Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

Stockholm to Ban Gas-Powered Cars from Its Center

Sweden’s capital has a bold plan to boost EV adoption.

Stockholm.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As cities from New York to Paris to London do battle over driving restrictions in their downtowns, The New York Timesreports that Sweden’s capital is proposing one of the boldest measures yet: Beginning in 2025, it will ban most diesel and gas-powered cars from Stockholm’s city center. Drivers who break the rule, which will take effect on January 1, 2025, will be fined about $90 — far more than similar drivers in London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, who must pay around $15 per day for the privilege of soiling the air.

Lars Strömgren, Stockholm’s vice mayor for transport, told the Times that “Petrol and diesel cars are prohibited, period ... one goal is to push technology and innovation within the transportation sector.” And it seems that the country will need all the help that it can get: Sweden’s conservative national government has for the past year worked to reverse the country’s environmental progress, lowering gas taxes and relaxing fuel requirements. Still, according to Mobility Sweden, a majority of Sweden’s new car registrations in the first half of the year have been to plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles.

Predictably, Sweden’s transport industry is also unhappy with the ban. “Since 2010, we have reduced emissions by 34%,” the Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises said, according toThe Guardian. “But the Green Party and their colleagues in the city of Stockholm are now in far too much of a hurry.” The Confederation did not specify when, exactly, would be an opportune time to clean the country’s air.

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Rhizome Raises $6.5 Million for AI Grid Resilience

The company will use the seed funding to bring on more engineers — and customers.

Power lines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As extreme weather becomes the norm, utilities are scrambling to improve the grid’s resilience, aiming to prevent the types of outages and infrastructure damage that often magnify the impact of already disastrous weather events. Those events cost the U.S. $182 billion in damages last year alone.

With the intensity of storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires growing every year, some utilities are now turning to artificial intelligence in their quest to adapt to new climate realities. Rhizome, which just announced a $6.5 million seed round, uses AI to help assess and prevent climate change-induced grid infrastructure vulnerabilities. It’s already working with utilities such as Avangrid, Seattle City Light, and Vermont Electric Power Company to do so.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Sparks

Don’t Look Now, But China Is Importing Less Coal

Add it to the evidence that China’s greenhouse gas emissions may be peaking, if they haven’t already.

A Chinese coal worker.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Exactly where China is in its energy transition remains somewhat fuzzy. Has the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases already hit peak emissions? Will it in 2025? That remains to be seen. But its import data for this year suggests an economy that’s in a rapid transition.

According to government trade data, in the first fourth months of this year, China imported $12.1 billion of coal, $100.4 billion of crude oil, and $18 billion of natural gas. In terms of value, that’s a 27% year over year decline in coal, a 8.5% decline in oil, and a 15.7% decline in natural gas. In terms of volume, it was a 5.3% decline, a slight 0.5% increase, and a 9.2% decline, respectively.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Sparks

Rewiring America Slashes Staff Due to Trump Funding Freeze

The nonprofit laid off 36 employees, or 28% of its headcount.

Surprised outlets.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Trump administration’s funding freeze has hit the leading electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, which announced Thursday that it will be cutting its workforce by 28%, or 36 employees. In a letter to the team, the organization’s cofounder and CEO Ari Matusiak placed the blame squarely on the Trump administration’s attempts to claw back billions in funding allocated through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

“The volatility we face is not something we created: it is being directed at us,” Matusiak wrote in his public letter to employees. Along with a group of four other housing, climate, and community organizations, collectively known as Power Forward Communities, Rewiring America was the recipient of a $2 billion GGRF grant last April to help decarbonize American homes.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow