African Leaders Call For Rich Countries To 'Pay Their Bills' On Climate: Leaders at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi issued a unanimous call Wednesday for world leaders to support a global carbon tax on fossil fuels, aviation, and shipping, as well as financial and debt reforms and for major polluters to do more to pay for the damage they have inflicted upon developing nations. “No country should ever have to choose between development aspirations and climate action,” the declaration, adopted on the gathering's final day, states. Adding, “Decarbonizing the global economy is also an opportunity to contribute to equality and shared prosperity.” Despite being responsible for a marginal amount of historic climate pollution — especially relative to many of the colonial powers that extracted untold resources, human and otherwise, from the continent — African nations are among the worst-impacted by the climate crisis. Climate change is cutting Africa's combined GDP by 5% to 15% every year, Kenyan President William Ruto told the attendees, including senior officials from the U.S., EU, and China. International financial systems force African nations to pay about five times more to borrow money than other countries, creating a vicious cycle of indebtedness and stifled development. “Those who produce the garbage refuse to pay their bills,” Ruto said. The opening of the summit also saw hundreds of millions of dollars pledged toward the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative launched COP27 last year. Those pledges included a $450 million commitment from the UAE, which is working to safeguard its reputation ahead of hosting COP28 in December. “We reject forced solutions on our land,” Priscilla Achakpa, founder of the Women Environmental Programme, told summit participants. Achakpa called on the “Global North” to “remove yourself from the perspective of the colonial past.” (Carbon Tax: AP, New York Times $; Debt: AP; Pledges: Reuters, ABC; Additional coverage: Energy Monitor, Democracy Now)

Heat Breaks Records, Disrupts Learning Across US: More than 60 million people across the U.S. from Dallas to Burlington, Vermont, are under heat alerts as more extreme heat stifles the country. “Simply put, the next several days will be dangerously hot,” the National Weather Service office for Philadelphia wrote on Twitter. The heat, which comes on the heels of a stifling Labor Day weekend, is expected to break records across the country as well as force school closings and early dismissals from Detroit to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where insufficient cooling meant rooms were too hot to use for the whole day. Historic racist policies like redlining and de facto segregation today mean students of color are disproportionately harmed by extreme heat. (Heatwave: Washington Post $, New York Times $; Schools: NBC, NJ.com, Detroit Free Press, PennLive; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Pakistan Epicenter Of Multifaceted Climate Crisis: The lingering, insidious impacts of the catastrophic, the climate-fueled flooding that submerged one-third of Pakistan in the summer of 2022, illustrate the degree to which countries worldwide are unprepared for the multifaceted — and very present — effects of climate change, the Washington Post reports. “I had no idea what miseries this flood would bring for us,” Muhammad Yaqoob — whom villagers call a wadero, or chief — of a village in Sindh province, the hardest hit by the floods. The massive analysis by The Post reveals the staggering, and compounding toll, of extreme heat and flooding — everything from disease spread by contaminated flood water, to skyrocketing vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever, to heat stroke and kidney failure, to malnutrition, to dramatically increasing miscarriages, premature and low birth weight babies, and low breast milk production. Pakistan, among others, has been at the forefront of the push for a global "loss and damage" fund. That effort succeeded in establishing such a fund at COP27 last year, and its implementation is expected to be a top agenda item at COP28 in Dubai this December. (Washington Post $; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase, Vector-borne disease risk increase)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Judge in ‘Cancer Alley’ case bows out over impartiality concerns (E&E $)

• COP CITY: Cop City protesters charged with racketeering as Georgia takes hard line (The Guardian, AP)

COP28: World losing race to meet climate goals, COP28 president says (Reuters), EU countries divided over increasing climate target ahead of COP28 (Politico Pro $)

GREEK FIRE AND RAIN: Fire to flood: Greece’s destructive roller-coaster ride (Yale Climate Connections), 'Historic flooding event' in Greece dumps more than 2 feet of rain in just a few hours (CBS, Washington Post PHOTOS $), At least 5 people die as severe rainstorms trigger flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria (AP), Disastrous flooding underway in Greece as extreme weather swarms Europe (Washington Post $), Subways and streets submerged as Spain hit by record rainfall – video report (The Guardian), The link between extreme weather in Greece, UK and Spain (Axios)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: G20 New Delhi summit 2023: Which countries and leaders will attend? (Reuters)

BIG GREENS: Big green groups back ‘march to end fossil fuels’ (E&E $), The state of the green unions (E&E News), NRDC hires top communications officer (E&E $)

POOR 🚂 INFRASTRUCTURE & GUN METAPHORS (🇺🇸): New bullet trains misfire on old US railroad tracks (E&E News), Why high-speed rail has been a tough sell in the United States (NPR)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: How much IRA fraud will there be? This watchdog has some idea. (E&E $)

