Current conditions: A heat wave is baking southeast Australia, bringing temperatures that are 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the seasonal average • There have been 363 brush fires in New York City in November alone • It is 65 degrees and sunny in Baku for the last official day of the COP29 climate summit.
THE TOP FIVE
1. New COP29 draft text proposes $250 billion for climate finance goal
Another round of climate finance draft text was released this morning at COP29, this time with an actual number attached to it, but not a particularly big one. Developed countries are proposing to up the Collective Quantified Goal from $100 billion annually (agreed in 2009) to just $250 billion annually, far short of the $1 trillion or so economists have said will be necessary each year by 2030. Greenpeace’s delegation lead Jasper Inventor called the number “divorced from the reality of climate impacts and outrageously below the needs of developing countries.” The text does “call on” nations to “work together to enable the scaling up of financing” to at least $1.3 trillion a year from all sources, but the real number, for now, is $250 billion. Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International’s global public finance manager, called the text “an absolute embarrassment.” Negotiations will continue. Today is the final official day in the COP29 schedule, but previous conferences have gone into overtime.
2. Senators introduce bipartisan bill for carbon removal tax credits
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a bipartisan bill yesterday that would establish tax credits for carbon removal projects. Under the Carbon Dioxide Removal Investment Act, direct air capture projects would get a $250 tax credit per metric ton of carbon removed, and indirect capture projects (through biomass, for example) would get $110. So the tax credit is technology-neutral, meaning both natural and engineered projects would be eligible. But to qualify, projects must store the carbon for 1,000 years or more. “Through technology-neutral support that doesn’t pick winners, this bill creates a level playing field that will advance innovations with the biggest climate impact while supporting new jobs and maintaining U.S. leadership in the carbon removal sector,” said Christina DeConcini, Director of Government Affairs at the World Resources Institute.
3. Northvolt files for bankruptcy
Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., and its CEO Peter Carlsson has resigned. The company launched in 2016 and there were hopes it would help cut EV makers’ reliance on Chinese batteries. It became Europe’s best-funded startup, raising $15 billion from backers and receiving more than $50 billion in orders for its batteries. But a host of issues, “from mismanagement and overspending to poor safety standards and over-reliance on Chinese machinery,” led to its collapse, according to the Financial Times. The voluntary bankruptcy filing will protect the company from creditors while it restructures in early 2025.
4. Adani head indicted for allegedly bribing officials to win solar energy deals
U.S. prosecutors this week indicted Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, as well as his nephew and six others for plotting to pay Indian government officials more than $250 million in bribes in order to secure solar energy contracts and build what would be India’s largest solar power plant project. Authorities said the bribes helped the Adanis secure more than $3 billion in loans and bonds, including from U.S. investors. And as Reutersexplained, “U.S. law bars foreign companies which raise money from U.S. investors from paying bribes overseas to win business. It is also against U.S. law to raise money from investors on the basis of false statements.” The indictment “threatens Adani’s efforts to redefine himself as a clean-power champion and secure overseas financing for projects vital to the nation’s energy transition,” Bloombergreported.
5. Parade of storms bombards Pacific Northwest
A second storm was blasting the Pacific Northwest overnight, accompanied by an atmospheric river that’s bringing a lot of moisture. The strongest winds are being felt across Washington and northern Oregon, with Northern California and southwestern Oregon receiving the most rain. Cumulative rainfall from this storm, and the bomb cyclone that hit on Tuesday, could be up to 20 inches in parts of California. High elevations could see 3 feet of snow or more. And even after this second storm passes, a third is on the way for the region over the weekend. Nearly 200,000 people in Washington state remain without power. Here is a stunning satellite image of the storm that hit earlier this week:
NASA
THE KICKER
“When they’ve had ideas for bills or policies, they went to Democrats. They haven’t built a lot of personal relationships with members of Congress on the other side of the aisle.” –Emily Domenech, a former staffer for House Speakers Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson who is now a senior vice president at Boundary Stone, a firm founded by veterans of the Obama Department of Energy. Domenech spoke to Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin about how clean energy companies are learning to speak Republican.
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