World Cup Carbon Neutrality Claims A Bunch Of Hot Air: FIFA's claims that the 2022 Men's World Cup in Qatar would be carbon neutral were so misleading they broke Swiss fair advertising rules, the country's advertising regulator said Wednesday. The damning report found soccer's global governing body failed to prove the offsets it claimed would compensate for the tournament's 3.63 million metric tons of carbon pollution and "did not set out a plan to define how it will further offset emissions." The legitimacy of FIFA and Qatar's carbon-neutrality claims were criticized before the tournament — held in open-air, air-conditioned stadiums built for the event by mostly migrant laborors, thousands of whom died in the process — even began. (AP, The Guardian, Reuters, The Athletic, Bloomberg $, AFP via Barron's, BBC, The Independent)

Toxic Wildfire Smoke Choking East Cost Not Even Counted In Climate Costs Models: Hundreds of Canadian wildfires blanked wide swaths of the eastern U.S. with hazardous wildfire smoke, sending people to emergency rooms, forcing millions to stay indoors, and bringing everything from school schedules to professional sports, to airline flights to a halt. Climate change is increasing the size, frequency, and intensity of wildfires as well as the length of the fire season and multiple studies have found the fingerprint of global warming in Canadian wildfire activity. Fine particulate matter (known as PM2.5) pollution can exacerbate asthma, and cause everything from short-term respiratory problems up to heart attacks, stroke, lung cancer, and reduced cognitive function — it can even harm fetuses in the womb. The pollution carried by the sun- and skyline-blocking wildfire smoke is even "more toxic than other sources of PM2.5" because wildfires burn everything in their path, Harvard professor Francesca Dominici told the Washington Post. “The evidence says that [federal PM2.5 standards] should be as low as possible," she added. "There is not a ‘safe’ level,” she added. Black, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, and low-income communities are more heavily burdened than whiter and more affluent groups, in significant part because of racist policy decisions including the siting of highways and polluting industries in formerly redlined communities. In events like the current wildfire smoke inundation, lower-income people and front-line workers are also less likely to be able to leave the region, work from home, and afford expensive air filtration equipment. While the overwhelming wildfire smoke represents the present impacts of climate change — and despite the fact that American workers lose about $125 per year due to wildfire smoke — the substantial economic costs are not even likely to be officially counted as consequences of the continued use of fossil fuels. "None of the existing monetized economic costs of climate change — like when we come up with the social cost of carbon or any of that stuff — wildfires are not in there at all," Stanford professor Marshall Burke told Heatmap. (East Coast smoke: Wall Street Journal $, Washington Post $, AP, The Guardian, Washington Post $, Axios, NPR, Axios, AP, Wall Street Journal $, Axios, Washington Post $, ABC, Politico, Le Monde; Health risks: Washington Post $, Reuters explainer, Washington Post $, Axios, WBUR; Inequitable impacts: Washington Post $; Workers: CBS; Uncounted costs: Heatmap $; Sports: AP, Weather Channel, CBS Sports, USA Today; Canadian Fires: New York Times $, Reuters; Climate connections: The Guardian, ABC, Yale Climate Connections, Wall Street Journal $, New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Wildfires)

Gulf Facilities Release Massive Pollution, Blame Hurricanes: As Hurricane Laura bore down on the Gulf Coast in August of 2020, refineries and chemical plants began releasing massive amounts of pollution ahead of the storm — and that was before facilities failed to withstand the storm, causing even more pollution. All told, Grist reports, Texas facilities released an additional 340 tons of pollution because of Hurricane Laura, an amount that does not include the pollution released from a chemical plant fire across the border near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The pollution released by Texas facilities' as a result of Hurricane Laura, is nearly as much as the toxic load carried by the train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February, is part of a larger pattern. Since 2002, Gulf Coast companies have released 550,000 tons of pollution beyond their permits. (Grist; Climate Signals background: 2020 Atlantic hurricane season)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Why violence against women environmental defenders is undercounted (The Verge)

