PHMSA Puts LNG-By-Rail Rule On Hold: Federal regulators shelved a Trump-era plan to allow transporting LNG by rail. More time is required to assess the safety concerns raised by transporting such flammable cargo, the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said late last week. The rule allowing trains to carry LNG was rushed under the Trump administration, and was supported by the railroad industry. PHMSA deputy administrator Tristan Brown told the AP, “We need to do more safety investigative work.” No one has ever even ordered one of the specially fortified train cars required to transport LNG, which each take 18 months to build and of which hundreds would be required to make the idea of LNG by rail viable. (AP, Railway Age, The Hill)

Africa Climate Summit Opens: As African leaders meet in Nairobi to discuss how the continent and its 1.3 billion people should engage on a climate crisis of which they are bearing disproportionate harm but did little to cause, new reports show banks worldwide are dumping trillions of dollars into heavily polluting industries in the Global South. This year, for the first time, global investments in solar energy outstripped oil, but just 2% of global renewable energy investment is in Africa. Leaders at the African Climate Summit, which kicked off Monday, "Are not here to catalog grievances," Kenyan President William Ruto told the AP. “We have an abundance of clean, renewable energy and it’s vital that we use this to power our future prosperity. But to unlock it, Africa needs funding from countries that have got rich off our suffering,” Power Shift Africa's Mohamed Adow said before the summit. Meanwhile, a report released Monday by ActionAid finds major international banks plowed $3.2 trillion into fossil fuel expansion in the Global South. “They say that money makes the world go round, but money is making the world go backwards,” Teresa Anderson, global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International, told reporters. Outside the Summit's meeting hall in Nairobi, activists marched carrying signs demanding, “Stop the neo-colonial scramble for oil and gas in Africa," with a particular focus on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. (Africa Climate Summit: AP [additional coverage below — Ed.]; Disproportionate harm: Reuters; 2%: New York Times $; Banks: The Guardian, Common Dreams)

Climate Change Increases Explosive Wildfire Growth Likelihood 25% — Study: Climate change has — already — increased the risk of explosive wildfire grown in California by 25%, a study published in Nature finds. That climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is supercharging wildfires is well-established. The study examined 18,000 individual wildfires between 2003 and 2020 and assessed the relationship between daily temperatures and extreme wildfire growth (more than 10,000 acres per day). Similar to how just one extra inch of flooding can dramatically increase flood damage if it reaches a home's lowest electrical outlet, the researchers found climate-fueled heat (and thus drying of vegetation) can tip fire risk into extreme territory. “If conditions were pretty dry but not super dry," Patrick Brown, the study's author, told the LA Times, "the background warming kind of pushed you over a critical threshold of drying or aridity and caused a large increase in the probability of extreme daily fire growth.” (LA Times $, NPR, KSBW; Climate Signals background: Wildfires)

AFRICA CLIMATE SUMMIT: Africa Climate Summit begins in Kenya: A simple guide to proceedings (Al Jazeera, TIME, CNN), Kenya’s leader says climate change is eating away Africa’s GDP, calls for talks on global carbon tax (AP), Africa climate summit is vital moment for continent to take charge (Context), Africa offers global warming solution in 1st climate declaration (Bloomberg $), African leaders at odds over climate plans as crucial Nairobi summit opens (The Guardian)

• FINANCE: Hundreds of millions of dollars pledged for African carbon credits at climate summit (Reuters), Africa Climate Summit opens with focus on financing, continental unity (Reuters, Prensa Latina), What options do African nations have to finance climate, nature? (Reuters explainer)
• WARNINGS: As Africa opens a climate summit, poor weather forecasting keeps the continent underprepared (AP)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: ‘Extreme victory’: Years of organization leads to the shuttering of a toxic polluter in South Memphis (Grist), Green new deal architect Rhiana Gunn-Wright warns the green transition may leave Black people behind (Democracy Now), Wealthy family wants to reopen major industrial polluter in Alabama despite mounting debts and proposed regulation (ProPublica)

COP28: EU to seek COP28 deal on phasing out fossil fuels, draft document says (Reuters), Oil giant led by COP28 boss to spend an ‘eyewatering’ $1 billion a month on fossil fuels this decade, Global Witness says (CNBC)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Russia turns to Arctic to sell oil and gas (WBUR)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: As G20 leaders prepare to meet in recently flooded New Delhi, climate policy issues are unresolved (AP), As the UN designs a new carbon market, experts call for a different approach (Grist)

• JTEP UPDATE: Money and politics put world’s biggest climate deal at risk (Bloomberg $)

