FIRST LOOK:

The American Meteorological Society, Interfaith Power & Light, and Creation Justice Ministries will convene perspectives on the roles of faith-based communities and organizations to strengthen community resilience from high-impact weather events. Wednesday, June 1, at 2:00 pm ET.

Intervention Needed To Alleviate Suffering Caused By East African Drought Already Killing Babies: The worst drought in at least 40 years is threatening to plunge huge swaths of East Africa into famine. At least 16 million people across the Horn of Africa are currently food insecure, malnourished babies born to malnourished mothers die just days after giving birth, and the decomposing corpses of livestock litter the ground — all the result of four straight seasons of failed rains. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making droughts more frequent and more severe. While the eyes of the Western world are focused on the white refugees fleeing Ukraine, experts say the drought in East Africa could lead to a catastrophe like Somalia's 2011 famine that killed more than 250,000 people, most of whom were children less than five years old. Even children who survive, however, will be hurt for life by the drought. In addition to the lingering effects of pediatric malnutrition, children — especially girls — as young as six are being forced to leave school because their families can no longer afford to send them, or simply because they need to stay home to help their families collect water. (Reuters, Bloomberg $; Climate Signals background: Drought)

SCOTUS Tosses Block On Admin's Use Of 'Social Cost' Calculations: The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration on Thursday when it declined to reinstate an order blocking the administration from using its calculations of the social cost of various climate pollutants when crafting regulations. Ten GOP attorneys general are challenging the administration's calculations of the "social cost" of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions and sought to reinstate a far-lower calculation imposed by the previous administration. The Biden administration is using an interim value of $51 per ton of CO2 emitted (the amount used by the Obama administration) while an interagency working group formulates an updated amount, which experts say could be as high as $200 or more. The order blocking the use of social costs of pollutants, in place for 33 days, substantially reduced the amount of benefits EPA could count from the implementation of a draft ozone pollution rule it released in March. (AP, SCOTUSblog, Washington Post $, New York Times $, E&E News, Politico, Bloomberg $, The Hill; EPA Ozone Rule: E&E News)

GOP Officials Using Elected Office To Punish Firms That Don't Fall In Line: Republican elected officials, along with media allies and other outside groups, are waging a coordinated campaign, often with public funds, to pressure businesses to support their agenda and punish firms that support "woke" causes, the New York Times reports. Republicans are leveraging their legislative and financial power to pressure companies to oppose climate action and other issues including voting, abortion, and LGBTQ rights. This leverage includes punishing financial services firms that divest from fossil fuels, or even simply assess environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues when making investment decisions. “There is a coordinated effort to chill corporate engagement on these issues,” Daniella Ballou-Aares, head of the Leadership Now Project, an NGO that pushes firms to defend democracy. “And it is an effective campaign. Companies are starting to go into hiding.” (New York Times $)

GREENWASHING: SEC proposes new guidelines for ESG investing (E&E News, Indian Country Today, Reuters), Fund managers call for disclaimers on ‘climate-friendly’ products (FT $)

WARTIME WINDFALLS: UK slaps 25% windfall tax on profits of oil and gas firms (Bloomberg $, CNBC, Washington Post $), UK could still foist windfall tax on electricity firms’ booming profit (Bloomberg $)

PROXY SEASON: Shell climate case to return to focus at annual shareholder meeting (Bloomberg), Shareholders win majority support for climate proposals at Exxon, Chevron (Grist), Carl Icahn gets only 1 percent of McDonald's investors to support his campaign on pigs. (New York Times $, CNBC), McDonald’s investors demand civil rights audit in close vote (Bloomberg $), Vanguard refuses to end new fossil fuel investments (FT $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Climate change and colonialism: living history at Puerto Rico's key Indigenous ceremonial sites (Pulitzer Center), How FEMA helps white and rich Americans escape floods (E&E $)

