FIRST LOOK:

The Gas Index, a new report and website published yesterday by Global Energy Monitor, offers a first-of-its-kind look at methane leakage attributable to natural gas use in 71 cities across the U.S.

A Pathway to Net-Zero by 2050: A new report from Princeton University released yesterday details five pathways for achieving net zero emissions in the US by 2050, with "priority actions" the US should take before 2030. A highlight across all pathways is total or near total electrification of energy use across the US economy. Additional recommendations include building a significant amount of new energy infrastructure, increasing wind and solar generating capacity, expanding the nation’s electric grid, and transitioning homes off natural gas. The research puts the price tag of this near-term action at $2.5 trillion, but calculates it will create at least half a million jobs and save tens of thousands of lives. The report also identifies several pitfalls the transition could face, including local opposition to land-use for renewable infrastructure and a lack of public support for electric cars and homes. “The costs are affordable, the tool kit is there, but the scale of transformation across the country is significant,” said Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton professor and lead author of the report. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, Axios, Bloomberg $) 

Joe Biden’s Climate Cabinet: President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet is beginning to emerge, as yesterday news broke that he is expected to tap former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to lead the Department of Energy, with former EPA head Gina McCarthy to serve a central domestic policy coordination role at the White House. The Department of Energy will play a major role in Biden’s plan for decarbonization, and if confirmed, Granholm is expected to draw on her experience passing a renewable portfolio standard for the state of Michigan, as well as her work on Electric Vehicles with the auto industry as governor. Gina McCarthy, Obama-era EPA admin and current head of NRDC, will lead the newly formed Office of Domestic Climate Policy, coordinating Biden’s domestic response to climate change and serving as a counterpart to John Kerry, who will focus on international climate policy as special presidential envoy for climate. The nominations were well-received by climate activists, with Sunrise spokesman Garret Blad quoted in the Washington Post saying that “We are very encouraged by the potential of Gina McCarthy to lead a new Office of Climate Mobilization. McCarthy was among our initial picks for the role because she understands the urgency of the latest science and the need to use every tool available in the executive branch to stop the climate crisis. The real test, however, of Biden’s commitment to his bold climate plan is if this role has the teeth necessary to be effective.” (Granholm: Politico, CNN, Washington Post $, Bloomberg, NPR, Huffpost, The Detroit News, Michigan Live. McCarthy: Washington Post $, New York Times $, CNN, Buzzfeed, NPR, Politico, Bloomberg, Reuters, Axios, The Hill, Grist. Both: NBC News, WSJ $, Roll Call, Bloomberg $) 

Late to the Party: US Federal Reserve Joins Climate Network: The Federal Reserve unanimously voted yesterday to join the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), an international group of central banks and regulators dedicated to assessing climate risk. Previously, the US had been the only major central bank not part of the group aside from the Reserve Bank of India, although it had been participating informally in the network for over a year. The move comes after a group of House Republicans sent a letter to the Fed Chair Jerome Powell last month urging him not to join the network, citing that NGFS policies could harm US oil and gas producers. “As we develop our understanding of how best to assess the impact of climate change on the financial system, we look forward to continuing and deepening our discussions with our NGFS colleagues from around the world,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a statement. (Reuters, New York Times, The Hill) 

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Virginia draws criticism for approving new natural gas power plant near predominantly Black community (Utility Dive), the world's most vulnerable face conflict, Covid-19 and climate change in 2021, report says (CNN), how to talk about racial justice in sustainability (Greenbiz)

CYCLONES:  Cyclone Yasa: Fiji prepares for category 5 storm as Tonga braces for Zazu (The Guardian, BBC, CNN)

LITIGATION: Oil companies fight to get climate cases before Supreme Court (Houston Chronicle), Supreme Court lifts ban on Heathrow third runway (BBC, The Independent)

LEGISLATION: Government spending bill to include bipartisan energy provisions (The Hill), lawmakers close to striking bipartisan deal on phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (Axios), clean energy funding finds its way into congressional spending bill (Greentech Media)

2020 IN HINDSIGHT: Time’s up on corporate America’s 2020 climate goals. Here’s how they did (Bloomberg $), the biggest climate wins of 2020 (Earther), 2020 was the year climate podcasts went mainstream. Here are our favorites. (Grist)

AGENCIES: Grand Junction is 'darn hard to get to': ranchers split on public lands agency's move west (The Guardian)

