FIRST LOOK:

COP26 is just days away and all signs point to Glasgow as methane’s big debut as a major plank of the global climate strategy. Check out MethaneMoment.org for all the methane information you need before and during COP26.

Net-Zero Proclamations From The Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, says it will eliminate climate pollution, domestically, by 2060. The plan on relies heavily unproven carbon capture and sequestration technology, not on the reduction of fossil fuel use. The announcement made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who approved the murder and dismembering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, does not apply to pollution caused by the overseas combustion of oil and gas extracted in Saudi Arabia and exported, which accounts for approximately 10% of all global oil consumption. The CEO of Saudi Aramco said on Saturday the company is seeking to reach net-zero emissions from its operations, though not its product, by 2050. The state news agency of Bahrain also reported Sunday that country aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions in 2060. (Saudi Arabia: Washington Post $, Bloomberg $, The Hill, FT $, Axios, Reuters; Saudi Aramco: Reuters; Bahrain: Reuters)

House Hearing To Press Big Oil On Climate Disinformation: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing “Exposing Big Oil’s Disinformation Campaign to Prevent Climate Action,” on Thursday. Top leaders from ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. The Chamber of Commerce are scheduled to testify (remotely) to answer for their organizations' disinformation. However, those firms and groups have "failed to adequately comply" with requests for internal documents and communications related to their climate denial campaigns made by the Committee. The hearings will come just days before the committee members' Republican colleagues will be going to COP26 in Scotland "not ... just to drink." [See more coverage and the Denier Roundup below for more. —Ed.] Rep. Ro Khanna told E&E News that while they’re “going to continue to pursue” the documents, “there is so much evidence that is of concern that they would be very hard-pressed to be evasive.” Khanna also indicated “this hearing is the start of the investigation, not the end, not the culmination, just like the tobacco hearings.” (E&ENews, Axios, PoliticoPRO $, Reuters)

Atmospheric River Dumps Precipitation On California, Risking Landslides In Wildfire Burn Scars: A Category 5 "bomb cyclone" dumped historic amounts of precipitation across much of North California Sunday, creating dangerous flooding and landslide conditions in the region scarred by recent wildfires. The "atmospheric river" dumped more than 5.35 inches of rain on Sacramento on Sunday, the most in a 24 hour period since record keeping began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration (1877). Other locations at higher elevations were expected to see even more precipitation, and as much as 2 feet of snow were expected in the Sierra Nevada. Flooding was reported across the Bay Area. Climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, not only worsens extreme precipitation events by increasing the amount of moisture the atmosphere can hold, it also worsens the risks of landslides in areas incinerated by climate-supercharged wildfires. State police closed a stretch of State Route 70 in two counties after multiple landslides in the Dixie Fire burn scar, and the NWS issued flash flood warnings for both Dixie and Caldor Fire burn scars. Numerous locations across the state were under evacuation orders because of the potential for mudslides in fire scars. “If you are in the vicinity of a recent burn scar and haven’t already, prepare now for likely debris flows,” the Sacramento weather service tweeted. “If you are told to evacuate by local officials, or you feel threatened, do not hesitate to do so. If it is too late to evacuate, get to higher ground.” The historic rainfall will not undo the massive drought, made more severe by climate change, the state faces. “Even with 5 inches of rain in Sacramento, our deficits are immense,” Jeffrey Mount, a geologist and water expert at the Public Policy Institute of California told the Sacramento Bee. “We’re basically missing two years of ‘precip’ in this basin. It’s not a drought buster.” (Precip so far: Sacramento Bee $, AP, Sacramento Bee $, CBS, NBC, Washington Post (video), San Francisco Chronicle $; Landslides: San Francisco Chronicle $; Atmospheric River: Axios, Washington Post $, New York Times $, The Hill, AP; Drought: Sacramento Bee $; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase; 2021 Western wildfire season; Drought) 

