DRAFT AGREEMENT & WHERE THINGS STAND: UN publishes draft COP27 climate deal (Reuters), Call to rewrite draft as fossil fuel phase-down missing (The Guardian), The underdogs did most of the work in week one. Now what? (Energy Monitor), Deep fault lines remain as talks enter crunch time (Axios)
METHANE: Meat on the menu, not the agenda, at COP27 climate conference (Reuters), These 15 meat and dairy companies emit almost as much methane as the EU (Grist, The Guardian)
LOSS & DAMAGE: Counting the rising cost of climate disasters (Reuters, Factbox), As climate talks wind down, nations feud over how to pay for damages (Washington Post $), EU jams U.S. with shift on climate damage fund (Politico Pro $), EU opens the door to a loss and damage facility – if China pays (Climate Home), Who should pay for climate crisis? global south demands “loss and damage” from wealthy nations (Democracy Now)
- WOMEN'S WORK: Women lead climate talks’ toughest topic: Reparations (AP)
CLIMATE FINANCE: Climate change: why a new insurance scheme for vulnerable countries is a bad idea (The Conversation)
DENIAL & DISINFORMATION: Climate change denial makes an untimely comeback (CNET), Why fighting climate disinformation is critical at COP27 — and beyond (National Observer), Climate denialism has got worse on Twitter since Musk takeover, experts suggest (EuroNews)
PR: ‘Profoundly disturbing’: The PR firm for the COP27 climate summit has a long history with Big Oil (CNBC, Mada Masr)
DEFORESTATION: At climate summit, Brazil’s Lula promises new day for Amazon (AP), COP27 climate talks seen as key to success at next month's U.N. nature summit (Reuters),
YOUTH: Children from Global South make their presence felt at climate summit (Reuters), How young climate activists are making their voices heard at COP27 over Egypt’s protest suppression (The Conversation), The kids are still at it: meet young activists at COP27 (Bloomberg $)
GAS DEALS: Energy crisis leaves fossil fuel phase-out clubs struggling to recruit (Reuters), Gas has ‘transitional role’ in Africa’s green goals, EU says (Bloomberg $), Us backs tough fossil fuel phase down pledge at climate summit (Bloomberg $), Lines in the sand need redrawing to reach climate deal (AP)
WOMEN: Representation, protection, restitution: Women lay out key demands at COP27 climate summit (The 19th* News)
CHINA: Kerry: Formal climate talks between US and China have resumed at UN summit (CNN),
EGYPT: Egypt takes heat for hosting chaotic UN climate summit (Washington Post $)
GERMANY: Germany should help poor countries bear climate change costs - minister (Reuters)
INDIA: India draws support for wider climate target than coal alone (FT $)
PAKISTAN: Pakistan’s rehman has no plans for ‘stylish’ walkout at COP27 (Bloomberg $)
BRAZIL: Greeted like a rock star, Brazil's Lula promises to protect Amazon (Reuters), World should spend on climate not war, Brazil's Lula says (Reuters), COP27:Brazil's Lula says Amazon rainforest vital to global climate security (Reuters), Expectations run high as an exuberant Lula speaks at climate summit (New York Times $), Lula charms UN climate summit, bringing hope for rainforests (Climate Home), Lula declares "Brazil is back" on climate action (Axios, E&E News,FT $, The Guardian), Lula receives document defending a common climate agenda at COP27 (Prensa Latina), Lula’s pledge to save Amazon wins hero’s welcome at COP27 (Bloomberg $), Expectations run high as an exuberant Lula speaks at climate summit (New York Times $)
ISRAEL: Israel and Jordan agree to team up to save Jordan River (AP)
SAUDI ARABIA: Middle east oil giants assert themselves in climate politics (Bloomberg $)
EUROPE: Europe’s energy risks go beyond gas (New York Times $)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: UAE using role as COP28 host to lobby on its climate reputation (The Guardian)
COP27 DAY 10: Protests, posters and the return of Lula: days nine and 10 at COP27 – in pictures (The Guardian), What happened at COP27 on day nine? (The Guardian) |
(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Activists are suing Texas over its plan to expand interstate 35, saying the project is bad for environmental justice and the climate (Inside Climate News), Latest on Jackson, Mississippi, water crisis (ABC), Amid twitter layoffs, Elon Musk ‘brushed aside’ concerns of diversity and inclusion (NewsOne)
