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Articles by Peter Frumhoff
How Stopping Alaskan Wildfires Can Slow Climate Change
In the carbon-rich boreal forests that extend across the globe just below the Arctic Circle, a vicious climate-wildfire cycle is playing out, one that poses both an accelerating climate threat and an unrealized opportunity to stanch a large and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Consider Alaska. This summer, wildfires spread across the state’s forests at a historic—and terrible—pace.
That ‘Obama Scientist’ Climate Skeptic You’ve Been Hearing About ...
If you’d heard only that a scientist who served in the Trump administration and now regularly appears on Fox News and other conservative media thinks climate change is a hoax, you’d roll your eyes and move on. But if you heard that someone associated with former President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration was calling the climate science consensus a conspiracy, the novelty of the messenger might make you take it a little more seriously.
BP and Shell Must Leave the American Petroleum Institute: Here’s Why
Peter Frumhoff, director of science & policy | February 11, 2021, 11:48 am EST For decades, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has been a powerful force against US action on climate change. Representing the interests of its oil and gas company members, API has a long and ugly history of spreading disinformation on climate science and lobbying heavily to oppose any limits on climate pollution from burning fossil fuels.
Is BP Finally Committing to Ambitious Climate Action-or About to Fool Us Twice? Five Things to Look For in Its Climate Strategy
As big oil and gas companies feel the intensifying heat from shareholders, lawsuits and divestment campaigns to take responsibility for their outsized contributions to climate change, several European oil and gas giants including BP and Shell are making high-profile announcements of their intent to begin aligning their business models with core implications of climate science—that swift and deep reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are needed to keep global...
Is BP Finally Committing to Ambitious Climate Action - or About to Fool Us Twice? Five Things to Look For in Its Climate Strategy
Peter Frumhoff, director of science & policy | September 11, 2020, 2:11 pm EDT As big oil and gas companies feel the intensifying heat from shareholders, lawsuits and divestment campaigns to take responsibility for their outsized contributions to climate change, several European oil and gas giants including BP and Shell are making high-profile announcements of their intent to begin aligning their business models with core implications of climate science—that swift and deep reductions in...
Global Warming Fact: More than Half of All Industrial CO2 Pollution Has Been Emitted Since 1988
Peter Frumhoff, director of science & policy | December 15, 2014, 1:14 pm EST By the end of this year, more than half of all industrial emissions of carbon dioxide since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution will have been released since 1988 — the year it became widely known that these emissions are warming the climate. I recently learned this startling fact from my colleague Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute.
How Big Oil could walk the talk on climate change
Get your daily dose of good news from Grist Subscribe to The Beacon This story was originally published by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Imagine Rip Van Winkle as a climate-conscious investor. If Rip had fallen asleep after the Paris climate agreement was drafted in 2015 and woken up today, he might conclude that the fossil fuel industry is rapidly transforming itself to prepare for a carbon-constrained world.
Hypersonic weapons have some explaining to do
The first test flight of the US Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, 2011. Photo credit US Army. Interest in hypersonic weapons is taking off. The United States has for decades supported a modest research effort in such weapons, but now, spurred along by Russia and China, it’s ramping up efforts.
Fossil fuel companies claim they’re helping fight climate change. The reality is different.
Imagine Rip Van Winkle as a climate-conscious investor. If Rip had fallen asleep after the Paris climate agreement was drafted in 2015 and woken up today, he might conclude that the fossil fuel industry is rapidly transforming itself to prepare for a carbon-constrained world.
Who Breathes the Dirtiest Air from Vehicles in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic?
Most people know that cars, trucks, and buses from our highways and city streets are a significant source of air pollution. While pollution from transportation impacts all communities in the region to some degree, the people who face the greatest exposure to transportation pollution are those who live near highways, along major freight corridors, and in urban areas.
The Masked Syndrome: HIV, Health Disparities, and the Two-Pronged Approach
Maral Aghvinian, Ph.D. student, Fordham University, UCS Science Network, UCS | June 25, 2019, 2:47 pm EDT This post is a part of a series on Science For Justice “I have to tell you something” he said to my father on the phone. My father could sense immediately the conversation would be pivotal. “Cancer?” my father asked, to which he quietly responded, “Much worse.” He was my mother’s uncle; he was hilarious, hardworking, and passionate.
