Biparjoy Bears Down On Climate-Weary Pakistan, India: With Cyclone Biparjoy expected to officially make landfall near the India-Pakistan border this evening, local time, 170,000 people have already been evacuated. The leading edge of the powerful storm, packing strong winds and storm surge as high as 13 feet, has already claimed seven lives and threatens to inundate a region “barely recovered from the last climate-induced disaster,” as Pakistani minister for climate change Sherry Rehman told Bloomberg. The country, which is responsible for a negligible amount of historic climate pollution, is in the midst of substantial economic turmoil set off by the flooding that submerged one-third of the country last year, directly killing at least 1,700 people and setting off a waterborne disease crisis and increase in child marriage. Its economy grew just 0.29% from June 2022-June 2023 and it is scrambling to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund to stave off default on the $22 billion of external debt payments it owes next year. More climate-fueled extreme weather is predicted for Pakistan in the coming months. (Bloomberg $, AP, The Independent, New York Times $, BBC, CNN, Washington Post $, Reuters; Pakistan forecast: Bloomberg $)

Admin. Speeds Up Rulemaking Timelines: The Biden administration laid out ambitious rulemaking timelines in its semi-annual unified regulatory agenda on Tuesday, reflecting what DOE Secretary Granholm described as a "huge sense of urgency" to finalize environmental and public health safeguards before the 2024 election. Included in the agenda for late 2023 and early 2024 are potential gas stove efficiency requirements, along with regulatory items pertaining to transmission, heat pumps, and public lands protections. If Republicans win control of Congress and the White House in 2024, they could undo regulations enacted roughly in or after August of that year. Despite that urgency, “[i]t’s a little too late for us in some ways,” one resident of Port Arthur, Texas told E&E News, referring to fossil fuel industry approvals by the Biden administration, including LNG and petrochemical facilities along the Gulf Coast, and the massive ConocoPhillips "Willow" oil drilling project on the Alaska North Slope earlier this year. The Unified Agenda also moves up, by two months, the goal for finalizing the EPA's rule to reduce power plant pollution that allows facilities to continue operating with carbon capture and hydrogen retrofits — a decision Juan Jhong-Chung of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition described as "a betrayal of a lot of the promises that the Biden administration has made to keep our communities whole and to repair some of the harms from the past." (Regulatory timelines: Politico, E&E News, E&E News; Power plant rule timeline: E&E $; EJ betrayal: E&E News)

IEA Expects Peak Oil Demand In 5 Years, Shell Doubles Down: Global oil demand is expected to peak in 2028, and Shell and its shareholders are going to make as much cash as they can while the getting's good. The International Energy Agency forecast, released Wednesday, said the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of EVs, and energy crisis precipitated by the Russian war in Ukraine all contributed to moving the point of peak oil demand earlier than previously expected. Also Wednesday, Shell announced it was upping its shareholder dividend to 15% and would refocus on fossil fuels. The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, with entrenched, status quo actors representing the barrier to addressing the climate crisis. Despite (or because of) this, oil investors are increasingly demanding short-term profits and higher dividends. (IEA forecast: Wall Street Journal $, Reuters, Axios, E&E $, CNBC; Shell dividend: Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, CNBC, The Guardian, Axios, FT $, OilPrice, Wall Street Journal $)

COP28: Fake Twitter 'blondes' promote UAE climate summit (AFP via France24), Greta Thunberg warns global climate decisions at COP28 could be 'death sentence' for humanity (Democracy Now)

MONTANA CLIMATE TRIAL: Young athlete in Montana climate change trial testifies he uses inhaler due to forest fire smoke (AP)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: France-Germany spat over nuclear delays EU renewables deal (Bloomberg $), World Bank chief to 'push' its balance sheet, vows to protect 'AAA' rating (Reuters)

HIDDEN PRICE OF GAS: Washington gas stations are leaking toxins into nearby groundwater (Crosscut and Grist)

EACOP: South African activists take aim at Standard bank in fight to stop East African pipeline (Democracy Now)

