FIRST LOOK:

SCOTUS To Hear Case On Native Tribal Sovereignty: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in Brackeen v. Haaland in which lawyers for Gibson Dunn will argue for overturning, or at least seriously undermining the sovereignty of Native American nations under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The high-powered corporate law firm, which represents (or has represented) Chevron (for whom it executed a scorched earth campaign against Steven Donziger), Energy Transfer Partners, and Enbridge, is representing, pro bono, white foster parents seeking to strike down the ICWA's clear prioritization of Native prospective adoptive parents. For centuries, U.S. policy sought to destroy Native American nations and people, including through genocide, forced relocation, and by separating children from their families and holding them at boarding schools, so that, as articulated by Richard Pratt, founder of the infamous Carlisle school, "all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." Congress passed the ICWA in 1978 to prevent the separation of Native families, and the effort to undermine protections of Native children mirrors previous efforts that served as precursors to broader attacks on tribal sovereignty overall. Sovereign Native American nations' opposition to fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure has successfully halted or stalled numerous fossil fuel projects, including the $7.5 billion lost by the Enbridge Dakota Access Pipeline, a project of Energy Transfer Partners. (The Atlantic, Crooked Media, NPR, Vox, Mother Jones; Energy Transfer: Bloomberg Law, Enbridge and DAPL costs: Crooked Media; Commentary: Slate, Michele Kriegman)

Countries Make Loss And Damage Funding Commitments: A small but growing number of rich nations have committed funding to compensate developing nations for the losses and damages they have suffered because of the impacts of climate change. The issue of "loss and damage" is officially on the COP agenda for the first time this year. Scotland which hosted COP26, committed $2.2 million last year and Denmark and the Belgian region of Wallonia pledged funds in the run-up to COP27. The new rolling commitments illustrate the rising profile of the issue: Austria announced Tuesday it will provide €50 million, New Zealand said it would allocate $12 million, and Belgium committed €2.5 million. German chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday Germany would contribute €170 million to "support those countries hit hardest by climate change in a targeted way in dealing with loss and damage.” (New York Times $, Reuters, Factbox; Austria: Reuters; New Zeland: Reuters; Belgium: Reuters; Germany: Euractiv)

Expert Report Calls Out Greenwashing, Lays Out Guidelines: Businesses cannot claim to achieve net-zero climate pollution if they are invested in new fossil fuel supplies, deforestation, or other environmentally damaging projects, according to guidelines set out in a new report from top environmental and finance experts at COP27 released on Tuesday. Few if any standards exist for how to measure or verify promises by nongovernmental and subnational actors to cut and offset climate pollution. The report, which included 10 specific recommendations, also criticized companies that buy cheap carbon offsets, "often lack[ing] integrity instead of immediately cutting their own emissions.” (AP, Axios, Reuters, Protocol, Reuters, The Guardian, Climate Home)

LOSS & DAMAGE: Parties at COP27 add loss and damage to the agenda, but won’t discuss which countries are responsible or who should pay (Inside Climate News), Polluters must pay for climate change, poor nations tell rich (Reuters), Rich countries must stop stalling talks on climate loss and damage compeNSAtion (Nature), The US has a plan to raise cash for developing nations. Some are skeptical. (New York Times $), At COP27, damages to Global South nations from climate change finally on the agenda (The Real News), Australian prime minister blasts opposition leader over demand to ‘rule out’ compensating other countries for climate crisis (The Guardian), Barbados PM hails 'loss and damage' addition to climate agenda at COP27 (The Guardian), Big Oil must pay for climate change, poor nations tell rich (Reuters), Hosts launch plan to help poorest adapt to climate change (Reuters)

CLIMATE FINANCE: Blackstone, PIMCO stay out of net-zero group even after concessions (Bloomberg $), Debt burden traps global south in a vicious circle (FT $), How can the world fund the growth of nature protection? (Context), Pakistan’s PM Sharif warns of climate ‘debt trap’ (Bloomberg $), UN urges Mark Carney-led climate initiative to meet higher standards (FT $), World Bank will host facility for climate disaster risk (Reuters), WTO chief seeks to revive green trade talks (Reuters), Climate finance and human rights fears: What happened on day two of COP27? (The Guardian, explainer)

