dec. 15, 2019) After a fortnight marked by rancor and disappointment but little progress, countries left the UN climate talks in Madrid having failed to reach agreement on major issues including guidance for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which relates to international cooperation among countries through carbon markets. Importantly, the lack of a decision does not prevent countries from cooperating through markets or international trading, or from using market-based policies to meet their national targets. Indeed, the Paris Agreement itself acknowledges that countries may use international emission transfers to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In the closing plenary, several countries acknowledged their intention to continue with international cooperation through carbon markets, even in the absence of agreement at COP 25. Carbon markets provide a critical tool for countries to enhance ambition: Economic analysis by EDF shows that carbon markets could achieve nearly double the emissions reductions that countries have committed to so far under the Paris agreement, at no extra cost.

“COP 25 showed that the yawning gap between what citizens are demanding on climate action, and what UN negotiations are delivering, is wider than ever. Carbon markets can help fill that gap by promoting international cooperation that allows countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster and deeper than they can on their own.

“But after negotiators failed a second year in a row to agree on guidance for markets, it’s time to move on. Countries that are serious about using carbon markets to increase ambition should move forward to set their own strong rules for high-integrity international emissions trading. Such a coalition of carbon markets could pave the way for faster, deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. There’s no need to wait for the UN—and no time to waste.

“The spotlight now shifts to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which will cap emissions from international flights beginning in 2021 via the first carbon market for a major global sector (known as CORSIA). As with any market, getting the rules right will be critical to success. In March, ICAO’s Technical Advisory Board will make final recommendations to the ICAO Council on which offset programs should be eligible for use by airlines to meet their obligations under CORSIA. With the COP having failed to allow CDM credits to be used for the Paris Agreement—or for any other compliance purpose—ICAO should follow suit.”

(TRENTON, NJ) Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia today announced their commitment to develop an action plan that will put hundreds of thousands more zero-emission trucks and buses onto their roads. This statement of intent was facilitated by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a multistate organization that will help coordinate with industry and stakeholders to address cost, fueling infrastructure and other barriers in each of the states.  

“Trucks and buses are going electric, and this announcement shows state leaders are dedicated to accelerating that trend. These states should move quickly to develop regulatory programs that support the adoption of zero-emission trucks and buses, which will help reduce rates of asthma, heart attacks and premature deaths diesel-fueled vehicles contribute to in our communities.”

• Mary Barber, Director, Regulatory & Legislative Affairs

(BRUSSELS) The European Commission today published its much-awaited “European Green Deal”. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the package, with support from Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, in a European Parliament plenary and reconfirmed her commitment to make the EU the first climate-neutral continent.

“With the European Green Deal, European Commission President von der Leyen is demonstrating EU leadership on climate ambition, both through the commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 and by proposing to increase the EU’s Paris Agreement target to a 55% reduction below 1990 by 2030. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) will continue to be the EU’s cornerstone policy for delivering on this ambition. We look forward to seeing how these commitments will be implemented as EU law,” said Nathaniel Keohane, EDF Senior Vice President, Climate.

Keohane added, “With the impacts of climate change becoming more apparent by the day, it is critical that other countries come forward to increase their ambition in advance of COP26 in Glasgow next year.”

“On gas, the European Green Deal showed political honesty by focusing on high-impact, actionable priorities where the EU has leverage to curtail climate-damaging emissions. Oil and gas methane emissions is one area where the EU can apply its market power to exert positive change globally, both through methane legislation and diplomacy,” said Poppy Kalesi, EDF Policy Director, Global Energy. “Methane legislation is not just a nice-to-have – it is integral to Europe’s ability to meet its 2030 and 2050 targets and ensure that the Paris Agreement is a success.”

Kalesi added, “Addressing methane is a no brainer for EU policy-makers who want to show that they listened to unprecedented citizen concerns about climate and the Commission should be congratulated on this first step. The ball is now in the Parliament’s and Council’s court to deliver effective policy and legislative action to curb methane emissions all along the EU’s gas supply chain – including oil and gas production, imports, transport and use.”

Methane is 84-87 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first twenty years after release and is responsible for at least 25% of the global warming we experience today, with the oil and gas industry producing about 25% of global anthropogenic methane emissions. The International Energy Agency has said that the industry can achieve a 75% reduction in methane emissions with current technologies – and up to two-thirds are achievable at no net cost.

Environmental organisations and businesses are reinforcing their call for robust accounting rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Sixty-four individual groups and companies representing more than 1 billion workers in 130 countries have signed up to the Katowice Declaration on Sound Carbon Accounting, as negotiators in Madrid grapple with accounting rules for future market-based mechanisms under the Paris Agreement. 

Launched at last year’s UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, the declaration – spearheaded by IETA and Environmental Defense Fund – calls on governments to establish environmentally robust rules for the accounting of emissions reductions. This includes rules surrounding corresponding adjustments and double-counting, which remain contentious at the ongoing negotiations in Madrid. 

