FIRST LOOK:

Exxon Joins Net-Zero 'Beauty Match': ExxonMobil will continue polluting the planet but will produce net-zero emissions by 2050, a goal its CEO described as a "beauty match" less than two years ago, the embattled company announced Tuesday. The pledge only applies to pollution caused by Exxon operations — technically known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions – and does not address the "Scope 3" pollution released when its product is burned. The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change, a scientific reality Exxon knowingly denied for decades. (Axios, Gizmodo, E&E $, Bloomberg $, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Reuters, FT $, New York Times $, Reuters, Factbox)

'Socially Vulnerable' Schools Disproportionately Set Back By Climate-Fueled Disasters — GAO Report: Students in high-poverty areas face additional, compounding obstacles to education following extreme weather disasters, a new Government Accountability Office report finds. Schools in low-income areas face disproportionate barriers to recovering from major disasters like hurricanes. "Socially vulnerable groups are more likely to attend under-resourced and poorly maintained schools," according to a subject matter excerpt cited in the report. "In turn [those school districts] are more likely to suffer extensive damage due to disasters, causing extended school closures and student displacements." Climate change, primarily caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making extreme disasters like hurricanes and wildfires worse and more frequent. (ABC, The Hill; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Wildfires)

Interagency Orphaned Well Cleanup Group Given Home At BLM: The Interior Department and other federal and multi-state bodies will collaborate to plug and remediate abandoned oil and gas wells. The working group headquartered at the Bureau of Land Management within DOI includes EPA, DOE, USDA, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and will facilitate the ranking and tracking of orphan well cleanup operations. The unknown number — but likely millions — of abandoned oil and gas wells ("orphaned" by their owners and operators) release substantial amounts of heat-trapping methane and other pollutants into soil, groundwater, and the atmosphere. (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: How Exxon is using an unusual law to intimidate critics over its climate denial (The Guardian), Patrick Morrisey on his unprecedented SCOTUS climate case (E&E $)

MEDIA: NYT crossword puzzle called coal a greener energy source and people hated it (Vice), bye-bye batshit: DirecTV gives craziest of cray-cray networks OANN the boot (The Root)

VOTING RIGHTS: In voting rights fight, Democrats train ire on Sinema and Manchin (New York Times $), saving our planet and the right to vote (MSNBC)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: UN declares healthy environment a human right—now what? (The Real News)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: LNG vessel’s U-turn to UK from Hawaii shows draw of European energy crisis (Bloomberg $)

POPULAR CULTURE: ‘Don’t Look Up’ and ‘Soylent Green’: Hollywood keeps telling similar stories about the end of the world (Grist), DiCaprio on climate change: 'vote for people that are sane' (The Hill)

FIRST AND WORST: ‘We live and die by it’: climate crisis threatens Bangladesh’s Sundarbans (The Guardian)

EPA: EPA prepares to issue clean truck rule as tensions brew (E&E $), EPA tackles coal-to-crypto industry trend (E&E News), how a powerful company convinced Georgia to let it bury toxic waste in groundwater (ProPublica)

WE'RE NUMBER ONE!: The US military emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than entire countries like Denmark or Portugal (Inside Climate News)

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT: Climate advocates argue against breaking up BBB, call it a 'mistake' for Democrats and the planet (Washington Post $), Democrats’ indecision could doom prospects for major climate action (Politico Pro $), how the White House hopes to save Biden's Build Back Better bill (Reuters), White House dismisses report of new Build Back Better package (The Hill)

HOUSE: Energy and Commerce takes up pipeline reliability bill (E&E $), House Democrats scrutinize offshore drilling emissions (E&E $), House panel to review crypto’s energy, climate impacts (E&E News), Republicans plan forum on high energy prices (E&E $)

SENATE: Senate stays on voting rights, keeps climate bill sidelined (E&E News), Emily’s List says it will no longer endorse Sen. Sinema as she holds firm on filibuster (Washington Post $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden environmental justice advisers air frustrations (E&E News), US plans $50B wildfire fight where forests meet civilization (AP)(The Hill)(Bloomberg $)(Reuters)(The Verge)(New York Times $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate’s Brown plans quick hearing for fed picks, touts [Sarah Bloom] Raskin’s resume (Bloomberg $)

CITIES AND STATES: Smokestacks loom over New York’s clean energy plan (New York Focus), from crime to climate, New Mexico lawmakers seek solutions (AP), majority of US states pursue nuclear power for emission cuts (AP), Virginia governor signs order to exit carbon-trading program [RGGI] (E&E $)

FALSE DICHOTOMIES: Sorting things out: go ‘big’ or ‘small’ on climate solutions? (Yale Climate Connections)