TRANSITION, PERSONNEL: Biden’s climate team begins to take shape (New York Times $), Biden taps Pete Buttigieg for transportation secretary (New York Times $, NPR), John Kerry, Biden's pick for climate envoy, to face big challenge on climate change (NPR)

CITIES AND STATES: Inslee proposes his latest climate-change package as part of Washington budget (Seattle Times), mayoral hopeful Donovan outlines vision for addressing climate change (City Limits (NYC)), poll suggests majority of voters worry about impacts of climate change in Montgomery County (WDVM)

IMPACTS:It's over for us': how extreme weather is emptying Bangladesh's villages (The Guardian), How Russia wins the climate crisis (New York Times $), losing ground: climate change is altering the rules of ecosystem hierarchy (Scientific American), coastal farmers in Maryland and across Mid-Atlantic being driven off their land as salt poisons the soil (Baltimore Sun), Earth may be even closer to 1.5°C of global warming than we thought (New Scientist)

HEAT: 2020 will rival 2016 for hottest year on record (Scientific American), Earth is on fire (Scientific American), climate crisis sends temperatures soaring in Lapland (The Guardian)

WILDFIRES: Western U.S. wildfires cost insurers up to $13 billion in 2020 (Reuters), after wildfires, mourning the loss of California’s giants (New York Times $)

ENERGY: "All of the above": You think it's a dumb slogan, but only because it is. (Volts, David Roberts), want 100% clean power? Forget new technology, study says (E&E $), meet Guzman Energy, the power company coaxing along the co-op clean energy transition (Greentech Media)

SOLAR: U.S. solar industry surges despite pandemic fallout, study finds (Reuters), solar project in Northwest Arctic villages set to break ground next spring (KTOO)

OIL & GAS: U.S. shale should be worried about ‘very aggressive’ policies coming from Washington, energy secretary says (CNBC)

COAL: When China battles the world’s biggest coal exporter, coal loses (New York Times $)

HYDROGEN: Is hydrogen the best option to replace natural gas in the home? (Clean Technica), Gates and Bezos funds back hydrogen-powered plane startup (Bloomberg $)

EVs: Electric vehicle models expected to triple in 4 years as declining battery costs boost adoption (Utility Dive), could Texas be an electric vehicle hub? (Houston Chronicle)

ACTIVISM: 22 protesters arrested at Enbridge pipeline construction site (Star Tribune)

AGRICULTURE: The six pests coming to eat your crops (Bloomberg $), a catastrophic year casts a pall of uncertainty across California’s agricultural valleys (The Guardian), can organic farming solve the climate crisis? (Civil Eats), hydroponic container farming company joins forces with renewable energy provider (The Hill)

AIRLINES: The weekly planet: United wants to have its carbon and eat it too (The Atlantic)

ALUMINUM: Why addressing the aluminum industry’s carbon footprint is key to climate action (Greenbiz)

BUSINESS: Patagonia’s new CEO plots a post-Trump future for the activist brand (Bloomberg $)

EXXON: Could Exxon Mobil's new climate plan signal a turning point for the energy industry? (The Hill), Exxon’s ’emission reduction plan’ doesn’t call for reducing Exxon’s emissions (Grist)

FINANCE: Home buyers are starting to factor flood and wildfire risks into their real estate decisions — and it’s affecting price growth (MarketWatch)

HEALTH: The states most vulnerable to the public health impacts of climate change (US News & World Report)

HOLIDAY: Is climate change coming for the Christmas rom-com? (Grist)

PARIS AGREEMENT: The Paris agreement is five years old. Is it working? (Vox)

REFUGEES: How the climate crisis could create 'climate refugees' (WFAE)

SOLUTIONS: Cider makers are betting on foraged apples for climate resilience (Salon)

SUMMIT: US to hold world climate summit early next year and seek to rejoin Paris accord (The Guardian)

TECH: First-ever aerial map of Hawaii’s coral creates groundbreaking conservation tool (EcoWatch), Fifth Wall adds new partner as it seeks at least $200 million for a new climate impact fund (Tech Crunch)

WATER: We need water to survive': Hopi Tribe pushes for solutions in long struggle for water (Arizona Republic), New Mexico gets water victory over Texas at U.S. Supreme Court (Santa Fe New Mexican)