COP 28 INTERSESSIONAL: Campaigners want fossil fuel firms to pay into climate calamity fund; diplomats dubious (AP), UN climate talks might avoid fossil fuel phase-out, says COP28 official (The Guardian), COP28 boss under pressure to convince skeptics at Bonn climate talks (Politico Pro $), EU, COP28 host UAE pledge to rally support for renewable goals (Reuters), Confusion surrounds China’s pledged climate finance towards the Global South (Climate Home), Russia aims to block EU from hosting COP29 climate summit, emails show (Reuters), Will COP28 deliver a new fund for climate loss and damage? (Context, explainer)

• READ THE DENIER ROUNDUP FOR MORE: An oil state hired the biggest PR firms to buff its climate image. It didn’t help. (Politico/E&E News), ‘Absolute scandal’: UAE state oil firm able to read Cop28 climate summit emails (The Guardian)

SMOKE & FIRES: Record pollution and heat herald a season of climate extremes (New York Times $), Canada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality, experts and officials say (The Guardian), Canadian wildfires ‘alarming example’ of climate crisis disturbing lives: White House (The Hill), Schumer calls Canadian wildfires ‘unprecedented,’ warns of climate change impact (The Hill), 'The climate crisis is here': wildfire smoke blankets eastern half of US (Truthout), Climate change ‘is here’: NY officials warn of health impacts from Canada wildfire smoke (Politico Pro $), AOC and Bernie Sanders issue stark warning on Canada wildfires (The Independent), Smoke blanketing New York City evokes memories of 1966 ‘killer smog’ (Washington Post $), Smoke from Canadian wildfires forecast to reach Norway (AP), 

• PHOTOS: 13 pictures that capture how smoky, hazy, and dangerous to breathe it is right now in NYC/the northeast (Buzzfeed, AP Photos, HuffPost, Washington Post $, Axios, NPR, Gizmodo)
• NEWS YOU CAN USE: Wildfires are intensifying. Here’s how to protect your health. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP), Smoke brings a warning: there’s no escaping climate’s threat to health (Washington Post $), The air quality index explained: What it means and how to stay safe (New York Times $, Washington Post $), Canada wildfires prompt US alerts: Here’s where the air is worst (The Hill), Smoky haze blanketing US and Canada could last into the weekend (AP, Heatmap $, New York Times $), Find out just how bad wildfire smoke has been in your area (Washington Post $), How to pick the right air purifier for your home as wildfire smoke descends (Washington Post $)
• SOCIAL SCIENCE: How wildfires change our behavior (Heatmap $)
• PAST TENSE?: N95 masks helped protect against the coronavirus. They also work against wildfire smoke. (New York Times $)
• REMINDER: Poor air quality is routine in many parts of the world (New York Times $)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Zelenskyy denies Ukraine involvement in Nord Stream pipeline blasts (Politico EU)

DISINFO & GREENWASHING: How online disinformation threatens climate change action (Context), Greenwashing at Greentown Labs? The Somerville climate-tech hub’s new partner is raising alarms. (Boston Globe $), Shell’s clean energy advertising campaign is misleading, UK watchdog says (AP)

GOP vs. ESG: Ban on environmentally conscious investment advances in North Carolina Senate (AP)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Manufacturing vs. deployment: The clean energy tax-credit conundrum (Canary Media)

SCOTUS: Justices Thomas and Alito delay release of financial disclosures (New York Times $, Washington Post $, CNN, CBS, The Hill, Axios, NBC, Bloomberg $, CNBC, Reuters), Mega-donor faces new Senate subpoena threat over gifts to Clarence Thomas (The Guardian, MSNBC)

