FIRST LOOK: 

Fossils Pushed $3 - $4 Million Of Social Media Content Around COP27: Climate denial, "delayism," and pro-fossil fuels messages are making a "stark comeback" across social media platforms, according to a report released Thursday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The report's findings reveal "negligence from Big Tech companies who not only continue to monetize and enable, but in some cases actively recommend, such content to users,” its authors write. “What’s happening in the information ecosystem poses a direct threat to action,” ISD's Jennie King told the AP. “It plants those seeds of doubt and makes people think maybe there isn’t scientific consensus.” In the leadup to and during COP27, entities connected to fossil fuels spent at least $3 million on Facebook and Instagram ads between Sept. 1 and Nov. 21 of last year in the leadup to and during COP27. That content included ads by oil industry groups, ads from oil and gas firms like Shell, Chevron, and Exxon touting their claimed green credentials, and ads from accounts like PragerU claiming, for example, a “New poll debunks the 97% consensus claim about #climatechange.” The report also highlights how changes at Twitter since emerald mining scion Elong Musk took over the company have, as Imram Ahmed, head of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, described it, "put rocket boosters on the spread of lies and disinformation." (AP, The Drum, The Verge, Times of India)

EACOP Gets Key Approval From Ugandan Govt.:The Ugandan government approved a construction application for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline on Monday. The controversial pipeline would transport oil nearly 900 miles from Ugandan oilfields to a port on the Tanzanian coast. Activists have mounted an extended campaign against the pipeline, which they argue perpetuates extractive colonial legacies and will displace tens of thousands of people and harm fragile ecosystems. In response to the pressure, at least 21 major insurance and reinsurance firms have refused to underwrite the project, which is primarily owned by France's TotalEnergies. The EACOP website claims the pipeline will begin operation in 2025. That is the same timeline given two years ago when developers expected to begin construction in July 2021. (Reuters, Seeking Alpha, Business Insider)

California Downpours End, Will Likely Be Heavier In Future: As California's parade of storms comes to an end, the recovery from its devastation and reckoning with future, likely more extreme, deluges begins. President Biden surveyed the devastation on Thursday after expanding a federal disaster declaration on Wednesday. The storms have killed more than 22 people across the Golden State. The widespread downpours have bolstered snowpack and alleviated (though not ended) the state's drought. They are also expected to induce officials across the state to reconsider everything from rain- and flood water management and capture and flood insurance to how cities are designed for a heated climate. As extreme as the 32 trillion gallons of precipitation that have fallen on California since Christmas were, they're likely to get worse, a study published Thursday in Nature Climate Change warns. The atmospheric rivers that brought California's rain and snow could carry 34% more precipitation by the middle of this century as climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, continues to heat the atmosphere. (Storms retrospective: Yale Climate Connections, Washington Post $, New York Times $; Biden: Axios, Reuters, KCRA; Official death toll: LA Times $; Snowpack & drought: Washington Post $, New York Times $, E&E $; Water & flood management: AP, LA Times $, Vox; Flood insurance: Grist; Cities: NPR, Grist; Future storms: AP; Climate Signals background: Atmospheric river change, Rain instead of snow, Drought)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Six environmental justice policy fights to watch in 2023 (Inside Climate News), Racist beauty standards leave communities of color more exposed to harmful chemicals: NYC study (Environmental Health News), Florida says AP African American studies program ‘lacks educational value’ (Rolling Stone, Black Wall Street Times, AP, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Washington Post $, New York Times $, USA Today, Politico, CBS, CNN)

DAVOS: In Davos, a skirmish over the role of oil states at climate talks (New York Times $), 'Big oil peddled the big lie': UN Secretary-General condemns oil & gas execs for disinformation (Democracy Now), Mark Carney says US climate legislation puts pressure on others to respond (Wall Street Journal $, Wall Street Journal $)

• GRETA: At Davos, Thunberg visit spotlights lack of climate action (AP), ‘Ridiculous’: Greta Thunberg blasts decision to let UAE oil boss chair climate talks (The Guardian, The Hill), Greta Thunberg accuses energy firms of throwing people 'under the bus' (Reuters, The Hill), Greta Thunberg to meet IEA chief Birol (Reuters)
• JOE MANCHIN: ‘You’re hurting my country’: Manchin faces Europe’s wrath (Politico Pro $), Joe Manchin says US should keep increasing oil, gas production to help allies (Wall Street Journal $)

THE HEROS WE NEED: How a seal and a robot helped uncover a potential climate change disaster (Washington Post $)

GOP vs. ESG: Why some executives wish ESG ‘just goes away’ (New York Times $)

MEDIA: CNBC admits it ran oil-happy column with a glaring conflict of interest (Gizmodo)

