Articles by Grist staff

EPA documents confirm that staff supported California waiver

The U.S. EPA only turned over some documents related to its California waiver decision, but allowed Sen. Barbara Boxer’s aides to take notes on the rest. Excerpts of the unrelinquished material have been released — against the EPA’s wishes — confirming what was suspected: prior to the decision, EPA officials told agency Administrator Stephen Johnson […]

Global warming will reduce U.S. hurricane landfall, says controversial new research

The argument over whether climate change is real has largely subsided — and, as nature abhors a vacuum, another tiff has risen to fill its place. What effect will global warming have on hurricanes? Them’s fightin’ words! Various studies have suggested that climate change will increase hurricane frequency and intensity, but new research by the […]

United States scores badly in world environmental assessment

The United States ranked poorly in a recent international environmental assessment, coming in 39th out of 149 countries. Nations were ranked according to their performance in key categories, including agriculture policies, air pollution, sanitation, greenhouse-gas emissions, and more. Countries in Europe scored well as a whole; seven of the top 10 nations were European: Switzerland, […]

European Union unveils detailed plans to cut GHG emissions

European Union leaders today unveiled detailed draft plans to reduce E.U.-wide emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The plans would require utilities to buy all of their greenhouse-gas emissions permits beginning in 2013, as opposed to the current practice of allocating nearly all of them for free, which companies can then sell at […]