World Bank: Russia returns to growth next year
Russia’s economy will continue facing pressure from lower crude oil prices and sanctions, though growth returns by next year, the World Bank said Wednesday. The World Bank said a recession in Russia is expected to eat away at progress meant to equalize the distribution of wealth in the country, with the poverty rate expected to increase nearly a full percentage point to 14.2 percent this year. If its forecast is accurate, the World Bank said that would erase nearly 10 years of progress. Andras Horvai, the World Bank’s director for Russia, said long-term growth depends on how well the Kremlin can bolster investor confidence with appropriate reforms. “Administrative barriers to doing business, […]
The Inequality Sweepstakes
62 billionaires now have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the global population, while the richest 1% own more than the other 99% combined. In 2010, it took 388 of the super-rich to equal the holdings of that bottom 50%.
As Coal Use Drops, Investors Blow Nearly $1 Trillion Globally on Unnecessary New Plants
$1 trillion could provide electricity from renewable energy to 1.2 billion people, but it was funneled into coal projects instead. "In terms of climate safety, the clock is ticking on the transition to clean energy. There is no time to waste."
Scotland Is Coal-Free
5 million people aim to have enough renewable energy to power 100% by 2020. Renewable electricity output has more than doubled since 2007 from onshore and offshore wind, which has established Scotland as a renewable energy leader in the region. Scotland’s largest wind farm is also the largest in the UK.
WHO BATS LAST?
That’s why last month’s Harvard study came as such a shock. It used satellite data from across the country over a span of more than a decade to demonstrate that US methane emissions had spiked 30 percent since 2002. The EPA had been insisting throughout that period that methane emissions were actually falling, but it was clearly wrong—on a massive scale. In fact, emissions “are substantially higher than we’ve understood,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted in early March.
THE NATION
Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry
Our leaders thought fracking would save our climate. They were wrong. Very wrong.
Global warming is, in the end, not about the noisy political battles here on the planet’s surface. It actually happens in constant, silent interactions in the atmosphere, where the molecular structure of certain gases traps heat that would otherwise radiate back out to space. If you get the chemistry wrong, it doesn’t matter how many landmark climate agreements you sign or how many speeches you give. And it appears the United States may have gotten the chemistry wrong. Really wrong.
There’s one greenhouse gas everyone knows about: carbon dioxide, which is what you get when you burn fossil fuels. We talk about a “price on carbon” or argue about a carbon tax; our leaders boast about modest “carbon reductions.” But in the last few weeks, CO2’s nasty little brother has gotten some serious press. Meet methane, otherwise known as CH4 .
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