Swiss Climate Inaction Violated Human Rights: Switzerland is violating the human rights of its citizens by failing to sufficiently address the climate crisis, the European Court of Human Rights said on Tuesday in a landmark ruling that could have major implications across 48 European countries. In ruling for the 2,000 members of Switzerland's Senior Women for Climate Protection (average age: 74), the ECHR held the country's "fail[ure] to comply with its duties" to meet its emissions reductions targets and otherwise protect its citizens from the ravages of the climate crisis. The ruling, which cannot be appealed, is legally binding on all 46 member states of the Council of Europe. The decision is “hugely important for government accountability and government climate action because it affirms that climate change is a human rights crisis, and that climate action is a legal duty,” Lucy Maxwell, the co-director of the Climate Litigation Network, told Bloomberg. “What’s really powerful is that the court has gone to the next level of detail and said what that means is emissions reductions targets that are informed by science, and in this case of the Swiss government, you have failed to do that.” The court also dismissed two related cases on procedural grounds. (Bloomberg $, AP, CNN, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian, EuroNews, New York Times $, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, FT $, Reuters, Politico EU, Telegraph, BBC, France24, AFP via Barron's)

Zurich AG Will Stop Underwriting New Fossil Projects: The Zurich Insurance Group AG will no longer insure new oil and gas projects and will push its highest-polluting customers to slash their carbon pollution, Bloomberg reports. Explaining that new oil and gas extraction is incompatible with the firm's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, Zurich head of commercial insurance Sierra Signorelli told Bloomberg, "Further exploration and development of fossil fuels isn’t required for the transition. … We think it’s the right time to evolve our position." Zurich raked in $2.1 billion in fossil fuel premiums last year, equal to about 7% of the firm's total commercial premiums, and will not stop insuring ongoing projects. (Bloomberg $)

Deadly Cholera Outbreaks Across Southern Africa: Cholera has killed more than 4,100 people and infected at least 188,000 across southern Africa since 2022, The New Humanitarian reports. Drought across the region is forcing migration to cities where informal, densely-packed settlements are perfect breeding grounds for the disease. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels is making droughts more frequent and severe, and an estimated 24 million people face serious hunger across a southern African region experiencing its worst drought in 40 years. “We’ve seen a number of people move from rural to urban areas because of climate change,” said Mambo Hamaundu, permanent secretary in Zambia’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. The drought is forcing people to leave their rural homes, seeking (perceived) economic opportunity in the city. Once there, new residents often live in unplanned, informal urban settlements with little if any waste management infrastructure — 45 tons of feces are openly deposited every day in the Namibian capital of Windhoek. “There’s no structure, no town planning, no streets; at random, people come and put up their shacks,” Sebastian Husselmann, Windhoek's chief bulk and wastewater engineer, told The New Humanitarian. “That makes it almost impossible for the municipality to provide structured services like water, sanitation, and waste removal.” (The New Humanitarian; Climate Signals background: Drought)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Legal jousting intensifies over next step in kids climate case (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Don't forget women in new UN climate fund, policymakers urged (Context), EU and US push China to help them write big new climate check (Politico Pro $)

DENIAL & DISINFO (& REBUTTALS): Elon Musk will be investigated over fake news and obstruction in Brazil after a Supreme Court order (AP), Columbia Law report rebuts 33 ‘most pervasive false claims’ about solar, wind, EVs (Utility Dive)

SLOW-MELTING CRISES: The time paradox of climate change (Atmos)

GOP vs. ESG: West Virginia treasurer adds four finance firms to ESG blacklist (Reuters), BMO drops anti-coal policy amid Wall Street rebuke of ESG (Bloomberg $)

PRE-ECLIPSE COVERAGE: Eclipse will darken solar panels and cut off power supplies to the grid (Bloomberg $), How Monday's total solar eclipse affects US grid operators (Reuters), Texas solar power is prepared for an eclipse, but it’s a preview of a more complex problem (The Hill), The terrifying and awesome power of solar eclipses (Vox), The eclipse will be a 3-hour boon for gas, batteries, and hydro (Heatmap $), What happens to solar power when the moon blocks the sun? (Politico)

POST-ECLIPSE COVERAGE: The total eclipse shows us how important solar energy is to the US (The Verge), Solar eclipse 2024: Texas power grid sees impact (FOX4), Do solar panels work during an eclipse? Colorado researchers were watching. (The Colorado Sun)

SCOTUS: Supreme Court pressured to stop Congress from handing power to agencies (E&E $)

SEC: SEC climate rule pause creates path for faster court decision (Bloomberg Law)

EPA: EPA mulls tougher limits on new gas plants as 2024 election nears (Washington Post $), These 8 nonprofits got $20B from the Biden administration for local clean energy financing. Now what? (Utility Dive)

TREASURY: Yellen threatens sanctions for China banks that aid Russia’s war (Bloomberg $), Yellen waves yellow flag as China’s EV sector keeps up expansion (Bloomberg $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden has a massive pile of loan money for his energy revolution — and can’t spend it all before November (Politico Pro $), Biden administration pressed to act on federal contractor climate disclosure (Inside Climate News)

