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Register TODAY to attend the virtual Global Methane, Climate, and Clean Air Forum September 26 - 30. The agenda includes keynotes from John Kerry and Michael Regan and announcements from several major NGOs and intergovernmental groups are expected. The registration deadline is COB TODAY.

Racially Disparate FEMA Response Compounds Disasters — Report: Climate-fueled disasters tend to disproportionately harm Black, Latino, Indigenous, and disabled people due to decades (and centuries) of racist and ableist policy decisions. Those disproportionate harms, like higher exposure to more extreme heat, continue after the (literal) storm has passed, according to a new study from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, because federal relief and recovery efforts fail to equitably serve affected populations. The report, which assessed the federal responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, found Black and Latino people, people with disabilities, and less-affluent communities faced disproportionate barriers to accessing FEMA aid. The problems were made even worse by FEMA's failure to have sufficient Spanish-speaking staff — particularly problematic in Puerto Rico. (FEMA failures: Washington Post $; Environmental racism: Axios, NPR; Extreme heat: Thomson Reuters Foundation; Climate signals background: Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Maria, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Manchin Fossil Fuel Streamlining Bill Panned By Dems, GOP: Coal millionaire and West Virginia senator Joe Manchin III released his long-awaited bill on Wednesday to streamline the construction of fossil fuel projects including methane gas pipelines. The bill was promised to Manchin by Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during the negotiation of the Inflation Reduction Act. Manchin has insisted the legislation be attached to a government funding bill, setting up the prospect of a government shutdown. The bill would require the approval of the beleaguered Mountain Valley Pipeline, a provision on which Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was not consulted and to which he would not support because his constituents "have felt ignored" by the opaque process, the Virginia Mercury reported. “[The Mountain Valley pipeline section] is completely unacceptable,” he told reporters Wednesday night per E&E News. “I will do everything I can to oppose it.” Multiple Democratic senators have stated Manchin's fossil fuel streamlining bill should not be attached to a government funding package and Kaine joins Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in opposing it even if it is. Manchin has said he is seeking support from at least 20 GOP senators for the legislation which he says Republicans have wanted for years and told reporters Tuesday “There’s no reason Republicans shouldn’t support it.” Republicans have responded cooly to the bill, however, instead Manchin's fellow West Virginian senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, has released a far more aggressive bill to slash regulations on fossil fuel extraction and transportation. The White House said Wednesday it supports Manchin's legislation. (Manchin bill & reception: E&E News, Washington Post $, E&E News, CNN, Politico, The Hill, Roll Call, New York Times $, The Hill, Houston Chronicle, Reuters, The Hill, National Journal, E&E News; MVP & Kaine opposition: Virginia Mercury, WFXR; Capito: Politico Pro $; Substantive details: E&E $)

Amnesty Accuses Egypt Of 'Shiny Cover-Up' Of Human Rights Violations: A second major international human rights group in less than two weeks accused Egypt of trying to conceal a decade's worth of “unrelenting violations of human rights” ahead of COP27 in November. Amnesty International, in a report released Wednesday, outlined crackdowns on dissent and individual freedoms, including the imprisonment of political opponents and journalists over the last ten years. It also detailed a "shiny cover-up" on the part of the el-Sissi administration intended to accrue goodwill from foreign governments and financial institutions ahead of the UN climate conference. (AP)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Jackson crisis fuels debate over privatizing water utilities (E&E News)

HURRICANE FIONA: Fiona grows into Category 4 storm, heads toward Bermuda (AP, Washington Post $, Yale Climate Connections, Axios, Bloomberg $), Puerto Rico faces obstacles to recovery in the aftermath of Fiona (NPR)

• PUERTO RICO: Puerto Ricans desperate for water after Fiona’s rampage (AP), Puerto Rico struggles to reach areas cut off by Fiona (AP)
• MARIA, AGAIN, BUT DIFFERENT: How Fiona was a different kind of storm than Maria (Washington Post $), On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico still faces power challenges (CBS)
• (GRID) FAILURES: More than 1M still without power in Puerto Rico as island assesses damage from Hurricane Fiona (Utility Dive), Grid anger rises in Puerto Rico as massive outages remain (E&E News), Puerto Rico has lost more than power. The vast majority of people have no clean water (NPR), Schumer blasts Puerto Rico’s utility, grid manager for power failures (Politico)
• HOW TO HELP: How to help people in Puerto Rico recover from hurricane fiona (NPR, The Hill, Vogue)

