FIRST LOOK:

'You Take A Win When You Can' — COP27 Ends With Historic Loss & Damage Fund, Status Quo Emissions Reductions: Negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh (finally) ended Sunday morning local time, with COP27 delegates applauding the creation of a loss and damage fund, while also worrying the talks had not done enough to cut fossil fuel use and reduce the pollution causing already-devastating climate impacts around the world. In a culmination of a 30-year campaign, a united front of developing nations put loss and damage on the official agenda two weeks ago, and secured a first-ever commitment from industrialized nations to pay for the damage their climate pollution has caused. "COP27 has done what no other COP has achieved and created a loss and damage fund to support the most impacted communities of climate change," Mohammed Adow of Power Shift Africa, said in a statement. The final agreement kept a reference to limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C (2.7°F), keeping the Paris goals alive, at least on paper. It did not call for a reduction of all fossil fuels, keeping language from COP26 instead, disappointing the unprecedented number of nations — including the U.S. — who had called for final language reflecting the need to phase out all unabated fossil fuels. When asked if more robust emissions reductions had been set aside in order to reach the final agreement including loss and damage, Camila Zepeda, Mexico's chief climate negotiator, told Reuters, "Probably. You take a win when you can." (Reuters, AP, Washington Post $, Axios, Bloomberg $, Politico and E&E News, The Guardian, New York Times $, Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, Wall Street Journal $, CNN, New York Times $, FT $)

New Desalination Plant Approved By California, Despite EJ, Cost Concerns: The California Coastal Commission voted 8-to-2 to approve a new desalination plant along the state’s central coast late last week. Drawing water from the Pacific Ocean, the California American Water plant in Monterey County would produce about 4.8 million gallons of drinking water per day when it begins operating. The decision raises environmental justice concerns, however, and critics argue it is unnecessary and overly expensive. On top of ecological risks, the plant will hike water bills by $50 per month, an average increase of about 50%, Cal-Am Water estimates. Water produced by the Monterey plant would cost more than twice as much as water from other desalination plants and is several times more expensive than advanced wastewater recycling. “The simple fact the project is sited within a community that doesn’t want it and won’t benefit from it means that these impacts cannot be fully eliminated,” Kate Huckelbridge, a CCC senior deputy director, told the commissioners. The commission acknowledged the questions about environmental justice, given Marina’s “long history of having a disproportionate share of industrial facilities,” including a regional landfill, regional sewage plant, and the Fort Ord Superfund site. In a 157-page report, commission staff said the proposal presented “the most significant environmental justice concerns the Commission has considered since it adopted an Environmental Justice Policy in 2019.” Despite the commission’s endorsement, the company must resolve ongoing litigation and obtain multiple permits before construction can begin. “If Cal Am is allowed to build their desal plant, and my water bill increases by 50%, I will have to choose between eating and buying water,” one commenter, Tammy Jennings, told commissioners. “No one should be allowed to make a profit on something we all need to live.” (CAL Matters, San Francisco Chronicle, E&E News, LA Times $, Mercury News)

Big West Texas Earthquake Spurs Calls For Stronger Fracking Safeguards: Texas advocates — and oil executives — are calling for stronger safeguards against fracking operators' disposal of contaminated wastewater. “We cannot keep cramming a tremendous amount of water through a disposal well at one site,” Kirk Edwards, an oil executive and former chair of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, told the Wall Street Journal. The Texas Railroad Commission is investigating whether fracking for methane gas caused or contributed to the third-largest earthquake in the state's history. Fracking companies often dispose of salty, contaminated water deep underground and scientific studies have linked the practice with increased seismic activity as the reinjection of the water can disturb dormant fault lines — a connection the Texas Railroad Commission acknowledges. The 5.4 magnitude quake west of Pecos in the Permian oil and gas fields damaged and forced the evacuation of a historic hospital building more than 350 miles away in San Antonio. (Wall Street Journal $, Texas Tribune and Inside Climate News, San Antonio Express-News, AP, Bloomberg $)