LITERAL TRASH FIRE: Alabama landfill has burned for nearly 2 months, forcing people from homes (Washington Post $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Solar expected to see demand boom from Inflation Reduction Act in 2023 as supply chain remains uncertain (Utility Dive), Climate law offers perks for local zoning changes (E&E $)

AGENCIES: Feds send $930 million to curb ‘crisis’ of US West wildfires (AP), US earmarks $490 million for wildfire prevention (NBC, Reuters)

EPA: Enviros to Biden admin: Give us PFAS drinking water regs (E&E $)

DOI: 10 Interior staffers to watch on natural resources (E&E News), BLM options for Idaho wind farm would avoid historic site (E&E $), Interior watchdog clears Bernhardt on ethics rules violations (E&E $)

DOT: DOT standards for national EV charging network coming soon (Politico Pro $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Biden admin releases plan to account for value of nature (E&E $), How NEPA guidance could favor climate projects over ecosystems (E&E News), How vulnerable is Wall Street to climate change? The Fed wants to find out. (Grist)

LAWSUITS: Environmental groups sue US to stop deepwater oil-export facility (Reuters, Politico Pro $), D.C. Circuit grills refineries on EPA rule challenge (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House aims to reflect the environment in economic data (New York Times $), Biden, Harris go West to spotlight climate agenda (E&E News), VP Harris touts Arizona-California power transmission line (AP)

HOUSE: Top Appropriations Dem warns agencies about spending cuts (E&E $), Santos joins 'exciting freshmen cohort' on Science panel (E&E $)

POLITICS: Republicans thrust gas stoves into the culture wars (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: A zoning law is helping to protect South Carolina’s St. Helena Island from sea level rise (Yale Climate Connections), Mayors want to fight climate change, but fear losing their jobs (Axios)

FERC: Anti-fossil fuel group disrupts FERC meeting over Manchin's 'control' over agency (Politico Pro $), FERC chair vows to continue clean energy 'momentum' (E&E $), FERC chairman says US must boost power reliability amid energy transition (Reuters), FERC denies Sierra Club request to hold up Rio Grande LNG (Houston Chronicle), FERC staff finds pipeline, LNG project will likely have negative environmental justice impacts (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Earth’s temperature could near danger point with return of El Niño (Washington Post $), Extra dust in the atmosphere could be hiding the true effects of climate change (Gizmodo), Greenland ice sheet — the second largest in the world — experiencing its highest temperatures in 1,000 years, researchers say (CBS, Axios, Democracy Now), How climate change is killing the world's languages (NPR), Society’s biggest risks, ranked by the world's leading experts (TIME), For all their ferocity, California storms were not likely caused by global warming, experts say (LA Times $)

• NEW ENGLAND: How climate change is impacting New England's snowplow drivers (NPR), Warming winters are threatening who we are as New Englanders, and that includes our smugness (Boston Globe $)

DROUGHT: Recent heavy snow is crucial to the Colorado river but it's not a drought ender (NPR)

SHOES: Fashion sneakers propel sustainable rubber in Brazil Amazon (AP)

"OFFSETS": Report: 94 percent of big provider’s rainforest carbon offsets don’t cut carbon (Truthout)

RENEWABLES: A battle over wind and whales is brewing in New Jersey (Gizmodo), Renewables projected to soon be one-fourth of US electricity generation. Really soon (Inside Climate News), Vineyard Wind construction gains speed as industry struggles (E&E News)

BUILDINGS: In Europe’s clean energy transition, industry turns to heat pumps (Yale Environment 360), Can electric companies win the smart home? (E&E News)

STORAGE: Longroad Energy begins construction of 285 MW solar, 860 MWh storage project in Arizona (Utility Dive)

LNG: Liquefied natural gas will have a less frenzied 2023 (Wall Street Journal $)

OIL & GAS: Japan 2022 crude import volume up 8.5%, first y/y rise in 10 yrs (Reuters), US natural-gas inventories swell, but California's shortage persists (Wall Street Journal $), What does the future hold for natural gas? (Wall Street Journal $)

GEOENGINEERING: Mexico bans solar geoengineering after startup stunt (Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal $, E&E News, TIME)

PLASTICS: ‘Advanced’ recycling of plastic using high heat and chemicals is costly and environmentally problematic, a new government study finds (Inside Climate News)

UTILITIES: Electricity prices surged 14.3% in 2022, double overall inflation: US report (Utility Dive)

GRID: CAISO proposes tweaks to day-ahead market to account for load uncertainty (Utility Dive), Costs to add renewables to PJM market rising 'dramatically,' national lab finds (Politico Pro $), FBI investigating 3rd N.C. grid substation attack (E&E $)

EVs: Federal fleet EV push colliding with supply shortage (Politico Pro $), Shell buys EV-charger operator Volta for pennies on the dollar (Canary Media, The Verge)

ACTIVISM: 'Out of the lab and into the streets': Meet earth scientist fired after engaging in climate protests (Democracy Now)