LIFEWAYS: Minnesota Ojibwe harvest sacred, climate-imperiled wild rice (AP)

FLOOD. RETREAT. REPEAT: Left behind: what life is like for the last residents of Staten Island's Oakwood beach. (Grist)=

UNGA & CLIMATE WEEK: ‘We will all die if we continue like this’: Indigenous people push UN for climate justice (Grist), Biden takes climate-law victory lap at U.N. (E&E News), COVID, climate & conflict fueling global hunger as world leaders at UN urged to take action (Democracy Now), Denmark offers ‘loss and damage’ funding to poorer countries for climate breakdown (The Guardian), Mike Bloomberg pledges to boost clean energy in 15 more countries (Washington Post $), Drowning island nations: ‘This is how a Pacific atoll dies’ (AP), Kenya’s president pitches for investment and warns about climate change. (New York Times $)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Germany nationalizes energy giant uniper as Russia squeezes gas supplies (CNBC, Politico Pro $, Reuters), High natural-gas prices push European manufacturers to shift to the US (Wall Street Journal $), Oil slips as bearish signals compound despite Putin’s escalation (Bloomberg $), Russian mobilization hikes urgency of oil price cap -Ukrainian presidential advisor (Reuters)

COP27: Manage your expectations (Energy Monitor)

• COP26: US banks threaten to leave Mark Carney’s green alliance over legal risks (FT $, Reuters, Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Paris and New York join climate litigation against TotalEnergies (Reuters)

MEDIA: How the 'Inherited' podcast helps us think imaginatively about the climate crisis (WBUR)

CRITICAL MINERALS: Lit: America's Future (ABC), Deep sea mining (ABC), Domestic cobalt mining (ABC), US decides against national security tariffs on rare earth magnets from China, Japan, EU (Politico Pro $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Rooftop solar digital platform taps into climate law incentives (Wall Street Journal $)

AGENCIES: DOJ to tackle environmental justice issues that have ‘too long beleaguered’ communities (NBC)

EPA: How a successful EPA effort to reduce climate-warming ‘immortal’ chemicals stalled (Inside Climate News), Top EPA air official [Chris Grundler] heads for the exit (E&E $)

DOE: Who's in Jennifer Granholm's inner circle? (E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: White House reports sharp increase in federal EV purchases (E&E $)

THE HILL: Dimon defends need for fossil fuel investments to Congress (Bloomberg $), What farmers really want from the 2023 Farm Bill (Modern Farmer)

• HFCs: US ratifies global treaty curbing climate super-pollutants (Washington Post $, New York Times $), Why Republicans support Kigali (E&E News)

HOUSE: 'Not a crisis': Panel hosts heated debate on climate bill (E&E $), Committee sets vote on Flint bill, GOP oversight demands (E&E $)

SENATE: Senators float new energy sanctions plan against Russia (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: 'Horrific' explosion injures at least 8 at Chicago apartment (FOX2), Visualizing how cool it is to be green (The Verge), Nueva página web muestra donde se propone contaminar en Houston (Inside Climate News), Virginia weatherization program is changing lives, but Gov. Youngkin wants to cut off its funding source (Energy News Network), Stuck with the bill:  Local governments deluged with rising climate damage costs (Yale Climate Connections)

• NY+NJ: N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy outline climate change initiatives (CBS)

• CALIFORNIA: California is awash in renewable energy — except when it’s most needed (Washington Post $), California relied heavily on natural gas during Sept heat wave -EIA (Reuters)

FERC: FERC power line proposal draws fire from 17 AGs (E&E $)

IMPACTS: California is so hot and dry that not even soaking rain can ease fall fire peril (LA Times $), Climate Migration: Indian kids find hope in a new language (AP)

OCEANS: Climate change drives record North Atlantic marine heat wave (Axios), Ocean conservation for la gente (Atmos)

HEAT: Canada debates whether air conditioning is a basic right (E&E $), Dozens of records smashed in midwest during late-September heat wave (Washington Post $)

• HATE SPEECH: Hotter days lead to more harassment and hate speech (E&E News)

