FIRST LOOK(s):

Join Climate Nexus and Atmos TODAY at 11:00 am ET for a panel discussion among journalists, advocates, and policy experts ahead of COP27 on climate migration and loss and damage. Register here.

IPES-Food and A Growing Culture host the Peasant and Indigenous Press Forum on Food Systems, Climate and Greenwashing at COP27, a workshop for journalists, TODAY at 10:00 am ET/16:00 CEST. Register here.

Be sure to check out the Denier Roundup below for an excellent analysis of the growing role of climate denial in right wing 'culture war' fearmongering. — Ed.

Invisible Hand Overwhelms European Methane Gas Capacities: Even as ships laden with liquified methane gas are waiting off the coast of Western Europe to unload at the cost of $450,000 per day, analysts warn the deluge of gas into the continent, nearly-full storage tanks, and warm weather could cause methane gas prices to plunge dramatically. Essentially, the continent's regasification and storage capacities are at or near their limit. At least one tanker carrying liquified methane gas — also known as liquefied "natural" gas, or LNG — appears to have diverted to Asia in search of better prices, something unthinkable earlier this year when firms paid huge penalties to break Asian contracts in order to sell their LNG cargoes to Europe at inflated prices. American LNG exports — currently reduced following the Freeport LNG explosion in Texas — are driving up domestic methane gas prices, likely squeezing families' home heating budgets this winter. (New York Times $, CNBC)

Groups Call On Kerry To Support Loss And Damage Fund At COP27: More than 140 U.S. environmental groups called on climate envoy John Kerry to support creating a financial entity to compensate countries harmed by the impacts of climate change. The letter — signed by a wide variety of groups from Bronx Climate Justice North, the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP), and Womxn from the Mountain to the Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Greenpeace USA — is the latest illustration of the expanded role of "loss and damage" at the UN's upcoming COP27 climate conference next month. Rich countries overwhelmingly responsible for climate change have historically refused to compensate vulnerable countries, but are under increasing pressure to do so. The U.S. rejected a proposal last year at COP26 because it did not specify if some countries could be held legally liable for damages caused by climate change, a U.S. official told Reuters. (Kerry letter: Reuters; EU pressure: EuroNews)

Unreported Greenhouse Gasses Still Heat Planet, Unfortunately: Publicly traded companies are selling off their fossil fuel operations to private equity firms and — on paper — lowering their greenhouse gas emissions in the process. “Public investors like mutual funds, hedge funds, university endowments, pension funds — they are actively shifting away from fossil fuels,” Pavel Molchanov, managing director of renewable energy and clean technology at financial services firm Raymond James, told Inside Climate News. “As public investors are divesting fossil fuels, someone’s buying it. They’re not disappearing into thin air.” Harold Hamm's Continental Resources announced last week it plans to take itself private is consistent with the cross-sector trend of companies — including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips — moving fossil fuel operations into corporate structures shielded from public disclosure requirements Inside Climate News reports. Governments and investors are pressuring publicly-held firms to disclose, if not actually reduce, their emissions and firms are responding by moving the emissions off their books. Beyond accounting pitfalls, however, the moves can actually lead to increased climate pollution because the private firms often operate coal plants or 'marginal' oil and gas wells longer than publicly traded firms would have, and are more likely to abandon drilling operations sticking taxpayers with the bill to cap and clean up the abandoned wells, or fail to remediate refineries that literally rain oil onto neighboring communities. (Inside Climate News)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: 15 HBCU schools that received bomb threats around the country (The Root)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: World is in its 'first truly global energy crisis' - IEA's Birol (Reuters), The hidden corner of the energy market where Russian exports to Europe are booming (Wall Street Journal $), Germany could launch natural gas subsidies earlier than planned (OilPrice)

COP27: Egypt COP27 climate summit activists concerned voices will be curtailed (Reuters), Egypt shuts down event spaces on first Monday of COP27 in blow to NGOs (The Guardian), Egypt’s carceral climate summit: Naomi Klein on the crisis of COP27 being held in a police state (Democracy Now), South Africa’s environment minister says COP27 won’t advance climate ambition (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: EU countries agree to hike climate change target next year (Reuters), EU seeking deals on three climate laws in time for U.N. summit (Reuters), Mexico to discuss lithium, auto industry with US climate envoy Kerry (Reuters)

