Latest news with #climatefriendly
E&E News
12-08-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Steel plant in Vance's hometown trades clean future for more coal
A year ago, the Rust Belt hometown of Vice President JD Vance represented a new era of climate-friendly steelmaking, set on that course by the clean energy policies of the Biden administration. Now, six months into President Donald Trump's second term, the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, looks very much like its past, doubling down on coal and relying on steel tariffs to help turn a profit. The Middletown plant that employed Vance's grandfather and lifted his family out of poverty was supposed to be the future of manufacturing, boosted by former President Joe Biden's climate and infrastructure laws. By repowering a blast furnace with hydrogen and natural gas and cutting its reliance on coal, the facility would have been on its way to cranking out steel and reducing its climate pollution. Advertisement On Monday, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves declared the experiment over. Instead, he told investors on an earnings call that he was now working with the Department of Energy to 'enhance Middletown using beautiful coal, beautiful coke,' echoing Trump's claims about one of the nation's most-polluting fuels. 'It's clear by now that we will not have availability of hydrogen, so there is no point in pursuing something that we know for sure that's not going to happen,' Goncalves said. 'We informed the DOE that we would not be pursuing that project.' The journey of the Middletown plant traces the Trump administration's rapid dismantling of Biden's vision for a lower-carbon future that was designed to create jobs and grow the economy while boosting American clean tech innovation and shifting the economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels. The Biden plan to transform the clean energy economy relied on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and incentives, which in turn would help generate additional private investment. The Trump administration has almost completely reversed that approach, undercutting both the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law — and pledging to increase the nation's reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. A Vance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the Cleveland-Cliffs plan for the Middletown plant. But the White House said its policies are helping American steel. 'After languishing under a Biden-era stranglehold — plagued by unfair foreign competition, job losses, and weakened national security as imports flooded the market and domestic production stalled — the steel industry is quickly roaring back to life,' the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Under Biden, the Middletown plant was supposed to receive a $500 million federal grant to repower a coal-fired blast furnace in order to produce steel with clean hydrogen and natural gas. For decades, a mist of black soot has blanketed the cars and homes of the people who live closest to the plant. Had the hydrogen plan been implemented, it could have transformed one of the dirtiest steel plants in the country into one of the cleanest. It would have created an additional 200 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs at the plant that now employs about 2,500. The Biden administration wanted the Cleveland-Cliffs plant to spark a new Industrial Revolution in cleaner technologies. 'Clean steel is the future, everyone knows that, and to pretend otherwise is sticking your head in the sand,' said Leah Stokes, professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who advised the Biden administration on clean energy policy. 'We can either lead globally and claim a big part of the future of clean industries or we can be laggards and continue to lose to countries like China.' But the market for greener steel in the U.S. has yet to take off at scale. The Biden administration invested in the plant to drive a hydrogen-based manufacturing hub in the region. That's because there is not a viable large-scale clean hydrogen market that could supply multiple industries working to cut carbon pollution. In the Biden administration, Goncalves said he could 'make the hydrogen hub viable.' By Monday, he sounded like Trump in his praise for coal, telling investors his company relied on 'American iron ore and American coal and American natural gas as feedstock, all produced right here in the United States of America.' While Goncalves did not specify how the administration was helping his company with the coal it purchases, Cleveland-Cliffs' bottom line has been boosted by a 50 percent tariff that Trump imposed on imported steel last month — doubling the rate from 25 percent. As with other tariffs, that's a cost largely borne by customers, and the hike already has shown up in the price tag for some vehicles. Trump has leaned heavily on tariffs in his second term, claiming they will lead to a rebound in American manufacturing and create jobs throughout the country. It's a strategy he also tried in his first term — though it did not yield a manufacturing boom. Where the Biden plan used tax incentives and grants — funded through taxpayer dollars — the Trump plan relies on steep tariffs passed along to consumers, said Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the conservative Cato Institute. The U.S. steel industry is the fourth largest of any country in the world, he said, and has long leveraged 'cronyism' to get more government incentives and generate higher profits rather than relying on a free market. 'We have the fourth-largest steel industry in the world, so the idea that this industry needs government help is pretty fantastical,' he said. 'The reason that tariffs are so universally derided is because they're just a really inefficient, distortionary and indirect way to protect or boost domestic industry.' He said the Cleveland-Cliffs decision to avoid increasing its reliance on natural gas and clean hydrogen was another backward-looking move to keep using a more expensive and dirtier fuel source that drives up pollution and prices at the same time. 'It's the worst-choice policy and worst-choice energy source,' he said.