DROUGHT: Drought threatens UK government’s mass forestry scheme (The Guardian), Europe’s shrinking waterways reveal treasures, and experts are worried (New York Times $)

WILDFIRES: Climate-fueled wildfires worsen danger for struggling fish (AP), Helicopter crashes en route to Turkish wildfire; 2 killed (AP, Reuters), Inflation poses 'real risk' to wildfire recovery — report (E&E $)

HURRICANES: Atlantic on fire: Cat 4 Fiona, TS Gaston, and a concerning Caribbean system (Yale Climate Connections)

WATER: In Oregon, farmers are revamping century-old irrigation canals to stem water loss (Grist)

DEFORESTATION: Amazon rainforest severely impacted by gold mining (NBC)

RENEWABLES: 6 clean energy companies that are ramping up US manufacturing (Canary Media), South Korean firms to set up green energy hub in Australia (Reuters, The Guardian), Solar power constituted half of all global capacity additions last year, followed by wind: BloombergNEF (Utility Dive)

WORKERS: Vermont nonprofit trains women and gender-nonconforming people to work in clean energy and green construction (Yale Climate Connections)

BATTERIES: Tesla Megapack battery fire is ‘fully controlled,’ shelter-in-place advisory lifted (The Verge)

LNG: Tellurian shares plunged after it scrapped fundraising plans for its Driftwood LNG project (Houston Chronicle)

METHANE: Massive methane leak found in Gulf of Mexico as Biden admin tries to hold oil companies accountable (Houston Chronicle)

OIL & GAS: Two dead after fire at BP's 103-year-old Ohio oil refinery (Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $), Fracking won’t work in UK says founder of fracking company Cuadrilla (The Guardian), Indonesia to offer more oil blocks to boost production amid high energy prices (Reuters), US natgas up 1% on rising demand, daily output decline (Reuters)

PLASTICS: Bloomberg to spend $85 million against US plastic, petrochem buildout (Reuters, Politico Pro $)

PIPELINES: The long legal saga of alleged DAPL arsonist Ruby Montoya is coming to an end (Grist)

HYDROGEN: EU approves up to $5.2 billion in public funding for hydrogen projects (CNBC, Politico Pro $), Gates touts green hydrogen for industries: earthshot update (Bloomberg $), Green hydrogen will power production of Japanese whisky Hakushu (Canary Media)

UTILITIES: Duke energy is leaking a potent climate-warming gas at more than five times the rate of other utilities (Inside Climate News), Regulators order DTE, Consumers to increase transparency around electric service reliability (Planet Detroit), National Grid says electricity prices to skyrocket (CommonWEALTH Magazine)

EVs: GM, EDF team up to ask EPA to spur ‘all-electric future’ (E&E $), Hertz places a risky wager on EVs (E&E News)

ICE CARS: Ford: Gas cars are a growth business for us (CNN)

FOOD: Beyond Meat's COO (allegedly) bit a guy's nose at the worst possible time (Gizmodo)

BUSINESSES: Amazon drives renewable energy push with 71 new projects (Reuters), Big business likes to trumpet ESG credentials. But a ‘greenwashing’ reckoning could be on the horizon (CNBC), Tech companies are outpacing the Fortune Global 500 on climate commitments (Protocol)

CARBON PRICING: US could dodge EU carbon border levy, bloc's climate chief says (Reuters)

CARBON CAPTURE: Competitive Power Ventures set to build $3B, 1.8 GW natural gas plant with carbon capture in West Virginia (Utility Dive), NRG sells stake in Petra Nova carbon capture project to Japanese company for $3.6 million (Houston Chronicle)

WILDLIFE: Where the wild things are (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: One thing is top of mind for many young Brits, and it's not the royal family (NPR), South Africa's local team joins a solar car race (Reuters), Constitution stops Charles becoming Britain’s ‘green’ king (AP), France wants to boost renewable energy, now lagging behind (AP)