• FINANCE COMMITMENTS: Carney says new data will hold banks accountable for climate progress (Reuters), Mark Carney denies big banks threatened to quit climate finance group (The Guardian)

MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE: Mountain valley pipeline halts eminent domain actions for Southgate Extension (Virginia Mercury, E&E News $, Reuters, Pittsburgh Business Times $), Mountain Valley Pipeline denies giving up on Southgate extension after eminent domain pullback cheered by opponents (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

OUT-OF-JOB-DESCRIPTION GAP FILLING: From wildfires to hurricanes, midwives could play a key role in disaster response (The 19th* News)

DENIAL & GREENWASHING: Deutsche Bank's DWS sued by consumer group over alleged greenwashing (Reuters)

HARDER THAN THE OTHER TALK, TBH: New book helps parents have ‘the climate talk’ with kids (Yale Climate Connections)

HOUSING (IN)JUSTICE: Renters hit breaking point in a sudden reversal for landlords (Bloomberg $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: New England states poised to capitalize on new federal climate law incentives (Energy News Network)

EPA: Exxon seeks rehearing in landmark Clean Air Act penalty (E&E $), Inside EPA’s climate strategy for power plants (E&E News)

DOI: Documents show who advises Haaland on energy, monuments (E&E $), Forest Service backs arrested ‘burn boss’ (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden admin targets Nicaragua’s mining industry (E&E News)

ELECTIONS: In tight Alaska House race, Mary Peltola runs 'pro-fish' campaign (Washington Post $)

TRIBES: How Indigenous communities became major players in Canada’s energy transition (Energy Monitor), In the western Amazon, oil blocks eat away at Indigenous lands, protected areas (Mongabay), New seaweed deal taps into Indigenous ecological knowledge (Axios)

CITIES AND STATES: Buy-in for buyouts: 10 years after Sandy, New York considers new funding for voluntary relocation (City Limits (NYC)), Climate solutions in the US midwest get a boost from the Philippines (The New Humanitarian)

FERC: American Clean Power, other groups urge FERC to reject SPP utility self-funding plan for network upgrades (Utility Dive), Tucson Electric, PNM seek FERC’s OK to end their San Juan plant ownership pact ahead of decommissioning (Utility Dive), FERC rejects challenge to Mountain Valley Pipeline permit extension (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Hundreds of thousands evacuated as Bangladesh braces for cyclone (Reuters), From e. coli to flesh-eating bacteria, floodwaters are a health nightmare (Gizmodo), Climate Questions: How do we know humans triggered warming? (AP), Warming seas bring Indonesia's fishermen deadly storms, empty nets (Context), What will the world look like at 1.5 degrees Celsius? (Context)

WILDFIRES: ‘It’s like a death:’ What it’s like to leave one flood-prone community (Washington Post $), The Rogue Valley was set to become a food paradise. Then it burned. (New York Times $), Fire-stricken rural New Mexico warily eyes insurance fight (AP), Fires in Nebraska, Iowa spur evacuations, destroy homes (AP)

HURRICANES: Federal program tackles post-Ian homelessness (Axios), In place of Sandy-ravaged homes, a ‘living’ beach helps NJ prepare for next storm (Washington Post $), The abolitionists born after Hurricane María (Atmos)

WATER: As drought drives prices higher, millions of Californians struggle to pay for water (LA Times $)

BATTERIES: In power-starved Gaza's scrapyards, batteries keep piling up (Reuters), Long-duration batteries could free the grid from fossil fuels (Protocol)

BUILDINGS: Federal report ignores cost savings of heat pumps, group says (Washington Post $), How to know whether a heat pump makes sense as a home upgrade (Wall Street Journal $)

METHANE: Fear of farmer protests hampers methane-cutting ambition (Climate Home)

OIL & GAS: Schlumberger rebrands as SLB, dropping family name (Wall Street Journal $)

PLASTICS: Report: US recycles 5% of plastics (E&E $)

COAL: Emissions from China-invested overseas coal plants equal to whole of Spain - research (Reuters), Who should pay to help coal communities in the energy transition? (Canary Media)

UTILITIES: PJM capacity proposal: Fuel for the ongoing market ‘crisis,’ or a needed step to limit overprocurement? (Utility Dive)