CARBON MARKETS: The interwoven fortunes of carbon markets and Indigenous communities (Energy Monitor)
FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: EU to propose natural gas price cap after Nov. 24 meeting (Reuters), Germany warns of potential bottlenecks from Russian oil embargo (Bloomberg $)
EACOP: “A carbon bomb”: Movement grows against EACOP east African pipeline funded by France’s Total & China (Democracy Now)
GOP vs. ESG: Big banks to remain sponsors of 'dark money' anti-ESG group (E&E $), Everything you need to know about ESG investing and the backlash to it (Bloomberg $)
ATLAS OF DESTRUCTION: 90 percent of all US counties experienced climate disaster: research (The Hill)
FREEPORT LNG: Fatigue contributed to Texas LNG explosion, probe says (E&E News)
AGENCIES: Justice Department appoints Ferguson to lead EJ office (E&E $)
EPA: EPA’s Regan sees opportunity to reduce methane (Bloomberg $), EPA watchdog launches probes of Jackson water crisis (E&E News, Politico Pro $), EPA advisers proceed with smog standards review as is (E&E $), Trump-aligned think tank digs into EPA staff, union records (E&E News)
DOE: Energy Department awards $74M for battery recycling, reuse (AP)
THE HILL: House, Senate leadership disputes far from settled (E&E News), Defense negotiators resist adding permitting to NDAA (E&E News), Investigating the investigators: Dem strategists to launch counterpunch to House GOP (Politico), Major carbon-removal bill unlikely to pass, sponsor says (E&E $)
HOUSE: Democrats seek crackdown on Pebble-like 'sham permitting' (E&E $)
POLITICS: A new ad campaign pushes benefits of $369 billion climate law to Black communities (The Root)
ELECTIONS: This obscure runoff race could help shape state climate action (Washington Post $)
- 2024: [Australian mining billionaire] Gina Rinehart pictured at Donald Trump’s campaign launch in apparent Instagram photobomb (The Guardian), Facebook fact-checkers will stop checking Trump after presidential bid announcement (CNN), Trump launches presidential run with climate fallacies (E&E News), Trump talks up energy record in start of White House run (E&E $)
TRIBES: Chilkat Indian Village says Alaska mine poses risk to watershed (Indian Country Today), Tribes in the Colorado river basin are fighting for their water. States wish they wouldn’t. (Grist and High Country News)
CITIES AND STATES: Is this experimental green suburb the future of single-family housing? (Bloomberg $)
- CALIFORNIA: California’s climate plan calls for no new gas-burning power plants (Washington Post $), Five things to know about California's new long-term climate plan (Politico Pro $)
- RIGHT TO WORK STATES: First Solar picks Alabama for new solar factory (Reuters), Ford is building its first new auto plant in 53 years. That’s stirring mixed emotions (Bloomberg $)
FERC: FERC, state regulators consider independent monitors as way to boost transmission oversight ‘gap’ (Utility Dive), Small transmission projects hindering clean energy, FERC told (E&E $), US regulators to vote on largest dam demolition in history (AP)
RESPONSIBLITY: Five countries have cost the world $6 trillion in global warming losses (Yale Climate Connections)
IMPACTS: A flood cycle creates some of the first permanent climate refugees (Bloomberg $), 'No higher ground': People flee as seas and storms ruin homes (Context), After the deluge — cascading effects of extreme weather on human health (Yale Climate Connections), Global heating to drive stronger La Niña and El Niño events by 2030, researchers say (The Guardian, The Conversation), Climate Migration: Filipino families to flee amid typhoons (AP), ‘Life brought me here.’ An island nation adapts to a changing climate (New York Times $), How climate stress contributed to collapse of ancient Egypt (Washington Post $)
DROUGHT: Drying up: Inside the Californian communities without enough water (The Guardian)
DEFORESTATION: Can Lula slam the brakes on Brazil’s rampant deforestation? It will be harder this time (CNN)
RENEWABLES: Major R.I. offshore wind project runs into trouble (E&E $), World’s largest floating wind farm just started producing power (Canary Media)