FINAL DEAL: A deal on loss and damage, but a blow to 1.5C – what will be COP27’s legacy? (The Guardian, Inside Climate News, Today Show, CNBC), COP27 loss and damage fund heralds 'new dawn' for climate justice (Context), ‘We couldn’t fail them’: how Pakistan’s floods spurred fight at Cop for loss and damage fund (The Guardian, Bloomberg $), Developing countries need trillions for climate action. Where will it come from? (Grist), How much should wealthier nations pay for the effects of climate change? (NPR), Pakistan welcomes ‘loss and damage’ deal inked at UN summit (AP), World still ‘on brink of climate catastrophe’ after COP27 deal (The Guardian), Yeb saño: COP27 agreement must keep 'loss & damage' fund for countries vulnerable to climate change (Democracy Now), What is 'loss and damage' funding, and who should pay? (Reuters, explainer), COP27 debate on who should pay for climate loss and damage reopens old wounds (Reuters), COP27 ends in tears and frustration: ‘The world will not thank us’ (FT $)

• TAKEAWAYS: Key takeaways from the COP27 climate summit (Reuters), A breakthrough on climate compensation and 7 other takeaways from COP27 (Bloomberg $), Success or COP-out: How do this year’s climate talks rate? (AP), Did the world make progress on climate change? (NPR), Five crucial issues in fight to save planet – and what COP27 did about them (The Guardian), The good and bad news for the planet after the latest UN climate talks (Vox), What was decided at COP27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh? (Climate Home), What are the key outcomes of COP27 climate summit? (The Guardian, explainer)
• 'LOW EMISSIONS … ENERGY:' Summit yields ‘historic win’ for climate payments  (Politico, BBC, Axios, CNN, Context, AP, Reuters)
• WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Quote Box: Reaction to UN climate deal on historic fund (AP), ‘We can do the impossible’: how key players reacted to end of COP27 climate summit (The Guardian), 

COP28: COP27 yielded a historic climate fund. COP28 must do more, experts say (Washington Post $)

WAR IN UKRAINE: Exiled Russian environmentalist: Russia’s uranium sales to US & Europe help Putin fund Ukraine war (Democracy Now), Ukraine is finding new allies in a Russian tourist hotspot (CNN), Ukrainian climate scientist says fossil fuels enabled Russian war in Ukraine (Democracy Now)

DISINFORMATION: Greenwashing governments and oil companies turned COP27 into a climate disaster (Truthout), Oil and gas companies' participation in climate conferences may be doing more harm than good (NPR)

USA: US climate funding shortfall hampers bid to cut developing countries’ emissions (Wall Street Journal $)

• DEFINITELY NOT A METAPHOR FOR ANYTHING: Kerry self-isolating with COVID as fragile COP27 climate talks enter overtime (Axios, Reuters, Politico, New York Times $)

CHINA: China, US resume climate work in latest sign of better relations (Bloomberg $)

EUROPE: Climate talks grow tense as US resists Europe's plan for aid (Politico), EU presents new climate fund for developing nations, but there’s a catch (OilPrice), EU-developing countries’ COP27 deal offers hope to climate victims (Climate Home), EU agrees to climate damage fund, energizing bogged-down COP27 talks (Reuters)

INDIA: At climate summit, India pushes for leeway on coal, western emission cuts (Wall Street Journal $)

AUSTRALIA: Australia's climate policies don't match its big talk at COP27 (Reuters)

YOUTH: He started protesting about his middle school principal. Now he's taking on big oil (NPR)

INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS: Indigenous activists 'seen, not heard' at COP27 (Axios)

GENDER GAP: Leaders and activists at COP27 say the gender gap in climate action is being bridged too slowly (Inside Climate News)