INSURANCE: Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow (Washington Post $)

DENIAL AND FACT CHECKS AND CATHARSIS: Climate-change myths (The New Yorker $), Despite clear signals that Hurricane Idalia was influenced by climate change, less than 2% of TV news coverage made the link (Media Matters)

TEXAS GRID: How ERCOT is narrowly getting through an extreme summer — and how experts say it could do better (Texas Tribune)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Inflation Reduction Act accelerates clean energy transition in the Houston area (Houston Chronicle), US clean energy drive fuels shortage of engineers in Australia (The Guardian)

AGENCIES: The director of the National Hurricane Center reflects on what he's seen in his 15-year tenure (NPR)

DOE: DOE offers $15.5 billion to retool existing auto plants for EVs (Canary Media), DOE announces $15.5B to support electric vehicle transition, grow domestic battery manufacturing (Utility Dive), White House launches billion-dollar effort to speed EV production (Axios)

DOT: Gas industry, Biden square off over pipeline leaks (Houston Chronicle)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden: ‘Nobody intelligent’ can deny the impact of climate crisis (The Hill)

THE HILL: Congress is coming back. Here's what to watch on climate and energy policy. (Washington Post $), Congress faces ticking clock on flood insurance as hurricane season picks up (The Hill), Congress returns to try to prevent a government shutdown while the GOP weighs an impeachment inquiry (AP)

ELECTIONS: GOP debate spotlights the party’s stance on climate change (ABC), DeSantis hammers climate change alarmists in no uncertain terms in Idalia’s aftermath (Fox News), DeSantis slams claim that climate change is responsible for Idalia (Washington Examiner), In Iowa, Vivek Ramaswamy finds Republican voters share his disdain of climate change (Des Moines Register)

CITIES AND STATES: At risk from rising seas, Norfolk, Virginia, plans massive, controversial floodwall (NPR)

• CALIFORNIA: 'Powerful example': California now largest economy to back fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty (Common Dreams), California to expand fossil fuel project Gavin Newsom said he was 'fully committed' to shutting down (Fox News), Regulators require stricter controls to curb leaks from oil tanks (LA Times $)

WHOLISM: Could ‘one health’ be the optimal approach for human, animal and environmental health? (Inside Climate News)

IMPACTS: What have we learned from a summer of climate reckoning? (New York Times $), The extreme summer weather that scorched and soaked the world (BBC), A California beach town is desperate to save its vanishing sand (New York Times $), Artist captures the impact of climate crisis over 150 years on Mont Blanc (The Guardian), Climate disasters are fueling the rise of 'doomsday' seed vaults (Axios), Driest August in more than 100 years threatens India’s growth (Bloomberg $), Himalayan avalanches are increasing risk for climbers in warming climate (The Guardian), A glacier baby is born: Mating glaciers to replace water lost to climate change (NPR), Minnesota swimmers make a point about climate changes (WBUR), Record rain leads to deaths, travel chaos across parts of Spain (Bloomberg $), Scrub Hub: Will climate change affect hardiness zones for what to plant and when in Indiana? (Indianapolis Star), The world’s highest navigable lake is drying out (CNN), Climate crisis poses greatest risk to people with respiratory illnesses, experts warn (The Guardian), Severe rainstorm triggers flooding in central Greece, 1 man dies. Police order a traffic ban (AP), Why we all need to think like Floridians now (Washington Post $)

• ALIENS: Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society (Washington Post $, Bloomberg $)
• TERROR: This Alaskan glacier holds back billions of gallons of water. Until it doesn’t. (Washington Post $)
• WHAT ARE THE ODDS?: Parts of Las Legas strip flood after heavy rain (New York Times $)
• NO COMMENT: Climate change could be Burning Man's ultimate undoing (Insider), Climate change has finally come for Burning Man (Wired), Climate change is washing Burning Man out in more ways than one (Quartz), Thousands stuck at Burning Man amid mud, dust and ‘really gross’ bathrooms (Washington Post $)

HEAT: Minnesota prison reaches resolution with inmates who refused to return to their cells in heat wave (AP), Where dangerous heat is surging (Washington Post $), Blistering late-season heat wave baking eastern US (Washington Post $, CNN), France heat nears 40c with winds raising risk of wildfires (Bloomberg $), Grand Slam tournaments are getting hotter. US Open players and fans may feel that this week (AP), Has the US learned to cope with extreme heat? Next summer could be even hotter (The Guardian), How heat can take a deadly toll on humans (NPR), How MLB prospects survived record heat in Arizona’s ‘fire league’ (Washington Post $)