• ESG’s beginning is messy, but it’s here to stay (Barron's, Bianca Taylor op-ed)
• Liz Truss, we support fracking too – that’s why we know it can’t work for Britain (The Guardian, Chris Cornelius and Mark Linder op-ed)
• Buoyant coal industry seeks ways to stay in the long-term energy mix (Reuters, Clyde Russell column)
• We need to be told the true climate cost of Schumer and Manchin’s pipeline side deal (The Guardian, David Sirota and Julia Rock op-ed)
• When the EU and US score climate points off China, Africa suffers (Climate Home, Faten Aggad op-ed)
• We’re likely to overshoot the Paris goals — and we need to start talking about it (Politico EU, Janos Pasztor)
• Hurricane Fiona shows La Niña’s volatility — fossil fuels make it worse (The Hill, John Fleming op-ed)
• Europe must seize more Russia refineries (Bloomberg, Julian Lee column $)
• Manchin’s new bill could lead to one big climate win (The Atlantic, Robinson Meyer commentary)
• COVID is still killing Black people at higher rates. So why did the president declare the pandemic ‘over’? (The Grio, Shamard Charles op-ed)
• Should taxpayers gamble on blue hydrogen and carbon capture? (The Hill, Shanti Gamper-Rabindran op-ed)
• Why should we in Pakistan pay for catastrophic floods we had no part in causing? (The Guardian, Sherry Rehman op-ed)

Diversity-Lather, Greenwash, Nature-Rinse, Repeat: EU Companies Dodging Climate Culpability Online

In the summer of 2022, a heat wave broke records across Europe, bringing unprecedented temperatures and drought worse than any in at least 500 years. Thousands died, wildfires burned out of control, and the companies complicit or causing the climate crisis were busy posting through it. 

Unsurprisingly, they weren't owning up to the impacts of their profits. Instead, as a new report from Geoffrey Supran and the Algorithmic Transparency Institute documents, they were distracting the public with posts about sports, using images of nature and diverse communities to improve their public image. 

The analysts looked at the social media output of 22 European companies across three sectors: fossil fuel companies like Shell and Total, airline industry players like Air France and Lufthansa, and car companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The research examined 2,416 posts from 375 social media accounts run by these companies across five platforms- Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok. 

They found that during the climate-driven extreme weather of the summer, "the 22 companies remained silent about climate change in the examined posts, with only a negligible handful (0.3%) making explicit reference to 'climate change' or 'global warming'." 

But they weren't being quiet. Instead, they found "that two-thirds (67%) of the 22 companies’ posts communicate a narrative of ‘Green Innovation’" which "avoids directly addressing climate change while nonetheless presenting companies as environmentally-conscious, engaged in or committed to low- carbon technologies and/or technological innovation." 

Another one in five of the posts "offer a narrative of ‘Misdirection’" which "uses messaging about sports, fashion, and social causes to direct attention away from firms’ core business roles and responsibilities."

Additionally, they "also show that a number of companies variously leverage imagery of nature, female- presenting people, non-binary-presenting people, non-Caucasian-presenting people, young people, experts, sportspeople, and celebrities to strengthen their messages of greenwashing and misdirection." 

The consequences of climate change, which Europeans were experiencing over the summer, "were never communicated (0%) by any industry." That said, they also avoided the explicit denial of claiming climate change isn't real or human-caused, and didn't attack the science, scientists or activists calling for climate action, but that's not surprising given that such toxic denial is why they covertly fund front groups to spread it, instead of tainting their brand with it.

What they DID post, though, was content that the report describes as its titular "Three shades of greenwashing": the idea that "green innovation" will save us, that other problems are more important, and that business-as-usual with its "visuals and language fetishizing luxury and performance, with no consideration of sustainability." 

And as much as the text, the imagery plays an important role, something these companies know and exploit by something known as "nature-rinsing", or more formally as "executional greenwashing." The report explains that "these findings demonstrate a systematic use of Nature/Environment visuals in fossil fuel interests’ social media posts to strengthen their ‘green’ messaging." 

Similarly,"fossil fuel interests variously leverage visuals of select demographics - sportspeople, celebrities, young people, and racial minorities - to misdirect audience’s attention with discourses about sports, social causes, and fashion and design." 

For example "car manufacturers and airlines additionally show more racially diverse casts to misdirect with posts about social goods such as LGBTQIA+ issues and Women’s rights" but "when car companies post about sports, particularly motor racing, the trend is reversed, with more people - including sportspeople - being all- Caucasian." 

"All told," lead researcher Geoffrey Supran tweeted, "our data show that fossil fuel interests are engaged in strategic brand positioning to establish themselves as green, innovative, & charitable.  These subtle, systematic trends have been hiding in plain sight for too long." 

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