PROTESTS: Protesters disrupt Russian-hosted climate conference event (NBC), 'fossil fuels fund dictatorships': Ukrainian climate activist suspended from COP27 over Russia protest (Democracy Now), What the greens learned from Big Oil (Politico Pro $)

ALAA ABDEL FATTAH: 'A near-death experience': UN.-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah almost dies on prison hunger strike (Democracy Now)

ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Jackson City Council approves EPA plan for long-term water solutions (Axios)

• …AND HOMOPHOBIA: 5 killed, 25 hurt in shooting at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs (The Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio, KOAA, NBC, TIME, Rolling Stone, Buzzfeed, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal $, The Cut, Vanity Fair, CNN), Colorado resident reflects on mass shooting at gay club: 'this was our only safe space' (Blavity), Club Q shooting follows year of bomb threats, drag protests, anti-trans bills (Washington Post $), AOC tells Boebert, ‘you don’t get to thoughts and prayers your way out of’ LGBTQ nightclub shooting (Rolling Stone)

EAST AFRICA: Trapped between extremists and extreme weather, Somalis brace for famine (New York Times $)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: China and US renew commitment to tackling climate crisis but differences remain (The Guardian), Inside the Saudi strategy to keep the world hooked on oil (New York Times $)

YOU'LL NEVER LEAVE JHARIA ALIVE: The teenage miners of Jharia: growing up in India’s coalfields – in pictures (The Guardian)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: European refiners now have too much oil (OilPrice), Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged, Swedish prosecutor says (Politico Pro $), Race to secure gas for Europe’s future winters has already begun (Wall Street Journal $), Europe’s energy exchanges warn gas price cap to backfire on EU (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: The newest fronts in climate-change-related legal battles (Reuters, Factbox)

THE KIDS ARE … FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES: Youth climate activists discuss how high the stakes feel for them (WBUR)

GOP vs. ESG: Onetime Trump appointee helps spark sweeping ESG backlash (Bloomberg $)

WORKERS: 29 senators back union in EPA bargaining (E&E $), 48,000 academic workers start the largest strike of the year across University of California campuses (Prism Reports), Alabama’s striking coal miners are upping the ante (The Real News), Biggest railroad unions count votes as threat of strike looms (Wall Street Journal $)

TWITTER 🗑️🔥 : A broken Twitter means broken disaster response (Gizmodo)

WINTER GRID RELIABILITY: North American electric grid faces ‘unprecedented’ widespread risk this winter: NERC (Utility Dive), Regional grids ‘rolling the dice’ on weather — watchdog (E&E News), The US's creaky power grid is no match for worsening weather catastrophes (TIME), US grid faces 'unprecedented' reliability risks this winter: NERC (Politico Pro $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: The big new Exxon Mobil climate change deal that got an assist from Joe Biden (CNBC)

AGENCIES: DOJ announces special counsel for Trump-related Mar-a-Lago and January 6 criminal investigations (CNN, AP, Wall Street Journal $, Black Wall Street Times, Politico, NBC, Axios, CNBC)

EPA: Judges probe claim EPA overstepped authority with HFC regs (E&E $, Politico Pro $), EPA backs Trump-era plan for air pollution in Mountain West (E&E News), EPA coal ash decision targets major US power plant (E&E $)

DOE: White House announces $13 bln in funding to modernize power grids (Reuters, The Hill, E&E $, Politico Pro $), Republicans question DOE nominee's renewable energy past (E&E $)

DOI: Watchdog: Interior not ready for cyberattacks on offshore oil (E&E $)

DOT: Environmental groups sue DOT over Mississippi road project (AP)

THE HILL: House GOP expected to eliminate climate crisis committee (The Hill, E&E $), House Republicans prepare big energy package for 2023 (E&E News), GOP pushes sweeping probe of Hunter Biden energy deals (E&E $), Republican takeover of US House could pump the brakes on Biden's EV agenda (Reuters), Hakeem Jeffries, pressing to lead Democrats, marks a generational shift (New York Times $, NewsOne), How Pelosi shaped US climate policy (E&E News)

