Dr. Kim's Deadly New Coal Plant?

That's a headline I never imagined I'd write. Those who follow the World Bank have grown painfully accustomed to ample rhetoric followed by limited results. It's par for the course. But even the most cynical and hardened rejoiced at the thought of a public health champion at the helm of this notoriously recalcitrant institution. But far from steering this ship in the right direction, World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim is on the verge of overseeing his first deadly new coal plant.

Dr. Kim's new coal plant is a highly controversial project planned in Kosovo which has been described by Kim as a nightmare scenario where Kosovars are 'freezing to death' because they lack energy. Dr. Kim used those words to justify a painful trade off - a highly polluting new coal plant in a country where 835 people die from coal every year. Yes another coal plant that will kill people is needed to avoid more death by freezing. Is this the kind of tradeoff a pre-World Bank Dr. Kim would have accepted?

Indian Coal Plant Standards are Four to 20 Times Deadlier Than China's

In March of 2013, Conservation Action Trust, Greenpeace India, and Urban Emissions revealed a shocking death toll from coal-fired power plants in India. They found that 80,000 to 115,000 people die every year from air pollution caused by coal plants. Their report thrust the 'silent killer' into the spotlight. With numbers as high as those, the groups were curious to figure out why coal was killing so many Indians. They commissioned a subsequent analysis (see analysis here) comparing Indian power plant air emissions standards with those of China and Japan. It turns out the reason is somewhat obvious and perhaps even more shocking: Indian standards are anywhere between four and twenty times worse than those in China.

That's right, China - home to the "airpocalypse" and 1.2 million deaths from air pollution - has stronger coal plant pollution standards than India.

But just how bad are India's standards? Glad you asked, because you'd be shocked to know they are quite literally off the charts (Check out the comparison below). That's because India doesn't even have standards for sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides - both of which lead to deadly Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 pollution (A quick note: The charts below use 'nominal' figures to show what emissions from an uncontrolled coal plant might look like).

To help you understand why these standards are so important in controlling pollution, it's important to distinguish between technology-based and health-based standards. Many countries employ a multi-tiered approach to managing air pollution using a mix of both technology-based requirements and health based limitations. The technology based requirements affect coal plants and are those that are described above.

Kazakhstan: From Coal to Clean Energy?

Why is Kazakhstan, one of the world’s major oil producing countries, with 3 percent of recoverable oil reserves within its borders and an energy sector dominated by coal, going green? Because it makes economic sense, it is good for growth, it will create jobs, and it will reduce carbon emissions.

In 2008, the United Nations Development Program found that coal-fired power made up the majority of Kazakhstan’s energy sector, but just five years later the country is prepared to make a seismic shift. Last week, President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced a program to devote 1 percent of the country’s GDP towards slashing coal's share of the energy portfolio from 80 percent to less than 50 percent by 2030, replacing it with wind, sun and hydropower. This effort will not only help preserve Kazakhstan’s environment and conserve its resources, but also use Kazakhstan’s geographic location between Europe and Asia to position the nation as an international environmental and trade leader. By leading the green revolution, Kazakhstan can grow its GDP by 3 percent annually through 2050 and add 600,000 new jobs.

U.S. Coal Exports Causing Deaths in Europe

Increasing coal burning in Europe caused 2,000 additional premature deaths, with exports from the U.S. accounting for two thirds of that increase.

Coal-fired power plants are silent killers. Hour after hour these plants fill the air with toxic pollutants, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium and tiny sulphate and nitrate particles that go deep into people's lungs and bloodstream. These emissions caused 22,000 premature deaths in the European Union in 2010, through strokes, heart attacks, lung cancer and other diseases, as estimated in a new report from Greenpeace, based on research by the University of Stuttgart.

The EU has seen a problematic short term rise in coal burn over the past three years (though the long term trend is down, down, down). New statistics from BP place the increase at 11% with imports increasing a whopping 26%. One of the biggest sources of those deadly coal imports was the U.S., whose exports to the EU almost doubled. In fact the U.S. accounted for 65 percent of Europe's increased coal consumption. Which means, according to Greenpeace modeling results, 65 percent of the 2,000 premature deaths in the EU were caused by U.S. coal exporters. Not exactly an export to be proud of.

Mr. Froman: Let's Make the U.S. Trade Agenda Truly Fair

Michael Froman's confirmation hearing for United States Trade Representative before the Senate Finance Committee. (Photo: Dan Byrnes, Sierra Club)

At his confirmation hearing last week, Michael Froman, President Obama's nominee for United States Trade Representative (USTR), said “. . . and let me be clear, my view is that it is better to accept no [trade] agreement than a bad agreement.”

Later, Mr. Froman said, “Trade policy can only work, however, if it is fair.”

The Sierra Club has had a Responsible Trade program for more than a decade, and we completely agree with both of these statements. In the context of the current model of “free trade” that the USTR is advancing through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and has advanced in recent free trade agreements, however, these statements must be read with an inquisitive eye. What, to Mr. Froman, constitutes a “bad agreement?” And what, to Mr. Froman, is “fair” trade?

To the Sierra Club, the answers to these questions are quite clear.

Fair or responsible trade, for example, lifts up communities; raises the standards of worker rights and environmental protection; ensures that governments have the flexibility to put in place policies that protect the climate, our economy, jobs, our air and water, the safety of our food; and reins in the power of corporations.

Keystone XL: The Iconic Climate Battle

In February 50,000 people marched on the freezing Washington Mall to tell President Obama that he must reject Keystone XL and move forward on climate. Since then, Sierra Club activists and our partners have met President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry at more than 20 events around the nation to repeat the message. Hundreds of people demonstrating the escalating public opposition to Keystone XL – from 200 in Chicago, to 500 in New York City, and 1,000-plus in San Francisco. Just last week hundreds more met President Obama in Palo Alto and Santa Monica, California, and the size and momentum of these events only continues to grow as the decision on the pipeline looms closer.

