PROGRAM NEWS AND UPDATES
Analysis of Governor Kate Brown’s Climate Change Executive Order, 20-04
A Positive Direction: Governor Kate Brown’s Executive Order (EO) is breaking with the carbon market-based approach of the past and is instead pursuing a declining cap on Oregon’s emissions on an emergency, science-based timeline. Needs Improvement: The EO’s targets and timetables are neither ambitious nor comprehensive enough. The EO leaves ... Read More
The Portland Model for Climate and Energy Action
Any lingering doubt about whether Portlanders were ready to vote for strong climate and energy action was extinguished on election night when the Portland Clean Energy Initiative (PCEI) garnered a 63% ‘yes’ vote. This grassroots designed and driven measure taxes large retailers to fund clean energy initiatives, energy efficiency, workforce ... Read More
Industry Attack on Portland Fossil Fuel Policy Fails
July 31, 2018 (Portland, Ore.) — Today, a coalition of public interest groups celebrated news that opponents of Portland’s fossil fuel ordinance have failed in their efforts to overturn the City’s landmark law. In 2016, Portland’s City Council voted unanimously to prohibit new fossil fuel infrastructure such as oil and ... Read More
Report: Climate legislation must include Big Timber
Carbon sequestration dead zones are expanding. Clearcutting is Oregon’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Millions of acres of industrial tree plantations present huge public health risks because they are far more susceptible to fires, floods, unhealthy water temperatures and droughts than the natural forests they’ve replaced. But there ... Read More
Forest Carbon Tax and Reward: Creating more jobs and carbon in the woods.
Deforestation, forest degradation, and unsustainable forest practices are major drivers of climate change. Deforestation and other land-use changes have released approximately 150 gigatons of carbon to the atmosphere since 1850, roughly one-fifth of the current atmospheric total. The contributions from forest degradation (i.e. converting real forests into tree plantations) and ... Read More
Fossil Fuel Risk Bonds: Making Polluters Pay for the Climate Crisis
One of the most aggravating aspects of the climate crisis is the fact that fossil fuel companies are passing on huge financial risks to taxpayers and politicians are simply turning their backs on the problem instead of holding those companies accountable. At each stage of the fossil fuel product life ... Read More
New Policy Innovation Would Force Fossil Fuel Companies to Pay for Their Risky Behavior
For Immediate Release June 3, 2016 Press calls: Dr. John Talberth, president and senior economist, CSE: 510-384-5724 (Portland, OR) Hours after an oil train car derailment near the Columbia River in Mosier, OR, with at least one oil tank car on fire, it was too soon to tell how much this accident would ... Read More
Climate Risk Bonds: An Alaska Case Study
On September 21st, 2014, the largest climate march in world history lit up New York’s city streets with colorful protesters. Leading the way of the 400,000-strong marchers were indigenous peoples from around the world, calling on world leaders to take action on climate change. As we argue in our new ... Read More
Keep Trade Subsidies at Home to Pay for Local Economic Development
The Port of Portland recently approved another round of subsidies for Hanjin Shipping and other ocean carriers $20 per container up to $4 million in order to keep the ships coming to our ports. The Port’s decision continues a long, dubious era of free trade policies that have opened new ... Read More
