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Last Monday, Environmental Defense Fund and Texas A&M University unveiled the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI), a robust, data-driven mapping tool built to highlight how drivers of cumulative vulnerability and exposure to climate impacts disadvantage communities across the U.S. Combining 184 sets of data, or “indicators,” to rank more than 70,000 U.S. Census tracts, the CVI …

This informational sheet compares the total cost of ownership among diesel, compressed natural gas, propane and electric school buses. TCO sums all costs of a vehicle over its lifetime, including purchase price, fueling infrastructure, lifetime fuel & maintenance costs.

This paper analyses three groups of policies leading to the decrease in methane emissions in the coal sector: 1) policies stimulating reduction in coal supply/demand, 2) policies stimulating the reduction in methane emissions, and 3) enabling polices and regulatory frameworks.

Florida is at an inflection report in energy affordability and a comprehensive report released today by partner organization Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) sheds light on the urgent need for action.

Statement from Stephanie Jones, Senior Attorney at EDF

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and 16 partner organizations and experts have filed comments to the Office of Management and Budget supporting its proposed guidance for Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benefit-cost Analysis.

Study of nearly 500 company leaders in charge of voluntary carbon credit purchases for their companies finds that buyers across market segments are willing to pay significantly more for credits with demonstrably high quality.

The voluntary carbon market has been in a flurry in the past year to define integrity and quality for carbon credits. Between the recently released Core Carbon Principles from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market, to the Claims Code of Practice from the Voluntary Carbon Market Initiative, we now have more guidance and …

Whitepaper prepared for Environmental Defense Fund by partner organization Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) identifies cost-effective pathways for improving affordability for residents of Florida and outlines key opportunities to advance residential energy efficiency.

Results were released today for Washington’s third quarterly cap-and-invest auction, which was held on August 30th. The results from this sold-out auction continue to demonstrate strong demand for allowances in this program, which has brought in significant revenue for the state of Washington to reinvest in its communities. These results follow on two previous sold-out …

Although Africa has contributed the least to the current climate crisis, it has been among the hardest hit by its impacts. But that's not the continent's only story in the global warming debate: The first Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi will focus on the continent's potential as a centre for climate solutions. It will be a moment to reflect on Africa's home-grown opportunities to lead on climate and further the ambitions of the African Union's Agenda 2063, 'The Africa We Want.

This blog was co-authored by Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California State Director at Environmental Defense Fund. Results of the August Western Climate Initiative auction were released today, and as expected we saw strong demand for allowances. At the same time, California Air Resources Board (CARB) is continuing its series of workshops exploring potential changes to the …

By Elizabeth Arenz Hosbein When I graduated from Harvard Business School with a resume in finance, it was perhaps unexpected that I joined Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading environmental NGO, to spend a fellowship year investigating private equity (PE) from the outside. I had big questions to answer: to what extent are PE firms …

New Zealand is currently reconsidering how its forestry sector can contribute to meeting its long-term climate change targets, and what this means for its emissions trading scheme (NZ ETS). A recent paper from researchers at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research and the Environmental Defense Fund sheds light on New Zealand’s innovative treatment of forestry …

Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) released the results from Washington’s first Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) auction, held on August 9th. At this auction, all 1,054,000 of the available APCR allowances were sold at the two APCR tier prices of $51.90 and $66.68, with 527,000 allowances available at each price tier. This …

This report from EDF and WSP finds that the U.S. market for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, which was turbocharged by passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) one year ago, has continued to race ahead and is not expected to slow down any time soon.

A year since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law, this historic climate legislation has already led to $278 billion in private investment that will support more than 170,000 clean energy jobs across the country. And the work is just getting started. Manufacturing incentives in the law, which encourage companies to build the …

Pennsylvania has a long history of energy production, stretching as far back as the late 1700s. A central role in fossil fuels, however, is rooted in Pennsylvania’s past, not its future. The state is poised to become a leader in our nation’s transition to a clean, resilient zero-pollution economy. Pennsylvania will take an important step …

This blog was authored by Julia Ilhardt, former High Meadows Fellow, Global Climate Cooperation. It was originally published on EDF’s Climate411 blog channel. Read the full post here.  At the end of last year, 196 nations agreed to the historic Global Biodiversity Framework, which includes the goal to protect 30% of land and sea area …

New integrity guidance is shedding light on how companies can make the highest impact investments to complement their sustainability commitments.

This blog was co-authored by Mary Catherine Hanafee LaPlante, Intern, U.S. Climate Policy As the hottest summer on record scorches the state, California leaders are working to tackle the impacts of climate change head-on by strengthening an essential tool in their climate policy toolbox: the state’s cap-and-trade program. Last year, the California Air Resources Board …

This blog was authored by Jordan Faires (Manager at EDF+Business) and Pedro Martins Barata (Associate Vice President for Carbon Markets and Private Sector Decarbonization).  The voluntary carbon market is an essential tool to advance net zero progress. The market can help us channel much-needed finance to drive climate action, conserve vital ecosystems, and support sustainable …

This post was written by EDF’s Ellen Robo One year ago this month, the Inflation Reduction Act put the pedal to the metal for investments in electric vehicle manufacturing – and it shows no sign of letting up. In fact, U.S. EV investments are still growing at a breakneck pace. In March, EDF and WSP …

Data on the financial impacts of climate-smart practices, like cover crops, can help inform farmers’ financial decisions when considering these practices. While cover crops can help improve soil health and make farms more resilient to extreme weather, farmers continue to have questions about the types of financial impacts cover crops will have on their operations.

In 2021, EDF, the University of Minnesota and other partners began a collaborative effort to gather farm-level financial data on cover crops. The project is gathering detailed financial data on cover crops between 2022-2024 from corn, soybean, and other row crop farms across Minnesota. The data and insights from this project may also provide value to federal and local cost-share programs, agricultural lending solutions, and other climate-smart initiatives.