Current conditions: Super Typhoon Man-yi made two landfalls across the Philippines over the weekend, becoming the country’s fourth typhoon in 10 days • Parts of Europe are bracing for a cold snap • The Jennings Creek Wildfire along the New York-New Jersey border is 90% contained.
THE TOP FIVE
1. Trump selects fossil fuel industry executive for energy secretary
Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Chris Wright, CEO of the oilfield services firm Liberty Energy and a major Republican donor, to lead the Department of Energy. Wright had been endorsed by several figures from the fossil fuel industry in the days leading up to Trump’s official announcement, including Oklahoma oil and gas billionaire Harold Hamm, a major Trump donor and informal advisor. While under current Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the DOE has become a locus of climate change and green energy policy. The sprawling department oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, its national laboratories, and its energy efficiency standards, in addition to a variety of energy programs. Wright is a deep s keptic of the idea that there’s a climate crisis or energy transition happening at all. To wit: “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition,” Wright said in a video posted to LinkedIn last year. He also wrote that “climate crisis, energy transition, carbon pollution, clean energy, and dirty energy,” were “Five commonly used words around Energy and Climate that are both deceptive and destructive.” Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin said one of Wright’s first priorities will likely be to unblock the federal permitting process for new liquefied natural gas export terminals.
2. G20 leaders try to succeed on climate finance where COP is failing
We’re now entering the second week of COP29. Negotiations so far have not yielded much in the way of a new collective goal for climate finance, but this could change as climate ministers finally join the summit. Meanwhile, leaders at the G20 summit in Brazil seem to be taking matters into their own hands after U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell penned a letter over the weekend asking them to take action on climate finance. On Sunday, G20 negotiators reportedly agreed on a text that mentions developing countries’ (voluntary) climate finance contributions. This line could help address a key sticking point for rich countries, who want some of the richer developing nations – China, for example – to contribute to a new climate finance goal. The G20 breakthrough “could unlock bigger numbers for the [New Collective Quantified Goal], as developed countries say this expanding of the contributor base is a condition of them raising their climate finance promise above $100 billion,” wrote Climate Home News.
3. Biden visits Amazon rainforest
On his way to the G20 summit, President Biden made a pit stop in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the natural wonder. He was given a tour by helicopter, met with Indigenous leaders, and signed a U.S. proclamation designating November 17 as International Conservation Day. “The world’s forest trees breathe carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and yet each minute, the world is chopping down the equivalent (of) 10 soccer fields worth of forest,” Biden said during the visit. “The fight to protect our planet is literally a fight for humanity.” He said climate change has been a pillar of his presidency, and declared that nobody could reverse the energy transition that is underway.
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4. Biden administration races to cement climate legacy
President Biden plans to finalize a clean fuel tax credit rule before his term ends, a White House official told Reuters. The program would provide tax credits for producers of sustainable aviation fuel and other low-emissions transportation fuels. He’s also reportedly thinking of pushing for an agreement among the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) aimed at reducing financing for foreign fossil fuel projects. Such a deal couldn’t be dismantled by his successor. “If the U.S. moves forward, this would be more meaningful than anything they will do at COP and more Trump-proof,” Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager for the environmental group Friends of the Earth, told Bloomberg. “It will shift billions of dollars away from fossil fuels.”
5. Toxic smog plagues New Delhi
Northern India’s smog emergency continues to worsen, with air quality in New Delhi reaching levels that are 60 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limits. The city’s IQAir measurement climbed above 1,600. For context, readings over 301 are considered dangerous. Schools are closed, a medical emergency has been declared, and people are being urged to stay indoors. Much of the smog is coming from fires set by farmers, which is made worse by colder temperatures that trap pollutants.
IQAir
THE KICKER
New MethaneSAT data just dropped. The latest snapshots from the methane-spotting satellite support the theory that smaller emissions, scattered across wide areas, are responsible for a large share of total methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Here are some images from the Permian basin in the U.S., and a basin in Turkmenistan:
MethaneSAT
MethaneSAT
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MethaneSAT
MethaneSAT
