US again leads world in growing gas exports, climate-damaging emissions: The United States regained the dubious distinction as the world’s top exporter of liquified methane gas (LNG) in the first half of 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Tuesday. It shows no signs of slowing down. U.S. exports first exceeded all other countries' in 2022, but fell below Australia and Qatar following the explosion at Freeport LNG, which took a substantial fraction of U.S. export capacity offline for nine months. Also Tuesday, a new report from Oil Change International projected that U.S. export capacity expansion plans will account for more than a third of the world’s planned expansion, by emissions, of global oil and gas production by mid-century. This accelerated buildout of methane gas exports directly contravenes conclusions by the International Energy Agency, which has said staying within a 1.5°C limit requires no new exploration and development of oil and gas; and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which found that carbon dioxide emissions solely from existing fossil fuel infrastructure will push the world past 1.5°C and Paris Agreement targets. “It’s simple: when you are in a hole, the first step is to stop digging,” Oil Change International global policy lead Romain Ioualalen told The Guardian. “The climate crisis is global in nature, but is atrociously unjust. A handful of the world’s richest nations are risking our future by willingly ignoring the calls to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.” (EIA: Today in Energy; Planet Wreckers: The Guardian, OCI report)

2022 was a deadly year for environmental defenders: One hundred seventy seven environmental defenders were murdered in 2022, according to an accounting by Global Witness, amounting to one killing every two days on average. Of those, 60 were killed in Colombia – almost double the number in 2021. In total, Latin American countries accounted for 88% of the murders of environmental defenders last year, with 34 in Brazil and 31 in Mexico. Since 2012 when Global Witness began tracking, Colombia has been the deadliest country, accounting for at least 382 defender killings, followed by Brazil with 376 and the Philippines with 281. Globally, a third of those who lost their lives in 2022 were Indigenous people, whose lives, livelihoods, and traditional land stewardship are increasingly imperiled as they seek to protect their ancestral homes from fossil fuel extraction, mining, logging and agribusiness, and other environmentally damaging activities. "Research has shown again and again that Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the forests and therefore play a fundamental role in mitigating the climate crisis," Global Witness senior adviser Laura Furones told the BBC. "Yet they are under siege in countries like Brazil, Peru and Venezuela for doing precisely that. We hear of new attacks every day." Among the dead were also researchers, journalists, lawyers, park rangers, state officials, and demonstrators. The absence of free press or independent monitoring likely means the 177 known deaths is an undercount; still others survived harassment, intimidation, forced displacement, and arrest. (BBC, Global Witness report; Crackdown on protests)

Climate deniers coming for your kids: As if the fear of rampaging gunmen or fights to ban books about people of color, LGBTQ+ families, or basic human functions aren’t enough of a distraction for U.S. children as they return to schools this fall, climate deniers are ramping up efforts to push climate disinformation into classrooms. Across the country, states and school districts are passing policies that purport to teach “both sides” of an issue, promoting textbooks and other materials that include discredited or misleading information. In Ohio, state legislators are considering a bill that would force schools to teach climate denial alongside established climate science, while in Texas, the state education board has attempted to ban teaching about the need to reduce greenhouse gasses while painting fossil fuels in a positive light. Meanwhile, animated videos from PragerU targeting pre-kindergarten children (and funded by fracking billionaires) have been approved for classroom use in Florida and most recently, Oklahoma. Fortunately, some initiatives to force children to learn discredited science have failed in Montana, North Carolina, and Utah. In Indiana, new standards have strengthened climate science curricula. ​​“Climate change education is part and parcel of the ongoing culture wars,” Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, told E&E. “The arc is bending toward more and better climate change education nationally, and that’s going to be uneven, and incremental and scattered, but that’s the trendline.” (E&E $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: ‘You can’t mine your way out of a climate crisis’: Indigenous nations fight lithium gold rush at Thacker Pass (The Real News), Congo communities uprooted for mines critical to EVs, Amnesty says (E&E $)

COP28: UN summit aims to fast-forward countries' climate efforts (E&E $)

LIBYA: Cyclone that devastated Libya is latest extreme event with some hallmarks of climate change (AP), Questions raised over deadly impact of Storm Daniel in Libya (The Guardian), Mediterranean's devastating Storm Daniel may be harbinger of storms to come (Reuters), Mapping why Libya’s floods were so deadly (Washington Post $), Before and after satellite images show scale of Libya flood destruction (Axios), Morgues overwhelmed in Libya as rescuers search for thousands missing after flood (CNN)

REALITY CHECK: Demand for oil, gas and coal will peak by 2030, but that’s not fast enough to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees, says IEA chief (CNBC)

LIGHT IT ON FIRE: World Bank spent billions of dollars backing fossil fuels in 2022, study finds (The Guardian)

DENIAL: Meet the shadowy network vilifying climate protesters (DeSmog), A climate scientist wanted to start a debate in academia. He set off a bigger firestorm (LA Times $)

GOP vs. ESG: House committee sets vote on more anti-ESG bills (E&E $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: EPA: Climate law will cut carbon emissions up to 43 percent    (The Hill)