EPA: 3 takeaways from hearing on EPA power plant rule (E&E News), Former White House climate staffer [Arianna Menzelos] moves to EPA (E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: NorthMet copper nickel mine loses key permit over threat to tribal water quality (Minneapolis Star-Tribune $, Duluth News-Tribune, E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Here's who scored White House climate meetings (E&E $), Blinken visits Saudi Arabia amid strained ties, Israel normalization in mind (Reuters)

THE HILL: How Green New Dealers became Washington power players (E&E News), 'Colossal waste of time': Dems hit back against anti-ESG push (E&E $)

HOUSE: House in stalemate after hard-right Republicans defy McCarthy, block legislation (Washington Post $, E&E News)

SENATE: A bipartisan plan to punish global climate laggards: Tax them (Washington Post, Politico Pro $), Senators eye carbon border tax to combat climate change, counter China (Washington Post $), Activists shut down Manchin talk at D.C. event over climate destruction, Mountain Valley Pipeline (Democracy Now)

• WHALE TALES: Senate duo wants to block NOAA plan to slow down boaters (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Pence launches campaign with attacks on Trump over Jan. 6 riot, abortion (Washington Post $, E&E $), A Republican [North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum] who likes ESG and capturing carbon joined the presidential race (E&E $, Politico, CNN, AP), Cornel West announces presidential campaign seeking 3rd party’s nomination (NewsOne, The Root)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate confirms David Crane to DOE role (Politico Pro $, E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: HB 6 coal plant charges mount up again in Ohio (Energy News Network), New Jersey is teaching kids about climate. Opponents call it ‘indoctrination.’ (Grist), NW Natural plan to reduce emissions deemed insufficient by Oregon utility regulators (Oregon Public Broadcasting), States fight to save coal plants as EPA cracks down (E&E News), Trans adults in Florida struggle to access health care after latest DeSantis law (Prism Reports), Virginia regulators advance Youngkin plan to leave climate initiative he calls ineffective (AP, Washington Post $, Politico Pro $), Virginia wants to break up with RGGI but in Pennsylvania, it's complicated (Washington Post $)

FERC: Lawmakers press FERC to act on environmental justice (E&E $), FERC to oversee settlement talks to resolve PJM Winter Storm Elliott complaints amid $1.8B in charges (Utility Dive), FERC sued over rule change in biggest US power market (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Climate disasters make it harder to insure your home. Here’s what to know. (Washington Post $), Researchers sound alarm over 'unprecedented ice-free' threat to Arctic (Axios, E&E $, Democracy Now), Record hot oceans continue as weather extremes escalate (Axios), Spain saw hottest, second-driest spring on record this year (Reuters, AP), World sees second-hottest may in 30 years as Antarctic ice reaches new low (Bloomberg $)

HEAT: Heatwave in Bangladesh leads to school closures, power cuts (Reuters), Historic heat is roasting Puerto Rico, where it feels like 125 degrees (Washington Post $, Gizmodo), Heat waves stifle Puerto Rico, South Asia; Bangladesh closes schools amid ongoing power cuts (Democracy Now), 125-degree heat index: Puerto Rico faces 'dangerous situation' due to record-breaking conditions (NBC)

DEFORESTATION: How Google Earth Engine revolutionized the way we monitor deforestation (The Verge)

⛵ SCIENCE: Grueling sailing race takes competitors 36,000 miles around the world while collecting climate data (CBS)

RENEWABLES: As offshore wind projects and policies grow, floating turbines will be key to Biden’s 30 GW by 2030 goal (Utility Dive), Beaming solar energy from space gets a step closer (Wall Street Journal $), Can the US manufacture enough solar panels to meet its surging demand? (Canary Media), Japan readies to lead the world in offshore wind (Energy Monitor), Mass. offshore wind developer tries to cancel project (E&E $), Offshore wind news and policy: Tracking the latest US developments (Utility Dive)