WILDLIFE: Spotted owls could go extinct without more federal protection. But they’re not going to get it, Trump officials say. (Washington Post $), light pollution is causing birds to nest earlier—which might not be a bad thing (Scientific American), mountain hares at risk as winter coats fail to camouflage in snowless Scottish Highlands (The Guardian), feds to delay seeking legal protection for monarch butterfly (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: France’s Macron wants to add climate goals in constitution (AP), Germany, Denmark agree closer offshore wind cooperation (Reuters), as cities boom, Oslo tests greener 'zero-emissions' building sites (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• Autonomous vehicles take another big leap (New York Times, Kara Swisher op-ed $)
• All politics is local, including climate politics (Bloomberg, Eric Roston column $)
• Nevada climate strategy charts path to more sustainable, resilient economy (Reno Gazette-Journal, Alli Gold Roberts and Ann Silver op-ed)
• Amazon must stop flooding our oceans with plastic waste (Al Jazeera, Matt Littlejohn op-ed)
• How Biden can unleash $7.8 trillion investment and create 6 million jobs by expanding the grid (Forbes, Sarah Spengeman Analysis)
• Divesting NY pension fund from fossil fuels a ‘win’ for fight against climate change (Syracuse Post Standard, Katelyn M. Kriesel Commentary)
• China is scaling up its weather modification programme – here's why we should be worried (The Guardian, Arwa Mahdawi op-ed)
• Renewables bring deflation to the energy sector (FT, Mark Lewis op-ed $)
• Renewable hydrogen could play a key role in Washington’s clean-energy future (Seattle Times, Brad Hawkins op-ed)
• Biden's incoherent proposal to ban fossil fuel leasing on federal lands (The Hill, Benjamin Zycher op-ed)

Can An Editorial Board Go Senile? WSJ Forgets Its Own Audience, and Itself, With Climate Risk Attack

As the voice of a newspaper, the Editorial Board represents an outlet’s opinion, and generally reflects the point of view of its publishers. Consisting of individual editors, columnists and journalists, the editorial board, and the editorials it publishes, are sort of a “with our powers combined” embodiment of the newspaper. We only bring this up because, sadly, it seems the Wall Street Journal’s is going senile. 

While they’ve always offered the sort of racist, misogynist, anti-science and pro-polluter propaganda you’d expect, now it seems they’ve begun to forget even the most basic things about who they are and what year it is. 

While most editorials tend to try and keep things pretty current, last Friday they seemed to have had a bit of a time slip. “Move over, Solyndra” was the opening of the editorial about Tonopah’s Crescent Dunes, a molten salt solar energy plant’s bankruptcy approval by a judge, as though this was 2011, not 2020. After all, for a “Solyndra” insult to be made in good faith and not just lazily used as a catchphrase, they’d have to believe it was before at least 2014. That’s when news broke that the DOE Loan program that funded risky innovative projects like Solyndra was turning a profit. And they certainly must think it’s not yet 2016, when loan repayments doubled the Solyndra program’s losses. 

Because as we explained back when Tonopah’s Crescent Dunes solar plant declared bankruptcy in August, the failure of one of many risky investments into potentially game-changing clean technologies hardly undoes the benefits of the risky bets that paid off. What’s more, funding research and development of clean technology too risky for the private sector’s investment is exactly the sort of “innovation” policy that Republicans claim is the solution to climate change. After all, the projects funded have reduced greenhouse gasses by over 50 million metric tons. 

So in criticizing the concept of the government funding a wide variety of technologies, it seems the normally loyal WSJ is forgetting that a central plank of the Republican’s (pretend) climate policy platform is innovation! 

To make matters worse, on Monday, it appears the Editorial Board forgot who their own audience is in an editorial warning about financial regulations that incorporate climate risk. If your retirement is invested in the fossil fuel industry, but climate policy necessitates the winding down of the industry, that could be a problem! But not one the WSJ thinks should be regulated, apparently. Much like their column last week by Walter Russell Mead, the editorial is light on the numbers as it argues the negative effect of incorporating the risk to 401(k)s that climate policy poses. 

Which is hard to believe, because as a leading business paper, hard-nosed quantitative analysis is the Wall Street Journal’s claim to fame! As its name suggests, it built its reputation on telling financial experts what they need to know to keep making money. 

Yet the editorial, bereft of any real evidence of financial devastation from figuring out what the clean energy transition will mean for 401(k) and other investments, concludes by saying “masters of finance may do very well from climate-change mandates and regulation. Everyone else, watch out.” 

WSJ, are you ok? You seem to have forgotten that your readers ARE the “masters of finance”. And did you forget your name and who you are? You are the WALL STREET Journal, right? The paper published by the Dow Jones division of billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp? 

So why are you acting like you and your audience aren’t exactly the sort of elitist snobs willing to put money over all else? 

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)