AGENCIES: US SEC chief: Climate rule won't require private farmers' emissions data (Reuters), Tribes urge USDA to deny loan to Lake Superior gas plant (E&E $), New FEMA program lends $50M for climate protection (E&E $)

RETHINKING MINING: For a pittance, miners can work public land. There’s a push to make them pay. (New York Times $), Update needed for 1872 mining law to boost clean energy, report says (Washington Post $, The Hill), Bipartisan senators push abandoned mine cleanup bill (E&E $)

LAWSUITS: DOJ: Montana climate ruling doesn't help Juliana lawsuit (E&E $)

ChatCES: Advocates urge Chuck Schumer to tackle AI’s climate impact (The Verge)

POLITICS: Energy playing major role in Biden impeachment inquiry (E&E $), Ron DeSantis' shifting climate change politics: From 'green governor' to 'active hostility' (USA Today)

CITIES AND STATES: New CRC report shows Michigan’s infrastructure struggles under climate change pressure (Detroit Public TV), Houston in crosshairs under proposed EPA particulate standard (Houston Chronicle)

~CALIFORNIA: California would make corporations disclose carbon emissions under bill sent to Newsom (San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times $), California scales back EV rebates to focus on lower-income car buyers (LA Times $), California Senate passes climate bill, governor must decide by Oct 14 (Reuters)

IMPACTS: There is no end to disaster season anymore (Vox)

PRESERVING VENICE?: Venice may be put on the endangered list, thanks to human-created climate change (NPR), Cultural heritage matters when it comes to combating human-created climate change (NPR) 

ANTARCTIC-UH-OH: Climate change is creating strange ‘polygon fields’ in the Arctic, and scientists are worried (Vice), Antarctica may have entered ‘new regime’ of low sea ice as global warming ramps up (The Guardian)

HEAT: The end of summer vacation (Grist), Heat’s hidden risk (Washington Post $)

WILDFIRES: Wildfires are coming... for New Jersey? (Vox)

HURRICANES: Hurricane Lee, now very large, is raising wind and surf dangers along the East Coast (NPR)

NOT ENOUGH WATER: The ‘forever’ glaciers of America’s West aren’t forever anymore (New York Times $)

TOO MUCH WATER: Here's how climate change is making flooding events more likely (NBC Boston), Homeowners in Vermont weigh whether to repair or take a buyout after floods (NPR)

UNHEALTHY WATER: Climate change hurting water quality in rivers worldwide, study finds (Yale Environment 360), Their water is undrinkable. So these west Texas residents have taken matters into their own hands. (Grist)

CLIMATE DAMAGE IS $$$$: Record number of billion-dollar disasters shows the limits of America’s defenses (New York Times $), How back-to-back disasters strain community resources (Yale Climate Connections), Billion dollar US climate disasters prompt $1 billion Red Cross response (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: Clean energy investment rose 165% over past 5 years — report (E&E $)

BUILDINGS: Climate change causes another issue: an increased need for air conditioners (NPR), NYC rolls out new rules for looming cap on building emissions (E&E $)

HEAT PUMPS ARE SEXY: Heat pumps really bring the heat during those cold dark winter months, study says (Gizmodo), Actually, heat pumps are vastly more efficient in winter than oil and gas (Mother Jones)

METHANE: Just checking in on the Gates of Hell (Esquire)

OIL & GAS: Saudi oil cuts set to keep gasoline prices higher (Wall Street Journal $), Initiative will explore gas' role in carbon-cutting efforts (E&E $)

BYE BYE BYE: BP’s chief, Bernard Looney, resigns over relationships (New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Axios), BP chief’s surprise exit leaves questions over green strategy (Bloomberg $)

PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline sues its opponents (Roanoke Times)

POLLUTION: How climate pollution has risen since 1950 — and how fast it must fall (Heatmap $)

EVs: Every office should have an electric car charger (Heatmap $)

GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT: Cryptocurrency mining companies utilize fracking to generate electricity (Clayton County Register)

ACTIVISM: New York University will divest from fossil fuels in win for student activists (The Guardian)

COMMUNITY: How community feedback can improve the green energy transition (Grist)

SPACIAL AWARENESS: Why your perception of climate change threats might depend on where you live (Phys.org)

AGRICULTURE: What would happen if the world cut meat and milk consumption in half? (Grist)

BEER: Germany’s oldest hops thrived for centuries. Then came climate change. (New York Times $)

BOOKS: Graphic novel ‘Wildfire’ encourages middle-grade readers to take action on climate change (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

ART: In ‘Gravity,’ artist Tom Torluemke explores climate crisis through riveting landscapes (Block Club Chicago)

FILM: ‘King Coal' screens across Southwest Virginia starting this weekend (WVTF)

FASHION: Does the future of textiles include fermented fashion? (Modern Farmer)

BUSINESSES: Apple’s first ‘carbon neutral’ products are a red herring (The Verge), Apple’s climate PR is not actually complete BS (Heatmap $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Amazon follows Microsoft, investing big in carbon capture (CNBC, Axios, The Verge), SD PUC denies Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline (Dakota News Now)

