Trash, industrial byproduct, old railroad ties – all burning and polluting. How is the government relying on them to meet its climate goals?

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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, July 22, 2023

Hello! In this issue:
* We dig under the green veneer of the federal government’s climate claims.
* Learn more about a journalist locked up for his work exposing corruption.


** THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
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** It’s Not Easy Going Green
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An activist holds a sign beneath “The Climate Clock​” in New York City in July 2022. The clock shows how much time is left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Credit: Michael Nigro/Sipa USA via the Associated Press

There’s a way to “fight” climate change that’s cheap, popular … and completely ineffective. When they were invented in the ’90s, renewable energy certificates were meant to stimulate the green energy market. The idea was that renewable energy producers could sell certificates that represented the “greenness” of the energy they made. Anyone buying those certificates, or RECs, could claim that green power and also claim they were helping the environment.

For years, corporations have bought RECs as a low-commitment way to claim they’re “going green” – all while using the same old fossil fuel-powered electricity. So how exactly do RECs help the climate crisis? This week, Reveal investigates RECs and finds that the federal government uses them to pad its environmental stats.

Reveal’s Will Evans starts with Auden Schendler, the man in charge of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Co. Schendler initially convinced his company to buy RECs to go green, then realized he made a mistake. But even after he spoke out and evidence piled up showing that RECs were ineffective, other companies kept buying them – and the federal government did, too. Evans and Reveal’s Melissa Lewis determined that since 2010, more than half of what the government has claimed as renewable energy was just cheap RECs.

Next, Reveal’s Najib Aminy takes us to Palm Beach County, Florida, to find out where some RECs are made: in a trash incinerator. He looks into whether buying RECs actually helps the environment and where the money goes. It turns out that federal agencies bought RECs from this incinerator in order to meet renewable energy mandates.

Finally, we explore another place where the government buys RECs: two biomass plants in Georgia, where residents complained of toxic pollution. Evans looks into where the government’s modest environmental goals come from and why federal agencies buy RECs in the first place. He also talks to a REC industry veteran and examines how a plan from the Biden administration could change things.
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This kind of deep, impactful investigative work can’t happen without the dedication of our journalists and our members. Donate today ([link removed]) .


** One Number to Know
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350
More than 350 journalists around the world were imprisoned in 2022, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That includes Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora ([link removed]) , who was jailed last summer after his newspaper, elPeriódico, published more than 100 stories about corruption within Guatemala’s government.

Listen: Guatemala's War on Journalists ([link removed])

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Watch our latest documentary, Victim/Suspect, now streaming ([link removed]) on Netflix.


** In Case You Missed It
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🎧 The Culture War Goes to College ([link removed])

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🎧The Pentagon Papers: Secrets, Lies and Leaks ([link removed])

This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kate Howard and Nikki Frick and edited by Nina Martin. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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