"RENEWABLES": Biogas expansion may compound worker risks (Energy News Network)
HYDRO: Dam construction ignites Indigenous youth movement in southern Chile (Mongabay)
BATTERIES: Billions flow to nascent US battery sector with push from climate law (FT $), North America’s EV future hinges on a North Carolina turtle pond (Bloomberg $)
LNG: A parade of tankers has eased Europe’s energy crisis (New York Times $), US regulator releases report blaming Freeport LNG blast on inadequate processes (Reuters), What is LNG and why has it become so important? (BBC)
METHANE: Canada lays out new regulations for methane emissions from oil and gas (National Observer), On National Recycling Day, California shows more can be done with state's waste (CBS)
OIL & GAS: Maryland condo explosion leaves 12 people, including 4 kids, injured (CNN), Indian refiners wary of buying Russian oil ahead of price cap (OilPrice), OPEC+ oil cuts spell tight stockpiles despite demand headwinds (Bloomberg $), Oil falls as geopolitical jitters cool, demand concerns resume (Bloomberg $), Switzerland warns of big gas cut offs if caught in a crunch (OilPrice)
- DIESEL: Diesel hits record premium over gas, oil (Wall Street Journal $), White House considers curbs on fuel exports amid diesel squeeze (OilPrice)
COAL: IEA details coal's future in a net-zero transition (E&E $)
HYDROGEN: In Australia, firms plan ‘super hub’ to produce green hydrogen using wind and solar (CNBC), La. legal showdown may preview national battle over hydrogen (E&E News), Masdar-led consortium signs deal to develop Suez Canal green hydrogen project (Reuters), Fossil fuel interests paid for pro-hydrogen study, boston globe reports (Gizmodo), Study touting hydrogen — a technology favored by gas firms — was funded by gas interests, e-mails show (Boston Globe $)
UTILITIES: Most CMP customers to get 49 percent hike on part of electric bill (Bangor Daily News)
EVs: Musk claims no role in setting his $55 billion pay deal at Tesla (Bloomberg $), Musk says Twitter reorganization is taking up almost all his time (Bloomberg $), SDG&E partners with General Motors to study electric vehicle bidirectional charging potential (Utility Dive), The used EV market can’t thrive without accurate battery-health data (Canary Media)
WORLD CUP: Has FIFA 'greenwashed' the World Cup? (E&E $)
DESPERATE TIMES…: Inside the radical climate protest movement (ABC)
FOOD: The climate impact of the Thanksgiving meal might surprise you (Washington Post $)
BUSINESSES: Costco to set new emission cut targets in deal with activist firm (Reuters), There's no 'green' way to do Amazon prime day (Gizmodo)
FINANCE: Bankers bet billions on new wave of debt-for-nature deals (Reuters), ECB's Panetta says green transition may help cut inflation (Reuters), Netherlands says ESG-linked debt is longer-term possibility (Bloomberg $)
IN MEMORIAM: Virginia McLaurin, sharecroppers’ daughter who danced with the Obamas, dies (New York Times $, The Root, The Grio, AP, Washington Post $, Buzzfeed, WTOP, The Guardian, People, NBC, The Hill, CNN, BBC)
WILDLIFE: What is 'nature positive'? Biodiversity's answer to net zero (Context, explainer), Fenced in: How the global rise of border walls is stifling wildlife (Yale Environment 360), Lettuce again on the Florida menu to slow manatee starvation (AP), Restoring wildlife habitats could prevent future pandemics, research shows (The Hill), Scientists try to bolster Great Barrier Reef in warmer world (AP)
- LOBSTAHS: Maine lobster losing ‘sustainable’ label as seafood guides warn against it (Washington Post $), Sustainability group pulls lobster certification over whales (AP)
INTERNATIONAL: Green activists project fuel poverty images on to Rishi Sunak’s house (The Guardian, The Guardian, VIDEO), Italy state lender CDP targeted by climate change protesters (Reuters), Malaysia's election ignores climate crisis as economy dominates (Context)
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John Stossel, Reliant on Koch Cash, Promotes Koch Network Disinformation In Popular Anti-EV Video
Regular readers of the denier roundup know this already, but former journalist John Stossels is now a leading disinformation producer, regularly featuring fake experts who just-so-happen to be, like Stossel, all Koch'd up.