With New Power Plant Rule, Trump Administration Plumbs the Depths of the Indefensible
Julie McNamara, Senior Energy analyst | June 24, 2019, 4:33 pm EDT The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the final version of its “Affordable Clean Energy” (ACE) rule, a carbon emissions standard for fossil fuel-fired power plants. And it does nothing. Nothing. It does nothing despite the agency’s legal obligation to limit carbon pollution from the power sector, the nation’s largest stationary source of global warming emissions.
Scientists Find Serious Flaws in Proposal to Delist Endangered Gray Wolf
Jacob Carter, Research scientist | June 24, 2019, 10:30 am EDT According to a five-member peer-review panel, the administration’s proposal to delist the endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is chalk full of scientific errors that misrepresent the scientific consensus regarding wolf conservation and taxonomy.
ExxonMobil Execs Care More About Dodging Responsibility for Climate Damages Than Preventing More Harm
Dr. Rick Hammer, Associate Professor Biology, Hardin-Simmons University, UCS Science Network, UCS | June 24, 2019, 10:40 am EDT I had the privilege of attending the ExxonMobil annual shareholders’ meeting on May 29th in Dallas, Texas. As a scientist focused on urban ecology and biodiversity in the context of the sustainability of urban greenspaces in my home state of Texas, I attended the meeting with a question for ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods.
Yale Poll Finds Majority of Americans Think ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Other Fossil Fuel Companies Should Pay for Climate Change Damage
Peter Frumhoff, director of science & policy | June 19, 2019, 9:28 am EDT Communities face growing costs from climate change-fueled extreme weather and rising seas, and they need to prepare for further, now unavoidable, impacts. Who is going to pay these costs?
Urgent Climate Action Could Prevent Many Heat-Related Deaths
Extreme hot temperatures will kill thousands in major U.S. cities unless new policies manage to limit warming Credit: Getty Images Record-setting heat waves in the southeastern United States over the past few weeks offer a sobering reminder that extreme heat is on the rise. Since the 1960s, U.S. cities have experienced more frequent and longer periods of extreme heat.
The climate policy narrative for a dangerously warming world
It is time to acknowledge that global average temperatures are likely to rise above the 2 °C policy target and consider how that deeply troubling prospect should affect priorities for communicating and managing the risks of a dangerously warming climate. Access optionsAccess options Subscribe to Journal Get full journal access for 1 year $213.00 only $17.75 per issue All prices are NET prices. VAT will be added later in the checkout.
Half a Degree of Warming Could be the Difference Between Survival and Extinction for Many Species
As a conservationist who has been ringing the alarm bells on climate change threats to biodiversity for more than 25 years, I hardly know where to start in responding to the findings of the newest, and most alarming, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the impacts of a 1.5°Celsius global warming. I’m not surprised that the IPPC delivers more bad news after reviewing more than 6,000 recent scientific reports, but I am surprised by just how bad the news is.
The IPCC Gets Real about the 1.5°C Target
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), provides a stark profile of the disruptive climate futures we face with rising temperatures and the ‘rapid and far-reaching’ transitions across major sectors of the global economy that are now needed if warming is to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Towards legitimacy of the solar geoengineering research enterprise
AbstractMounting evidence that even aggressive reductions in net emissions of greenhouse gases will be insufficient to limit global climate risks is increasing calls for atmospheric experiments to better understand the risks and implications of also deploying solar geoengineering technologies to reflect sunlight and rapidly lower surface temperatures. But solar geoengineering research itself poses significant environmental and geopolitical risks.
Should oil companies pay for climate change? Yes, there is evidence
Should oil companies pay for climate change? Yes, there is evidence On Wednesday, a federal judge will hold a “climate science tutorial” as part of San Francisco’s and Oakland’s nuisance cases against five oil giants for damages related to sea level rise.
Got Climate Questions, Administrator Pruitt? Ask the US National Academy of Sciences
Scott Pruitt, the Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, appears to need some help in understanding the scientific evidence of human-caused climate change.