WILDFIRES: A fire department’s program to protect homes from wildfires (New York Times $), How wildfires are threatening the Mediterranean way of life (Washington Post $), Record-breaking wildfires drag economic growth lower in Canada (Bloomberg $), Wildfires cost Europe €4.1 billion as temperatures hit records (Bloomberg $)

• MAUI: Hawaii residents fear ‘the next catastrophe’ (Washington Post $), Hawaii investigates unsolicited land offers in Lahaina (AP), How can you save what’s already gone? (The Atlantic), Maui’s neglected grasslands caused Lahaina fire to grow with deadly speed (Washington Post $), After Maui’s wildfires, thousands brace for long process of restoring safe water service (AP)
• GREECE: A massive wildfire in northeastern Greece is gradually abating, with over 700 firefighters deployed (AP), Greece rescues 25 migrants from deadly Evros wildfire (Reuters)

HURRICANES: Another year, another hurricane supercharged by extreme ocean heat (HuffPost), What’s next for hurricane season (New York Times $), Category 4 Typhoon Saola batters Hong Kong (Yale Climate Connections), Hit hard by Hilary, Death Valley National Park may be closed for months (The Hill, AP), Tropical Depression Katia continues to weaken (New York Times $), Two cyclones hit days apart. Can scientists prove climate change caused them? (Wall Street Journal $)

• IDALIA: Georgia cleans up after Hurricane Idalia (NPR), How sea level rise made Idalia’s storm surge worse (Washington Post $), Hurricane Idalia could be the most expensive climate disaster of 2023 (Gizmodo), Idalia demolished some Florida fishing communities. But locals say they'll rebuild (NPR)
• HAIKUI: Taiwan suspends work, transport and classes as Typhoon Haikui slams into the island (AP), China prepares for weaker Haikui after direct hit on Taiwan (Bloomberg $), High water sweeps fire truck into a river, leaving 5 missing, as tropical storm hits China (AP)

DROUGHT: Officials eye Potomac water levels for drought preparations (Washington Post $)

WATER: Big farms and flawless fries are gulping water in the land of 10,000 lakes (New York Times $), Keep an eye on ‘blue’ bonds, a little-known income alternative tied to clean water (CNBC), These five cities could be one natural disaster away from a catastrophic water crisis (CNN)

OCEANS: Can tourism positively impact climate change in the Indian ocean? (National Geographic)

(DE)FORESTATION: Brazil's struggling rainforests are so understudied, it's not clear how bad the damage is (Salon), Top green fund backs deforestation-free crops with $189 million (Bloomberg $)

EDUCATION: Nonprofit trains science teachers to weave storytelling into climate lessons (Yale Climate Connections)

SALT MARSHES: When salt marshes erode, they can release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (Yale Climate Connections)

RENEWABLES: China leaves everyone behind in race for renewables income (Bloomberg $), Cloudy September seen crimping Europe’s renewable power output (Bloomberg $), Enel sees efficient home-built solar panels helping compete with China (Reuters), Green groups are divided over a proposal to boost the nation’s hydropower. Here’s why (Inside Climate News), Ministers to announce moves aiming to allow building of onshore wind turbines (The Guardian), Wet summer grants big cities in hydro-powered Norway 2 days of free electricity (CBS)

BATTERIES: Eos Energy lands $400M DOE conditional loan guarantee for long-duration battery plant (Utility Dive), Investors flock to battery recyclers in hunt for climate law winners (Wall Street Journal $)

BUILDINGS: Climate change is making home construction more expensive (Marketplace)

STORAGE: Peregrine Energy bags $700M financing agreement to fund 7 GW storage and renewables pipeline (Utility Dive)

LNG: Black & Veatch expects floating LNG capacity to more than quadruple by 2030 (Reuters), California regulators approve expansion of contentious natural gas storage facility (The Hill)

METHANE: A new satellite will help tackle methane leaks, a major driver of global warming (NPR)

OIL & GAS: Company gets $2.6 million to relinquish oil lease on Montana land that’s sacred to Native Americans (AP), Pickering Energy Partners launches oil and gas investment banking unit (Reuters)

COAL: China coal giant ‘seizing’ window of opportunity for new plants (Bloomberg $), Coalmine approvals in Australia this year could add 150m tonnes of CO2 to atmosphere (The Guardian), India steps up coal use to stop outages triggered by unusually dry weather (Reuters), Warren Buffett’s green cash washes over coal country (Wall Street Journal $)

HYDROGEN: Germany backs Kenya hydrogen in raft of African climate pledges (Bloomberg $)