Reuters
07-08-2025
- Business
- Reuters
New OMV chief executive could be found this year, chairman tells Reuters
VIENNA Aug 7 (Reuters) - The chairman of OMV ( opens new tab told Reuters he is eyeing the hiring of a new CEO this year, saying the new top executive would have to balance a push for growth at both its established oil and gas business and at new, more climate-friendly ventures. In a surprise move, CEO Alfred Stern decided in May not to stand for re-election after his term ends in August 2026. Stern led a push towards sustainable fuels, chemicals and recycling. "We are currently still at the very beginning of the recruiting process ... I really wouldn't rule out having a decision already by the end of the year," supervisory board chairman Lutz Feldmann said on Thursday. Growth in the oil and gas business remains an important pillar of OMV, he said. "But of course the chemicals business with all its facets is becoming increasingly important in our portfolio. The new CEO must also shape this," he added. Feldmann added the appointee would have to deal with the strong pressure to change that both OMV and the wider energy industry are under. "This must also be taken into account in the selection process," said the Chairman. ($1 = 0.8747 euros)
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Steel plant in Vance's hometown trades clean future for more coal
A year ago, the Rust Belt hometown of Vice President JD Vance represented a new era of climate-friendly steelmaking, set on that course by the clean energy policies of the Biden administration. Now, six months into President Donald Trump's second term, the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, looks very much like its past, doubling down on coal and relying on steel tariffs to help turn a profit. The Middletown plant that employed Vance's grandfather and lifted his family out of poverty was supposed to be the future of manufacturing, boosted by former President Joe Biden's climate and infrastructure laws. By repowering a blast furnace with hydrogen and natural gas and cutting its reliance on coal, the facility would have been on its way to cranking out steel and reducing its climate pollution. On Monday, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves declared the experiment over. Instead, he told investors on an earnings call that he was now working with the Department of Energy to 'enhance Middletown using beautiful coal, beautiful coke,' echoing Trump's claims about one of the nation's most-polluting fuels. 'It's clear by now that we will not have availability of hydrogen, so there is no point in pursuing something that we know for sure that's not going to happen,' Goncalves said. 'We informed the DOE that we would not be pursuing that project.' The journey of the Middletown plant traces the Trump administration's rapid dismantling of Biden's vision for a lower-carbon future that was designed to create jobs and grow the economy while boosting American clean tech innovation and shifting the economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels. The Biden plan to transform the clean energy economy relied on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and incentives, which in turn would help generate additional private investment. The Trump administration has almost completely reversed that approach, undercutting both the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law — and pledging to increase the nation's reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. A Vance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the Cleveland-Cliffs plan for the Middletown plant. But the White House said its policies are helping American steel. 'After languishing under a Biden-era stranglehold — plagued by unfair foreign competition, job losses, and weakened national security as imports flooded the market and domestic production stalled — the steel industry is quickly roaring back to life,' the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Under Biden, the Middletown plant was supposed to receive a $500 million federal grant to repower a coal-fired blast furnace in order to produce steel with clean hydrogen and natural gas. For decades, a mist of black soot has blanketed the cars and homes of the people who live closest to the plant. Had the hydrogen plan been implemented, it could have transformed one of the dirtiest steel plants in the country into one of the cleanest. It would have created an additional 200 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs at the plant that now employs about 2,500. The Biden administration wanted the Cleveland-Cliffs plant to spark a new Industrial Revolution in cleaner technologies. 'Clean steel is the future, everyone knows that, and to pretend otherwise is sticking your head in the sand,' said Leah Stokes, professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who advised the Biden administration on clean energy policy. 'We can either lead globally and claim a big part of the future of clean industries or we can be laggards and continue to lose to countries like China.' But the market for greener steel in the U.S. has yet to take off at scale. The Biden administration invested in the plant to drive a hydrogen-based manufacturing hub in the region. That's because there is not a viable large-scale clean hydrogen market that could supply multiple industries working to cut carbon pollution. In the Biden administration, Goncalves said he could 'make the hydrogen hub viable.' By Monday, he sounded like Trump in his praise for coal, telling investors his company relied on 'American iron ore and American coal and American natural gas as feedstock, all produced right here in the United States of America.' While Goncalves did not specify how the administration was helping his company with the coal it purchases, Cleveland-Cliffs' bottom line has been boosted by a 50 percent tariff that Trump imposed on imported steel last month — doubling the rate from 25 percent. As with other tariffs, that's a cost largely borne by customers, and the hike already has shown up in the price tag for some vehicles. Trump has leaned heavily on tariffs in his second term, claiming they will lead to a rebound in American manufacturing and create jobs throughout the country. It's a strategy he also tried in his first term — though it did not yield a manufacturing boom. Where the Biden plan used tax incentives and grants — funded through taxpayer dollars — the Trump plan relies on steep tariffs passed along to consumers, said Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the conservative Cato Institute. The U.S. steel industry is the fourth largest of any country in the world, he said, and has long leveraged 'cronyism' to get more government incentives and generate higher profits rather than relying on a free market. 'We have the fourth-largest steel industry in the world, so the idea that this industry needs government help is pretty fantastical,' he said. 'The reason that tariffs are so universally derided is because they're just a really inefficient, distortionary and indirect way to protect or boost domestic industry.' He said the Cleveland-Cliffs decision to avoid increasing its reliance on natural gas and clean hydrogen was another backward-looking move to keep using a more expensive and dirtier fuel source that drives up pollution and prices at the same time. 'It's the worst-choice policy and worst-choice energy source,' he said.
