• People

New Study Finds that Men’s Spending Emits More Than Women’s

• emissions
• gender

by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer A new study found that men’s consumer spending causes 16% more emissions than that of women when spending similar sums of money on goods. The study juxtaposed the spending habits of single men and women in Sweden, and found that men were more likely to spend on fuel for […]

• Sustainability

Post-Pandemic Travelers Care About Sustainability, But Won’t Pay More for It

• air travel
• emissions
• sustainability
• travel

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new survey by travel company Virtuoso found that 82% of people say the pandemic has made them want to travel more responsibly in the future and that 72% of people believe that travel should support local communities, preserve cultural heritage, and protect the planet. But another study conducted by The Vacationer […]

• Sustainability

“Super-emitter” Landfills Releasing Massive Amounts Methane 

• emissions
• landfills
• trash

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new study has found that “super-emitter” landfills produce more methane than the fossil fuel or agricultural sectors. The years-long aerial survey performed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the leak-detection firm Scientific Aviation found that these landfills were emitting up to six times more than Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates. […]

• Climate Change

Court Orders Shell to Reduce Emissions in First-of-its-Kind Legal Victory

• climate change
• CO2
• emissions
• Royal Dutch Shell
• Shell

A Dutch court has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to slash its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030, including those from both its operations and the energy products it sells. This is the first time a court has ordered a company to reduce its emissions to achieve climate goals. 

Why This Matters: Despite many oil companies making promises to cut emissions, the world isn’t moving fast enough to meet the goals of the Paris agreement

• Air

Next Stop in the European Union: Expanded Tram Service

• climate change
• emissions
• EU
• light rail
• tram
• transporation

The European Union is angling for climate neutrality by 2050, and in order to hit that target needs to ramp down its transportation emissions by about 90 percent. Trams — or what is known as light rail here in the U.S. — are having a moment as part of that planning. 

Why This Matters: Lowering emissions doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel.

• Climate Change

Study Finds that Nations Under-Measured Global Emissions by 5.5 Billion Tons

• emissions
• greenhouse gas emissions

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer On the heels of President Biden’s Earth Day climate summit, scientists have identified a 5.5-billion-ton discrepancy in global carbon emissions counts. This gap is roughly as large as the annual emissions of the United States and threatens to disrupt carbon emissions reductions goals worldwide. But how did the world’s nations undercount emissions by so […]