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China's 13th Five-Year-Plan on Energy Development (Energy 13FYP) might be one of the most anticipated energy blueprints in the world for its far-reaching implications for the carbon trajectory of the planet's largest emitter. On Jan 5, 2017, the National Energy Administration finally unveiled the plan to reporters, with a set of 2020 targets covering everything from total energy consumption to installed wind energy capacity. Before we delve into details of the plan, one thing is worth noting: with the Energy 13FYP, China might have once again raised ambitions for its low-carbon future, highlighting the urgency that this smog-ridden country attaches to moving away from fossil fuels. This time round, policymakers seem even more determined to squeeze out coal's share in the country's energy mix, lowering its 2020 percentage in primary energy consumption from 62% to 58%. The country is also aiming higher for renewables: installed capacity of wind energy and solar energy should reach "more than 210GW" and "more than 110GW", respectively, by 2020; higher than what was declared at the end of 2014.

"Climate Take Back," as the new mission has been named, is the successor to Mission Zero, the name given to a vision articulated in 1997 that, for most outside the company, seemed audacious at the time: "To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits - by 2020 - and in doing so we will become restorative through the power of influence."

Researchers from Harvard University published a study that analyzes the economic and public health benefits of implementing a U.S. power plant carbon standard similar to the Clean Power Plan. The study estimates that a U.S. power plant carbon standard could bring net benefits close to $38 billion annually.

A Oregon Global Warming Commission report reveals that the state likely will not meet its goal to reduce carbon emissions by 2020 or 2050. Committee members said the increase in carbon emissions is largely due to more Oregon residents driving longer distances and in bigger vehicles.

According to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the levels of carbon dioxide in the air increased by 3 parts per million during 2016, and levels have continued to increase during the first few months of 2017. NOAA scientist Pieter Tans said carbon dioxide levels have risen 100 times faster during the last decade than the during the transition from the last Ice Age.

The Winter X Games in Aspen produces a big carbon footprint, the Aspen Times reports, but Aspen Skiing Company (Skico), which produces the games that ended Sunday, is taking measures to make the annual event more sustainable. Snowmaking is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter. Schendler estimates this accounts for 5 percent of Skico's overall annual GHG emissions. But by replacing older snowmaking guns with more efficient models, Skico is shrinking the event's carbon footprint, the paper reports.

Atmospheric carbon levels have reached 402 parts per million, the highest level in about 800,000 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. "Humans have caused carbon dioxide concentrations to rise 120 ppm since preindustrial times, with over 90% of that in the past century alone," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division

Carbon permit prices slumped 29% in a single day's trading this week, the biggest decline in nearly a year. The move wiped out price gains stemming from the European Union's efforts to address a permit glut, raising fresh questions about the carbon market's potential to reduce greenhouse emissions

The International Energy Agency estimates that to stay within 2 degrees Celsius of atmospheric warming, the global economy will have to avert emitting the carbon from roughly 80 percent of world's proven reserves of fossil fuels. This is called unburnable carbon.

The savings, in both energy and carbon pollution, can be considerable. At the city's St. Mary's recreation center in the South Bronx, where a solar hot water system provides hot water for showers and the pool, the city is saving $39,000 a year on energy and cutting the complex's carbon footprint by 141 tons a year-the equivalent of taking 27 cars off the roads.

Scientists have developed a technique that could pull the mounting carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and transform it into carbon nanofibers, resulting in raw materials for use in anything from sports gear to commercial airliners.

China expects to launch a national carbon market in 2016, drawing together regional pilot projects into a single unified marketplace. The new carbon trading system will be the world's biggest emissions market

The researchers contend in the paper published in the journal Nature that the social cost of carbon on the global economy is actually about $220 for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted, a far cry from the $37 calculated by the U.S. government.

Renewable energy and efficiency strategies are saving America's biggest companies well over $1 billion a year, according to a new report from Ceres and the World Wildlife Fund. Led by UPS, the 53 Fortune 100 companies that report carbon reductions saved $1.1 billion annually and slashed their carbon diozide emissions by the equivalent of 15 coal-fired power plants

Chevrolet is buying up emissions credits linked to 11,000 acres of grasslands in North Dakota. In exchange for payments from Chevrolet, the ranchers who own the land agree not to till their properties, reducing carbon emissions. "The amount of carbon dioxide removed from our atmosphere by Chevrolet's purchase of these credits equals the amount that would be reduced by taking more than 5,000 cars off the road," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Carbon pricing was in the spotlight at the climate talks. Post-Paris, these reports are essential for any business interested in emissions trading, carbon tax and more

China recently pledged to max out its carbon emissions by 2030 -- but some researchers say the country's carbon output might already have peaked. "We're reaching a point in much of China where the cities have been built, the roads have been built, a lot of the demand for cement and steel is essentially slowing," explained energy researcher Joanna Lewis.

Unregulated carbon pollution from aviation is the fastest-growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. In fact, if the entire aviation sector were a country, it would be one of the top 10 carbon-polluting nations on the planet. The good news is that we now have a process in place to curb international aviation's skyrocketing emissions. For the first time ever, the United Nations' civil aviation body agreed last week to put a cap on the emissions for an international sector rather than a country. International aviation already accounts for over 2% of global carbon emissions. But this number will soar as demand for air travel continues to rises. In 2010, the aviation industry carried 2.4 billion passengers; in 2050, the number is forecast to rise to 16 billion.

Ford is developing new foam and plastic car components made from carbon dioxide. It expects the new biomaterials, produced by Novomer and still undergoing testing, will be in Ford production vehicles within the next five years.

Coral reefs around the globe already are facing unprecedented damage due to warmer and more acidic oceans. If carbon dioxide emissions continue to fuel the rise in temperature, the widespread loss of coral reefs by 2050 could have devastating consequences, according to new research published in the scientific journal PLOS. "Some of the places that have the most to lose... are also among the biggest carbon emitters," Dr Pendleton said. "They really have it in their power to bring down the levels of carbon" they emit into the atmosphere. The researchers acknowledged that further study is needed to more fully understand what is happening to coral reefs around the globe and how that will affect humans.