Sign In or Create an Account.

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

Climate

Get Ready for a Brutally Cold January

On Arctic blasts, Tesla sales, and offshore drilling bans

Get Ready for a Brutally Cold January
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: A cold snap in Europe could deplete natural gas supplies • More than two feet of lake-effect snow could fall this weekend in upstate New York • Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has become the most polluted city in the world, prompting a push for more EVs.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Millions of Americans could see record cold in January

Bitterly cold weather is descending on the central and eastern U.S. this week, and it could last through the whole of January. The first Arctic blast will send temperatures plunging as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, and that will be followed by an even colder burst of air next week, and then another. “This will likely be the most significant cold we have seen in years,” said forecasters at the National Weather Service office. Energy demand will surge, and a lot of snow and ice could cause power outages in some areas. Already a winter storm is forecast for the Central Plains this weekend, with the weather system shifting eastward to the Mid-Atlantic region next week. Even Southern states like Texas and Florida will feel the cold. “At this time, it looks like there will be at least three major blasts of Arctic air that will affect the Southern states,” AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva said. “The first outbreak will be from Jan. 3-4, the second on Jan. 7-8 and then the third round on Jan. 11-12.”

AccuWeather

2. Tesla’s sales dropped in 2024

Tesla reported yesterday that it had delivered 495,570 cars in the last three months of the year, and 1,789,226 in 2024 as a whole. As Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin noted, that represents a decline in annual sales from 2023 — Tesla’s first annual decline in more than 10 years, back when the company’s deliveries were counted in the hundreds or single-digit thousands — although the fourth quarter figure is a record for quarterly deliveries. Tesla had forecast around 515,000 deliveries to meet its “slight growth” goals. The company had cited “sustained macroeconomic headwinds” weighing on the broader electric vehicle market in its most recent investor letter, and again referred to “ongoing macroeconomic conditions” to explain the miss on deliveries. While Tesla’s car business appears to have stalled to some extent, the energy storage business is another story. The company said that in the fourth quarter of last year it had deployed 11 gigawatt-hours of storage, and 31.4 gigawatt-hours in the year as a whole. If Tesla’s deployment rate in 2025 merely matched its fourth quarter rate, it would mean 40% annual growth.

3. Report: Biden to permanently ban some offshore drilling

President Biden is expected to issue an executive order permanently banning new offshore oil and gas drilling in large sections of U.S. coastal waters, Bloombergreported, citing unnamed sources. As soon as Monday, Biden will invoke the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a 72-year-old law that gives the president authority to ban drilling, but doesn’t include any wording to allow presidents to revoke a ban. That means President-elect Donald Trump will not be able to easily reverse the move. Environmental groups applauded the report. “Restricting offshore drilling is a big win for the climate, marine wildlife, coastal communities, and economies, and would be yet another chapter in President Biden’s historic climate legacy,” said Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club. Fossil fuel groups, naturally, were less thrilled.

Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:

* indicates required
  • 4. U.S. EV sales continued to rise in November

    Monthly sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. were up 11.5% year-over-year in November, according to new data from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Just over 141,400 plug-in EVs were sold in November alone, bringing the total for the whole year to about 1.4 million, up 9% from the same period in 2023. New electric models like Honda’s Prologue and Chevrolet’s Equinox are helping drive the increase: Sales for both rose nearly 70% between October and November. Meanwhile, more and more new charging ports are being installed across the country, with 2,490 added in November, bringing the total to 205,000.

    5. Morgan Stanley leaves Net-Zero Banking Alliance

    Morgan Stanley has become the latest lending giant to part ways with the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. The investment bank announced yesterday it would leave the world’s largest banking climate coalition, following recent departures by Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs. The firms have said they remain committed to their internal net zero goals, but the exodus is “the latest sign corporate America may retreat from climate goals during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president,” the Financial Timesnoted.

    THE KICKER

    “The main buyers of [gas-powered] cars in Norway are rental companies because many tourists are not familiar with EVs.” –Ulf Tore Hekneby, head of Norway's biggest car importer. In 2024, battery-powered vehicles made up 90% of new car sales in the Scandinavian country.

    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
    Yellow
    Electric Vehicles

    Tesla Is Now a Culture War Totem (Plus Some AI)

    The EV-maker is now a culture war totem, plus some AI.

    A Tesla taking an exit.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Tesla

    During Alan Greenspan’s decade-plus run leading the Federal Reserve, investors and the financial media were convinced that there was a “Greenspan put” underlying the stock market. The basic idea was that if the markets fell too much or too sharply, the Fed would intervene and put a floor on prices analogous to a “put” option on a stock, which allows an investor to sell a stock at a specific price, even if it’s currently selling for less. The existence of this put — which was, to be clear, never a stated policy — was thought to push stock prices up, as it gave investors more confidence that their assets could only fall so far.

    While current Fed Chair Jerome Powell would be loath to comment on a specific volatile security, we may be seeing the emergence of a kind of sociopolitical put for Tesla, one coming from the White House and conservative media instead of the Federal Reserve.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Green
    Climate Tech

    Climate Tech Is Facing a ‘Moment of Truth’

    The uncertainty created by Trump’s erratic policymaking could not have come at a worse time for the industry.

    Cliimate tech.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    This is the second story in a Heatmap series on the “green freeze” under Trump.

    Climate tech investment rode to record highs during the Biden administration, supercharged by a surge in ESG investing and net-zero commitments, the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, and at least initially, low interest rates. Though the market had already dropped somewhat from its recent peak, climate tech investors told me that the Trump administration is now shepherding in a detrimental overcorrection. The president’s fossil fuel-friendly rhetoric, dubiously legal IIJA and IRA funding freezes, and aggressive tariffs, have left climate tech startups in the worst possible place: a state of deep uncertainty.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Energy

    AM Briefing: Overheard at CERAWeek

    On the energy secretary’s keynote, Ontario’s electricity surcharge, and record solar power

    CERAWeek Loves Chris Wright
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Current conditions: Critical fire weather returns to New Mexico and Texas and will remain through Saturday • Sharks have been spotted in flooded canals along Australia’s Gold Coast after Cyclone Alfred dropped more than two feet of rain • A tanker carrying jet fuel is still burning after it collided with a cargo ship in the North Sea yesterday. The ship was transporting toxic chemicals that could devastate ecosystems along England’s northeast coast.

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Chris Wright says climate change is a ‘side effect of building the modern world’

    In a keynote speech at the energy industry’s annual CERAWeek conference, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told executives and policymakers that the Trump administration sees climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world,” and said that “everything in life involves trade-offs." He pledged to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change” and insisted he’s not a climate change denier, but rather a “climate realist.” According toThe New York Times, “Mr. Wright’s speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause.” Wright also reportedly told fossil fuel bosses he intended to speed up permitting for their projects.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Yellow