DENIAL & URBAN PLANNING CONSPIRACY THEORIES: The 15-minute city: Urban planning epiphany or ‘climate change lockdown’ conspiracy? (The Hill)

BIG TECH: Google made millions from ads for fake abortion clinics (Wired, The Guardian, The Hill, Daily Beast)

CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE TEEVEE IN THE AIR: Apple TV's futuristic climate show is already coming true (Bloomberg $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Treasury guidance aims to make monetizing green energy tax credits easier (Politico Pro $, E&E $), US Treasury unveils clean energy subsidy payments for non-taxpayers (Reuters), DOE’s new tool helps you get your share of the climate law’s billions (Canary Media), Feds pave the way for cities and nonprofits to get climate-bill tax credits (CNBC), Democrats’ clean-energy tax credits are popular — and expensive (Washington Post $)

DOE: Biden administration looks to add 12 million barrels to the SPR this year (OilPrice)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Louisiana’s Fort Polk renamed after WWI Sgt. William Henry Johnson (Black Wall Street Times), The true story behind the badass Black WWI hero honored with a US army base (The Root), Military academies adopt climate science programs (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden vetoes resolution that would have repealed new EPA limits on truck emissions (Washington Post $), Green groups ask Biden to ban Saudi oil imports (Politico Pro $), Biden and Harris throw a Juneteenth celebration to remember on the White House south lawn (The Root), Reshaping narratives: White House Juneteenth concert is historic (Black Wall Street Times)

THE HILL: How the debt ceiling bill’s permitting deal hurt the outlook for deeper reforms, transmission legislation (Utility Dive)

HOUSE: Stove wars: Republican-controlled House takes up bills to protect gas stoves (AP, E&E $, The Hill), Rep. Casten on tackling the US climate law’s unfinished business (Canary Media, interview), Democrats fume as House GOP plans steep spending cuts despite debt ceiling deal (The Hill, E&E $), Panel approves GOP wildfire bill over Dem objections (E&E $), House panel grills FERC on plant retirements, transmission (E&E $), House releases Energy-Water bill with deep cuts, riders (E&E $), House spending bill would slash funding for Biden's clean energy, climate and diversity efforts (Politico Pro $), Ways and Means approves tax bill hitting climate law (E&E News)

ELECTIONS: Climate groups back Biden despite broken promises on oil drilling (New York Times $), Four major environmental groups endorse Biden, but others hold out (Washington Post $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate clears Biden economy pick over GOP energy objections (E&E $), Senate committee approves Baran's bid for another NRC term (E&E $, Politico Pro $)

TRIBES: Battle for Oak Flat: How Apache opposition to a copper mine became a religious liberty test (LA Times $)

CITIES AND STATES: Massachusetts creates ‘green bank’ to help tackle climate change, housing crunch (AP, Democracy Now), North Carolina lawmakers OK bill blocking local government energy fuel prohibitions (AP), North Carolina Republicans send green investment ban to governor (AP), Oil producers say tech will soon handle climate-wrecking fumes. US envoy Kerry says be skeptical (AP), Pennsylvania governor won’t estimate how long I-95 repairs will take in Philadelphia (The Hill)

IMPACTS: El Niño is back: It’s time to worry (Politico Pro $), Global level of forced displacement climbs to record 110 million, UN says (Reuters, Democracy Now), May 2023 was the world’s third-warmest May on record (Yale Climate Connections), Violent storms with large hail and tornadoes erupt in Southeast (Washington Post $), Antarctic tipping points: The irreversible changes to come if we fail to keep warming below 2°C (The Conversation), Scientists are baffled why the oceans are warming so fast (Washington Post $)

HEAT: Europe's city schools, hospitals at risk from extreme heat, EU agency says (Reuters), Texas is going to be slammed by sky-high temperatures this week (Gizmodo)