BATTERIES: Eneco to build 50 MW battery storage plant in Belgium using Tesla batteries (Reuters), Japanese companies team up for battery storage project to fuel clean energy expansion (Reuters), Texas leads way in battery storage growth, adding enough to power 100,000 homes (Houston Chronicle)

MINERALS: Mining critical to renewable energy tied to hundreds of alleged human rights abuses (Inside Climate News)

STEEL: US struggles to turn steel imports ‘green’ with tariffs (Wall Street Journal $)

EFFICIENCY: US residential heat pump sales pass gas furnaces for first time as interest in efficiency tech surges: IEA (Utility Dive), Leaders gather in Paris to accelerate wringing more out of every ounce of fuel (AP)

METHANE: Landfills leak climate-killing methane. What is Colorado doing about it? (The Colorado Sun)

OIL & GAS: Analysts expect 113 billion-cubic-foot rise in US natural-gas inventories (Wall Street Journal $), Chevron's CEO talks renewables, lithium and COP28 (Axios)

PLASTICS: Why glass, paper and other options aren’t the simple alternative to plastic that they seem to be (Washington Post $)

COAL: Why the fastest warming place on earth can’t quit coal (Context)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen projects hang on IRS decision on how clean is clean energy (Houston Chronicle)

GRID: Fossil fuel generation retiring faster than renewables are added, causing ‘declining reliability,’ NYISO says (Utility Dive, Reuters, E&E $), Virtual power plant grid participation can grow with new business models, market rules: Guidehouse (Utility Dive)

EVs: A rapid shift to electric cars would save 89,000 lives — if it’s powered by renewables (Grist, The Verge), China’s EV juggernaut is a warning for the West (Wall Street Journal $), Court upholds Musk's win in $13 billion lawsuit over Tesla-SolarCity deal (Reuters)

MEDIA: Chris Licht is out at CNN, ending a brief and chaotic run (New York Times $)

AVIATION: Startup lands $23M to upcycle CO2 into plane fuel (Canary Media)

AGRICULTURE: As winter warms, farmers in southern US find ways to adapt (AP)

BOOKS: ‘Fire Weather’ is a gripping narrative and a loud wake-up call (Washington Post $)

CARBON REMOVAL: New effort unveiled to speed ocean CO2 removal (Axios)

FINANCE: Why banks aren’t too worried about climate credit risk yet (Bloomberg $)

WILDLIFE: A boat went dark. Finding it could help save the world’s fish. (Washington Post $), In Kenya, lions are speared to death as human-wildlife conflict worsens amid drought (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: Brazil is key to slowing global warming. But its carbon market has struggled. (Wall Street Journal $), Climate activists deflate tires of more than 100 SUVs in Denmark’s capital (AP)

• FRANCE: France braces for power demand surge driven by EVs, alternative fuels (Reuters), French people are fighting over giant pools of water (The Atlantic)
• GERMANY: Germany alarmed by detention of Vietnam climate activist, warns on coal phase-out pact with Hanoi (AP), Germany's far right rides high on anti-immigration, anti-green agenda (Reuters)
• UK: UK firm given £430m green transition loan then expanded oil and gas business (The Guardian), UK government under fire for investing overseas aid in fossil fuel firms (The Guardian)

• Smoke from Canada signals a future with fires (Washington Post, Brian Banks op-ed $)
• As smoke darkens the sky, the future becomes clear (New York Times, David Wallace-Wells column $)
• Even as smoke engulfs us, we can't wrap our heads around climate change (TIME, John Vaillant op-ed)
• Through a smoky haze, there’s a glimpse of the future (Washington Post Editorial Board $)
• Fact check: Why Rowan Atkinson is wrong about electric vehicles (The Guardian, Simon Evans analysis)
• Restoring our waters is restoring ourselves (Environmental Health News, JoRee LaFrance op-ed)
• The die is cast: petrol and diesel engines are dying. The electric age is inevitable (The Guardian, Ben Lane op-ed)
• As states vie for billions in EV investments, how can they ensure the transition is equitable for all? (Utility Dive, Devashree Saha and Dan Lashof op-ed)
• CNN's Chris Licht showed the problem with anti-woke centrism (Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr. column $)
• The truth is, many Americans just don’t want Black people to get ahead (New York Times, Randall Kennedy op-ed $)