METHANE: Countries set to bolster global methane pledge at climate summit (Bloomberg $), Exclusive satellite images show near real-time methane emissions (Bloomberg $)

• GAS DEALS: Why does UK want a gas deal with US and how important is it? (The Guardian)

FOSSIL FUEL NONPROLIFERATION: Treaty against fossil fuels floated at UN climate summit (AP), Tuvalu first to call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at COP27 (The Guardian), Sinking Pacific island nation issues historic call for treaty to phase out fossil fuels (CNBC)

AFRICA: Climate activist Vanessa Nakate shines spotlight on Africa at COP27 in Egypt (CBS), Mauritania and BP to explore green hydrogen projects (Reuters), Namibia secures $544 million in climate finance at COP27 (Reuters), South Africa runs on coal. Can it transition to clean energy? (New York Times $), Africa partnership aims to drive carbon market growth (SP Global)

CORPORATE COMMITMENTS: Corporate executives call for action-based approach at COP27 (Wall Street Journal $) 

WAR IN UKRAINE: Ending war in Ukraine necessary to tackle climate crisis, Zelenskiy says (The Guardian), Ukraine's Zelenskiy says climate policy impossible without peace (Reuters), Zelensky: Russia’s war is destroying the climate (The Hill)

USA: US to climate summit: American big steps won’t be repealed (AP), Ex-Obama advisor says global events are overshadowing climate change efforts: ‘We are not acting swiftly enough’ (CNBC)

KERRY CARBON PLAN: Kerry pitches carbon credits to boost green spending in poor nations (Bloomberg $), Kerry says Republican victory will end climate aid (Bloomberg $), At COP27, coalition aims to tap private funds for energy transition (Washington Post $)

CHINA: China climate envoy says Beijing committed to carbon neutrality (Reuters), Island nations want China, India to pay for climate damage (Reuters), Pressure remains on Xi Jinping to kick China’s coal habit (FT $)

EGYPT: A lawmaker shouted at the sister of a jailed Egyptian activist at a UN event. (New York Times $), Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s sister speaks out at UN climate summit as pressure grows on Egypt to free him (Democracy Now), Clock ticking for jailed Egypt activist on hunger strike (AP), The sister of a jailed Egyptian activist spoke out on his behalf. A lawmaker confronted her. (New York Times $), UAE and Egypt agree to build one of world's biggest wind farms (Reuters), Climate talks in Egypt overshadowed by shouting matches over human rights (Washington Post $), UN warns Egypt hunger striker's life in danger as family seek information (Reuters)

UK: UK provides $109 million climate funding for Nigerian farmers (Bloomberg $)

GERMANY: Germany ‘skeptical’ of US carbon credit plan (Politico Pro $), Germany keen to discuss natural gas pact with UK amid supply risk (The Guardian)

INDIA: India plots tricky path to growth and net zero (FT $), The world needs India to avert climate catastrophe. Can Modi deliver? (CNN)

PAKISTAN: As COP27 meets, Pakistan’s flood victims confront a health crisis (The New Humanitarian)

MEXICO: Mexico will try to ‘deceive the world’ at COP27, experts warn (The Guardian)

VENEZUELA: Maduro faults capitalism for causing climate change, but doesn’t mention Venezuela’s historic role in oil. (New York Times $), President of Venezuela considers climate crisis “unavoidable” (Prensa Latina)

ISRAEL: Israel and Jordan move forward with water-for-energy deal (Reuters, The Hill), Israeli, Lebanese leaders vow to cooperate at climate summit (AP)

FRANCE: Macron backs climate cash trillions (Politico Pro $), Macron backs trillions in climate cash (E&E $), Macron says US climate legislation is ‘not friendly’ (Bloomberg $), Macron tells France's heavy polluters to cut emissions, pledges aid (Reuters), Macron urges France’s big polluters to cut emissions by half (AP)