MONEY WELL SPENT: ‘Cops aren’t doing anything’: Uvalde school shooting investigation spotlights ‘unprepared’ police response (NewsOne, Black Wall Street Times), Police handcuffed, pepper-sprayed parents of shooting victims, WSJ says (UpNorthLive, Wall Street Journal $, AP, The Hill, AP), Border Patrol presence at Uvalde shooting adds trauma for the Latinx community (Prism Reports), Two years after the murder of George Floyd, America still won't change the way it polices Black people (The Root), In first test after mass shootings, Senate GOP blocks domestic terror bill (Washington Post $, AP, Politico, CNBC, CBS, Wall Street Journal $, Axios, The Hill, CNN), From Sandy Hook to Buffalo and Uvalde: ten years of failure on gun control (Washington Post $)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: Big Fossil’s disaster capitalist response to Russia-Ukraine (The Intercept), Europe's efforts to shield households from soaring energy costs (Reuters, Factbox), EU can agree [on] Russia oil embargo, or seek alternative, Germany says (Reuters), Here's how Russian crude is finding its way to customers (OilPrice), Rooftop solar takes off in Spain, aiding Europe’s bid to shun Russian gas (Bloomberg $), Spain initiates energy austerity with air conditioning limits (OilPrice)

• WINTER IS COMING: Central Europe’s huge gas depot risks being empty next winter (Bloomberg $, Forbes, Bloomberg $)
• EVs ON THE BATTLEFIELD: Ukrainian fighters take to electric bikes in the war against Russia (Washington Post $)
• BECAUSE OF COURSE: The war in Ukraine may ramp up pollution in US oil and gas communities (Grist)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: US, Germany to boost cooperation on shift to clean energy (AP), Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders 2022: interactive listing (FT $), G7 can spearhead climate fight by agreeing to phase out coal, Germany says (Reuters, AP)

SOUTH ASIA: As heat cuts power in India's 'coal capital,' locals seek fair energy share (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Crop yields plummet in Pakistan amid extreme heat (Democracy Now), India asks power producers to seek weekly payments to manage pricey coal imports (Reuters)

BOOKS: Why are bikes so much fun? Because they’re not cars. (New York Times $)

DAVOS: At Davos, climate activists say major issues ignored (AP), Climate activists in Davos demand world leaders act on climate & Russian invasion (Democracy Now)

COLD NEWS: In Antarctica, a clunky robot has befriended a colony of penguins (Mashable)

MEDIA: Right-wing media use Biden's green economy comments to launch a full-scale defense of fossil fuels (Media Matters)

AGENCIES: Can Biden end the Auxin solar tariff investigation? (Canary Media), US tweaks farmland conservation deals to fight food crisis (Reuters)

EPA: EPA rolls out new EJ legal toolkit (E&E News), How EPA's truck rule could foil federal air quality standards (E&E $), New Biden appointees join EPA’s ranks (E&E News)

• PRESUMABLY HE WAS LATE TO BUY A USED MATTRESS: Trump EPA chief ‘endangered public safety’ by ordering his drivers to speed (New York Times $)

DOE: Granholm unveils net-zero project at 4 DOE labs (E&E $), Granholm: Gas price struggle an ‘exclamation point’ for need to accelerate clean energy (The Hill)

DOI: Feds open spigot to tend orphaned wells on public lands (E&E News), US approves major transmission line from Wyoming to Utah (Reuters, Politico Pro $), US proposes offshore wind sale off California coast (Reuters, Politico Pro $, AP)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Army Corps of Engineers project aims to protect low-lying marsh (Yale Climate Connections)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden signs executive order to hold federal officers accountable (Black Wall Street Times), Civil rights leaders call Biden’s executive order on policing a good ‘first step,’ but more must be done (NewsOne)

THE HILL: Alaska Republicans open to EPA Pebble mine veto (E&E News), 

HOUSE: House panel looks to make flood insurance affordable (E&E $)

SENATE: Manchin revives Build Back Better (Axios), Manchin: Don't expect reconciliation deal by Memorial Day (Politico Pro $), Clock ticking as bipartisan energy gang huddles again (E&E News)