AVIATION: Airlines plot fight-back against France’s short-haul flights ban (Climate Home), Aviation leaders hail green fuel as carbon saviour, but wonder who will pay (Reuters), Aviation startup ZeroAvia flies largest ever hydrogen-electric aircraft (CBS), 

TV: What ‘The Last Of Us’ gets right about a climate-fueled fungus pandemic (Washington Post $)

AGRICULTURE: Seeds developed over thousands of years may help farmers adapt to climate change (NPR)

BUSINESSES: Amazon, ExxonMobil part of record 20 GW of corporate clean energy purchases in US last year: ACP (Utility Dive)

CARBON REMOVAL: Global carbon removal off track for meeting Paris targets (E&E $)

CARS: Spoof billboard ads take aim at BMW and Toyota over ‘going green’ claims (The Guardian), Ford leaves manufacturing group that opposes truck rules (E&E $)

FINANCE: How green bonds could turbocharge the energy transition in 2023 (Energy Monitor)

FILM: 'Alcarras' review: In a new Spanish film, solar power threatens a family farm (Grist)

INTERNATIONAL: UK net zero report: What are its recommendations and conclusions? (The Guardian, explainer), Germany's Greens must squeeze coalition on climate after coal mine protest (Reuters), Right-wing party calls referendum against Swiss climate bill (Reuters)

• New research shows Exxon knew about climate change. When will Big Oil put people first? (Houston Chronicle, Chris Tomlinson column)
• 'The river in the sky' sounds poetic until it's dropped floodwaters on your house (Esquire, Charles Pierce commentary)
• How do you fight a drought when it’s flooding? (New York Times, Farhad Manjooop-ed $)
• Model no more? Turkey's energy transition reversed in 2022 (Reuters, Gavin Maguire column)
• How to cut climate-changing emissions? Recycle buildings (Context, Irene García and Joana Cruz op-ed)
• The SEC seeks to supplant the market (Wall Street Journal, Phil Gramm and Hester Peirce op-ed $)

Republicans Stoke the Flames of Anti-China, Anti-Climate Rhetoric, Sacrificing Jobs in the Process

If you thought that Republicans value profits above all, think again! As it turns out, sometimes they will shoot themselves, corporate profits, and American jobs in the foot all at the same time, simply because they love to hate China.

Last week, Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) blocked Ford’s plan to build an electric vehicle plant in Virginia because he “felt that the right thing to do was to not recruit Ford as a front for China to America.” That’s right: He’s talking about Ford Motor Company, the quintessential American corporation, which simply happens to be looking into a partnership with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology.

Youngkin has previously opposed Virginia’s 2021 Clean Cars legislation, which “bound the state to vehicle emissions standards and electric vehicle sales targets set by the California Air Resources Board.” This time, however, he seriously emphasized his McCarthyist, conspiratorial fears about “the Chinese Communist Party.” Frothing with anti-China fervor, the governor stated, “Virginians also should be wary of Chinese communist intrusion into Virginia’s economy.”

Democratic Virginia State Senator Scott Surovell condemned the governor's statements and said what we were all thinking: “to deny [people in the community] jobs because you’re in last place in Republican presidential primaries [is] gubernatorial malpractice… I mean, this is clearly just obvious to me that the governor’s in some kind of out-China-bashing-contest with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and Governor Greg Abbott out of Texas.”

Surovell is right to point out that Youngkin’s ridiculous antics fit squarely within the conservative anti-China frenzy that has recently been ramping up.

Last month, Fox News proudly reported that Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee plan “to investigate how the administration's green energy goals could make the U.S. increasingly dependent on Chinese supply chains.” Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA) raved, “This administration knows that their radical rush-to-green agenda is making us dangerously dependent on Chinese supply chains, yet they continue to advocate for these policies.”

According to Axios, House Republicans are also planning a “baseless” probe into “environmental NGOs’ collusion with Russia and China to hurt American energy.”

Furthermore, just last week, House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. In the context of rising hate crimes against Asian Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many House Democrats, including Asian American lawmakers, worry that Republicans “could use the China committee as a platform to promote anti-Asian rhetoric, fearmongering and scapegoating that could lead to harm to an Asian American and Pacific Islander community still reeling from a spate of high-profile violent attacks.”

To top it off, free-range climate disinfluencers are also leaning into the anti-China rhetoric, with the likes of tweeter/podcaster Tom Nelson stoking fears about competition with China.

So, from climate change to Hunter Biden’s past, everything is always somehow China’s fault, according to the GOP, the party that proudly supported the offshoring of American jobs to China in the first place.

Next time Republicans lament the loss of American jobs and the weakening of American businesses or trot out Sinophobia to justify poor economic conditions, remember that they're only bringing up China to deflect from the fact that their fossil-fueled policies are actually to blame.

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