FIRST LOOK: 

EESI and NRD will hold a briefing on pathways to regenerative agriculture and farm policy in the 21st century on Thursday, June 16, at 12:00 pm ET

Extreme Heat Bakes Southwestern US, Will Move East: Extreme heat put more than 70 million people living in the southwestern part of the U.S. under heat warnings and advisories over the weekend, and the high temperatures, along with increased humidity, is expected to move east this week. The extreme heat, coupled with drought conditions across much of the West, helped fuel multiple wildfires in California, including the Sheep Fire northeast of Los Angeles. In Phoenix, a man grilled burgers and baked a cake on his dashboard. Extreme heat, drought, and the wildfires they supercharge, are all made worse and more frequent by climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. Temperatures 10-15°F above average, with 45 million Americans experiencing 100+°F heat, are especially dangerous for people experiencing homelessness, the elderly, those struggling to afford to cool poorly insulated homes, and people who have to work outside. Racist policy decisions disproportionately endanger people of color. The Texas power grid broke its all-time record demand (set in August 2019) on Sunday, June 12, and pest control companies also reported an uptick in service calls as critters scurried (or slithered) into homes. Grid stability in the Midwest is becoming a matter of increasing concern. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which operates power grids from Manitoba to Louisiana warned Friday it will struggle to keep the lights on through the summer of 2024 and beyond. (Heatwave: Washington Post $, Axios, New York Times $, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times $, Weather Channel, Des Moines Register, CNN, AP, Green Bay Press Gazette, NPR, ABC, AP, The Guardian, Desert Sun, Bloomberg $, The Independent, The Guardian, NBC Nightly News; Summer heat trends: The Guardian; Wildfires, Cali.: LA Times $, USA Today, AP, Mercury News, NBC News; Wildfires, SW US: AP, Axios; Children: Houston Chronicle; Workers: Washington Post $, Houston Public Media, Marketplace; Phoenix Burgers: USA Today, AP; Texas: Texas Tribune, CBS, Dallas Morning News, Al Jazeera, Reuters; MISO: Reuters, WDRB, FOX59, WFYI; Pest control: Texas Public Radio; UC-Davis Graduation: LA Times $, Weather Channel, CBS; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves, Wildfires, Western U.S. megadrought)

Governments Ignore Disabled People, Leave Them Especially Vulnerable To Climate Crisis: People with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change but are "systematically ignored" by governments around the world, a new report shows. No countries include disapled people in their greenhouse gas reduction plans and few even provide for their needs when planning to adapt to the increasing effects of the climate crisis. Even after widespread failures to account for people with disabilities around Hurricane Katrina, disabled people had to sue New York City to ensure emergency shelters and evacuation facilities would be accessible after the city failed to do so around Hurricane Sandy. (The Guardian)

Proposed US LNG Export Terminals Would Cause More Climate Pollution Than 20 Coal-Fired Power Plants: The new LNG export terminals proposed or under construction in the U.S., if constructed, would produce the equivalent of 90 million metric tons of carbon pollution every year — more than 20 coal-fired power plants — according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project. The U.S. is the biggest exporter of liquified methane-based gas in the world, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed up demand for, and interest in, U.S. LNG exports, in turn driving up costs for American families and businesses. The report also comes just days after a massive explosion at the Freeport LNG terminal, which accounts for 20% of U.S. LNG exports. Gas pipeline explosions and other incidents are not uncommon. Twenty-five new LNG export terminals have been proposed, with four under construction. (E&E $, Grist, S&P Global; Explosion & LNG market: Politico Pro $)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: Putin says it'll likely be years before the West can cut itself off from Russian oil and natural gas (Business Insider), Hungary says it’s impossible for Europe to ban Russian gas anytime soon. Putin agrees (CNBC)

• …EXACERBATING CLIMATE-FUELED FOOD CRISIS: Climate disasters collide with Ukraine war to deepen hunger crisis (Washington Post $, Truthout, Inside Climate News), ‘We buried him and kept walking’: Children die as Somalis flee hunger (New York Times $, PBS NewsHour), Children at forefront of hunger crisis gripping horn of Africa (Bloomberg $), Feeding a hotter planet (New York Times $)