It’s no accident, certainly no mistake that the fight to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has become the iconic climate issue.

And the attention and controversy we’ve generated in this fight has led to a common question, “Why Keystone XL, what’s the big deal?” Some climate activists who came late to the battle argue that it’s the wrong target. Not so. For those of us who were there at the start of the tar sands campaign seven years ago, Keystone is a brilliant target and a battle that win or lose, we win. Here are ten reasons why this has become a critical battle in the war on climate.

1. Massive. Tar sands are the third largest proven oil reserve in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. If we’re going to avoid a climate disaster, we need to leave three quarters of the proven reserves of oil in the ground. We have to block development of the tar sands along with most of the rest of the proven reserves in the world or we’re cooked.

Sierra Club India: Clean Energy Tower Power

I've written extensively on the opportunities to leverage off-grid mobile phone penetration to support energy access for the poor (here, here, and here). Needless to say, I'm a big supporter and think it's a tactical maneuver that can help win the clean energy war. It turns out my bullish stance is shared by more than just my friends at GSMA. A new report from Saviva Research documents the emergence of a sector and just how close we are to achieving "Tower Power."

Let's start with a quick primer. Tower Power refers to the electricity supply (typically diesel generators) that cell phone towers need to relay mobile signals for wireless communication (our cellphones). These towers are everywhere and they are one of the few pieces of infrastructure in rural parts of the developing world. What excites me is the opportunity to turn Tower Power into "Community Power" by building excess renewable capacity into that system to power surrounding communities. This excess capacity can be sold to local communities via mini-grids, transportable batteries, or by directly charging applications on site. That means that converting Tower Power to clean energy is the necessary first step towards the community power vision. (Just in case you aren't clear what I'm talking about, here's a nifty image from GSMA demonstrating the concept.)

It turns out the stars are aligning to catalyze our first step and make clean Tower Power a reality. It's largely occurring because converting cell phone towers to clean energy (in the developing world at least) is all about saving money. But as the Saviva report makes clear, until that motivation was combined with favorable policy and structural changes in the telecom industry including the emergence of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), TowerCos, and Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs), it simply wasn't happening. An irrational market actor and an imperfect market - imagine that!

Turkish Environmental Activists Protest Park's Demolition, Are Attacked By Police

Photo of a protester and police at Taksim Square from http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/

Shocking photos and video continue to roll in from the heart of Istanbul, Turkey's Taksim Square. In the third day of protests against the government's plan to replace the square's Gezi Park with a shopping center, violence has again erupted. Today the police again attacked the protesters with tear gas and trashed or burnt the tents of nearly 1,000 people that slept there overnight.

"The attack seems to have backfired, triggering more participation in the demonstrations during the day," said Pinar Aksogan of Greenpeace in Turkey. "Gezi Park is a symbol of the resistance against the latest anti-environment currents occurring in the Turkish government. The government is completely disregarding the public's demands, freedom of speech, and the environment in all its projects and investments. The environmentalists condemn the massacre of trees in Gezi Park and the violent action undertaken against the activists who are camping to protect this area."

Here is some footage from Greenpeace in Turkey. You can see photos here.

 
Pinar says protests have grown larger, and so police are now responding with more tear gas and water cannons. Many have been injured, some seriously. She added that the Turkish government is also pushing a new law that will allow the zoning of any forest as a construction zone.

"The laws that ease the massacre of the environment and the violence taking place against those who would protest these crimes against nature are both illegal under the Turkish Constitution's 56th Amendment, which states the environment must be protected," says Pinar.

Photo of protesters and police at Taksim Square from http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/

It's important to note that Turkey is also home to the world's fourth largest coal pipeline. Protests against this massive coal expansion were met with similar violence in the Black sea town of Gerze in April of last year.

From Gerze to Gezi, Greenpeace is calling for international solidarity against this environmental destruction and the violence against the activists protesting it. Offer your support today with a tweet: I stand in solidarity with environmental activists in #Turkey #occupygezi #DirenGeziParki

-- Justin Guay, Sierra Club International

The Chinese Coal Bubble

It seems everywhere you look, the coal industry's 'supercycle' hype fails to match reality. Whether it's in the EU, Japan, or India, shameless propaganda about current and future prospects for rapid unabated growth fall painfully flat. But surely this couldn't also hold true for China, the world's largest consumer of coal? As it turns out, yes, it does. The truth is Chinese coal consumption is peaking, and its plan to build the world's largest coal pipeline is a bubble that may have already burst.

Before we get to the fun stuff, let's start with the scary part. China has nearly singlehandedly driven the dramatic increase in global coal consumption over the past decade. As a result, China now consumes 47 percent of the world's coal.  The worst part it seems, at least on paper, is that this trend is only beginning, as the country is also home to the largest coal plant pipeline in the world. Scary stuff.

But it turns out, as always, there is much more to this story. And, as always, you rarely hear this version.

Our Land, Our Water, Our Future: The Australia Beyond Coal & Gas Conference

Sierra Club Organizing Director Bob Bingaman speaks at the "Australian Our Land, Our Water, Our Future: Beyond Coal and Gas" conference.

If you love this country, fight for it. This will be the biggest social movement this country has ever seen, and it will change this country forever.

That was the message from Drew Hutton, president of the Lock the Gate Alliance, to the nearly 300 attendees at the "Australian Our Land, Our Water, Our Future: Beyond Coal and Gas" conference -- and he would know. Through Lock the Gate, communities across the country are voting to "Lock the Gate" by barricading the way against gas companies attempting to enter their land for exploration. Without exploration, the companies cannot gather the necessary information or obtain the permits to begin drilling.