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Pilsen metal scrapper sued by state for allegedly breaking air pollution laws (Block Club Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times, AP), to stop a scrapyard, some protesters in a Latino community risked everything (Washington Post $), Michigan officials are finally doing something about a city’s toxic drinking water (Grist), ‘The View’ attempted to talk about Critical Race Theory but let conservative misinformation dominate the conversation (NewsOne), DOJ finds racism running rampant in Utah school district (The Root)

COP26: Climate talks in times of crisis: your roadmap to COP26 (Bloomberg $), a reckoning in Glasgow: broken promises, energy shortages and COVID-19 will hamper COP26 (Economist), methane leak near COP26 venue underscores emissions challenge (FT $), proposed mine tests UK climate efforts ahead of UN meeting (AP), negotiators edge closer to global carbon market deal at COP26 (Bloomberg $), COP26 climate deal will be harder than Paris accord, admits Sharma (The Guardian), ‘world conflict and chaos’ could be the result of a summit failure (The Guardian), COP26 menu focuses on plant-based dishes with 80% Scottish food (The Guardian), EU officials banned from most COP26 parties due to COVID surge (Bloomberg $), South Africa to call on rich nations to do more at COP26 (Reuters), the fate of the planet will be negotiated in Glasgow, Scotland (Vox)

• COAL: COP aims to end coal, but the world is still addicted (Bloomberg $), U.S. joins 10 OECD members in approving coal export credit ban (Politico Pro $), China’s overseas coal ban raises pressure on developing countries to go green (Washington Post $)
• IF YOU HAVE TO SAY IT…: ‘Not going there just to drink’: GOP serious about COP talks (E&E News), the GOP’s most dangerous climate advocate is going to the United Nations talks in Glasgow (Earther)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: The EU’s impotent rage at Putin’s gas games (Politico EU), 46 countries agree to better protect environmental defenders (AP), China climate envoy urges developed states to back other nations (Bloomberg $), Details of $100B climate finance plan coming Monday (Politico Pro $)

READ AND BOOKMARK: Good readings for getting up to speed on methane (Yale Climate Connections)

ACTIVISM: Wrong side of the law. Right side of history: the activists arrested in the name of the planet (The Guardian), campaigners stage climate protests across continents (AP, The Hill)

EMISSION IMPOSSIBLE: The world is bending the climate emissions curve. Just not enough. (New York Times $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Young Australians lodge human rights complaints with UN over alleged government inaction on climate (The Guardian)

DENIAL & DISINFORMATION: Fox Weather readies launch, facing questions over how it will cover climate change (Washington Post $), right-wingers want you to believe environmentalists did another Jan. 6 (HuffPost)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Longer, more frequent outages afflict the U.S. power grid as states fail to prepare for climate change (Washington Post $), prepare for propane sticker shock (Wall Street Journal $)

THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT: Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate's future (Reuters), how global heating’s children view the world, 12 years on (The Guardian)

NOW IT'S REALLY A CRISIS: COVID put music festivals on hold. Climate change might offer bigger long-term problems. (Washington Post $)

AGENCIES: DOJ launches new program to combat redlining and lending discrimination (NewsOne)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Staffing, leadership concerns bedevil OMB (E&E News)

LAWSUITS: Court nixes Trump rule limiting state authority to block pipelines (The Hill, Reuters)

THE HILL: Dozens of Democrats call for spending bill to pass 'climate test' (The Hill)

SENATE:  Dems urge stronger air pollution rules for diesel trucks (E&E $), Angus King: losing climate provisions in reconciliation bill weakens Biden's hands in Glasgow (The Hill), King: Manchin isn't 'death on climate legislation' (NBC), Liberals express concerns over concessions to Manchin and Sinema as Democrats struggle to close deal (CNN), Sinema’s blockade on tax rates prods Democrats toward billionaires’ tax (New York Times $)

