FIRST LOOK

Environmental Protection Agency finalizes rule to curb a potent climate change pollutant. The new EPA rule, first proposed in May, will lower the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) 85 percent over the next 15 years. HFCs have a thousand times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide and often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants like air-conditioners and refrigerators. The White House says the rule will cut the equivalent of three years’ worth of climate pollution from the electricity sector, and is an important way to show America’s commitment to dealing with climate change before the upcoming climate summit in Glasgow.  Business interests that use HFCs are largely supportive of the rule, telling the New York Times it is “good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for trade.” A growing number of refrigerator and air-conditioning manufacturers have already moved to limit their use of HFCs and offer new models that use a more climate-friendly alternative. Scientists estimate that a global push to reduce HFCs could avoid a half degree Celsius of global warming over this century. (CBS News, New York Times $, HuffPost, CNBC, The Hill, Time $, CNN)

British PM urges world leaders to act with urgency on climate change. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told world leaders at the United Nations that humanity has to “grow up” and tackle climate change, explaining why humans must stop trashing the planet like an unruly teenager. It’s now or never if the world is to meet its goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Johnson argued. “If we keep on the current track then the temperatures will go up by 2.7 degrees or more by the end of the century... We will see desertification, drought, crop failure, and mass movements of humanity on a scale not seen before. Not because of some unforeseen natural event or disaster, but because of us, because of what we are doing now." Johnson makes this plea as he and the United Kingdom prepare to host the upcoming UN climate conference in Glasgow, which is expected to drive more ambitious global climate action as scientists warn that climate change is close to becoming out of control. Johnson has championed the expansion of renewable energy, saying the U.K. could become the “Saudi Arabia of wind,” but has also been scrutinized for failing to scrap new oil drilling and new coal mines. Johnson concluded his 20 minute speech, which was entirely devoted to climate change, by praising China’s pledge to no longer fund coal-fired power plants abroad, and the U.S. plan to double financial aid to help countries tackle climate change. (Reuters, CNN, NBC News, NPR, Washington Post $) 

1 in 3 chance Lake Powell won’t be able to generate hydropower in 2023, due to megadrought. New projections by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation found that falling water levels at the country’s second-largest reservoir could prevent the lake’s dam from producing hydropower as soon as next year. The modeling shows a 34 percent chance that water levels in the lake, which is located on the Colorado River from northern Arizona to southern Utah, could drop below the minimum needed to allow the lake’s dam to generate electricity in 2023. When running at full capacity, the dam produces power for around 5.8 million customers from Nebraska to Nevada. Nearby Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir that is also fed by the Colorado River watershed, has also been draining at an alarming rate. Projections show a 66 percent chance that Lake Mead drops below a threshold that would trigger deep water cuts for millions in the U.S. west. The Colorado River Basin, which serves 40 million people in the American West, is the middle of a climate-change-fueled megadrought that has stretched on for more than 20 years. (AP, NBC News, CNBC, CNN, Gizmodo, Daily Mail, Independent, Climate Signals background: Drought)   

BIDEN: Biden Eyes Biofuel Cut That May Ease Pressure on Refiners (Yahoo Finance)

BIG OIL: U.S. Oil Producers Fail the Tax Standards They Agreed to Follow (Bloomberg)

ANALYSIS: New Report Reveals Big Oil’s $86B Offshore Tax Bonanza (BailoutWatch)

CORPORATE GREENWASHING: Vanguard Comes Up Short on the Climate Front, Think Tank Says (Bloomberg) 

CLIMATE COST: Costs of climate change far greater than green transition, says ECB (Financial Times), Reinsurers underplay climate risk by up to half, S&P estimates (Financial Times)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Hungry and desperate: Climate change fuels a migration crisis in Guatemala (NBC)

COP26: What is COP26? How the pivotal UN conference could avert global climate 'catastrophe' (CNN), World leaders at UN urged to end public finance to fossil fuels (Climate Home), World leaders must ‘walk the walk’ at COP26 to prevent climate disaster, London mayor says (CNBC)

DENIAL: Rupert Murdoch has known we’ve been in a climate emergency since 2006, documents show (Vice)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Biden makes early gains eroding Trump's environmental legacy (The Hill), Blinken says climate change worsening conflicts around world (The Hill)