SCOTUS: Auto dealers urge SCOTUS to stop Minnesota’s EV push (E&E $), Alabama congressional map struck down again for diluting Black voting power (Washington Post $, AP, Alabama Reflector, Politico, Reuters, Forbes, NPR, The Hill, New York Times $, CNBC, CBS, CNN, Black Wall Street Times), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse files ethics complaint over Justice Samuel Alito interview (NBC, Bloomberg $, The Hill, The Guardian, Roll Call, Politico)

EPA: EPA climate rule covers 36% of gas plant emissions — analysis (E&E $)

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

THE HILL: Congress returns to overflowing fall agenda (E&E News)

HOUSE: McCarthy brushes off climate role in Maui disaster (E&E $), Republicans ask Buttigieg for information on ‘disturbing’ aviation, rail safety failures (The Hill)

SENATE: Manchin sets hearing on DOE, artificial intelligence (E&E $), McConnell's likely heirs on energy, the environment (E&E $), Republicans plan continued assault on Biden water rule (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Primaries this week may decide House seats in R.I., Utah (E&E $), Trump vows to end ‘madness’ of EV push (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: ‘Pedal to the metal’: Mich. Democrats tee up clean energy package (E&E $), Whitmer seeks 100% clean power standard for Michigan (E&E $), Technologies help cities and neighborhoods beat the heat (Wall Street Journal $), A Georgia redistricting trial begins with a clash over what federal law requires for Black voters (AP)

• MINNESOTA: Minnesota program helps manufacturers train their teams for an all-electric future (Energy News Network), Minnesota prisoners locked down after protesting sweltering temperatures (Democracy Now)
• CALIFORNIA: Calif. bill would expand state power to build renewables (E&E $), California promised reparations to survivors of forced sterilization. Few people have gotten them. (The 19th* News)

FERC: 'Arbitrary and capricious': Utilities slam FERC grid fees (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Climate change in Iraq: A warning for the rest of the world (WBUR), Climate crisis could contribute to a global food shortage by 2050, US special envoy on food security warns (The Guardian), Why the United States undercounts climate-driven deaths (Grist), Venice to start charging visitors entry fee next year (Reuters)

• CARS: Drivers squeezed as auto insurance costs soar across the US (Washington Post $)
• NO COMMENT: Following climate protests, torrential rain strands thousands at burning man festival (Democracy Now, Washington Post $), Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face hours of traffic (NPR), What we know about the flooding at Burning Man (Axios)

HURRICANES: A major hurricane will form in the Atlantic. Many questions remain. (Washington Post $), How Hurricane Ida survivor Melissa Bright is helping to rebuild her community (Yale Climate Connections), Tropical Depression 13 poised to become a powerful hurricane (Yale Climate Connections, Axios)

WATER: A Colorado city has been battling for decades to use its own water (New York Times $), As the Mississippi swerves, can we let nature regain control? (Yale Environment 360), How to use less water: 15 essential tips – from beef burgers to megabutts to cutting back on clothes (The Guardian)

HEALTH CARE: A medical toolkit for climate resiliency is built on the latest epidemiology and ER best practices (Inside Climate News)

INTERSECTIONS: Climate change and poverty are complex problems. These solutions aim to address both. (Boston Globe $)

FRAUD: Information theft is on the rise. People are particularly vulnerable after natural disasters (AP)

BATTERIES: Investors flock to battery recyclers in hunt for climate law winners (Wall Street Journal $), Redwood Materials raises $1B to expand circular battery supply chain in US (Utility Dive)

LNG: Fragile LNG market threatens volatility and return to coal, gas majors warn (Washington Examiner)

OIL & GAS: BP's Looney holding his nerve over energy transition plan (Reuters), Fight over Mont. public lands ends as oil lease is relinquished (E&E $), Is Ecuador's Amazon oil ban a threat to fossil fuels in Latin America? (Context), Offshore oil lease crackdown won’t hinder production — study (E&E $), Oil prices spike as Saudi Arabia, Russia extend 1.3 million barrel a day oil cut through December (AP)

UTILITIES: Ohio utilities’ efficiency programs among the worst in wake of corrupt utility law, report says (Ohio Capital Journal), Dominion sells natural gas utilities to Enbridge for $9.4 billion (Wall Street Journal $), Eversource, National Grid file draft plans to meet expected demand surge from electrification (Utility Dive), PJM, market participants reach agreement to resolve $1.8B in Winter Storm Elliott fines (Utility Dive)

GRID: New concerns about US energy grid's durability against climate change (CBS), 4 things to know about the state-led push for underwater transmission (E&E News)

AVIATION: Airbus, easyJet, Rolls-Royce join forces in UK on hydrogen-powered flying (Reuters)