IMPACTS: Climate change hits home for Latinos (Axios), a hot year in North America ... and the world (Washington Post $), Canadian natural disasters caused insured losses of C$2.1 billion in 2021 (Reuters), dusting for ‘fingerprints’ to determine humanity’s climate impacts (Yale Climate Connections), Ghana's farmers arm against freak weather with crop insurance (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

WATER: California city finds a creative way to conserve water (Yale Climate Connections), Could we — should we — build a desalination plant? (Arizona Public Media)

DEFORESTATION: The majority of the world promised to end deforestation. But businesses are standing in the way. (Grist)

OLYMPICS: Climate change poses threat to Winter Olympics: study (The Hill)

RENEWABLES: Biden rattles solar industry with tariffs appeal (E&E $), biggest North Sea majors set to spend more on UK wind than oil (Bloomberg $), China’s $60 billion wind empire needs to grow its own blades (Bloomberg $), how greed and politics are slowing the switch to renewable energy (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

BATTERIES: Biden's green agenda requires batteries, but building them is dirty business (Politico Pro $)

EUROPEAN METAL: Europe's metal industry asks EU to help it deliver energy transition (Reuters), Europe’s metals industry calls for release of gas reserves to curb prices (FT $)

BUILDINGS: Tale of two UK homes holds secret to cutting high energy bills (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: Plugging the US fossil fuel revenue gap won't be easy (Axios)

PLASTICS: The push to control plastics (Axios)

PIPELINES: Federal pipeline agency shifts focus to cut methane (E&E News), greens warn Utah pipeline could shrink Great Salt Lake (E&E $)

COAL: China’s record coal spree seen preventing any new energy crunch (Bloomberg $)

UTILITIES: 2022 outlook: top US power sector trends to watch (Utility Dive), war between energy titans could shape New England climate (E&E News)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Winter brings more chilling news in Ohio’s ongoing HB 6 scandal (Energy News Network)

GRID: MISO resource adequacy proposals garner mixed reviews from states, utilities, power users (Utility Dive)

TEXAS: 'Unacceptable:' Texas market reforms will not be quick, electric grid operator tells dissatisfied regulators (Utility Dive), will Texas have more blackouts? 5 issues to watch (E&E News)

BIKES: Mechanics ask Wal-Mart, major bike manufacturers to stop making and selling ‘built-to-fail’ bikes (Vice)

EVs: Musk engineered solarcity purchase as a ‘bailout,’ Tesla investors argue (Bloomberg $), Biglaw firm chooses associate over Elon Musk (Above the Law)

TONGA: Tonga’s volcanic eruption may harm environment for years, scientists say (Reuters, explainer), Tonga volcano isn't going to cool the planet (Axios)

AGRICULTURE: What agriculture can learn from Indigenous science (Modern Farmer)

BUSINESS: Want to keep your workers? Change your climate policies (CNN), despite growing climate fears, global firms struggle with solutions (Bloomberg $), IKEA's climate footprint shrinks from pre-pandemic level despite record sales (Reuters)

CARBON PRICING: Ceramic makers face up to dangers of EU carbon challenge (FT $)

CARBON CAPTURE: These machines scrub greenhouse gases from the air – an inventor of direct air capture technology shows how it works (The Conversation) 

FINANCE: Business schools learn to walk the ESG talk (FT $), setting a climate course when politics divides (Indian Country Today), Investec to offer private bank clients solar-power financing (Bloomberg $)

• BLACKROCK: Climate activists criticize BlackRock CEO’s support for slow transition off oil and natural gas (CNBC), BlackRock cares about money, not 'woke' politics (CNN, FT $, Reuters, Bloomberg $, The Guardian), BlackRock’s Larry Fink tells fellow ceos that businesses are not ‘climate police’ (Washington Post $), Larry Fink defends stakeholder capitalism (New York Times $), Larry Fink infuriates Republicans and climate activists alike (Bloomberg $), West Virginia starts new fake culture war against Blackrock (Earther)

SHIPPING: One way to clean up dirty trucks and ships? Design smarter routes (Canary Media)

IN MEMORIAM: Red Tails airmen Charles McGee completes final mission, dies at 102 (Black Wall Street Times, The Root, Ebony, AP, Washington Post $, New York Times $, BBC, CNN, WUSA-9, NBC)

INTERNATIONAL: China car sector falling short of 'net zero' goals - Greenpeace (Reuters), Greece to ban development in mountain areas to protect habitats (Reuters), judge rejects campaigners’ bid to curb UK oil production (Climate Home), London mayor looks to cut car journeys in push for net zero (FT $), official: Japan hopes to lead Asian zero-emissions push (AP), Scholz: Germany will discuss Nord Stream 2 penalties if Russia attacks Ukraine (Politico Pro $), UK government decides against intervening in domestic carbon market (S&P Global), world needs to invest $3 trillion-plus in renewables in 10 years -UAE minister (Reuters), South Korea and Saudi Arabia need oil but eye clean energy (AP)