SUPREME COURT: How SCOTUS’ upcoming climate ruling could defang Washington (Politico, USA Today),Rules at risk (Politico)

ACTIVISM: Latino activism leads in grassroot efforts on climate change (AP)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Fifty years after the UN’s Stockholm environment conference, leaders struggle to realize its vision of ‘a healthy planet’ (Inside Climate News), Climate-battered nations hunt elusive cash to adapt at U.N. talks (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Fiji says climate change, not conflict, is Asia's biggest security threat (Reuters), Nations are pledging to create ocean preserves – how do those promises add up? (The Conversation), Thirty years of climate summits: where have they got us?  (The Guardian)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Petition urges Biden DOJ to drop Juliana opposition (E&E $), Hawaii teens are suing the Department of Transportation over rising emissions (Gizmodo), US mayors resolve to defend climate litigation (E&E $)

DENIAL: Study misrepresented to wrongly claim global warming has slowed (USA Today, Fact check), Conservative shareholders attack ‘climate clown show’ (E&E News), How fashion giants recast plastic as good for the planet (New York Times $), NW Natural booklet for schoolkids becomes flashpoint in climate change debate (The Oregonian)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Gasoline prices top $5 a gallon nationally for the first time and are likely headed higher (CNBC, The Hill, New York Times $, Reuters)

SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS: Girls' education is a climate solution': Malala Yousafzai joins climate protest (Reuters)

OIL SPILLS: An oil spill shut down a Great Lakes shipping route, but you probably didn't hear about it (Gizmodo), Coast Guard: Oil spill closes shipping on St. Mary’s River (AP)

LOCAL CLIMATE SCIENCE: As the West dries, a new climate change research grant seeks to ‘co-produce’ local knowledge (Wyoming Public Media)

AGENCIES: Biden agencies wave pride flags in about-face from Trump (E&E News), Biden says US will pay the bill for New Mexico wildfire recovery (Reuters)

EPA: EPA might deny Calif.’s clean truck waiver (E&E News), EPA advisers going back to the science in ozone review (Politico Pro $)

DOI: Indian Youth Service Corps aims to combat climate change, empower Native youth (New Mexico Political Report, E&E $), US to ban single-use plastics in National Parks... 10 years from now (Gizmodo)

DOT: DOT proposes rules for national EV charging network, including 97% uptime and 150 kW requirements (Utility Dive)

WHITE HOUSE: ‘Exxon made more money than God’: Biden rips high gas prices (Bloomberg $, E&E $), Biden just declared heat pumps and solar panels essential to national defense – here’s why and the challenges ahead (The Conversation), Biden admin is getting hospitals to go green (E&E News), Gas prices present glaring problem for Biden (The Hill)

• DIPLOMACY: Biden talks emissions with Brazil’s climate-denying president (E&E News), Brazil seeks US help to stop illegal trade of Amazon timber (Bloomberg $), US urges Brazil to meet 'very ambitious' climate goals (Reuters), US to help Caribbean nations prepare for climate disasters (E&E $)

THE HILL: Democrats start talks on funding Biden’s clean energy order (E&E News), Republicans reject Lower Snake River dam-breaching plan (E&E News), Joe Neguse didn’t come to Congress to fight wildfires. Climate change had other plans (TIME)

ELECTIONS: Nevadans of color worry about climate change. But will that change their primary votes? (USA Today), ‘Those things did not occur’: Pruitt denies EPA wrongdoing (E&E News)

CITIES AND STATES: A push for public power stalled in New York, but activists say they’re just getting started (Grist), Pandemic, war and climate change tug on different corners of Pittsburgh region's energy ecosystem (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette $), The Cambridge bike lane battle is heading to court (Boston Globe $), To get to net zero, [Ithaca, NY] is making a map (Bloomberg $), Utah cities sought 100% renewables. Then came questions (E&E News)