But today's COP, Look, Listen provides some new information on Stossel's conflicts of interest and his latest high-traction disinformation video, which "racked up 803k views / 60k likes on YouTube, 674k views / 23k interactions on FB, and 909k view / 21k like on Twitter, where it was also the second most-shared post in the ‘anti-green tech’ narrative. In addition, it is being circulated as text via the Koch-funded disinfo media system, with Reason, the Daily Caller and the Daily Signal all publishing the piece as op-eds."
The video was "the first in a series" attacking Electric Vehicles, and "features Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute, who Stossel fails to disclose has received over $1.3 million from Koch foundations since 2014 - see tax filings of Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute for further detail. John Stossel’s brother Thomas is also a former senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute."
Unsurprisingly, "the 5-minute segment is rife with already-debunked disinformation. Mills claims that it takes mining '500,000 pounds' of minerals to produce an EV battery, a point that has been comprehensively fact-checked by AFP and USA Today. He also alleges that the adoption of 500 million EVs would only 'reduce world oil consumption by about 10%.' The roughly 16 million EVs on the road already have reduced oil demand by 3.5% in total, so 500 million would certainly lower emissions by more than an additional 6.5%."
Stossel and Mills want viewers to think EVs are no cleaner than fossil fueled cars, but "Argonne National Laboratory produced a model and have a whole page set up to do exactly this calculation. They found that EVs generally emit far less carbon over a 12-year lifespan.'"
What's more, "even in a coal-only grid, EVs come out better for the environment than diesel or petrol alternatives. In addition, a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists found that over their lifetime, EVs produce 50 percent less Greenhouse Gasses than gas or diesel cars. No matter where in the US, an average EV is cleaner than an average gas car, and for 90% of Americans the average EV is better than even the most efficient gas alternative."
Whoops!
Surely Stossel's failure to do any sort of journalistic fact-checking of his guest was just an innocent mistake, right?
Perhaps! Maybe Stossel deserves the benefit of the doubt, those of you more kind and forgiving than us may suggest. But consider Stossel's history, and see if you're still feeling generous:
Failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest is the norm for Stossel’s content and guests. In 2017, when his company JFS Productions was revealed as a top contractor of the Charles Koch Institute, a syndicated op-ed defended the Koch family from public criticism. In 2022, a two-part video series from Stosel featured Johan Norberg (senior fellow at the Cato Institute) and Texas Tech University professor Ben Powell, who is among those involved in a controversial department that has received over $6.5 million from the Charles Koch Foundation. Powell is also an officer of the Koch-funded Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE).
In 2019, a Stossel video was critically fact checked, prompting him to unsuccessfully sue Facebook for defamation. The video featured a panel consisting entirely of professional climate disinformers affiliated with the Cato Institute, the CO2 Coalition, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), The Heartland Institute and the Manhattan Institute.
Stossle's "Center for Independent Thought" is also totally dependent on the same funders of the groups whose representatives he promotes as "other recent donors to Stossel’s Center for Independent Thought include," Cato and CEI funding Claws Foundation, Cato, CEI and Heartland funding JP Humphreys Foundation, Cato and Manhattan funding Jewish Communal Fund, Cato, CO2 Coalition, CEI, Heartland and Manhattan Institute funding DonorsTrust, and Cat, CO2 Coalition and Manhattan Institute funding Thomas W. Smith Foundation.
Those funders, according to the bulletin, "plus the Charles Koch Foundation, gave a combined total of $1,494,688 to Stossel’s Center from 2019-2020, worth 40% of its $3,783,057 revenue in that two-year period."
So while "Stossel tries to maintain his image as a reporter, and judging by his large audience across platforms is largely succeeding in that goal. The content itself, however, is far from adhering to journalistic standards from both a factual, ethical and financial standpoint, and should be exposed at every possible opportunity."
Normally "exposing yourself" is considered a bad thing, but in this context, it's about the most ethical thing Stossel could do, and the only way to regain any sense of credibility if he actually wanted to be a journalist again.
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