NUKES: New data proves nuclear energy is safer than you think (OilPrice)

EVs: ‘We are ready to engage’: Europe’s biggest carmakers brace for China’s EV challenge (CNBC), EVs elbow out internet titans as China’s business darling (Wall Street Journal $), Illinois school districts vie for clean school bus funds (Inside Climate News)

FOOD: Beef guzzlers: 12% of Americans eat half of the country’s cow meat (Grist), Hundreds of academics call for 100% plant-based meals at UK universities (The Guardian)

AVIATION: American Airlines demonstrated what could be the world's cheapest way to fight global warming (Quartz)

BOOKS: A novel that links climate change and the death of Salvador Allende (The New Yorker $), Forget eco-activists: This climate novel stars an oil industry shill (Grist)

CARBON PRICING: Carbon credit market confidence ebbs as big names retreat (Reuters)

CARBON REMOVAL: Scientists find success with new direct ocean carbon capture technology (Inside Climate News)

FINANCE: EU’s green banking metric will mislead stakeholders, lobby says (Bloomberg $), IMF warns rates, conflict and climate top emerging markets risks (Bloomberg $)

FASHION: Fast fashion firms prepare for EU crackdown on waste mountain (Reuters), Startups are inventing cooling clothes for a hotter future (Bloomberg $)

WILDLIFE: Scientists were sure climate change was bad for polar bears. Now they know how bad. (USA Today, CNN, Inside Climate News), Scientists hope to preserve coral by deep freezing it as climate change heats oceans (NPR), Urban animals can’t take the heat, study finds (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: China steps up support for power equipment industry (Reuters), Warming could push India toward a groundwater crisis (New York Times $), India is losing a green-energy subsidy race (Wall Street Journal $), Paris becomes the first European capital to ban rented electric scooters (New York Times $), Poland's PGE reverses decision to bring forward carbon neutrality target (Reuters), Ports in Europe lure investors into clean energy gateway plan (Bloomberg $), Report says Dutch government spends billions on subsidies for fossil fuel producers and users (AP), Singapore seeks growth in biofuels trade amid energy transition (Bloomberg $), Caught between China and the west, a pacific island nation ousts its leader (New York Times $)

• UK: Tory tussles over energy bill put progress on net zero at risk (The Guardian), UK could quit ‘climate-wrecking’ treaty, minister announces (The Guardian), Rishi Sunak ‘poised to revoke ban on onshore windfarms’ – report (The Guardian), UK faces heat wave risk as cool summer gives way to balmy autumn (Bloomberg $)

• We can use the free market to lower energy costs — so why is Glenn Youngkin fighting it? (The Hill, Dave Jenkins op-ed)
• Republican presidential candidates vow to fiddle as earth burns (Scientific American, David Robert Grimes op-ed)
• The Sunbelt was the retirement destination of choice. That was before climate change (CNN, Deborah Carr, Ian Sue Wing, and Giacomo Falchetta op-ed)
• Changing climate is turning prisons into torture chambers and death traps (LA Times Editorial Board $)
• Maui’s wildfire disaster demands a national reckoning (Bloomberg Editorial Board $)
• Carbon capture is bad climate policy (The Hill, Wenonah Hauter op-ed)
• How the Clean Air Act paves the road to expanding electric vehicle chargers (The Hill, Will Dobbs-Allsopp op-ed)
• Americans are paying the price for our oil addiction — in more ways than one (The Hill, William S. Becker op-ed)
• How EPA truck emissions standards can help move EV charging forward (Utility Dive, David Farnsworth op-ed)
• US oil and gas output nears peak (Reuters, John Kemp column)
• The slow death of the sun-seeking summer vacation (New York Times, Henry Wismayer op-ed $)
• Idalia shows need to protect manufactured homes (Bloomberg, Jonathan Levin column $)
• Malawi’s economic growth will be powered by renewable energy (Context, Lazarus Chakwera op-ed)
• High-speed rail is a huge opportunity for American workers (The Hill, Ray LaHood and Greg Regan op-ed)
• Clean energy’s fate may be decided on the Jersey Shore (New York Times, Elizabeth Cerceo op-ed $)
• We’re experiencing a post-inflation, AI and climate-driven labor revolution (The Hill, Sharon Block op-ed)
• Maui sees off the climate-change ambulance chasers (Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. op-ed $)
• The climate-change ‘emergency’ is coming for you (Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler op-ed $)
• An electric-vehicle payoff for the uaw . . . (Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)
• The coming green energy bailout (Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)

The Denier Roundup will return tomorrow! 

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)