HOUSE: House progressives call on Biden to end all new fossil fuel permitting (The Hill), Dems, Republicans spar over offshore wind (E&E $), Panel questions Garland on Interior protests, pipeline hack (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden meets with Manchin and Schumer as Democrats race to finish social policy bill (New York Times $, Politico Pro $, AP, The Hill), Biden talks clean electricity plan, high gas prices (E&E News), Biden backs down on corporate tax hikes, open to altering filibuster (Reuters), Biden crafts a climate Plan B: tax credits, regulation and state action (New York Times $), Biden talks up climate deal with Manchin (E&E News), Biden pushes private talks into the open as the White House keeps its foot on the gas (CNN), Biden says $150B for CEPP could be used for other programs (E&E $), Biden the dealmaker finds that compromise can have consequences (New York Times $), White House says no new deadlines on reconciliation bill (Reuters)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): What’s in, and what’s out, as Democrats reshape Biden bill (AP), Biden’s economic plan finally comes into focus as it shrinks (Bloomberg $), Dem leaders eye reconciliation deal for vote next week (E&E News), Democrats 'pretty much there' on U.S. social spending bill -Pelosi (Reuters), how Democrats could tax companies more—without undoing Trump’s tax cuts (Bloomberg $), progressives' optimism for large reforms dwindles (The Hill), U.S. Democrats narrow differences on Biden's agenda, mull billionaire tax (Reuters), Biden and top Democrats work toward agreement on ‘Build Back Better’ agenda (ABC), Democrats optimistic about reaching deal on Biden's economic agenda (CBS), Infrastructure plan inches closer to a deal (NBC)

POLITICS: Glasgow summit raises stakes for Biden deal (The Hill), California Democratic Party could reject police, energy donations (Politico Pro $), Dem divisions linger in last lap of spending talks (Politico), Rep. Khanna says Biden told Dems reconciliation agreement a must before Glasgow conference: 'I need this' (Fox News)

ELECTIONS: A record number of Black women are expected to run in 2022 (The 19th* News), weary Dems not keen on another party-line spending bill before the midterms (Politico)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: White House taps Martha Williams to head FWS (E&E News, The Hill)

TRIBES: Navajo group alleges U.S. violated human rights in uranium mine licensing (New Mexico Political Report)

CITIES AND STATES: Portland Clean Energy Fund plans to give out 15,000 cooling units (Portland Tribune), comment period closing for Charleston [SC] flood fix plan (AP), Florida is ditching palm trees to fight the climate crisis (CNN), NYC public schools to get solar panels in green push (Bloomberg $), Newsom goes big first, worries about the details later (Politico), California governor: 'We don't see oil in our future' (E&E $)

FERC: FERC rulings may change renewables’ path in Southeast, Calif. (E&E News)

IMPACTS: Climate change disrupting natural cycles at drier Lake Tahoe (AP), Vapor storms are threatening people and property (Scientific American), Tens of millions on alert as massive weather systems take aim (ABC)

IMPACTS' IMPACTS: CNN meteorologist explains how climate change threatens global security (CNN), Velshi: The cost of climate change (MSNBC)

DROUGHT: One of California’s wealthiest counties could run out of water next summer (Bloomberg $)

WILDFIRES: 10,000 trees near giant sequoia groves to be removed after fires (Axios, The Hill, AP), ‘it still gives me nightmares’: the firefighters on the frontline as the world burns (The Guardian), current approach to wildfires risks lives and wastes money, say experts (The Guardian)

HURRICANES: [Conn. Gov.] Lamont seeks disaster declaration for flooding caused by Ida (AP), Hurricane Rick heads toward Mexico’s Pacific coast (AP, The Hill)

RENEWABLES: Can solar power solve Lebanon's energy crisis? (Thomson Reuters Foundation), the new offshore wind seascape (Axios), the U.S. offshore wind industry's grand ambitions face choppy waters (Politico Pro $)

BUILDINGS: 3D-printed houses seem poised to go mainstream (Axios)