WILDFIRES: New England and the upper Midwest could have a higher fire risk than the West this year. Here’s why (CNN), Canadian fire smoke is back in the US, as air quality tanks in Minnesota (Washington Post $), ER visits for asthma in New York City soared as wildfire smoke blanketed the region (Inside Climate News), Wildfire smoke and dirty air are also climate change problems: Solutions for a world on fire (The Conversation), How sensors could help catch wildfires before they spread (Washington Post $)

"PERMA"FROST: Collapse of a mountain peak in Austria amid thawing permafrost triggers a huge rockfall (CNN),

• WON'T MELT: Greenpeace activists climb Deutsche Bank HQ in climate protest (CNN)

DEFORESTATION: Agribusiness giant Cargill not doing enough to fight deforestation, protect human rights, group says (AP, Inside Climate News)

OCEANS: In the Pacific, some coral survived the last El Niño, thanks to ocean currents (Inside Climate News)

WORKERS: The looming labor fight over electric vehicles (Heatmap $), UPS drivers on track to get air-conditioned trucks for the first time (NBC)

RENEWABLES: Community-powered solar in Puerto Rico (Yes Magazine), ‘One step closer.' Vineyard Wind begins laying foundations for offshore wind turbines (Cape Cod Times), Polysilicon price surge: A challenge for emerging solar markets (OilPrice), The antidote for modern slavery in the renewables supply chain (Energy Monitor)

BATTERIES: Batteries on freight trains could be tapped to support the power grid in emergencies: study (Utility Dive)

MINERALS: US-led minerals partnership shortlists projects for green energy shift (FT $)

BUILDINGS: The quest for the smoke-proof building (Bloomberg $)

LNG: TotalEnergies buys $219 million stake in LNG developer NextDecade (Reuters)

METHANE: Retired Santos gas wells off Western Australia coast leaking for a decade, regulator says (The Guardian)

OIL & GAS: Ohio [BP] refinery blast came after hours of problems — report (E&E $)

ORPHANED WELLS: 'Odd coalition': Greens and oil groups rescue Ohio well-plugging cash (E&E $)

COAL: Vietnam state coal miner to boost output to battle power shortage (Reuters), Why coal staged a comeback despite climate worries (Bloomberg $)

HYDROGEN: Can hydrogen help the world reach net zero? (FT $)

UTILITIES: Xcel Energy pulls funding for Minneapolis resilience hub projects (Energy News Network)

GRID: More regional transfer capacity is key to mitigating grid reliability risks: ACORE panel (Utility Dive), NERC summer outlook has no surprises but flags 'continuing risk' to grid – panel (S&P Global)

EVs: 'Range anxiety' not an issue says some electric vehicle owners (CBS), Gore-led electric vehicle group sets new priorities (E&E $)

AVIATION: Bangladeshi youth activists demand to be heard on climate change (FT $), NASA’s newest X-plane wants to save the planet (Vox)

AGRICULTURE: Desperate farmers turn to 'Star Trek' crop on parched Plains (E&E $)

CARBON PRICING: Saudi companies buy 2.2 million tonnes of carbon credits in Kenya auction (Reuters, Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: BlackRock and Brookfield are betting big on tiny solar farms in Chile (Bloomberg $), How ESG investors are whipsawed by shifting standards (Bloomberg $), Toyota shareholders reject proposal demanding better performance on climate change (AP, Reuters), Toyota soars on optimism over EV plans, shareholders’ meeting (Bloomberg $)

FASHION: The fashion industry shrugs at the 'circular economy' (Axios)

IN MEMORIAM: Roger Payne, who found out that whales could sing, dies at 88 (AP, New York Times $, WBUR, Washington Post $)

PRIMETIME: Inside the black box of Amazon returns (The Conversation)