FINANCE: Biden’s climate law is reshaping private investment in the United States (New York Times $)

HEALTH: The climate crisis is causing climate anxiety (Minnesota Public Radio), Study: lead exposure killed more than 5 million people in just one year (Grist), Breathing wildfire smoke could raise dementia risk, new study finds (Inside Climate News)

HUNGER: The UN's food program has a funding problem. Now millions are going hungry (NPR)

WILDLIFE: Invasive species and climate change: a perfect match? These animals thrive amid global warming. (USA Today), The race to prevent a wildlife disaster at California’s revived Tulare Lake (San Francisco Chronicle), Like canaries in a coal mine, dragonflies signal threats to freshwater ecosystems (Inside Climate News), Climate crisis is breaking down fungi-tree communication networks, study finds (EcoWatch)

NOPE NOPE NOPE: ‘Zombie trout’ unsettle Montana, long a fly-fishing mecca (New York Times $)

NOT THEIR FAULT: Beavers contributing to greenhouse gas production in the Arctic, study finds (City Life)

INTERNATIONAL: EU lawmakers approve a deal to raise renewable energy target to 42.5 percent of total consumption by 2030 (PBS NewsHour), Solar Power Europe predicts EU will reach its renewable energy goal 3 years early (Clean Technica), As OPEC’s energy influence wanes, China’s minerals clout rises (Wall Street Journal $), Seychelles aims to fully protect seagrass to curb climate change (Bloomberg Law)

• We just blew past 1.5 degrees. Game over on climate? Not yet (The Conversation, Ailie Gallant and Kimberley Reid)
• Coco Gauff won. So did climate-change protesters (Chronicle of Philanthropy, Margaret Klein Salamon)
• Africa is talking but is the West listening? (The Guardian, Peter Muiruri)
• Why the courts can be a powerful place for students to take action on climate change (Columbia Spectator, Claudia Sachs)
• What happened to Africa rising? it’s been another lost decade (Javier Blas, Bloomberg $)
• Amid natural gas crunch, an Alaska utility asks to resurrect in-state gas pipeline (Alaska Public Media)
• Mountain Valley Pipeline seeks federal approval for increased service cost, higher transportation rates (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Hawaii must heed the powerful warnings of climate change (Civil Beat, Michael Colón)
• FEMA isn’t ready for our new age of climate disasters (Bloomberg, Mark Gongloff $)
• Our oceans are threatened by climate disruption. They could also provide climate solutions (Scientific American, Nikki Batchelor, Michael Leitch, Brad Ack)

Shell Using Fortnite Ads To Shore Up Reputation Among Gen Z, Latest In 100 Years Of Gaming

For as long as it has known that its product causes climate change (decades), Shell has been on the cutting edge of the oil industry's many attempts to greenwash its products by making cringey appeals to the youth. Cognizant of millennials’ and Gen Z’s disdain for the industry’s nasty habit of poisoning the planet, Shell has used everything from music videos to social media influencers, in addition to the usual lobby shops, to launder its oil-stained reputation. 

Now, two years after researchers pinned down just how much climate change Shell's CEO is personally responsible for, the company is pursuing another advertising route to try and reach younger generations. While PragerU is making hamfisted efforts to reach children in schools, Shell knows where the cool kids hang out: video games. 

We recently spotted an ad for Shell’s "Ultimate Road Trips" partnership with Fortnite, a build-and-shoot multiplayer online game. Apparently the polluter has created a "new island in Fortnite," and the Shell island "is all about speed, acceleration, and performance, powered by Shell V-Power® NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline." 

Because when you're gaming, you definitely need to know about the superior speed and acceleration your real-world car will achieve with Shell V-Power® NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline. But lest the kids be misled by the YouTube clip of a car in Fortnite speeding away from a Shell station to take sick jumps off of snowy ramps, Shell does include an awkward disclaimer that “*This is an Ad. This is fantasy and isn't real performance of Shell V-Power® NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline.” 

Ah, okay, glad good ol’ Shell clarified that! Too bad the company isn’t as forthcoming about the damage its product does to the climate… 

And if a partnership with Fortnite somehow feels very 2018, we wouldn’t be surprised if Shell branches out into other video game sponsorships. This isn't actually its first foray into eSports advertising: the oil company also partnered with Riot Games for the 2019 European League of Legends Championship.

And back in 2013, Shell sponsored the creation of an online interactive game teaching primary school students about road safety. After all, when Shell's product is used as intended to power a car, said car can all too easily run over a child if the child doesn't learn quickly from a company-sponsored game. (Drivers of those increasingly giant gas guzzlers certainly won’t be able to see them!)

Shell isn’t the only fossil fuel company that’s tried to use video games to boost its reputation. Back in 2017, ExxonMobil was sponsoring Rocket League, "because cars." 

And if that isn’t enough oil industry propaganda for you: Going back 100 years, there's an Australian board game that advertises Shell products. The oil giant has been playing games with the public for a century, and we're still letting them do it. 

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