METHANE: Rocky Mountain high: U.S. looks to Colorado for methane emissions policy (Reuters)

OIL & GAS: California proposes limits on community drilling (AP explainer), Nigeria backs Saudi Arabia with call for OPEC+ to stay cautious (Bloomberg $), top oil and gas companies won't meet Paris Agreement goals (E&E $)

PLASTICS: Report: plastic is on track to become a bigger climate problem than coal (Grist)

COAL: Coal stocks rise, even as the planet warms (New York Times $)

HYDROGEN: Saudi Arabia wants to be top supplier of hydrogen - energy minister (Reuters, Bloomberg $)

NUKES: Plant Vogtle delayed despite 'steady and evident' progress (E&E $)

EVs: Automaker [Stellantis NV] boosts EV push with second U.S. battery plant (E&E News), the coming electric car disruption that nobody’s talking about (Bloomberg $)

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN: Climate crisis education should be embedded in system, say unions (The Guardian)

POP CULTURE: Are we still ‘Dune’ this? (Grist)

BUSINESS: SK Group targets carbon-emission cut of 200 million tons by 2030 (Bloomberg $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Exxon advances giant Wyoming CCS project (E&E $)

FINANCE: Climate advocates turn sights on Wall Street (The Hill), Al Gore urges overhaul of global finance to cut greenhouse gases (FT $), Climate crisis brings venture capital money back to clean tech (FT $), getting heard on climate: small investors take on big companies (FT $)

IN MEMORIAM: Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, 59, dies; linked weather disasters to climate change (New York Times $)

WILDLIFE: How wildfires impact wildlife, their habitat (AP explainer), Western monarch butterflies have been vanishing. This week, a sanctuary saw thousands return. (Washington Post $)

INTERNATIONAL: A 7 meter wall has gone up on a Sydney beach: are we destroying public space to save private property? (The Guardian), China targets more than 80% non-fossil energy use by 2060 (Bloomberg $), China says it must consider food and energy security when curbing emissions (Reuters), Japan aims for 36-38% of energy to come from renewables  by 2030 (Reuters), Sierra Leone names Africa's first chief heat officer (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• UNELECTED MONARCHY: Crown gives go ahead to rival ‘net zero carbon’ North Sea schemes (The Guardian), Prince Charles warns of narrow window to face climate change (AP, Reuters, The Hill)

• Joe Manchin is wrong about spending on climate change. It would be good for his state. (Washington Post, David Ignatius column $)
• Biden needs to diversify the Fed’s leadership (New York Times, Annelise Riles op-ed $)
• Solar and wind force poverty on Africa (Wall Street Journal, Yoweri K. Museveni op-ed $)
• To sustain humanity COP26 must lead on both climate and biodiversity (The Hill, David Shearman op-ed)
• Can this tribe of ‘salmon people’ pull off one more win? (New York Times, E. Tammy Kim essay $)
• The Guardian view on climate secrets: leaked documents reveal rising stakes (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• What will success look like in Glasgow? (New York Times, Editorial Board $)
• We must invest in a transportation transition — and workers (The Hill, Erica Iheme and Katherine García op-ed)
• The rotten core of the Republican party (New York Times, Binyamin Appelbaum column $)
• When it comes to net zero, the government has a concrete problem (FT, Camilla Cavendish op-ed $)
• How is ‘Dune’ so prescient about climate change? Thank this native American tribe. (New York Times, Daniel Immerwahr op-ed $)
• Britain’s oil and gas workers want a green transition – but the industry doesn’t (The Guardian, Erik Dalhuijsen op-ed)
• Jane Fonda on the climate fight: ‘the cure for despair is action’ (The Guardian, Jane Fonda op-ed)
• Sen. Manchin's inaction on climate change is the real 'fiscal insanity' (CNN, Jessica Moerman op-ed)
• Runaway climate risks in a warming world (The Hill, Kai Kornhuber, Ph.D. op-ed)
• Heat pumps won’t solve Britain’s climate change crisis (Bloomberg, Marcus Ashworth op-ed $)
• To build a beautiful world, you first have to imagine it (The Nation, Mary Annaïse Heglar essay)
• Maybe white people should feel bad (The Root, Michael Harriot column)
• Climate promises cost nothing. change will cost a fortune. (Bloomberg, Niall Ferguson op-ed $)
• How 'Buy American', other pro-US policies can help advocates pass ambitious climate policies (The Hill, Sean McElwee and Marcela Mulholland op-ed)
• How to get away with Black murder in America (NewsOne, Trevor Baldwin op-ed)

