False Climate Solutions Archives
Climate solutions should be clean and just

False Climate Solutions

We are facing a global emergency.

As the climate crisis intensifies, science and justice demand real, renewable solutions that will protect our planet and communities — not false climate solutions that sacrifice frontline communities and ignore mistakes of the past.

Climate solutions should be clean and just. We cannot continue to rely on false solutions like nuclear, biomass, petrochemicals, and net zero.

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Latest News See All
Hydrogen Hustle: Report Exposes Dirty Energy Wish-List to Co-opt Hydrogen Funding

WASHINGTON – Today, Friends of the Earth released a report that details how dirty energy industries are seeking to manipulate the 45V hydrogen production tax credit for their own financial gain. Hydrogen Hustle provides a roadmap of key polluter demands to undermine hydrogen emissions requirements.…

Environmental Groups Sound Alarm on the Risk of Polluters Co-opting the Clean Hydrogen Credit

The submitted comments note the need for improved methodology to prevent harmful false solutions from being repackaged as clean hydrogen.

New research reveals factory farm manure biogas production harms environmental justice, fails to achieve methane reduction targets, and worsens consolidation

First-of-its-kind analysis casts doubt on a linchpin of the Biden administration’s methane reduction strategy

Nuclear

Dirty, dangerous nukes have no role to play in a clean energy future. From start to finish, every segment of the nuclear industry is dangerous to communities and to future generations, from uranium mining to radioactive waste disposal — the most dangerous industrial byproduct in existence.

We are fighting to stop giant nuclear utilities from making electricity more expensive and slowing the deployment of cleaner, cheaper renewables.

Net zero

Big Oil, Big Ag, Wall Street, and many governments call themselves climate leaders after declaring pledges of “net-zero-by-2050” — a practice that is premised on unjust, inequitable, and unscientific processes and assumptions.

Claiming net-zero allows polluting corporations, and their financial backers, to greenwash their operations. This practice simply lets corporations pay to pollute — all while perpetuating environmental racism and undermining communities and food systems.

As the largest historical carbon polluter, the US must actually decarbonize by cutting greenhouse gas emissions — and we must do so much sooner than 2050.

Biomass

Factory farmed methane gas and woody biomass are false climate solutions that risk locking us into decades of dirty energy rather than move into renewable and regenerative sources. These technologies perpetuate environmental injustices and harm rural communities. We are fighting to replace these false solutions and focus on transition to renewable energy sources that lead to a just transition.

Petrochemical 

For the last decade, the growth of fracked natural gas in the United States has fueled a boom in petrochemical production, with industry on track to expand global production by 40 percent. If unabated, this plastics build-out will worsen climate change, harm the health of communities living next to plastics plants, and add to the expanding global problem of plastic pollution.

Friends of the Earth works to end the unsustainable production of plastics in the U.S. through policy advocacy, corporate campaigns and by supporting fenceline communities in holding plastic producers accountable for their health and environmental impacts.

Learn more about our work here.

Impact Stories See All
Ending Dangerous Nuclear Power
Ending Dangerous Nuclear Power

Since Friends of the Earth was founded 40 years ago, we have been the United States’ leading voice opposing nuclear energy and exposing the real dangers of nuclear power plants.

Shutting Down Diablo Canyon
Shutting Down Diablo Canyon

For 40 years, Friends of the Earth has been a leading voice in the U.S. in opposing nuclear reactors. In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, it is clear that there can and must be a thorough debate on our energy future and the need to move beyond this dangerous…

Latest Blog Posts See All
The Climate & Agriculture provisions of the IRA
The Climate & Agriculture provisions of the IRA

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is many things at once. The good and the bad all need to be considered together.

Dirty electricity isn’t renewable fuel
Dirty electricity isn’t renewable fuel

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is the most important federal policy you have never heard of. It is also undoubtedly the most broken. For 15 years, it has forced dirty corn ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply. 

Biden’s ambitious goals for climate and agriculture require bolder strategies
Biden’s ambitious goals for climate and agriculture require bolder strategies

The need for change is urgent, and the benefits to farmer and worker livelihoods, our climate, natural resources, and public health is immense.

Resources See All
  • The Hydrogen Hustle: How the Biden Administration can prevent another fossil fuel subsidy
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  • Biogas or Bull****?
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  • Agricultural Carbon Markets, Payments, and Data: Big Ag’s Latest Power Grab
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