WILDLIFE: Microplastics increase sand temperature, impacting sea turtle development, study finds (EcoWatch), The sound ecologist capturing a disappearing world: ‘70% of habitats I recorded are gone’ (The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: Indigenous community wins, then loses, path to reclaim ancestral rainforest land in Peru (AP), China is quick to combat social media’s climate lies – but not when they are about their critics (Climate Home), France gains ground in bid for renewable energy carve-out (Bloomberg $), French nuclear watchdog specifies questions for EDF reactor life extensions (Reuters, Bloomberg $), Long-awaited Vietnam energy plan aims to boost renewables, but fossil fuels still in the mix (AP), Will India's new wind-energy push make green jobs fly? (Context)

• Booming EV market is complicating the GOP's message (Bloomberg, Conor Sen op-ed $)
• ‘It’s time for my government to take action’: A conversation with a youth plaintiff in Held v. Montana (Grist, Claire Vlases interview)
• It’s time to adapt to our new climate reality: Private capital is crucial (The Hill, Philippe Benoit and Gareth Phillips op-ed)
• Even in Texas, you can’t stop the green revolution (New York Times, Davod Wallace-Wells column $)
• I pledged $1 million to plant new trees. my money could have been better spent. (New York Times, Roger Worthington op-ed $)
• Shell makes risky pitch for the middle ground (Reuters, Yawen Chen op-ed)
• Housing is the first place to look when considering reparations for Black people (Prism Reports, Brian Copeland op-ed)

UN Policy Brief On 'Info Integrity On Digital Platforms' Outlines Disinfo Risks And Responses

Pop quiz, faithful Roundup readers! Here are two quotes. One is from a past Denier Roundup post, and the other is from UN Secretary-General António Guterres at a Monday press briefing. Can you guess which is which? 

1. "Digital platforms are being misused to subvert science and spread disinformation and hate to billions of people." 
2. "Flaws in online spaces are exploited by fossil fuel companies, those with vested interests, and hostile actors who see climate as another axis to spread distrust, drive division, and weaken democratic processes in the EU and around the world." 

The first is from the UN Secretary-General, who announced a new UN Policy Brief laying out the "common agenda" on hate speech and mis- and disinformation, the three overlapping threats to "information integrity" in the digital public square. 

The second is our summary of some expert advice given to the EU back in March, and as you can see, the UN is clearly doing its homework, with Guterres calling disinformation a "clear and present global threat" which "demands clear and coordinated global action." 

Okay, round two, hot shot! Which is the UN's description of Twitter's #ClimateScam, and which is ours?

1. "On Twitter, uses of the hashtag #climatescam shot up from fewer than 2,700 a month in the first half of 2022 to 80,000 in July and 199,000 in January 2023."
2. "From October 2021 to July 19, 2022, the Twitter hashtag #ClimateScam was basically dead, seeing essentially zero tweets. Then, as if someone flipped a switch to turn it on, usage jumped, with over 1,000 posts a day in the months that followed."

This one's probably a bit easier, as the UN is generally not going to use phrases like "basically dead" in their official policy documents. But to be fair, the report from the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition that we were citing was more formal: "In July 2022 the hashtag #ClimateScam suddenly spiked on Twitter, and by December had accrued over 362k mentions (including retweets) from 91k unique users." 

Now, round three, for all the marbles! Which one of these quotes is from the UN, and which is yours truly? 

1. “Coordinated campaigns are seeking to deny, minimize or distract from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientific consensus and derail urgent action to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.” 
2. “A small but vocal minority of climate science denialists continue to reject the consensus position and command an outsized presence on some digital platforms.”

Trick question! They're both from the UN policy brief! 

Seriously, though, the brief is great and well worth reading, as it addresses issues beyond just climate. For example, it explains that "In a 2022 survey, 70 percent of United Nations peacekeepers said mis- and disinformation were having a severe, critical or moderate impact on their work, while 75 per cent said that they were having an impact on their safety and security. Mis- and disinformation can also be used to target humanitarian actors and hamper life-saving operations in conflict areas." 

They also have a whole page exclaiming how mis- and disinformation are thwarting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, before laying out a policy agenda to address the information integrity crisis. 

And you should definitely go check out those recommendations, though if you're a regular reader here, they might sound familiar! 

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