Fighting Back Against Trump’s Illegal “Two for One Rule”
In the aftermath of President Trump’s disgraceful decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, we are fighting back today against another presidential order that will do great damage. The Union of Concerned Scientists filed a friend of the court (“amicus”) brief in a case brought by Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Citizen and the Communications Workers of America, challenging the so-called “two-for-one” executive order.
While You Weren’t Looking, Energy Efficiency Became One of Our Nation’s Top Energy Resources
Here’s a fact I bet you didn’t know: in 2015, energy efficiency saved more electricity than was produced by every type of electricity resource in our country but for coal and natural gas. Hydro, renewables, even nuclear—energy efficiency saved more than each of them produced. That is incredible. It also means that energy efficiency came through as the third-largest electricity resource in the United States that year.
Coal’s Days Are Numbered-So Where Will the Electrons Come From?
The last big coal plant in New England is gone, New Jersey’s biggest utility is done with coal generation, and Florida’s largest electric utility is retiring yet another coal plant. These are more solid signposts on the way to our clean energy future… if we get this right. But as coal exits, what’s taking its place? A spate of recent energy headlines make clear that, despite President Trump’s stunning abdication of climate and energy leadership, coal is on its way out.
Is Researching Oceans Worth the Cost? Oregon’s Example Says Yes!
As an active research scientist working on climate change impacts on organisms of economic importance, it is easy to feel discouraged and frustrated by the politicization of science. Given how hard most of us actually work, and how much more money we could make elsewhere for less effort, it is easy to be frustrated by the criticism and attacks on climate science, particularly for early career scientists.
President Trump, Paris and ExxonMobil
It is remarkable what you can achieve when you set the bar really low. By announcing his plan to withdraw the United States from participation in the Paris climate accord, shamefully reneging on our nation’s commitment to join with the world community of nations in fighting climate change, President Trump accomplished the striking feat of making appear virtuous and responsible almost every other major entity whose actions have contributed mightily to the problem. That’s right.
On Bioenergy, Budgets, and Why Legislating Scientific Facts Is Never a Good Idea
Mandating that there are no net carbon emissions from burning forest biomass to produce energy does not make it so in fact. Mandating that there are no net carbon emissions from burning forest biomass to produce energy does not make it so in fact. Photo: Marcus Kauffman/Flickr We need members of Congress to resist the Trump administration’s call for deep cuts to federal science and science-based environmental and public health protections in its proposed FY18 budget.
The House Science Committee’s Shameful Climate Sideshow
Under the misguided chairmanship of serial climate science denier Lamar Smith (R-TX), the House Science Committee we have is, sadly, not the House Science Committee we need. Under the misguided chairmanship of serial climate science denier Lamar Smith (R-TX), the House Science Committee we have is, sadly, not the House Science Committee we need.
UCS Founder Kurt Gottfried Wins AAAS Award
Kurt Gottfried, a founder of UCS in 1969 and a guiding spirit and intellect since then, has won the prestigious 2017 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award given by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award, which recognizes Kurt’s lifetime of dedication and achievements.
Love Local Food? Here’s a Promising Way to Protect the Local Land that Grows It
Does your heart beet for farmer’s markets? Do you carrot all about protecting the soil? This Valentine’s Day, lettuce dive deeper into a promising solution for simultaneously protecting land for local food production, ensuring more sustainable agriculture, and creating opportunities for beginning farmers: land trusts. Agriculture puns aside, land trusts are nonprofit organizations designed to protect land in perpetuity.
How to Ensure Self-Driving Vehicles Don’t Ruin Everything
Zipcar’s former CEO has cast the self-driving future as a “heaven or hell” scenario, and she has a point. Self-driving cars could save lives, smooth traffic congestion, expand access to jobs or schools—especially for people who can’t drive themselves today—and reduce the number of vehicles on our roads.
Standing Up to Pernicious New Attacks on Federal Climate Scientists
The time-tested climate denial strategy of attacking the reputations of prominent climate scientists in order to sow doubt about the evidence and risks of climate change is being trotted out again. Exhibit A: The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, has published a screed by David Rose alleging serious scientific misconduct by Dr. Tom Karl, a leading climate scientist recently retired from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
How the Trump Administration and Congress Should Use Science to Govern
The election of Donald Trump raises many questions about the future role of science and evidence in policy making. Many of us are deeply troubled that some transition team members, senior administration officials and people nominated to head up federal agencies have a history of attacking scientists and misrepresenting science.