ELECTIONS: How beating up Big Oil helped Dems hold the Senate (E&E News), Why the midterms have made climate activists hopeful for the future (NBC), Boebert ekes out reelection win (E&E News), Georgia judge allows saturday voting following thanksgiving holiday, a win for Democrats (The Root), The midterm culture war over plant-based meat (Vox)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Time running out for 3 Biden EPA nominees (E&E $)

TRIBES:  Tribes celebrate plan to remove dams on Klamath (Indian Country Today), Underfunded, understaffed, Canada’s Indigenous services agency is failing to protect first nations (Grist)

CITIES AND STATES: Three midwestern states to watch as they navigate equitable rollout for EV charging (Inside Climate News), New York OKs major transmission line for Eversource and Ørsted’s Sunrise offshore wind project (Utility Dive), Soaring west Virginia electricity prices trigger standoff over the state’s devotion to coal power (Inside Climate News), California looks to ban diesel trucks at ports by 2035 (Wall Street Journal $)

FERC: FERC enforcement settlements jump to $57.5M in FY22 while Uri market manipulation investigation continues (Utility Dive), FERC meeting: Grid rules, a boost for gas and Manchin (E&E News), FERC orders reliability standards, registration requirements for wind, solar, storage to protect the grid (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: How farmers are adapting to climate change (CBS), IMF warns Saint Lucia to build buffers for mounting climate risks (Reuters), Sinking land and rising seas threaten Manila Bay’s coastal communities (Inside Climate News), The Red Sea’s coral reefs defy the climate-change odds (New York Times $), Video examines issues involving jet stream role in extreme weather (Yale Climate Connections)

NY SNOW: Massive lake-effect snowfalls in western New York blamed in 2 deaths (Washington Post $), Hundreds had to be rescued from snow in western New York, governor says (Washington Post $), Hochul activates NY National Guard amid ‘epic snow event’ (The Hill), Snowfall tops 6 feet in western New York, triggering road closures and flight cancellations the weekend before Thanksgiving (CNN, Washington Post, PHOTOS $), How Buffalo survives supercharged snow (Bloomberg $)

DROUGHT: As the Amazon rainforest goes dry, a desperate wait for water (Washington Post $), Hydropower plant will go offline thanks to punishing drought (Gizmodo), Rare fossil of huge American lion found on just-uncovered sandbar in Mississippi River (Biloxi SunHerald, Gizmodo)

WATER: Arizona town to cut off water to Rio Verde Foothills amidst western water crisis (CBS)

(DE)FORESTATION: In Utah, restoring spruce forests one cone at a time (New York Times $)

CLIMATE MIGRATION: The risks are high and the rewards low for the desperate manteros of Madrid (NPR)

RENEWABLES: Mainers pay more for power as experts look to renewable energy (WMTW), 2 companies plan to build massive US solar factories (E&E $), Watch this dynamic map of renewable energy growth around the world (Canary Media)

ERCOT: Lawmakers worry consumers could be 'big loser' in ERCOT power market redesign (Houston Chronicle)

STORAGE: Long-duration storage firm Energy Vault pivots to short-term batteries (Canary Media), US large-scale battery storage deployments triple to 1.2 GW in Q3 but slowdown possible: S&P Global (Utility Dive)

LNG: Europe’s dash for energy means rigging up LNG plants at sea (Bloomberg $)

• CALENDARS?: US gas prices jump as freeport LNG targets full restart in March 2023 (OilPrice), Freeport LNG expects natural gas shipments to start flowing again mid-December (Politico Pro $) 

OIL & GAS: Frack-sand plant fire threatens supplies for Texas shale wells (Bloomberg $), Qatar signs deal to supply gas to China for 27 years (CNN)