DESPERATE TIMES…: 3 climate hecklers ejected for disrupting Cruz on ‘The View’ (AP), From crashing 'The View’ to tomato soup: Climate protests get weird (Washington Post $), Police arrest German climate protestors who threw mashed potatoes at Monet painting (CNBC), Fossil fuel protesters cover King Charles III waxwork with chocolate cake at Madame Tussauds (CNN)

FOOD: Here’s exactly how your diet affects the planet, a landmark study finds (Washington Post $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Direct air capture's hidden energy cost (Protocol)

FINANCE: Private equity scrambles to comply with SEC marketing rule as deadline nears (Wall Street Journal $), Why investors aren’t going green (CNN)

WILDLIFE: Better buildings for the birds (Axios), Methane wells messed with mule deer migration, study says (E&E $), North Atlantic right whale population drops to about 340, worrying scientists (Washington Post $) 

INTERNATIONAL: De facto UK windfall tax on green energy is ‘catastrophic’, sector warns (FT $, S&P Global), UK and EU must work together, bloc's chairman tells new PM Sunak (Reuters)

• COP27 will be the first UN climate summit in the era of loss and damage (Context, Saleemul Huq op-ed)
• The Global South is done playing Mr. Nice Guy (Foreign Policy, Paul Hockenos analysis)
• Clean energy expertise for the PJM board should be the easiest vote members ever cast (Utility Dive, Albert Pollard op-ed)
• Somalia: Hunger will haunt us until we fix humanitarian finance (Context, Danny Sriskandarajah op-ed)
• Europe has reached a critical moment in tackling energy shortages (FT, Peter Mandelson op-ed $)
• The free world needs American energy. Will President Biden meet the moment? (The Hill, Rep. Bill Johnson op-ed)

Deniers Use Climate Disinfo To Spread Racism And Anti-LGBTQ+ Bigotry

Candace Owens has a new book to sell, premised on attacking the Black Lives Matter movement with the false claim that George Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose, and not police officer Derek Chauvin's knee on his neck. Given that before she was a conservative pundit backed by fossil fuel interests at the Daily Wire she sued her high school for racist discrimination, it's quite a turn that she and Ye are now the Black faces of white supremacy. 

We bring Owens up because a recent post of hers at the fracker-backed Daily Wire, with a byline promoting her BLM disinfo movie, isn't actually about the movie. Instead, her appeal to the Wire's audience was in the form of an attack on environmentalists, trotting out the old canard that inside green chests beat red communist hearts. 

And it is a well-worn old line, as the narrative goes back to the Cold War, and the "watermelon" metaphor (green on the outside, red on the inside) is the title of an entire book by James Delingpole. But that came out a decade ago, and apparently no one told Owens about it because Delingpole doesn't get so much as a tip of the hat for writing a whole book with an extended metaphor Candace basically plagiarized for this article. 

What's interesting though is that she chose to use climate as the hook for a column while she's otherwise heavily promoting her White Lives Matter movie. Why not talk about that? Why the somewhat random and out-of-date rambling about climate communists? 

Apparently that's what the audience wants! 

We saw something similar over at the Western Journal, a top disinfo outlet regularly publishing highly partisan climate denial. In the same way Owens used climate to attract readers to plug her racism movie, anti-abortion activst Rita Joseph's latest column for the Western Journal warns that "as the left panics about climate change, we are witnessing a much more dangerous transformation." 

Yes, apparently more dangerous than the destabilization of the climate in which humans developed agriculture, drew national borders and built infrastructure, is that "nature’s timeless gifts of mothering and fathering are to be tampered with. Women are to be reconstructed as fathers, men as mothers. On government forms, they are now to be called Carer No. 1 and Carer No. 2." 

Oh no! Not the sanctity of government forms! Why won't someone think of the government forms!

The column is a big long rant about trans rights, repeating lots of new incarnations of the same tired old patriarchal bigotry we've seen for decades. 

For those decades, the "culture war" social issues the right has fearmongered over were supposed to be the entry point to recruit people into a party with policies that are otherwise bad for them but good for the polluting corporations cutting campaign checks. 

What's new now, though, is that so many hundreds of millions of dollars have gone into building the climate denial ecosystem that it's got its own audience, especially online. Now, those pushing social issue regression like Joseph and Owens are using climate disinformation as the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down. 

Which is good to know if you're trying to appeal to that audience, but better to know if you're otherwise hesitant to mix social issues into your climate communications. If you don't, you leave the public open to messaging from the opposition that does, in the worst ways imaginable. 

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