• SEE THE DENIER ROUNDUP FOR MORE: This GOP senator wants to be in a global climate club (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden’s pick for the EPA’s top air pollution job finds himself caught in the crossfire (Inside Climate News), 3 takeaways from Joe Goffman's contentious hearing (E&E $), Committee approves DC Circuit nominee Childs (E&E $), Senate confirms EPA nominee; NOAA pick blocked (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: 2 new bills aim to reduce plastic pollution in New York state (Grist), Lawsuit alleges Alexandria has been polluting Potomac with coal tar (Washington Post $), Mass. advances two major offshore wind projects (E&E News), New York bill targets fossil fuel companies for climate damages (Politico Pro $), US cities swap dead trees for new in circular economy for forests (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Rick Caruso could soon be LA mayor. But he’s got no climate plan (LA Times $)

SCOTUS: Missouri coal ash slugfest tests Supreme Court precedent (E&E News)

IMPACTS: Sandstorm wave sweeps Middle East, sending thousands to hospitals (Washington Post $), Mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef kill coral and risk the future of the reef (Reuters, Fact Check), Major New Zealand salmon producer shuts farms as warming waters cause mass die-offs (The Guardian)

PROBABLY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT: Bacteria with antibiotic-resistant genes discovered in Antarctica, scientists say (Reuters)

WILDFIRES: New Mexico wildfire nears 50% containment as weather shifts (AP)

WATER: In an era of drought, an obscure water contract is pitting California farmers against each other (Grist), Delta water crisis linked to California’s racist past, tribes and activists say (LA Times $)

RENEWABLES: How wind energy could reshape the West (LA Times $), Solar canals: A boost for Calif. renewables? (E&E $), Solar power shines through after a slow start in Africa (FT $), Toyota arm buys rest of renewables firm for $1.5 billion (Bloomberg $), Vermont institutions pool resources to win clean energy innovation funding (Energy News Network)

EFFICIENCY: Invest federal funds in energy efficiency, dozens of groups, companies urge state officials (Utility Dive)

LNG: Company finalizes first US LNG project in 3 years (E&E News), Energy chief says Canada could send gas to Europe within 3 years (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: As China mines more coal, levels of a more potent greenhouse gas soar (Washington Post $)

OIL & GAS: OPEC+ unlikely to boost oil production more than planned (OilPrice)

COAL: Afghanistan's Taliban step up coal exports to boost local budget (Reuters), ‘Highly implausible’ that new Galilee Basin coal mines would be profitable, study finds (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: One of the world’s top LNG importers say[s] its future is hydrogen (Bloomberg $)

UTILITIES: Duke energy faces showdown with regulators in coal plant fight (Bloomberg $), Dutch insurer NN Group expects to bring forward coal investment exit (Reuters)

GRID: MISO proposes giving incumbent utilities certain transmission projects in pending $10.4B buildout (Utility Dive), Risks of summer blackouts nationwide on the rise (Fox Business)

NUKES: This tiny fusion reactor is made out of commercially available parts (Canary Media)

EVs: Tesla submits application to expand German plant - rbb (Reuters), Tesla’s insistence on arbitration adds to reputational risks (Bloomberg $)

CRYPTO: WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann’s new crypto project sounds like a scam within a scam (Vox), The largest carbon-offset registry cracks down on crypto (Wall Street Journal $)

AGRICULTURE: Fertiliser maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock (Reuters)

BUSINESS: Planet FWD raises $10 million to help consumer brands cut emissions (Axios)

CARBON REMOVAL: Finland’s binding climate negative goal is the new gold standard (Protocol)

FINANCE: Climate-related disclosure annually costs companies $677,000 on average (Utility Dive)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia urged to quickly ditch coal to meet new climate goals (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Canada proposes guidelines to manage financial risks from climate change (Reuters), Greece passes first climate law, vows to cut dependence on fossil fuels (Reuters), South Africa needs $250 billion over three decades for clean energy transition - report (Reuters, Bloomberg $)