• CALIFORNIA: Environmental groups push more aggressive path to California’s goal of 100% clean car sales by 2035 (Utility Dive), Calif. turns to natural gas to prevent blackouts (E&E $)

• GREAT BRITAIN: Former coal hub Nottingham aims to become Britain's first net zero city (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

FERC: FERC to tackle transmission rules locking renewables out of power grid (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Climate adaptation sounds easy. It’s not for most people in the world (Bloomberg $), Massive Antarctica glaciers have melted the most in at least 5,500 years (Bloomberg $), Sanibel Island’s last stand against rising seas (Bloomberg $), Exceptional June rain soaks pacific northwest due to atmospheric river (Washington Post $), Climate in crisis (NY1)

HEAT: Life at 50°C: Qatar accused of under-reporting deaths in Gulf's killer heat (BBC), Heat wave to bring Chicago ‘oppressive heat’ next week (Chicago Tribune), Honeybees are feeling the heat (Modern Farmer), Study shows women are disproportionately affected by extreme heat (NPR)

• SPAIN: Spain swelters in hottest pre-summer heatwave for 20 years (Reuters, The Guardian, The Guardian, AP)

DROUGHT: New Colorado River drought discovery shows how bad things can get (Axios), Iraq’s ‘pearl of the south’ Lake Sawa dry amid water crisis (AP)

WILDFIRES: 'I need a home': New Mexicans look to Biden during wildfires (Reuters), Tundra wildfire creeps closer toward Alaska Native community (AP), Officials says southern Spain wildfire stabilized (AP)

• PREP: PG&E, Cal Fire prepared for intense heat and fire danger (NBC Bay Area), Southern California preparing for 'hotter, drier' wildfire season amid workforce shortages (CNN)

HURRICANES: These little satellites could bring big advances to tropical storm forecasts (The Verge)

OCEANS: Amber Valletta on tackling climate change through ocean conservation (Vogue)

RENEWABLES: Dutch wind turbine blades to find new home on the ski slopes (Bloomberg $), First quarter saw solar US deployments slump 52%, but tariff investigation may not be sole cause (Utility Dive), It’s Warren Buffett versus Google, Facebook in latest wind-farm debate (Bloomberg $), Renewable credits may undercut climate targets — study (E&E News), Solar glass maker sees fossil fuel crunch boosting renewables (Bloomberg $), US solar manufacturer says importing parts is still risky despite tariff pause (Energy News Network)

BATTERIES: China wants the market to help speed battery storage build-out (Bloomberg $)

STORAGE: Russia gas crisis highlights Europe's green energy storage problem (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

EFFICIENCY: How a pilot program in Michigan helped people afford energy-efficiency upgrades (Yale Climate Connections)

LNG: France’s Total joins Qatar as first foreign partner in $30 billion LNG project (Wall Street Journal $, S&P Global), European gas prices rebound on lower Norwegian, LNG flows (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: Over 100 N.M. oil companies violated methane reporting rules (E&E $)

OIL & GAS: High gas prices in the US are increasing demand for dirty gasoline from Canada's oil sands (Jalopnik), US gas heartland woos foreign buyers as Europe’s energy crisis deepens (FT $)

PLASTICS: Scientists find microplastics in fresh Antarctic snow for the first time (CNBC, The Hill), Worms hungry for plastic may transform recycling (The Hill)

COAL: Old Missouri coal plant neared retirement; now it’s needed to avert blackouts (Wall Street Journal $), The current coal boom doesn’t mean the industry will fire up production anytime soon (Marketplace)

UTILITIES: PG&E vows to go net zero, with natural gas (E&E $)

EVs: A living room on a skateboard: how electric vehicles are redefining the car (The Guardian), Can electric scooters become a safer way to travel? (Bloomberg $), Could $5 a gallon gas finally get Americans over EV sticker shock? (Quartz), If union EV incentives reemerge, opponents are ready for the fight (The Hill), Lightyear says its $263,000 solar-powered car will go into production later this year (The Verge, Bloomberg $), You may be stuck paying high gas prices for years as a global metals shortage sabotages the electric car revolution (Fortune), Biden plan for EV chargers on highways meets skepticism in rural West (Wall Street Journal $)