CUBA: Cuban FM calls for urgent measures against climate change (Prensa Latina)

YOUTH: Climate activist Vanessa Nakate shines spotlight on Africa at COP27 in Egypt (CBS)

EXPLAINERS: What happens after warming hits 1.5c? A guide to climate overshoot (Bloomberg $), What they are saying at the climate summit (Reuters), Who are the real climate leaders? (The Guardian)

NOT GREAT: UN gives platform to convicted fraudster lobbying for African gas (Climate Home)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Brittney Griner moves to Russian penal colony; exact location unknown (ESPN, CNN, AP, NPR, The Guardian, Washington Post $), Elon Musk’s twitter lays off ‘almost all’ of Africa office without offering severance: report (NewsOne)

COP26: One year on: How much progress has been made? (The Guardian)

SOURCES: Who’s driving climate change? New data catalogs 72,000 polluters and counting (New York Times $)

HOW TO MOVE A COUNTRY: Fiji’s radical plan to escape rising sea levels (The Guardian)

PROTEST: How criminalizing protests stifles climate justice (Prism Reports)

DRAFT NCA: Draft report offers starkest view yet of US climate threats (New York Times $, The Hill, Axios, FT $)

FOSSIL FUELED CRISES: War and climate put 45mn people at risk of famine (FT $)

WINTER HOME HEATING: A question as winter approaches: Heat your home or feed your family? (Bloomberg $), US heating cost forecast nearly doubles as fuel stocks tighten (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: EU eyes longer, negotiated debt reduction paths in rules review (Reuters)

GOP vs. ESG: Republican midterm victory could lead to ‘gridlock’ for ESG rulemaking initiatives (Responsible Investor)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Constellation sees big benefits from US Inflation Reduction Act (Reuters)

SCOTUS: Supreme Court may scale back agency enforcement power (E&E News)

EPA: In a first, EPA will test southern Puerto Rico air and water (Grist), House GOP: EPA sidestepped science on pesticide ban (E&E $)

DOI: Environmental groups push Interior to delay oil lease sales (E&E News), Inside Interior's Fat Bear Week voting scandal (E&E $)

TREASURY: Treasury gets an earful as it crafts climate bill's tax rules (E&E $)

THE HILL: Democrats make demands of Biden ahead of UN climate talks (E&E $)

HOUSE: Wanted: House Dem who can refute Republican attacks (E&E News), Meet the Republicans who could lead key House environmental committees (Washington Post $)

SENATE: Get ready for a big Senate committee leadership shuffle (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: 11 midterm races that could shape our climate future (Vox), Drought looms over midterm elections in the arid west (Grist), Climate change stayed backstage in campaign homestretch (E&E News), How N.M. governor’s race may shift coal, CCS (E&E News), Missing from GOP attack ads? Dems’ big climate bill. (E&E News), Tight race for Mich. AG could decide fate of Line 5 pipeline (E&E $)

• (SOME) RESULTS: Dems show surprising strength; control of Congress unclear (AP, Washington Post $, AP), The vaunted red wave never hit the shore in midterm elections (Washington Post $), 6 takeaways from an election night that's not over yet (NPR), Election deniers score big wins, but also suffer significant setbacks (Washington Post $, New York Times $, AP), Democrat John Fetterman beats Trump-backed Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania Senate race (NPR), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wins reelection in key Michigan governor’s race (The 19th* News), 'Standing is what matters': Stacey Abrams concedes in Georgia (The Guardian), With Val Demings’ and Cheri Beasley’s losses, there are still no Black women in the US Senate (The 19th* News), California voters reject tax on rich for more electric cars (AP)
• HISTORY: Here are the candidates who made history in Tuesday’s midterms (Washington Post $), Wes Moore wins, becomes Maryland’s 1st Black governor and just 3rd ever Black person elected governor (NewsOne, New York Times $), Maura Healey claims historic victory, elected first woman governor in Massachusetts (NPR), Maxwell Frost makes history in Florida as first member of Generation Z elected to Congress (The Grio, New York Times $)
• ABORTION: Abortion rights protected in Michigan, California, Vermont (AP), Michigan Proposal 3 abortion rights supporters declare victory (Bridge Michigan, WXYZ, Detroit News)