GOP Going To COP26 In Good Faith, But First Have To Accuse Dems Of Supporting The Taliban

Every few months, a few Republicans manage to get good press off of a promise that they’ve totally changed their climate denying ways, and are now definitely acting in good faith in their search for climate solutions. And despite a supposedly new set of rhetoric acknowledging climate change, they always trot out the same old policies that prop up the polluters causing the climate crisis. 

It was no different last week, as the Washington Examiner, Politico and the Washington Post all, relatively uncritically, reported that the GOP is sending some members of Congress to the COP26 climate negotiations. And, supposedly, unlike past years, they’re not going to try and disrupt it, but instead to show that Republicans really do care about the climate and have real solutions for the crisis. 

“The Republicans who are attending acknowledge the reality of climate change,” Politico’s Morning Energy (brought to you by Chevron) reported, “and do not plan to directly undermine the conference.” Oh, really? 

First of all, "directly" is doing a lot of work there. Secondly, here's the next sentence: “But they also do not support either the Paris Agreement or specific emissions reductions targets.” 

Huh. So they’re not trying to directly undermine the conference, they’re just not supportive of the agreement that basically every nation on Earth signed up for — and is basically the premise of most of the negotiating that will be happening there — and they oppose anything that actually aims to reduce fossil fuel emissions. 

Sounds like they may not be going in such good faith after all! Let’s see what else the GOP is up to, and maybe that will offer some hint as to the true intentions of the party bought by fossil fuel campaign contributions. 

On Friday, the House Republican twitter account posted an image from Fox showing $8 gas and captioning the image “Joe Biden’s energy crisis…” But it turns out that’s actually a lower price than in April of 2019, when gas at that particular station, which is known to have the highest gas prices in California, reached $11.75 per gallon under President Trump. 

But maybe these specific Republicans are different from their party!

Except Rep. Bruce Westerman and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, two of the supposedly climate-friendly Republicans going to COP26, held a forum on Friday that Politico previewed with the header “TALIBAN METAL” and described as being “on Afghanistan’s critical minerals, casting the U.S. withdrawal from the country as handing the Taliban access to one of the world’s largest deposits of vital minerals and metals necessary for clean energy technology.” 

The event “follows recent Republican criticism against Democrats” that “the transition to renewable energy will increasingly rely on minerals sourced in countries with shabby human rights records and that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan added a Taliban-controlled Kabul to that list.” 

Note: Yes, there are minerals in Afghanistan's mountains. However, there are currently zero operating, planned or even proposed projects for anyone to work with the Taliban to mine lithium from the notoriously hostile, in every sense of the word, mountain terrain of Afghanistan. 

Also, are we just going to ignore the gross human rights violations of major oil producers, like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia, or Texas? Apparently so.  

So before the next reporter jumps on the counter-intuitive “GOP cares about climate now!” bandwagon, maybe they should actually take a minute to sit down and watch the two hour event in which some of the exact same Republicans going to COP26 demonstrated exactly how serious they are about climate change by invoking speculative conspiracy theories that preemptively blame Democrats and climate policies for working with the Taliban to mine metals that every piece of technology with a battery needs, but they portray as some innate weakness of renewable energy. 

But sure, Republicans are going to COP26 in good faith and not to undermine climate solutions! But first, they just had to hold a quick forum accusing Democrats of enriching terrorists. 

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