• The war on my homeland offers a real chance to save the planet (The Nation, Svitlana Romanko)
• It’s still COVID’s world. We’re just living in it. (New York Times, Farhad Manjoo op-ed $)
• The burden of Asian and Pacific islander month under the white gaze (Yes Magazine, Gabes Torres op-ed)
• No one is ready for the rising tide of climate litigation (FT, Helen Thomas column $)
• 60 SEConds on earth with Aditi Mayer (Atmos, interview)
• ‘Something terrible happened today’: parents on telling their kids about Uvalde (New York Times, Jessica Grose, Rachel L. Harris and Lisa Tarchak op-ed $)
• Why America doesn’t know how to stop school shootings (Bloomberg, Julianna Goldman op-ed $)
• No lives matter (The Grio, Michael Harriot op-ed)

Another Reporter Falls For A Discriminating Republican's Greenwashing: You Can't Do A Carbon Tariff Without A Domestic Carbon Price

Putting a price on carbon pollution — so fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions reflect the true cost of their public health and environmental damage — is an important part of the suite of policies needed to address the climate crisis. 

And once the U.S. has a price on carbon, to make sure we're not just importing high-carbon goods, we could then think about instituting a carbon border adjustment mechanism so that imported goods would be subject to the same price on carbon as domestically produced goods. 

What you can't do, though, is institute a carbon border adjustment mechanism on imported goods without first putting a domestic price on carbon. You shouldn't because you'd be allowing US companies to pollute without paying. You can't because you'd be forcing foreign-made goods to essentially pay a carbon tax, so it would be immediately run afoul of the World Trade Organization, to which the U.S. is a signatory. 

This basic reality of international law makes the most recent example of media credulously helping Republicans greenwash their climate denial so stark. Yesterday, Sara Schonhardt at E&E News/PoliticoPRO wrote Senator Kevin Cramer, "a rare Republican proponent of climate-focused trade policy," wants to adopt a carbon border adjustment, because in part, it would allow the U.S. entry into a European "climate club" with favorable trade conditions. 

Germany is using its G7 presidency to push for what Schonhardt describes as "a coalition centered on trade policy and other efforts to make industry less carbon-intensive," which would include a carbon border mechanism- once EU's carbon price gets off the floor.  

In the U.S. though, there isn't a carbon price at all. But "Cramer does not believe a carbon price should be required for the U.S. to pursue a carbon border adjustment mechanism and doesn’t see it as a hindrance to talks," Schonhardt reports as though it were a reasonable thing for an elected legislator to propose, and not an admission that Cramer is entirely uninterested in actually reducing emissions. 

And he even basically admitted that his aim isn't to speed up climate policy, but instead slow it down: “Every time a European leader comes in, I do sort of plead with them, ‘Help us catch up. Let’s reconcile something together before you move forward too quickly.'" 

Schonhardt concludes the story with Cramer's acknowledgment that Sen. Joe Manchin has also raised the idea in the bipartisan negotiations and that "if there is going to be an agreement, in all likelihood it will be some form of carbon border adjustment." 

But an actual price on carbon would remain "problematic for most Republicans" who aren't exactly known for their willingness to "move forward too quickly" on climate policy. 

So Cramer's apparently open to step two of a carbon tax, applying it to goods produced elsewhere, while skipping step one of a U.S. application. Which would violate WTO rules and presumably a host of other U.S. trade agreements. 

Last September, WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam made it clear that the WTO's rules don't preclude environmental policies like the potential EU CABM, "provided that it is not discriminatory or does not disguise primarily competitive or protectionist motives." 

Putting a carbon tax on imports, but not domestic goods, is basically WTO's definition of discrimination. Giving Cramer climate cred for proposing this would be like giving Republicans credit for compromising on gun control because they propose putting a 100% tax on guns made in other countries. Of course, that would be a blatant subsidy for U.S. gun manufacturers — it also wouldn't be the worst gun violence response the GOP has had this week. 

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