THE HILL: Republicans set another hearing on SEC climate rule (E&E $), House sets vote on mine reclamation, energy, recreation bills (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: State insurance regulators outline strategy to combat climate risks (E&E $), A sticking point on climate in North Carolina: Reducing auto dependence in the ‘Good Roads State’ (Energy News Network), Arizona GOP eyes ‘wild’ climate ballot measures (E&E $), Bidirectional EV charging, VPP bill passes Maryland Assembly, heads to governor’s desk (Utility Dive), Clean car rules will move ahead despite auto dealers asking for a pause (New Mexico Political Report), New York City braces for congestion pricing (Axios), Southern California air regulators decline to livestream refinery flares (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Zambians feel the personal consequences of climate change—and dream of a sustainable future (Inside Climate News), As temperatures warm, valley fever fungus vastly expands its range (Yale Climate Connections), Coastal wetlands can’t keep pace with sea-level rise, and infrastructure is leaving them nowhere to go (The Conversation), Broken record: March is 10th straight month to be hottest on record, scientists say (AP)

LITERAL IMPACTS: They came from outer space. Now, they’re going into hiding. (New York Times $)

WILDFIRES: Hurricane-force winds and dry conditions combine to fuel critical fire threat in Central US (CNN), More complex wildfires prompt changes for US wildland firefighting workforce (AP)

DROUGHT: Zimbabwe declares drought-induced state of disaster (Deutsche Welle)

WATER: This epic slice of Arizona feeds their souls but lacks a basic necessity: Water (LA Times $)

(DE)FORESTATION: Group leads tree plantings in deforestation-wracked Ghana (Yale Climate Connections)

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION: Greenhouse gases continue to skyrocket, hitting record-high, NOAA says (Axios)

RENEWABLES: Commercial rooftops can bridge ‘solar equity gap’ — study (E&E $), California unveils $4.6B transmission plan for offshore wind (E&E $)

BATTERIES: Lithium companies fight over water in the arid Great Basin (Inside Climate News)

AI: AI could add 1 million tons to copper demand by 2030, says Trafigura (Reuters)

BUILDINGS: Building decarbonization goes beyond energy efficiency, US Green Building Council says (Utility Dive)

METHANE: Methane-eating microbes show promise for wiping out planet-warming emissions (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: More Russian LNG being exported to Europe than Asia (OilPrice), Suncor’s Syncrude fined $287,000 over death of oil sands worker (Bloomberg $), Vitol earned $13 billion in second year of blowout profits (Bloomberg $)

• PRICES: Oil prices fall after Israel reduces troop presence in Gaza (CNBC), Despite $90 crude, US oil output capped by weak natgas prices (Reuters, OilPrice), The odds of $100 oil are rising as supply shocks convulse the market (Bloomberg $), ExxonMobil, Shell cite weaker natural gas prices in 1Q previews (Natural Gas Intel), Oil price surge is the No. 1 threat to the US economy, Moody’s economist warns (CNN)

PIPELINE DRAMA: Energy Transfer files for regulator review in pipeline dispute (Bloomberg $)

HYDROGEN: The hydrogen companies pushing for strict subsidy rules (Canary Media)

UTILITIES: Wildfires make utilities a tricky investment. Just ask Warren Buffett. (Wall Street Journal $)

GRID: Taking stock of clean electricity progress in key markets (Reuters), Tensions at home and abroad pose growing threat to US grid (E&E $), The US urgently needs a bigger grid. Here's a fast solution. (New York Times $)

EVs: How car buyers thinking hybrid over EV should make the decision (CNBC), More in US say they wouldn’t consider buying EV: Gallup (The Hill), Selling used EVs is tricky business. These companies are making it work (Canary Media), Tesla shares jump as investors buy into Musk’s robotaxi hype (Bloomberg $)

AGRICULTURE: US meat lobby delighted at ‘positive’ prospects for industry after COP28 (The Guardian)

BOOKS: Climate change is making us paranoid, anxious and angry (New York Times $), Elmer and the climate crisis: Lost story by David McKee set to be published (The Guardian)

RICH PEOPLE: Dimon calls push to stop all oil and gas enormously naïve (Bloomberg $), The brazen optimism of Kathryn Murdoch’s plan to save Earth (Washington Post $)

CARBON CAPTURE: Big Oil is racing to scale up carbon capture to slash emissions but the challenges are immense (CNBC), Where Chevron is headed on carbon capture, hydrogen (E&E, Jeff Gustavson interview $)

FINANCE:  Banks made big climate promises. A new study doubts they work. (New York Times $)

BUT MAKE IT (SLOW) FASHION: Fast fashion: France seeks to slow down wasteful industry (Deutsche Welle)

WILDLIFE: World's mining needs pose a threat to African apes (Axios)

INTERNATIONAL: 5 things to know about Europe’s landmark climate cases (E&E $), Reform UK criticised for claiming funding NHS and reaching net zero are at odds (The Guardian), Eskom defends pollution record, saying it’s spending billions (Bloomberg $)

• BRAZIL: Brazil labor spat thwarts Lula’s bid to boost growth and save the Amazon (Bloomberg $), Blackouts spark fears of grid ‘collapse’ in Brazil’s biggest city (FT $)

• Maximizing the value of IRA tax incentives while minimizing investment compliance risk (Utility Dive, Charles Dauber op-ed)
• The fallacy behind California’s rollback of water conservation rules (Mercury News, Ed Harrington and Cynthia Koehler op-ed)
• Yellen junks 200 years of economics to block China clean tech (Bloomberg, David Fickling column $)
• The Guardian view on Europe’s troubled green deal: Make the case, not concessions (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Forest carbon accounting allows Guyana to stay net zero while pumping oil (Climate Home, Joe Lo op-ed)
• Tesla needs cheap EVs. Musk offers a robotaxi meme (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• The great American transport crisis tells us something (FT, Rana Foroohar column $)

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