FERC: Federal regulator calls for tougher power plant standards following Texas freeze (Wall Street Journal $), Natural gas, wind, coal contributed to Texas outages, report finds (The Hill), Regulators issue standards to prevent another Texas grid freeze (Reuters), This is a wake-up call': Feds reveal findings on Texas blackouts from deadly February freeze (Houston Chronicle)

THE HILL: Federal watchdog calls on Congress, Energy Dept. to overhaul nuclear waste storage process (The Hill)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Are developed countries pulling their weight in the climate crisis? (Marketplace), US and China climate commitments raise hopes ahead of COP26 summit (FT $), John Kerry prioritizes climate change, not Uyghur abuses, with China (New York Post), U.N. climate conference president on 'last best chance' to combat global warming (NPR)

CITIES AND STATES: Boston lawmakers approve zero emissions for large buildings by 2050 (The Hill), Boston University to end endowment investments in fossil fuels (The Hill), In Cleveland, a potential model for equitable, community-owned solar (Energy News Network)

AIR QUALITY: New WHO air-quality guidelines aim to cut deaths linked to fossil fuels (Reuters), WHO revises air quality guidelines for the first time in more than 15 years (CBS)

WATER: A 7.1 earthquake couldn’t kill this Mojave Desert town. But a water war just might (LA Times $), In California’s water wars, nuts are edging out people (Mother Jones), Should I buy water in a plastic, metal, or glass bottle? (Gizmodo), Tell me a story about water': How 1 simple question led to 1,001 answers about climate change (Today Show)

WILDFIRES: Fawn Fire prompts evacuations in Redding area (Sacramento Bee $), California fires over 10 years: See 170-plus areas where blazes repeatedly ignited (San Francisco Chronicle), Climate change fuels California emphasis on preventing fires (US News & World Report), Fawn fire forces emergency declaration in Shasta County as Windy fire spurs more evacuations (LA Times $), Hikers shut out as climate change, fires keep California forests off-limits (LA Times $)

FLOODS: Northeast under flash flood threat as storm approaches (NBC News)

HURRICANES: Tropical Storm Sam forms; system is forecast to become major Atlantic hurricane by Sunday (Washington Post), Tropical Storm Sam in Atlantic expected to be major hurricane (The Hill)

DISEASE: Climate change is increasing Lyme disease risk in New England (Yale Climate Connections)

DROUGHT: Utah town stops new housing construction due to drought (NBC News)

RENEWABLES: Going big and fast on renewables would save trillions in energy costs (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: Vitol sees oil jumping to $80-plus as energy crunch lifts demand (Bloomberg $)

EVs: Electric trucks could handle millions of short-haul routes across North America (Canary Media), New York City needs a lot of EV chargers. How can its power grid support them all? (Canary Media), Rural America’s roads might resemble Cuba in 20 years (New York Times $)

AVIATION: World's beautiful, Airbus says as air industry sets out green goals (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

LIBATIONS: Climate Change Is Coming for Your Beer (NBC Dallas-Fort Worth), Climate change poses tart questions for fine wine investors (FT $), Without federal aid for wildfires, California's wine industry could collapse, vintners say (San Francisco Chronicle)

BILLIONAIRES: Billionaires like Jeff Bezos are throwing money at biodiversity. Will it work? (Vox), Philanthropists pledge $5 billion for growing global push to protect nature (Reuters), 

BUSINESS: Nestle and Delta are among dozens of firms most at risk of climate change hazards (Forbes)

CALIFORNIA: Irvine could secure $1-million worth of funding to combat climate change  (LA Times $)

FOOD: U.N. summit seeks to shape a food system fit for the future (Reuters)

FINANCE: Ara partners raises $1.1 billion for second decarbonization fund (Wall Street Journal $), Even U.S. bankers are getting anxious about climate change (Grist)

HAYHOE: Talking about climate change requires honesty and connection — not just arguing, says author (CBC)

HOMES: Mortgage market is unprepared for climate risk, says industry report (CNBC)

SCIENCE: Intensified water cycle slows down global warming, new study finds (Phys.org), Our future is the bottom line,' says climate scientist (MSNBC)

YOUTH: Growing Number Of Young People Suffering From Climate Change Anxiety (CBS Miami)

INTERNATIONAL: Climate change tops agenda as Iceland heads to elections (AP), ColdHubs: How solar-powered cold storage is reducing food waste in Nigeria (CNN), Europe is paying record prices for energy. A winter crisis looms (CNN), South Africa mines plan $2.7 billion investment in power generation (Bloomberg $), Stronger U.K. winds set to bring supply relief to energy markets (Bloomberg $), Australia, a climate laggard, leans toward 2050 net-zero target as election looms (Washington Post $)