INDIGENOUS GROUPS: In Brazil’s soy belt, Indigenous people face attacks over land rights (Mongabay)

CITIES AND STATES: Heat pumps now required for new homes in Washington state (Canary Media), Maryland nonprofit helps Latino residents implement climate solutions in their communities (Yale Climate Connections)

FERC: Duckworth to FERC: Pipeline builder must fix damaged property (E&E $)

IMPACTS: A little girl and a dream lost in the jungle (New York Times $), Ocean-eaten islands, fire-scarred forests: Our changing world in pictures (New York Times $), Africa's heritage sites in peril as planet heats up (Context), Drought is killing zebras, elephants, and wildebeest in east Africa (Gizmodo), Freetown [Sierra Leone] mayor battles flooding threat to urban slums (FT $), It shouldn't be this hot (Gizmodo)

GLACIERS: As the third pole melts, climate diplomacy is hard to come by (Bloomberg $), Kashmir's farmers suffer floods and drought as glaciers melt (Context)

HURRICANES: Another powerful storm could soon test Florida, still recovering from Ian (Washington Post $), Hurricane warnings for Florida as Tropical Storm Nicole approaches (Axios, Washington Post $, AP, Yale Climate Connections)

WATER: L.A.’s quest for water leaves costly bill: Higher rates for customers, choking air pollution (LA Times $)

DEFORESTATION: Amazon destruction woes overshadow Brazil’s farming advances (FT $), Appetite for charcoal threatens ‘lungs of Africa’ (FT $)

EIA STEO: US power use to hit record in 2022 as economy grows, hotter weather -EIA (Reuters), US natgas output, demand to hit record highs in 2022 (Reuters), US shale boom may have peaked for good with a slowdown looming (Bloomberg $)

RENEWABLES: Europe to fast-track permitting for building renewable projects (Bloomberg $), US solar capacity has grown 28,500% since 2008 (OilPrice)

WHOOPS: World’s ‘most potent greenhouse gas’ escaped during work on UK windfarm (The Guardian)

LNG: Feds allow LNG company to restart tank shut in 2018 (E&E $)

OIL & GAS: Some questions about Evansville home explosion may never be answered (Evansville Courier & Press), World’s first zero-emission gas plant announced in Texas (E&E News)

PLASTICS: An environmental group challenges a proposed plastics ‘advanced recycling’ plant in Pennsylvania (Inside Climate News)

COAL: Coal India's profit more than doubles as power demand surges (Reuters), The tiny insurance company standing between taxpayers and a costly coal industry bailout (Bloomberg $)

NUKES: ‘We are scarred’: Nuclear communities sidelined in just transition debate, even as industry subsidies flow (Energy News Network), Nuclear fusion power edges from fantasy to reality (FT $)

HYDROGEN: Climate tech to save the planet: hype and hydrogen (FT $)

UTILITIES: Avangrid, Eversource call for more efficiency, DR to avoid New England outages amid potential fuel crunch (Utility Dive), Hawaii moves to time-varying ​‘smart’ rates for most utility customers (Canary Media), PNM sees diverging load impacts from crypto, supply chain as it awaits court action on Avangrid merger (Utility Dive)

EVs: Democrats supercharged EV investment while they had the chance (Bloomberg $), Renault to separate EV unit in sweeping overhaul (Wall Street Journal $)

ARTSY ACTIVISM: Climate protesters target Warhol art in Australian gallery (AP)

WORLD CUP: Blatter says picking Qatar as World Cup host was a ‘mistake’ (AP)

AGRICULTURE: The future of salads: Indoor-grown, "teen" lettuce (Axios)

OCEANS: Ocean fertilisation revived as climate change alarm grows (FT $)

