Work in progress

Last August, the Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act mobilizing more than $350 billion in federal funds towards shifting 80% percent of the US grid to renewable energy and reducing emissions by 40% by 2030. We covered the bill in a post back in 2022. Since then a historic building spree has been underway.

While America’s infrastructure gets a facelift, new building standards must also be in the works. This week we’re talking about the three essential questions worth considering before building anything. After that we’re sharing nine stories that didn’t make front page news, but totally should have.

The UN says governments must respond to youth’s need for climate action. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says that the crises of the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity, and pervasive pollution “is an urgent and systemic threat to children’s rights globally.” They stated that governments have a duty to safeguard a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for young people and future generations. The Guardian

A new global biodiversity fund has launched. 185 countries officially agreed to launch a new fund to meet goals outlined in the global biodiversity framework, which is designed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and put nature on a path to recovery by 2030. 20% of funds aim to support Indigenous and local action to protect and conserve biodiversity, and at least 36% of the fund’s resources will go to support the most vulnerable people. Mongabay

For the first time the EPA’s priority enforcement areas will include climate change. The EPA’s criminal and civil enforcement powers will focus on two major climate-related areas: methane emissions from oil and gas production sites and landfills; and the illegal use, import or production of hydrofluorocarbons. PFAS and carcinogenic coal ash contamination are other priority areas. Axios