• Taking Charge: Equity must be 'baked in' to energy laws, tax policy, says ASE President Glover (Paula Glover, Utility Dive)
• The most dangerous message of the moment & Senator Joe Manchin (Clean Technica Bill McKibben interview)

• Why it's getting even harder for Biden to pass his legacy-defining agenda (CNN, Stephen Collinson)

• How climate change unfairly impacts communities of color (Allentown Morning Call, Nate Goodson op-ed)

• Even with climate change, the world isn’t doomed (Wall Street Journal, Bjorn Lomborg op-ed $)

Canada’s Hydrocarbons Don’t Respect Women, Children or the Environment, And There Is No Ethical Oil

In Canada, we hear that booze in airplane bottles is called a “mickey,” a 24-pack of beer is a “two-four” and the bathroom is called a “washroom.”  And you might need all three, in a row, to get through reading this, as the popular phrase to describe the shameless self-promotion of dirty fossil fuels isn’t “clean coal,” but instead “ethical oil.” 

If you’re wondering who thinks oil can be ethical, consider this tweet from Canada’s version of a rich, racist, rightwing former oil executive and extremely-online troll who loves spreading lies and seriously wants to hang environmental protestors named W. Brett Wilson: “The global energy industry is clearly growing. But the @NDP and @liberal_party coalition want to kill Canada’s energy industry. Hypocrisy and stupidity abound. Our hydrocarbons respect women and children and the environment. It’s ethical oil. Must participate….” 

Yes, you read that correctly, apparently Canada shouldn’t try and do its part to reduce fossil fuel use, because its “hydrocarbons respect women and children and the environment” unlike, apparently, oil produced elsewhere in less-ethical places where there’s conflict or oppressive governments with poor human rights records. 

This is, of course, very stupid, and it only took one person in the replies to let him know about how oil workers are engaging in sex trafficking, disappearing and killing Indigenous women, disrupting communities, and mockingly sexualizing an underage Greta Thunberg. So while you could pretend the hydrocarbons themselves are totally respectful to women and children, clearly the industry workers are… not. 

And of course no hydrocarbons “respect” the environment, there is no environmentally-friendly fossil fuels except those that are kept in the ground. So where did this laughable line come from? 

You may be surprised, but it turns out that “ethical oil” propaganda comes from the combined efforts of Ezra Levant and Thomas Ross. Levant isa Koch-fellowship-trained conservative Canadian pundit who was briefly a tobacco lobbyist and has been convicted of libel. Ross is a lawyer who is buddy with oil industry clients. Ross, with frontman and conservative politician Alykhan Velshi formed the “Ethical Oil Institute,” which is based on Levant’s falsehood-ridden book of the same name. 

They’ve been pushing this oil propaganda for over a decade now, and in 2014 were exposed as being behind a website attacking Neil Young for his activism, because they are absolutely the worst and have no respect for living legends. 

That same year saw the publication of an extensive examination of the claim of Canadian oil being “ethical” by Johanne Sanschagrin of the Department of Women And Gender Equality Canada. 

“At this point,” Sanschagrin wrote, “it is pretty clear that there is no such thing as ethical oil.The ethical oil rhetoric is based on some flawed logic, where a country, generally perceived as relatively ‘ethical’, is assimilated to its export production, assuming that it necessarily produces and exports ‘ethical’ products. But to build an argument from such logic for this case, isn’t one required to confront the so-called ethical practices of the corporations developing Alberta’s oil sands?”

Just like how the US oil industry’s recently rebranded as a climate savior, Sanschagrin made it clear that “rebranding oil sands as ‘ethical’ does not make it ethical in any way. What is happening in the Alberta oil patch is not ethical at all; it is neither morally correct nor honorable. As it currently operates, oil sands development permanently damages local and regional ecosystem; it extends our dependency on fossil fuels; it adds to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide; it jeopardizes the opportunities of future generations; it does not respect aboriginal ways of life and the inherited obligation to preserve ancestral lands. No matter how we try to twist the rhetoric of ‘ethical oil’, we must conclude that oil sands exploitation has never been about ‘ethics’. Instead it has merely been about money.”

Quelle surprise!

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