Why the American Geophysical Union Should Reject Corporate Sponsorship from ExxonMobil
Faced with important choices about maintaining and enhancing revenue in an era of tight budgets, the Board of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)–the world’s largest society of earth and space scientists–established last year an organizational support policy to guide decision-making about the society’s relationship with potential partners.
The Heat is on Fossil Fuel Companies for Decades of Climate Deception
As I pointed out in a recent blog, my colleagues and I at the Union of Concerned Scientists have been researching and calling attention to climate disinformation by leading fossil fuel companies for nearly a decade. A more detailed timeline of our work is available on our website.
Farewell to Edward L. Miles (1939-2016): Friend, Colleague, Force for Science-based Policy
I was saddened this week to learn of the passing of the remarkable Ed Miles, who died on May 7 at his home in Seattle, Washington. I first came to know Ed in the late 1990s, when we were both developing early regional assessments of climate change impacts in the western United States.
Scientists, Legal Scholars Brief State Prosecutors on Fossil Fuel Companies’ Climate Accountability
Efforts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their contributions to climate change have gained both momentum and traction as attorneys general in Massachusetts and the US Virgin Islands recently joined their counterparts in New York and California in investigating whether ExxonMobil violated state laws by denying or distorting the climate risks of their products to investors and the public.
Why Climate Finance Matters to Real People
We humans are used to the climate of the places where we live, regardless of how extreme they may be. I witnessed this first-hand during my time in Churchill with Polar Bears International, just a few weeks before COP21. While we were there to track the bears, I found that locals were waiting just as impatiently for the water to freeze and snow to fall, so they could head out to their cabins and trap lines. For all who live in the Arctic, life begins in the winter.
Inner Resilience: Connecting Heart, Mind and Faith
Storm surges flooding a low-lying Pacific island; Arctic villages toppling on the edge of an eroded coastline; relentless downpours destroying homes and livelihoods in India—wherever we live, whatever our values, culture, or politics, climate change impacts intensify the need for resilience. Supporting resilience and adaptation of human communities and ecosystems is an important focus of the climate talks.
Energy, Climate Experts Call on Presidential Candidates to Lay Out Their Plans for Clean Energy Leadership
I’m writing from the Paris climate negotiations to share with you some exciting news: Today, 74 of our nation’s leading clean energy and climate experts have released a letter urging U.S. presidential candidates to “endorse and build upon the U.S. commitments at the international climate Conference of the Parties (COP21)” and “put our nation on a path to a vibrant economy free of carbon pollution by mid-century.” Signers of the letter include Nobel Laureate and former Secretary of Energy...
Holding the Fossil Fuel Industry Accountable: What We’ve Done and Must Do in the Wake of Paris
As we celebrate the landmark Paris Agreement and the momentum it creates for accelerating the pace of clean energy adoption and climate preparedness in the U.S. and internationally, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) will also keep working to ensure that the fossil fuel industry does not stand in the way of needed progress.
Exxon’s Early Knowledge of Climate Risks, Their Long Campaign of Climate Deception and Why It Matters
Internal Exxon memos recently brought to light through meticulous investigative reporting by Inside Climate News (ICN) show that senior company executives knew by 1978 that emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels posed significant risks of disrupting the climate.
Fossil Fuel Firms Are Still Bankrolling Climate Denial Lobby Groups
BP has withdrawn support to ALEC, a group known for misrepresenting climate science, but appearances can be deceptive. Oil, gas and coal companies remain firmly behind climate disinformation campaigns. The oil giant BP has announced that they will no longer fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a lobbying group that routinely misrepresents climate science to U.S. state legislators.
Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth: The NAS Weighs Controversial Measures in New Report
The president’s science advisor John P. Holdren has often observed that humanity has three basic options for dealing with climate change: Mitigation (reducing heat-trapping emissions), adaptation (coping with unavoidable impacts of climate change), and suffering. The more swiftly we both mitigate and adapt, the less suffering we endure and impose on future generations. Suppose, however, that we falter and temperatures continue to rise to dangerous levels.
Tropical Forests and Climate Policy
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