Negotiations over market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement have once again been slowed by disagreements over robust accounting provisions. Countries have until Friday to deliver a set of strong guidelines that will underpin the flow of billions of dollars in private finance.

“Without clear, robust rules, investors will be wary of getting involved in the transformative projects that we need to realise the Paris Agreement’s environmental objectives,” says IETA President and CEO Dirk Forrister. “It is vitally important that there is a clear chain of ownership for any asset, and even more so when it comes to something as critical as emissions reductions.” 

He adds: “The Paris Agreement has the potential to unleash billions of dollars of clean investment – but investors need confidence in the rules in order to deploy this capital.”

“As the Madrid climate talks enter the home stretch, companies and groups are resending a message to countries with more urgency: the Paris Agreement rulebook must ensure the environmental integrity of carbon markets and prevent double counting,” said Nathaniel Keohane, Senior Vice President for Climate at Environmental Defense Fund.

“International cooperation is critical for solving the climate crisis, and carbon markets are the key to effective cooperation. Markets can unlock greater ambition by enabling countries and companies to make deeper, faster cuts to climate pollution. But because markets depend on clear rules to work well, countries must provide strong guidance on carbon accounting that clearly prohibits double counting of emissions reductions wherever they occur and however they are used.”

The number of signatories has grown from 40 at last year’s launch to 64 as of 11 December. This reflects growing concern among non-state actors that double counting of emissions reductions could derail the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement.
 

(Washington, D.C. – December 5, 2019) A new report from EPA’s Inspector General found that former agency administrator Scott Pruitt failed to follow legal and public health safeguards when he tried to create a loophole for super-polluting glider trucks.

The long-awaited report was released today.

“The Trump EPA flagrantly and knowingly violated the law as it tried to ram through a loophole to allow more super-polluting “glider” freight trucks onto America’s roads. Their attempts to evade vital clean air protections are a serious threat to public health,” said EDF senior attorney Martha Roberts.

“Meanwhile the Trump White House is still stonewalling efforts to shed light on this problem. They are refusing to release documents about how they short-circuited required analyses – studies that would show the tremendous health harms from this proposed loophole, including harms to children. That evasion is deeply troubling,” Roberts added. “The White House should immediately release those records to the American public.”

Glider trucks are heavy-duty freight trucks that are assembled by putting old, dirty diesel engines into a new freight truck body. EPA testing found they can emit lethal particulate pollution at up to 450 times the amount from modern, Clean Air Act-compliant engines.

Under America’s Clean Truck Standards, engines used in glider trucks must meet modern pollution standards. In 2017, Pruitt tried to repeal pollution standards for glider trucks after a meeting with manufacturer Fitzgerald Glider Kits – which had hosted an event for then-candidate Donald Trump early in his presidential campaign.

Today’s report found that Pruitt tried to fast-track the proposal without following legal requirements and without doing necessary analyses, including a required analysis of potential impact on children’s health.

(Washington, D.C. – December 3, 2019) EPA today finalized a change to the basic definition of air pollution in America’s most important clean air law.

The agency released a document claiming to reinterpret its longstanding definition of “ambient air” in the Clean Air Act. The change would allow more pollution by narrowing the scope of the ambient air that EPA evaluates when determining whether pollution levels exceed national health-based standards.

“EPA is adopting a deeply flawed approach that would ignore harmful levels of air pollution if that pollution occurs within land owned by an industrial source. However, there is no ‘public’ or ‘private’ air. EPA’s action will result in more pollution in the air we breathe,” said EDF attorney Rachel Fullmer.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA establishes national, health-based standards for certain harmful pollutants. In carrying out this duty, EPA assesses pollution levels in the “ambient air,” which for decades the agency has defined as “that portion of the atmosphere, external to buildings, to which the general public has access.” These health-based limits on levels of pollution in the ambient air form the foundation of the Clean Air Act.

EPA is now attempting to upset this longstanding approach by expanding exemptions that would allow an industry to emit more pollution into the outdoors as long as the pollution technically goes into the air at a site it owns, and as long as the source posts warning signs or “deploys other measures.”

The new policy would apply to all types of air pollution – including harmful pollutants like ground-level ozone, the primary component of smog, particulate pollution, which is linked to serious heart and lung diseases and has been increasing in recent years, and greenhouse gases, which cause climate change. The change would also weaken EPA’s ability to monitor and model some of the most dangerous types of air pollution.

EPA did not open a formal public comment period on the change. EPA’s final document was signed on November 22 but just released change to the public this morning.

(WASHINGTON, DC) The bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus today held its first public event, a briefing about agriculture’s role in climate solutions.

“Climate change endangers communities and livelihoods across our country, a fact farmers know all too well after experiencing the wettest year on record. American farmers will play a critical role in addressing this growing crisis.

