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A $10-per-barrel tax on oil companies will be part of the Obama administration's budget proposal for fiscal 2017. Proceeds would fund alternative transportation and infrastructure. Congress is not expected to include the measure in spending legislation. The proposal is significant, however, because it reflects Obama's increased focus on climate change.

China has proposed building a $50 trillion global transmission system that would connect the world's wind farms and renewable energy projects. "Global energy interconnection" would solve global energy instability, climate change and environmental pollution, said State Grid Corp. of China Chairman Liu Zhenya. In such a model, clean energy sources would provide about 80% of the world's total electricity.

California legislators are considering tough emissions proposals that would double buildings' energy efficiency, require 50% renewable energy use by state utilities and halve gasoline consumption by 2030. The oil industry is launching a major PR offensive to derail the effort, but Gov. Jerry Brown says he's determined to implement the policies. "It's absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system," he said. 

To assess shareholder involvement, I poured through the social and environmentally related shareholder proposals of 2015 using two terrific resources: Ceres and the Manhattan Institute's Proxy Monitor 2015 Scorecard.

"The EPA is proposing changes to its chemical safety rules that will require companies in three industries - paper manufacturing, petroleum and coal products, and chemical manufacturing - to assess whether safer technologies and chemicals are feasible. "

In its proposal to host the 2024 Olympic games, the Paris bid committee proposed a plan that would cut the event's carbon emissions by more than 50% compared with the last two Olympic games. It involves providing public or shared transportation for all game spectators and housing most athletes less than 30 minutes from their events.

The Obama administration is poised to announce the first federal rules mandating reductions in methane emissions. The proposals would require 40% to 45% reductions in methane emissions from 2012 levels over the next decade

A committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization has proposed standards for aircraft carbon dioxide emissions. "When fully implemented, the standards are expected to reduce carbon emissions more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year," the White House said in a fact sheet

A cap-and-trade bill proposed last month by California state Sen. Bob Wieckowski also would set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for the California Climate and Clean Energy Research Fund. The bill is headed to a Senate committee hearing, which hasn't yet been scheduled.

Canadian architect Michael Green wants to build a 35-story wooden skyscraper in Paris that would be carbon neutral. He and some partners have submitted the proposal as part of the Reinvent Paris competition, a revitalization project in the city. Green said constructing the building would highlight the advantages of wood in the construction of tall buildings

More than 70 different technologies are available to improve the efficiency of a trucking fleet. These include changes to powertrains and chassis, low-rolling-resistance tires, and enhanced tractor aerodynamics. Finding the right mix to improve a specific fleet can be daunting. Carbon War Room partnered with the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) to publish a series of Confidence Reports-objective assessments of the fuel efficiency savings of these technologies. The reports were cited by U.S. EPA in its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Prevention rule-making proposal. 

The Environmental Protection Agency is confident that the stayed Clean Power Plan is legal and will stand up in court, according to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. In the meantime, the EPA has begun holding hearings on the proposed Clean Energy Incentive Program and has heard from many states that are interested in voluntarily complying with the CPP.

Developer FivePoint has a new plan to reduce carbon emissions at its proposed $12.7 billion master-planned community in California's Los Angeles County after a court blocked the project on environmental grounds. The company hopes to begin construction in 2018 and will implement zero-net-energy construction when it builds the 21,500 homes, each of which will have a charging station for electric vehicle.

the European Commission (EC) announced it will begin phasing out coal subsidies and reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 under a new clean energy package. The new clean energy plan outlines a series of legislative proposals and measures designed to help the EU meet its Paris Agreement climate goals, and why EU officials are optimistic, the green business community remains skeptical.

European Union lawmakers endorsed a draft version of carbon market reforms aimed at further reducing greenhouse gas emissions while providing protection for industries requiring intensive energy consumption. The ultimate goal is a 40% emissions reduction by 2030 without loss of industry, and the proposal will go to a plenary vote in February

Shareholder proposals are an effective tool for driving companies to tackle environmental and ethical issues, according to new research. "Investors can be a driver for social responsibility and -- at least when focused on material issues -- can improve both societal and financial outcomes at the same time," writes George Serafeim.

Offshore wind is slowly taking off in the US, according to this analysis. Observers say that this trend can be seen in Massachusetts' proposed offshore wind bill, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's plan to hold an offshore wind auction for a tract of space off the coast of New York and Maryland's continued work on the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act. Some say these advances and several others could help the nation's fledging offshore wind industry reach critical mass.

Greenpeace) finds that the 8,359 existing coal power plants in operation across the world consume enough freshwater to meet the basic water needs of 1 billion people - and about 25% of proposed coal power plants are planned in water-stressed regions. The report also proposes 3 policy changes to reduce water use in the global coal industry.

Environmental advocacy organizations Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Friends of the Earth filed a lawsuit against the EPA to accelerate the completion of an "endangerment finding" that would allow the agency to regulate CO2 emissions from U.S. aircraft. The EPA was expected to finalize a proposal for an endangerment finding in mid-2014. 

The Environmental Defense Fund launched an advertising campaign to protest the proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency's budget. The ad warns that cutting EPA funding could lead to increased health issues, more pollution and increased levels of lead in drinking water.