PHILANTHROPY: Gates Foundation CEO calls for more cash for climate adaptation (Reuters)

DIRECT ACTION: Just Stop Oil protesters bring parts of M25 to halt for second day (The Guardian)

WILDLIFE: Sea turtle sanctuary has survived 40 years. climate change may kill it. (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia takes steps to catch up on climate action (FT $), Canada’s economy seen taking 5.8% hit on climate change by 2100 (Bloomberg $), France to reap $31 billion windfall from renewable energy firms (Bloomberg $), South Africa’s tricky shift from coal (FT $), UK’s green hydrogen ambitions fail to deliver (FT $), Bangladesh balances energy needs with climate, conservation (AP)

• African nations can’t ‘adapt’ to the climate crisis. Here’s what rich countries must do (The Guardian, Vanessa Nakate op-ed)
• Give more women the microphone at COP27 (Scientific American, Catherine McKenna and Amy Myers Jaffe op-ed)
• The Guardian view on climate finance: a green transition requires funding (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Climate finance club hands over baton (Reuters, Huw van Steenis op-ed)
• No one forced Republicans to do any of these things (New York Times, Jamelle Bouie column $)
• When it comes to climate change, cows are the new coal (Context, Jeremy Coller op-ed)
• Why COP27 has already let us down (Vogue, Jerome Foster II and Elijah Mckenzie-Jackson op-ed)
• Delay only makes climate action more urgent (FT, Martin Wolf column $)
• European crisis risks climate action reputation (FT, Nick Butler column $)
• What Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover could mean for journalism and democracy (The Real News, Paris Marx interview)
• ‘Loss and damage’ stalemate is at breaking point as COP27 begins (FT, Pilita Clark column $)
• Media have big responsibility in the age of global warming (FT, Sarah Gordon column $)
• Lazy winds could blow Europe’s renewable future off course (FT, Anjana Ahuja column $)
• Brad Smith explains why the world needs to go carbon-negative — and how to get there (Protocol, interview)
• Hello from COP27 (New York Times, Somini Sengupta dispatch $)
• There’s a host of trouble when nations host big events (The Hill, Tara Sonenshine op-ed)
• Inflation Reduction Act adds fuel to RTO reform imperative, generator interconnection backlog (Utility Dive, Tony Clark op-ed)

Petrostates, Pro-Kremlin Networks, and Propagandists Hard At Work As COP27 Proceeds

Today's second edition of COP, Look, Listen, covers the state of play for petrochemical states, pro-Kremlin networks, and other assorted propagandists.

On the latter, there's the lie-namic duo of Bjorn Lomborg and Jordan Peterson, who recently co-authored an op-ed:

in the UK Telegraph that falsely claims '​​tackling climate change with current technology is essentially impossible.' As President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Johanna Chao Kreilik, has said: 'it is everything but the technology that’s impeding progress.' In the piece, they also call for delaying current mitigation measures (i.e. renewables) and instead investing money in research and development. To note: A study in Nature Climate Change found as much as 80% of emissions from building, industry, transport and food can be reduced through efficiency, dietary choices and other demand-reduction measures already, while also prioritizing people's overall well-being. 

On the pro-Kremlin-networks front, COP, Look, Listen tracked claims that the US and UK secretly coordinated on the sabotage of the Nord Stream Pipeline, noting that the originating tweet blaming the UK "states that the so-called leaked message is how 'Russians' knew about the sabotage, while Russian media articles mention Dotcom as the source of intel." 

Meanwhile, petrostates like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are busy greenwashing at the same time Nigeria "openly celebrates oil." Maybe because they don't feel any need to appease protestors they can simply imprison. 

When it comes to conspiratorial content, the bulletin found "more of the usual accounts, spreading anti-WEF conspiracies, complaining about room temperature, and attacking Greta Thunberg. In fact, there has been such a resurgence of harassment of Thunberg, that it's going to be the subject of a future bulletin." 

If that's got you wanting more, here's this page to sign up for the bulletins! 

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