COAL: Climate graphic of the week: Will the world phase down coal within 8 years? (FT $), India power binges on coal, outpaces Asia (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Massachusetts utilities hope hydrogen and biomethane can keep the state cooking, and heating, with gas (Inside Climate News), NextEra Energy to invest $805 mln on expanding renewables portfolio (Reuters)

GRID: This Puerto Rican green energy company offers alternative solution to the faulty grid (The Hill)

EVs: General Motors: We'll profit off evs in 3 years (E&E $), US aims for zero-emissions heavy-duty vehicles by 2040 (Reuters)

CRYPTO: After The Merge, can Ethereum erase its historic emissions, too? (The Verge)

GROSS DOMESTIC CORRELATIONS: More money, more carbon? (NPR)

ACTIVISM: Arun Majumdar’s mom cooked over a coal stove on the floor, and now he’s the first leader of Stanford’s new climate school — here is his story (CNBC)

POLICE STATE: As climate protests get bolder, British police strike back with new powers (New York Times $)

WORLD CUP: BBC ignores World Cup opening ceremony in favour of Qatar criticism (The Guardian)

RELIGION: Christians believe in protecting the Earth, but aren't convinced that humans cause climate change (TIME), Religious Americans less likely to be concerned about climate change, survey finds (CBS)

AGRICULTURE: Cutting-edge tech made this tiny country a major exporter of food (Washington Post $)

BUSINESSES: Is Patagonia the end game for profits in a world of climate change? (CNBC)

INTERIOR DECORATING: The climate-friendly way to furnish your home (Washington Post $)

FINANCE: Companies brace for onslaught of new activists after change in proxy-voting rules (Wall Street Journal $)

PHILANTHROPY: Lauren Sánchez on going to space, philanthropy and trying to bring light to the world (CNN)

WILDLIFE: Video: wildlife crossings built with tribal knowledge drastically reduce collisions (Mongabay)

INTERNATIONAL: New Zealand's Ardern talked co-operation with China, while also raising concerns (Reuters), South Africa faces challenges in transition away from coal (AP)

• America’s new governors and mayors: This is your Day One climate to-do list (The Hill, Aimee Barnes and Dawn Lippert op-ed)
• This week, billionaires made a strong case for abolishing themselves (New York Times, Anand Giridharadas $)
• The big takeaway from COP27? These climate conferences just aren’t working (The Guardian, Bill McGuire op-ed)
• Rich polluting nations are hijacking 1.5C goal for their own aims (Context, Brandon Wu op-ed)
• The 1.5C climate goal died at COP27 – but hope must not (The Guardian, Damian Carrington analysis)
• The world will never agree to phase out petroleum. and that’s ok (Bloomberg, David Fickling column $)
• Climate talks fall short on the most crucial test (FT, Editorial Board $)
• The Guardian view on COP27’s outcome: a real achievement, but too far to go (The Guardian Editorial Board)
• What birds tell us on climate can unite a polarized political system (The Hill, Elizabeth Gray op-ed)
• Indonesia’s green step not yet a leap for mankind (Reuters, George Hay commentary)
• Republicans, fear the young (New York Times, John Della Volpe op-ed $)
• COP27: “We need stable supply chains for the development of renewables”thank you (Energy Monitor, Leonardo Moreno op-ed)
• It’s time to switch off generators and turn on resilient, safe renewables (The Hill, Michael Liebman and Elizabeth Arnold op-ed)
• Planes, trains and automobiles: Will the public infrastructure law be a game-changer? (The Hill, Nicholas Sargen op-ed)
• One man’s trash is another’s clean fuel (Wall Street Journal, Nick Stork and Joe Malchow op-ed $)
• Conservative climate caucus leader previews the group's roadmap (NPR, Rep. John Curtis interview)
• ‘I don’t try and fit in’: Energy boss Dale Vince on fracking, Farage and going green (The Guardian, interview)
• Actually, it’s good to be woke (The Hill, William Becker op-ed)
• Biden signs up for climate reparations (Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)

The Denier Roundup is recovering from COP27. 

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