Twitter Accounts Of People Who Don't Exist Promoted Petrostate Running Climate Conference 

A couple weeks ago, we talked about how the host of this year's annual UN COP climate negotiations, the United Arab Emirates, is providing perfect material for understanding propaganda by invoking the concept of "inclusion" to defend inviting a war criminal to COP28. 

Who could possibly top that? How about a person who doesn't exist! 

Yes, apparently people who don't exist are huge fans of the UAE, including the petrostate's oil boss tapped to preside over COP28. As Matteo Civillini for Climate Home News reported this week, at least a hundred fake Twitter accounts were promoting and praising the UAE, until people pointed out that an account supposedly belonging to a UAE human rights advocate named Viyan Mahmud's profile picture, a headshot, was a "computer-generated image with the line 'this person does not exist' still emblazoned on top." 

The UAE's response to this mysterious network of fake accounts promoting the UAE was complete disavowal: A UAE COP28 spokesperson called it "unacceptable" and claimed the COP28 team has "written to Twitter directly requesting assistance to take immediate action to stop this activity and to remove all fake accounts and bots." 

Oh, sure, someone's paying for the creation and maintenance of an organized PR campaign, but apparently the UAE, the beneficiary of said campaign, is somehow not responsible. 

And it's not like we don't know that the UAE is spending top dollar on "a river of PR contracts," as Corbin Hiar and Zack Colman reported for Politico on Wednesday: "the UAE has spent more than $1 million on direct climate-focused advocacy and paid millions more to advisory firms and think tanks helping to polish its green credentials… No other host nation has invested as much time and money to shape its image ahead of the annual climate negotiations." Indeed, that $1 million is only what's been disclosed, as "one communications strategist said they turned down a nearly $1 million salary," so that's just the tip of the iceberg (and the UAE's melting). 

For example, performatively pro-social justice PR giant Edelman had two COP contracts with the UAE that were signed in January, with one set to run through the conference in November and the other indefinite, but both apparently have already ended. 

Perhaps Edelman knew not even their dark arts would be able to hide the reality that the UAE put the climate negotiations in the hands of an oil company, and no amount of PR could cover up the "absolute scandal" The Guardian's Damian Carrington just reported: "The United Arab Emirates’ state oil company has been able to read emails to and from the Cop28 climate summit office and was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry." 

Yes, despite all assurances that the COP28 climate team, led by Sultan Al Jaber, would be super totally definitely firewalled from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), led by Sultan Al Jaber, it turns out that was not the case! "Replies to a Guardian email to the Cop28 office requesting reaction to these comments, which did not mention Adnoc," Carrington reported, "contained the text 'Adnoc classification: internal'."

Oh my! And why would that be? Well, the COP28 office claimed the Adnoc classification was there because they “sought input from several subject matter experts regarding emissions, including Adnoc.” Computer expert Dr. Richard Clayton said the climate team's "server handed everything off to the oil company’s server to send the email out," meaning “The oil company was able to look at all of the email which they were sending out.”

So to recap: The end-of-year UN climate negotiations are being hosted by a petrostate, led by an oil boss, and run through an oil company, and the UAE is spending at least a million dollars on propaganda to try and make everyone believe that's just fine. 

As for what's next? Well stay tuned, because the Tour de France is coming up this summer, and the cycling world has been taking note of the UAE's strategic use of "sportswashing," so the fact that UAE-sponsored rider Tadej Pogačar is on track to compete means there'll be another opportunity for some obvious, shameless propaganda to cover for the fact that the fossil fuel-reliant country is making a mockery of the UN climate negotiation process. 

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