CBC
25-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Here's how people are making buildings more climate resilient
It's time to build for the future, according to Penny Martyn. "[It's] really important that our buildings become more climate-friendly," said Martyn, a green building manager for University of British Columbia Campus and Community Planning. "Our buildings need to be able to adapt to climate change, so we need to design them differently." UBC is just one of the many organizations across Canada that are looking for ways to better adapt to the changing climate, as forest fires, heat, and extreme weather become more prevalent, whether that's while designing new buildings, or retrofitting old ones. According to a report released by Natural Resources Canada in January, buildings make up 13 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. And some of the solutions may seem boring, but it's the boring changes that can have a long-term positive impact. More than just going solar Martyn says UBC is committed to making sure all its new buildings meet LEED gold standard, which is an internationally recognized certification that looks at carbon emissions, the conservation of resources, and operating costs. And more developers are looking at ways to start off on the right foot. In Calgary, the planning and construction of the new Central Library cost $245 million. In addition to more than 30 free meeting rooms, a 330-seat performance hall, and of course, books, it boasts a long list of climate-friendly features. Kate Thompson, CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, which served as the development manager for the project, said it started with location. The library is right along Calgary's light rail transit, making it easy for people to get there. Plus, there are plenty of places to lock up a bike. A large cistern on the outside of the library captures rainwater, and inside there is low-flow plumbing. The building has lots of natural light, but is also equipped with solar shades and windows with ceramic dots that prevent the building from overheating on a sunny day. And those are just some of the features added to the building to make it sustainable over the long term. "You have to say collectively, what are we aspiring to do here?" said Thompson. "Sustainability was foundational." Community first Serena Mendizabal, managing director at Sacred Earth, says the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario decided to make clean energy a full community effort. "I think that's what makes it so unique and so different because we did things outside of the box and we did things very Haudenosaunee," said Mendizabal, using a term that means people of the longhouse. In November 2022, the community started a sustainable restoration of its Sour Springs Longhouse, which included energy-efficient retrofits and a solar panel project. Mendizabal says a year before even starting the design process, they were able to engage with the community about how solar energy works, its impacts, and the benefits it creates. The design allows the longhouse to use the power it generates, without having to send it to the grid. Then, community members were trained in solar design, installation, operations and maintenance. Mendizabal says this community focus was important because so often developers come from outside with ideas. Here the power was generated from within. "This was a project that from inception came from the needs of the longhouse and the needs of our people, and we implemented [it] ourselves because we knew what we needed and we knew we wanted," said Mendizabal. "That's something to really be proud of." Mendizabal says other communities among the Haudenosaunee Confederacy are looking at replicating it. Using what you have Matt Henderson says sustainable changes to public buildings aren't always flashy. He's the superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, where he's had to tackle boring but necessary changes at Gordon Bell High School. It's an older building in the heart of Winnipeg that has undergone a handful of additions. "The original feasibility study indicated that, through infrared, that there was so much leakage of air, not only going out, but coming in, that it was equivalent to having sort of a 40-square-foot hole in the building," said Henderson. The province, the federal government, and the school division came together to completely retrofit the building by increasing natural light and improving the flow of air through the building through improvements to the walls and roof. The nearly $24-million project is in its second year of construction and is expected to be done by September. He hopes it's not the last school they're able to fix up, as the Manitoba provincial government looks at the impact of the Gordon Bell High School project. "We talk about putting solar panels on top of schools and getting electric busses … to prepare us for the climate emergency that we're in right now," said Henderson. "But I think an easy step is to create really highly efficient buildings that are sealed tight." Fighting fire with design In Lytton, B.C., it's not just about reducing emissions. There's a focus on making sure the community is ready for the next natural disaster. A wildfire that ripped through the village in 2021 destroyed much of its municipal infrastructure. In the years since, the village has received federal funding to make its buildings more fire resilient. "We've definitely experienced firsthand a lot of the climate-related issues," said Lytton Mayor Denise O'Connor. "The old construction style, we've discovered, it doesn't work in a disaster. You know, we need to be thinking this way and doing what we can to support people that want to build this way." One of the ways it's doing that is by designing the new community centre to be a more resilient space. The goal is to also make the building net zero, and able to be used as an emergency shelter. And the outdoor swimming pool will double as a water reservoir, for when the next wildfire rolls through. "Not only will we have a sustainable building, but we're also going to be setting an example, I think, for others that are considering building," said O'Connor. Covering the cost For those looking for more sustainable buildings, Martyn says the best advice she has is to keep pushing. "Keep talking about your desire for sustainable community and green buildings and advocate kind of on all levels where you can," said Martyn. "If it's a strong and co-ordinated voice, it usually gets heard." Still, Martyn says, price tags can be an issue in these conversations. "In the long run, it will cost you less if you have a resilient building that can withstand certain climate hazards, but the initial cost is kind of a difficulty, I think, for lots of projects," said Martyn. She says there are ways around that. Businesses can take climate-friendly measures when they're upgrading anyway. For example, if it's time for new windows, install the climate-friendly kind, she says. There are also government grants that can help pay for some of the extra expenses. Henderson suggests people look at what they were able to do by retrofitting Gordon Bell High School instead of building something completely new. "I think sometimes there's a desire to kind of build the new and fanciest buildings," said Henderson.