ACTIVISM: How David Attenborough ‘inspired’ Billie Eilish’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis (The Independent)

AGRICULTURE: The race against time to breed a wheat to survive the climate crisis (The Guardian), Air quality worsens as drought forces California growers to burn abandoned crops (LA Times $)

BOOKS: 12 readings for summer home and garden projects (Yale Climate Connections), Climate crisis is ‘battering our economy’ and driving inflation, new book says (The Guardian), Review: ‘Mini-Forest Revolution’ shows how to mimic nature (AP)

B-SCHOOLS: Climate change climbs the business school curriculum (FT $)

BUSINESS: Energy security adds to green transition drive, executives say (Reuters), Tensions rise as renewable energy CEOs debate next steps after tariff, supply chain challenges (Utility Dive)

CARBON PRICING: High oil and gas prices test drive a global carbon tax (Wall Street Journal $)

CARS: Think car exhaust is bad? Wait 'til you hear about tire pollution (Gizmodo)

SHIPPING: Ship owners sought CO2 exemption when the sea gets too wavy (AP)

FINANCE: Zimbabwe’s biggest bank to invest 2% of income in green projects (Bloomberg $), ESG fund bosses hit by ‘reckoning’ as Goldman, DWS in crosshairs (Bloomberg $), European pension funds attack Toyota for not going ‘all in’ on electric cars (FT $), Goldman Sachs is being investigated over ESG funds (New York Times $, FT $)

MUSIC: Coldplay incentivized its fans to make greener choices. Are they? (Bloomberg $)

WILDLIFE: Some monarch butterfly populations are rising. Is it enough to save them? (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: Final decision on Tanzania’s $40 billion gas plan seen in 2025 (Bloomberg $), Can MENA countries fight climate change the same way? (Al Jazeera)

• To escape China’s supply chain, embrace a diverse clean energy portfolio (The Hill, Alex Fitzsimmons op-ed)
• Making cities green using digital technology (The Hill, Andreas Hatzigeorgiou op-ed)
• The Guardian view on an Indian summer: Human-made heatwaves are getting hotter (The Guardian Editorial Board)
• The White House will 'partner' with Caribbean countries on climate change—just as long as they don’t ask for too much money (New Republic, Kate Aronoff analysis)
• How 93 US attorneys’ offices can enforce environmental justice (Bloomberg Law, Helen Kang op-ed)
• Helping very hungry caterpillars become butterflies — it’s complicated (New York Times, Margaret Renkl column $)
• Why bankers close their ears to the ‘climate nut jobs’ talking about the end of the world (The Guardian, Nick Cohen op-ed)
• Can carbon capture be part of the climate solution? (New York Times, Paul Tullis commentary $)
• What’s at risk due to Russia’s nuclear power dominance? (The Hill, Matt Bowen op-ed)
• Ensuring our power grid can fuel the influx of EVs coming down the pike (The Hill, Reps. Sean Casten, Paul Tonko, and Jack Reed)
• New York has a chance to generate all its electricity from clean energy by 2030 (The Guardian, Ross Barkan op-ed)
• Yes, carbon offsets are imperfect—but we need them (Fortune, Sam Gill Commentary)
• How to relax in a climate crisis (Yes Magazine, Sarah Lazarovic op-ed)
• Power companies and regulators’ biases obstruct more affordable, secure and cleaner energy for Rhode Island (Boston Globe, Seth Handy commentary $)
• Millennials and Gen Z are fed up with ESG (Bloomberg, Tanja Hester op-ed $)
• The costly contradictions of Biden’s crusade for green energy (Wall Street Journal, Thomas J. Duesterberg op-ed $)
• Jared polis bucks the climate lobby (Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)
• Climate-change sanity lost and found (Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. op-ed $)

2 Key Steps To Clean Up Climate Denial: Define Disinformation, Deplatform It

If you've missed the last to 'roundups, we're exploring a major report released last week, covering the state of (mostly online) climate disinformation, and offering steps to address it. We gave an overview on Thursday, and looked at the main narratives and networks on Friday. 