CARBON REMOVAL: Singapore to expand ocean CO2 removal project as scientists call for more research (Reuters)

FOOD: ‘Steak’ and ‘ham’ labels on plant-based foods? France says non. (Washington Post $)

IN MEMORIAM: ‘Larger than life’ ex-Energy secretary [Bill Richardson] dies at 75 (E&E $)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia has highest per capita CO2 emissions from coal in G20, analysis finds (The Guardian), Australia to consider extending life of largest coal power plant (Reuters), UK government lifts de facto ban on onshore wind farms (AP, Reuters), Chile's Codelco to hand over 24,000 hectares for glacier park (Reuters), G20 per capita CO2 emissions from coal rise 7% from 2015 -research (Reuters), India bets on seaweed's future as food industry appetite grows (Context)

• Climate politics is more complex and urgent than ever – is the IPCC still fit for purpose? (The Guardian, Adam Standring op-ed)
• Taiwan’s green energy gamble (The Hill, Craig Singleton op-ed)
• DOE’s error-ridden analysis on coal CCS project threatens climate and engagement goals (Utility Dive, Emily Grubert op-ed)
• Fact-checking the misinformation attacks on the EPA’s clean car standards (The Hill, Margo Oge op-ed)
• KALW TBH  podcast is journalism created by, about and for teenagers (Teen Vogue, Meher Indoliya op-ed)
• Why the Africa Climate Summit can’t afford to overlook conflict (The New Humanitarian, Nazanine Moshiri op-ed)
• Africa should bolster research into climate-sensitive diseases (Context, Samuel Kariuki op-ed)
• From denial to delay: Climate action blockers adopt new tactics (Context, Sheila Ochugboju op-ed)
• How Europe’s poorest country could win the green energy race (TIME, Suriya Jayanti op-ed)
• Clarence Thomas is shamed into finally revealing how billionaire harlan crow bought him off (NewsOne, Zack Linly op-ed)

WSJ Slides Further Toward 'Crazytown' 'Climate Lockdown' Conspiracy Theory Territory

The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) opinion page, the standard-bearer of elite conservative ideology, has never been particularly honest in its coverage of climate change, but now it is seemingly tilting ever further toward the kind of "climate lockdown" nonsense more frequently found in the fevered rantings of social media stooges than the esteemed pages of prestige press. 

It started off normally enough with a pair of pieces in Friday’s paper: an editorial pulling both anti-EV and anti-union double-duty and columnist Holman Jenkins, Jr.'s preening denial of the role of climate in the Maui fires. The latter concludes that the science supposedly "suggests a relatively manageable human adaptation to a slowly warming planet," as though humans can simply adapt to being on fire! 

Those two pieces set the stage for Sunday's "Inside View" column by Andy Kessler, with the headline warning that "the climate-change 'emergency' is coming for you" but the subheadline offering some reassurance: "We've not fully arrived at crazytown. But the urge to curtail individual freedom is visible in countless blueprints for a controlled future." 

What are Kessler's signs that we're headed to "crazytown" and "living as if we're already under [climate] emergency conditions"? Apparently just the fact that consumers can no longer buy wasteful incandescent bulbs. "Will electricity be rationed next?" Kessler asks rhetorically, before pointing to "September 2022," when California had to ask residents to reduce power. 

What Kessler didn't mention, though, was that there was a much more recent example: just a few days ago, Texas had to ask residents to reduce their energy use. Now why oh why did Kessler stretch a year back for his example? Probably because the cause of Texas's troubles is that it’s the hottest summer on record. There’s a huge demand for energy in the unrelenting heat, and coal and natural gas plants are failing, with twice as many outages as expected — about 10 to 15 power plants-worth of failures. 

So the fossil fuels causing the climate emergency are also failing to do the one thing they're good for, and instead of blaming them, the WSJ is running cover for their fossil-fueled friends. 

And like so many other desperate dorks on digital platforms, Kessler is scraping the bottom of the intellectual barrel for ideas, moving quickly from one conspiracy theory hotbed to another, be it eating bugs or a 2016 quote about an artificially-induced meat allergy that Kessler likely read about on Infowars, or gas stoves or pizza ovens, and of course the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group goal of cutting the number of short flights. "That sounds like climate lockdowns to me," Kessler wrote, of the list of fact-checked-as-false conspiracy theories. 

Apparently not having read that sentence in his own column, Kessler finally concludes with the line chosen for the subheadline: "climate lockdowns still sound like crazytown, but the urge to curtail individual freedom is visible in countless government, media and think-tank blueprints for a controlled future." 

Clearly it's Kessler who's headed to crazytown, and since he doesn't have far to go, he's probably just mad about the thought of having to take a train instead of a short flight! 

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