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With primary school children returning to classrooms this week, EDF research warns that thousands of children are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution because their schools are located close to a major road.

This blog post was authored by Pedro Piris-Cabezas, Director of Sustainable International Transport & Lead Senior Economist at Environmental Defense Fund, and Anna Stratton, Consultant This month, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nation’s aviation agency, is holding its 222nd Council meeting. On the agenda: an opportunity for ICAO Council to signal its commitment …

New report by EDF finds that air pollution standards that ensure all heavy-duty trucks and buses sold for community use are zero-emitting by 2040.

The pace of vehicle electrification continues to pick up steam. The latest company to make a big splash is FedEx — the delivery behemoth with more than 80,000 vehicles in its fleet. The company announced its pickup and delivery fleet will include only zero-emission vehicles by 2040. This is an important step forward, not just …

Here are three key takeaways from how the Hays Trinity district is proactively managing groundwater to protect its long-term viability and landowners’ rights to groundwater. The post 3 lessons from a Texas groundwater district on managing during drought first appeared on Growing Returns.

This blog post was co-authored with Nat Keohane, Senior Vice President for Climate at EDF. Now that the United States is officially back in the Paris Agreement, after four years of climate inaction and denial, all eyes are on the Biden administration to see whether it will meet the moment by putting forward a new emissions …

A range of analyses show that a bold new commitment to the Paris Agreement that cuts emissions at least 50% by 2030 can be met, putting the country on a path to net zero.

On February 19, the U.S. officially reentered the Paris Agreement after being on the sidelines for four years. Even with the federal government beginning to restore and strengthen climate leadership, states still have a critical role to play in putting climate action points on the board. Oregon’s recently launched Climate Protection Program has the potential …

Today House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Subcommittee Chairs Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced an updated version of the CLEAN Future Act.

Last year, a collection of 15 states and Washington D.C. committed to transitioning to zero-emission trucks and buses via a multi-state memorandum of understanding. This year will be a critical year for the effort, as these states begin to pinpoint the suite of policies needed to foster this transition in an equitable, maximally beneficial way.

This post was co-authored with Kjellen Belcher, Senior Analyst, U.S. Climate Policy at EDF. The Washington Legislature has just advanced ambitious climate policy that would make the state the second in the nation to place an enforceable, declining limit on climate pollution from the largest-emitting sectors of its economy. This is a fundamental step toward …

By Colin Leyden and John Hall The aftermath of the storm we just endured will linger a lot longer than the average Texas winter. At least 80 people died. Millions of families lost power and water service as broad swaths of our critical infrastructure froze up. Families, businesses and cities are still tallying the damage,

Every pre-COVID school day, approximately 480,000 school buses carry more than 25 million children to school across the United States. Most of them run on diesel fuel and spew pollution that causes cancer, triggers asthma attacks and makes climate change worse. Indeed, of the over 40,000 school buses registered in the U.S. in 2019, only …

EDF Statement from Elizabeth Gore, Senior Vice President, Political Affairs

By proactively investing in natural infrastructure and conservation priorities, Congress can begin to build protections for the coastal ecosystems that help protect communities, while creating jobs and reducing the costs of future disasters. The post 3 actions Congress can take now to build more resilient coasts first appeared on Growing Returns.

Last year tied for the hottest year on record. Increasing heat and flood risks from climate change, the result of historical and ongoing emissions of heat-trapping gases, threaten infrastructure, agriculture, and public health throughout Pennsylvania. The federal government, Wall Street, and Americans across the country have awakened to the challenge of climate change and are …

Action will carry forward vital work to develop a comprehensive, mandatory framework to produce useful climate-related disclosure.

EDF Statement from Elizabeth Gore, Senior Vice President, Political Affairs

Sam Lovell, Project Manager. Across the country, over 9 million homes still get their water through a lead pipe, called a lead service line (LSL). Fully replacing LSLs poses a myriad of challenges – cost chief amongst them – but replacement is critical to protecting the public from the harms posed by lead exposure. It …

More than 50 advocacy organizations today called on leaders in Congress to make significant investments to accelerate the transition to a just 100% clean economy as part of an economic recovery

Local government, environmental groups, and industry collaboration led the way

EDF's N-Visible framework represents a significant advancement in the science of quantifying environmental outcomes from agriculture.

As stakeholder demand for climate leadership surges and as the business benefits of climate action become clear, executives are increasingly embracing net zero by 2050 as the new business imperative. This means setting net zero by 2050 goals, and turning these pledges into progress. As the Transform to Net Zero initiative stated in its position …

McDonald’s and Environmental Defense Fund’s collaboration began three decades ago, when we partnered in an effort to reduce solid waste from the company’s restaurants. The results? Over the next decade, McDonald’s eliminated more than 300 million pounds of packaging (including the polystyrene clamshells), recycled 1 million tons of corrugated boxes and reduced restaurant waste by 30%, while …

The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) might not be a household name, but electricity customers across Texas have plenty of reason to be thankful for its latest actions. Recently, the PUC has made some key decisions to protect Texas’ competitive electricity markets and make sure all Texans have access to affordable and clean electric energy.