Today we're turning to the really fun stuff, the top two of seven recommendations to clean up climate disinfo described in "Deny, Deceive, Delay: Documenting and Responding to Climate Disinformation at COP26 and Beyond." 

The first one is simple, but its ramifications are broad. It's for "key institutions" like the IPCC, UNFCCC and/or other official scientific bodies to "implement a unified definition of climate mis- and disinformation," and for Big Tech companies to then "reflect these criteria in tech company Community Standards and/or Terms of Service."

The point, the report explains, is to "create a precedent for both private and third sector entities and remove the pressure for companies to act as sole ‘arbiters of truth’ on climate, which is an increasingly contentious issue."

If social media companies should be able to defer to some legitimate scientific body to provide the factual guardrails to inform Big Tech's content policies. Since the IPCC is slowly beginning to acknowledge that climate disinfo is a threat to climate action, hopefully this report will provide an impetus for them to adopt the definition of disinformation being advanced by the anti-disinfo community. 

That definition is three-fold, describing climate mis- and disinformation as "deceptive or misleading content that: 

1. Undermines the existence or impacts of climate change, the unequivocal human influence on climate change, and the need for corresponding urgent action according to the IPCC scientific consensus and in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement;
2. Misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science, climate-focused institutions, experts, and solutions; or 
3. Falsely publicises efforts as supportive of climate goals that in fact contribute to climate warming or contravene the scientific consensus on mitigation or adaptation.

And lest anyone cry "censorship!", we will note that the most important words in this definition are "deceptive or misleading content", so as long as one's anti-climate propaganda is factually accurate, they have no need to worry that this definition would impact them!

But given that so very, very few accurate arguments against climate action exist, if and when platforms follow Pinterest's lead in adopting this definition, they will have a lot of accounts that post climate disinformation like it's their job.

And that makes sense, because it is their job! The report lays out, in detail, plenty of examples of people profiting off their climate disinformation, which is why the second policy point is so important. 

Once platforms create some sort of policy to prevent climate disinformation from harming their users, they need to actually enforce that rule, and deplatform users who repeatedly break those rules. If not, the report says: 

"We know that sensational content fuels the ‘outrage economy’, and therefore serves the current business model of most platforms, and climate is no exception - whether outright denial or other forms of disinformation, this content is generally high- engagement, which increases the value proposition for advertisers on social media. As such, efforts like Facebook’s much-touted Climate Science Center become somewhat moot - while they report an average of 100,000 daily visitors, organic content from known ‘super-spreaders’ of disinformation gains vastly more reach and visibility. Rather than fixate on individual posts, accounts which consistently distort, undermine or refute scientific consensus should be addressed in line with Terms of Service, Community Standards and the definition outlined in Policy Ask 1." 

And those working the outrage economy thanks to the fossil fuel industry's support have certainly figured out how to game the social algorithms. One of the report's case studies found that "In the period from October 25 to November 21 2021, the tweets and quote tweets of just 16 Twitter accounts amassed a total 507,000 likes and retweets (“interactions”) on climate narratives alone." Those super-spreaders are well-known names to readers here, including holocaust denier Peter Sweden/Imanuelsen, Koch contractor John Stossel, Homeless harasser Michael Shellenberger, P.O. Box Bjorn Lomborg, Obama birther and Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Tony Heller, and Round-up refuser Patrick Michaels. 

Given their many non-climate interests, the report noted that "Repeat offenders have often spread mis- or disinformation on multiple topics . This is most clearly observed in the number of high-traction accounts sharing misleading claims on climate and COVID-19, but encompasses a wider range of issues - from anti-vaxx sentiment and genocide denial to conspiracies such as QAnon, the Great Reset and electoral fraud. This should provide an even greater incentive for platforms to act, since an effective response against such accounts could have a ‘force multiplier’ effect and mitigate harm in multiple areas." 

Turns out people who lie about climate change also lie about other stuff, which isn't exactly a huge finding, but it is a huge reason why social media companies should remove users who habitually make their websites a toxic and disinformation-filled mess. 

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