“Today’s briefing was an important opportunity to ensure lawmakers and their staff heard directly from farmers about conservation practices that can increase climate resilience and the incentives needed to expand these practices at scale.

“We look forward to continuing to work with all members of the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus as we build toward our shared goal of passing meaningful, bipartisan legislation that will reduce climate pollution and create economic opportunity for farmers.”

• Callie Eideberg, Director, Special Projects

(WASHINGTON – Dec. 2, 2019) With climate change increasingly threatening key life support systems of our planet, including the ocean, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today released a new report identifying key priorities for the world’s fisheries to achieve sustainability in the face of rapidly-warming seas.

The report, Pathways for Climate-Ready Fisheries, identifies five key elements necessary to prepare the world’s fisheries to thrive in a climate-impacted future. It details the necessary social, political and economic transitions required in order to avoid, or even reverse, the worst impacts from climate change on the world’s seafood and fishing communities. The report is being released as a discussion draft with an invitation to provide input on the core elements necessary to create a healthier and more resilient ocean.

“Even with the necessary actions to control emissions and investments to reduce carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, changes in the ocean already underway will continue and even accelerate,” said Eric Schwaab, senior vice president for EDF Oceans. “These changes are already fundamentally altering ocean ecosystems, with huge impacts on fishing communities and people worldwide who rely on fish for food, nutrition and livelihoods. But with thoughtful interventions, many of these impacts can be significantly reduced, and in some cases even reversed.”

The five pathways articulated in the report focus on steps that can and must be taken by governments, NGOs, fisher organizations, academia and multilateral organizations in order to create greater resilience and sustainability of fisheries. The pathways include:

1. Ensure effective fishery management and governance is in place.

The first step in addressing the impacts of climate change is to improve existing fisheries management, especially where effective management and governance does not yet exist. Without the establishment of best practices for effective management and governance in partnership with fishermen, very little can be done to address climate change effects.

2. Anticipate and plan for future change.

Looking ahead and planning for the future can help us to avoid problems that may otherwise arise. When we manage forward, we use the best available knowledge about what the future will bring and must ask whether all aspects of our management and governance systems are set up appropriately in the face of future change.

3. Enhance international cooperation.

Because fish stocks will increasingly change in their distribution patterns, in some cases moving from the equator toward the poles in search of more suitable habitat, the geographic scale of fishery management must change as well in order to manage stocks sustainably across their new ranges. This, in turn, will require greater degrees of bilateral and multilateral government cooperation and flexibility.

4. Build ecosystem resilience to help respond to the unknown.

We must take action to elevate the importance of things like genetic and biological diversity, habitat complexity and connectivity and ensuring adequate population sizes of marine species; it also means tackling other ocean impacts, such as from pollution like plastics that threaten ocean health.

5. Principles of fairness and equity must drive policy decisions.

Because it will disproportionately impact fish resources in the developing tropics, climate change promises to exacerbate inequity at the global, national and local levels. And because climate impacts will be felt the hardest by nations that contributed the least to the problem, it will be increasingly important to recognize, address and reverse these inequities across societies. Doing so is the right thing to do, but addressing inequity also helps ensure social cohesion so societies can help one another to adapt.

By engaging in an exchange with other key stakeholders about the report, EDF hopes to spark deeper conversation and action that will be needed to prepare fisheries for the impacts from climate change. This includes the upcoming meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Committee on Fisheries in July 2020, which will bring together fishing nations across the globe to discuss collective action and governance solutions.

“The world depends on fish for vital nutrition, food security, livelihoods and social well-being,” said Douglas Rader, chief oceans scientist for EDF Oceans. “We have a rare window of opportunity to put in place reforms that we know will have lasting impacts on the ability of our ocean to help feed the world, provide good jobs, alleviate poverty and build greater social cohesion.”

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Dec. 2, 2019) In coordination with the start of U.N. climate talks in Madrid (COP25) today, the Bay Area Council launched the California Resilience Challenge, a new $2 million initiative for diverse and replicable climate change resilience projects across the state.

Ann Hayden, a member of EDF’s Western Water team, is serving on an advisory committee for the challenge.

“In California, climate change is not a distant threat. Rather, our state is already experiencing the sometimes-deadly impacts of climate change, in the form of wildfires, drought, floods and sea level rise. Ensuring that our communities are more resilient to these challenges will require more funding, unprecedented collaboration across all sectors and difficult trade-offs.

The California Resilience Challenge is important because it demonstrates the private sector recognizes it, too, has a role to play in investing in efforts that create more climate-resilient communities.

As someone who has worked on California water issues for two decades, I see the California Resilience Challenge as an incredibly timely and important opportunity for communities to make their water systems more resilient to climate change. I am also very hopeful that rural areas across the state will take advantage of this new funding to support disadvantaged communities, including farm workers, who are particularly vulnerable to drought and flooding.”

• Ann Hayden, Senior Director, Western Water and Resilient Landscapes, Environmental Defense Fund