EDITOR'S POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE: When kids under 5 get COVID-19, parents are screwed (The 19th* News)

• All-Electric Building Act will move us closer to climate goals (Albany Times-Union, Brian Kavanagh and Emily Gallagher op-ed)
• Inside OPEC, views are growing that oil's rally could be prolonged (Reuters, Alex Lawler analysis)
• Earth to Hollywood: Make more climate movies (The Hill, Andreas Karelas op-ed)
• Energy trilemma causes a headache for Germany’s new leaders (FT, Constanze Stelzenmüller op-ed $)
• Fed needs a tougher stance on regulation (FT, Editorial Board $)
• How business schools can nurture tomorrow’s impact investors (FT, Felix Olale op-ed $)
• The climate conversation no one wants (Foreign Policy, Janos Pasztor op-ed)
• Exxon’s partial net-zero target is surprisingly useful (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• Chief executives have a climate crisis blind spot (FT, Margaret Heffernan op-ed $)
• Will the world run dry? (Atmos, Nasty Castaldo interview)
• Larry Fink’s pragmatism is awkward but lucrative (Reuters, Neil Unmack op-ed)
• Liberalisation and decarbonisation are a recipe for volatility (Energy Monitor, Seb Kennedy op-ed)

Can You Be Sued For Climate Disinformation? New White Paper On Legal Liability For Climate Denial

There are lots of places that require action to address climate change. Power plants, highways, and cattle farms come to mind. But one place that isn’t often thought of as a venue for climate action is the one in which all these fights will eventually play out: courts. 

With the U.S. Supreme Court readying to dismantle the regulatory state, first with OSHA and Covid mandates, next in February with a hearing on a defunct case to set up a judgement overturning decades of precedent giving the Executive branch the authority to … execute the laws Congress passes (more on that some other time), now’s a great time to stop and look at how climate litigation has fared in the U.S. and around the world. 

The Climate Social Science Network recently published a report on greenwashing litigation, a landscape analysis of how climate disinformation is being challenged in courts, based on a database of climate laws, and another of climate litigation.  

First, they lay out what’s meant by greenwashing and its more specific climate-washing variant, referring to how companies use rhetoric to conceal their pollution in climate-friendly terms. Greenwashing, per the report and the many studies it cites, consists of “unsubstantiated or misleading claims regarding an actor’s environmental performance,” including “selective disclosure” of good news but not bad, while climate-washing “may encompass issues that go beyond the natural environment.” 

Climate-washing litigation, then, are cases that hold corporate (or government) actors “legally accountable for their actions or products that misleadingly claim to address climate change.” 

Overall, they found courts in the U.S., Australia, France, and the Netherlands have seen at least 20 climate-washing cases, with another 27 similar complaints made to “non-judicial oversight bodies in the UK, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Denmark, the U.S., and South Korea since 2008.” 

The types of cases fall into three buckets of misleading content, as false claims tend to either be about (1) promises they’ll never keep, (2) their products’ specific characteristics, or (3) their “climate investments, financial risks and harm caused by companies.” 

The report then details examples of these sorts of cases, and the laws in the various countries that underpin the suits, but we’ll summarize: 

If a government has pledged to meet the Paris agreement but remains committed to fossil fuels, that’s a climate-washing commitment (bucket #1). If a company says their coal or gas is clean or climate-friendly, that’s misleading on product characteristics (bucket #2), and if they run a $100 million ad campaign to tout algae-based oil alternatives they’ve only invested $1 million in, that’s misleading about their investments (bucket #3). (Saying climate change won’t cause supply chain issues or failing to disclose the risk that an unlivable climate-wrecked planet might pose to their bottom line also falls in that camp.) 

Then, helpfully, the report offers some recommendations. Companies should be sure “to not over-claim climate actions,” and make sure their advertisements are scientifically sound and therefore legally on safe footing. Policymakers should make sure they’re fully aware of the various “legal mechanisms” that they could use “to enhance transparency and compliance of companies to existing climate commitments.” Lawyers should warn companies about the potential for misleading ads to invite legal scrutiny, and consider bringing cases against those failing to meet their commitments or lying about their products. Law enforcement and other regulatory entities  can consider this a menu of options “to deter and combat instances of climate washing,” for example by slapping warning labels on ads for oil products, “in a similar way to the tobacco industry.” 

As for NGOs and the public, they’re advised to “serve as climate-washing watchdogs,” which we’re happy to keep doing!

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