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Electric Vehicles

Rivian Just Unveiled 3 New Electric SUVs

On the R3 and R3X, the Great Barrier Reef, and Texas wildfires

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Will Climate Get a SOTU Shout Out?
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Most of Alabama is under a flood watch • It will be so hot in Southern Australia this weekend that special bins have been set up to collect dead bats • Hazardous smog choked 54 of Thailand’s 77 provinces this week.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Biden talks up energy and economic wins during SOTU

President Biden’s final State of the Union address before the November election represented as good a chance as any for him to make his pitch to the American people — and he did so without ever saying the name of his most significant piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, wrote Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. Biden repeatedly boasted about “clean energy, advanced manufacturing,” and creating “tens of thousands of jobs here in America.” He further referred to a Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, that reopened partly due to a federal grant made possible by the IRA. The economic upsides of the IRA were largely separated from Biden’s brief mention of “confronting the climate crisis” in the second half of his speech. His lone new climate announcement pertained to a rather minor piece in his more extensive agenda: Biden promised to triple the Climate Corps of young people working in clean energy in a decade.

“The Biden administration has consistently moved its climate goals forward by not calling attention to the fact that they are climate goals,” Lange continued. “At the same time, using the State of the Union to draw attention to specific economic accomplishments that just so happen to be in the clean energy space allows Biden to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the economy — an issue voters are more concerned about this election cycle than the climate — without letting such a talking point be dismissed as green liberal woo-woo.”

2. Rivian surprises with new R3 and R3X models

Rivian unveiled the much-anticipated R2 SUV yesterday, but surprised everyone with two other models, the R3 and the R3X. Here’s what we know about all three vehicles:

  • R2: A mid-sized, five-seat electric SUV with up to 300 miles of range. Launching in early 2026, starting at $45,000.
  • R3: An electric crossover “built on the same midsize platform as R2, but smaller and at a lower price point.”
  • R3X: “A rally-inspired crossover designed for whatever you throw at it.” Deliveries will begin “after R2.”

3. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers mass bleaching event

Two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is showing signs of coral bleaching “consistent with patterns of heat stress that has built up over summer,” experts said today. This will be the fifth mass bleaching event in just eight years for the world’s largest living structure. Bleaching occurs when stressful conditions such as heat cause corals to expel the algae that lives in their tissues and turn white. “Bleaching of corals does not always result in coral mortality, with some corals being able to recover if conditions cool,” the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said. But Richard Leck, WWF-Australia Head of Oceans, warned that “unless we see a significant drop off in temperatures in the next few weeks, the risk of significant coral mortality is high.”

The Great Barrier Reef pictured off the coast of Australia in August of last year.MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will carry out aerial and in-water surveys to get a better understanding of the extent of the damage. Earlier this week the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of widespread bleaching events in tropical reefs all over the world. Coral reefs support about a quarter of all marine life.

4. Utility company says it was ‘involved’ in Texas fire

The utility company Xcel Energy said yesterday that its equipment played a role in starting Texas’ Smokehouse Creek Fire. Fueled by strong winds, dry brush, and unusually high temperatures, the blaze has burned more than 1.2 million acres and is the largest fire in state history. Linda Moon, assistant director of the Texas A&M Forest Service, said power lines were to blame. The company faces nearly 300 lawsuits in Colorado for its alleged involvement in the 2021 Marshall wildfire.

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  • 5. Cherry blossoms get their own climate ‘hockey stick’ graph

    Following the news that Japan’s famous cherry trees have blossomed early, Our World in Data posted this graph showing the timing of peak cherry tree blossoms in Kyoto going back to the year 812. “We see that in recent centuries the peak blossom has gradually moved earlier in the year — due to higher temperatures from climate change,” the publication noted. Climate scientist Michael Mann, who popularized the “hockey stick” graph in 1998 that showed a spike in global temperatures, said “I recognize that shape, even when it's upside down…”

    Our World in Data

    THE KICKER

    “Women’s leadership is the key to successful action in tackling climate change. Without their leadership, knowledge, and engagement in the implementation of climate-resilient development paths, it is unlikely that solutions for creating a sustainable and healthy planet will be implemented.” Tomica Paovic from the United Nations Development Programme


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    Politics

    The Climate Election You Missed Last Night

    While you were watching Florida and Wisconsin, voters in Naperville, Illinois were showing up to fight coal.

    Climate voting.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    It’s probably fair to say that not that many people paid close attention to last night’s city council election in Naperville, Illinois. A far western suburb of Chicago, the city is known for its good schools, small-town charm, and lovely brick-paved path along the DuPage River. Its residents tend to vote for Democrats. It’s not what you would consider a national bellwether.

    Instead, much of the nation’s attention on Tuesday night focused on the outcomes of races in Wisconsin and Florida — considered the first electoral tests of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s popularity. Outside of the 80,000 or so voters who cast ballots in Naperville, there weren’t likely many outsiders watching the suburb’s returns.

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    Green
    Energy

    Exclusive: Trump’s Plans to Build AI Data Centers on Federal Land

    The Department of Energy has put together a list of sites and is requesting proposals from developers, Heatmap has learned.

    A data center and Nevada land.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    The Department of Energy is moving ahead with plans to allow companies to build AI data centers and new power plants on federal land — and it has put together a list of more than a dozen sites nationwide that could receive the industrial-scale facilities, according to an internal memo obtained by Heatmap News.

    The memo lists sites in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, and other locations. The government could even allow new power plants — including nuclear reactors and carbon-capture operations — to be built on the same sites to generate enough electricity to power the data centers, the memo says.

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    Economy

    AM Briefing: Liberation Day

    On trade turbulence, special election results, and HHS cuts

    Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Loom
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Current conditions: A rare wildfire alert has been issued for London this week due to strong winds and unseasonably high temperatures • Schools are closed on the Greek islands of Mykonos and Paros after a storm caused intense flooding • Nearly 50 million people in the central U.S. are at risk of tornadoes, hail, and historic levels of rain today as a severe weather system barrels across the country.

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Trump to roll out broad new tariffs

    President Trump today will outline sweeping new tariffs on foreign imports during a “Liberation Day” speech in the White House Rose Garden scheduled for 4 p.m. EST. Details on the levies remain scarce. Trump has floated the idea that they will be “reciprocal” against countries that impose fees on U.S. goods, though the predominant rumor is that he could impose an across-the-board 20% tariff. The tariffs will be in addition to those already announced on Chinese goods, steel and aluminum, energy imports from Canada, and a 25% fee on imported vehicles, the latter of which comes into effect Thursday. “The tariffs are expected to disrupt the global trade in clean technologies, from electric cars to the materials used to build wind turbines,” explained Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. “And as clean technology becomes more expensive to manufacture in the U.S., other nations – particularly China – are likely to step up to fill in any gaps.” The trade turbulence will also disrupt the U.S. natural gas market, with domestic supply expected to tighten, and utility prices to rise. This could “accelerate the uptake of coal instead of gas, and result in a swell in U.S. power emissions that could accelerate climate change,” Reutersreported.

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