Climate Change and 'Heat Islands' Are Killing People Of Color: Extreme heat fueled by climate change kills more people in the US than any other weather-related event each year, and those who are at the greatest risk of dying are Black and brown people. People who die from extreme heat are typically older, have underlying health conditions, and don’t have access to air conditioning or any greenspace in their neighborhood. A 2021 study of the 175 largest urban areas in the US found that people of color were more likely than white people to live on what are called “heat islands,” where the buildings, roofs, roads, sidewalks, and parking lots absorb and radiate the sun’s heat, while not providing any trees, parks, ponds, or lakes that naturally cool the surrounding landscape. Black people in New York City are twice as likely to die from heat than their white counterparts, as there’s a 35-degree difference on a hot day in the South Bronx compared to the Upper West Side. (The Root, Derrick Z. Jackson column)

Breakthrough Deal Will Help Protect Drought-Stricken Colorado River: A deal struck between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut about 13 percent of the total water use in the lower Colorado Basin - around a trillion gallons - over the next four years. The agreement is an effort to protect the country’s largest reservoirs from dropping to critical levels because of a climate change-induced megadrought, and is the largest reduction of water use in recent history. Farms and residents across the Southwest are likely to experience significant water reductions. “This is a step in the right direction but a temporary solution,” Dave White, a professor at Arizona State University told Grist. “This deal does not address the long-term water sustainability challenges in the region.” Cities and irrigation districts in qualifying states will receive around $1.2 billion from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for using less water. (AP, CNN, Axios, NPR, Grist, New York Times $, Washington Post $, LA Times $)

Biden Admin Pauses Resolution Copper Mine Construction On Apache Holy Site: The US Forestry Service was expected to issue an environmental impact statement for the transfer of a 2,422-acre piece of land known as Oak Flat to Resolution Copper Mining LLC, but decided to delay that decision after a large coalition of Indigenous groups, including the National Congress of American Indians, voiced opposition to the mine. Oak Flat includes a holy site continuously used by the Apache for thousands of years. The issuance of the environmental impact statement would nearly finalize the transfer of land to the mining company, which estimates that the low-grade ore below the site contains about 40 billion pounds of copper. (E&E $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) INJUSTICE: Air conditioning is a human right.' Heat-related prison deaths are rising due to climate change (TIME), How an energy giant helped law enforcement quell the Standing Rock protests (Grist), The US is expanding CO2 pipelines. One poisoned town wants you to know its story (NPR), How companies become allies for environmental justice (Greenbiz)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden’s billion-dollar oil trade faces a big test (Wall Street Journal $)

THE HILL: Gaps in climate rule reveal 'last-minute' changes (E&E $)

SENATE: How Tom Carper made his mark as a Biden-era climate leader (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: Will R.I. enact the Environmental Justice Act this year? (Boston Globe $), States ranking high in renewable energy jobs gave generous incentives (PolitiFact)

IMPACTS: Storms are on the horizon around the world: weather watch (Bloomberg $), Guam braces for hit from Typhoon Mawar as storm heads toward the Pacific US territory (AP), The unequal burden of extreme weather and climate disasters (Axios), UN agency: 2M killed, $4.3 trillion in damages from extreme weather over past half-century (AP), Global heating will push billions outside ‘human climate niche’ (The Guardian), Orlando a favorite among best cities to avoid worst climate change impacts. Here are others. (USA Today), ‘Too toxic’: Refinery fires leave East Texas residents reeling (Washington Post $)

HEAT: Quantifying the human cost of global warming (Nature Sustainability), Global temperature rise could see billions live in places where human life doesn’t flourish, study says (CNN, Guardian), India scorched by extreme heat with monsoon rains delayed (AP), One in three people will live in dangerously hot areas by 2080 (Bloomberg $), Heat insurance offers climate change lifeline to poor workers (Reuters)

FLOODS: Photos show the extreme impact of Italy's deadly floods (Gizmodo),  Italy's deadly floods are yet another example of climate change extremes, experts say (Euronews)

MOCHA: Concern rising in Myanmar that supplies needed for recovery from Cyclone Mocha are coming too slowly (AP)

RENEWABLES:  Renewable energy company to bring 1,000 jobs, $1 billion to Oklahoma economy (Kiowa County Press), Community solar moves forward; developers chosen to set up renewable energy facilities (SourceNM), Volvo Group partners with Vattenfall for renewable energy (Just-Auto), Renewables will help meet summer energy demand (San Antonio Report $), Hawaiian Electric renegotiates renewable energy contracts (Star Advertiser)

EV(il)s: Exxon joins hunt for lithium in bet on EV boom (Wall Street Journal $)

OIL & GAS: An oil refiner leans on manure to provide a greener future (New York Times $), Norway faces backlash from campaigners for ‘reckless’ pursuit of Arctic oil and gas (CNBC),  Equinor sticking by green power plans despite 'complexities': Europe renewables chief (ReCharge), The National Renewable Energy Laboratory gets $150 million for expansions in Arvada and Golden (Colorado Public Radio), Qatar warns Europe of gas shortages in switch to renewables (Bloomberg $), UK bureaucracy holding back renewable investments, Abu Dhabi power boss says (FT $)

METHANE: Colorado frackers doubled freshwater use during megadrought, even as drilling and oil production fell (Inside Climate News), Intensity of methane emissions by oil and gas industry declined (Bloomberg $)

OSW: An American oil hub is pivoting to offshore wind (Bloomberg $), Healey administration seeks $250m in federal funds to boost grid for offshore wind (Boston Globe $)

TRANSMISSION: California has a new $7.3B plan to fix its transmission problems (Canary Media), California grid operator signs off on $7.3 billion of power lines (Reuters)

MINERALS: Data shows how the cost of energy transition minerals has soared since 2020 (Energy Monitor)

ACTIVISM: German chancellor calls some climate activists’ protests ‘nutty’ (AP), Climate activists dump charcoal in Rome’s Trevi Fountain (CNN), Trevi Fountain water turned black by climate activists protesting fossil fuels (CBS), Shell CEO shielded by security as climate protesters try to storm AGM stage (Reuters)

NUKES: Oklo announces plans for 2 nuclear plants in Ohio area touted as prime real estate for advanced reactors (Utility Dive)

FUTURISM: We looked at 1,200 possibilities for the planet’s future. These are our best hope. (Washington Post $)

CARS: Eight EU nations push back on new car exhaust pollution rules (Bloomberg $), How our obsession with parking fuels the climate crisis (City Limits)

FINANCE: Swiss Re becomes fourth insurer to leave net zero group (Bloomberg $), Chevron to buy PDC energy in $6.3 billion stock swap (Wall Street Journal $), Big polluters’ share prices fall after climate lawsuits, study finds (The Guardian), 'Carbon majors' face biggest hit from climate litigation - study (Reuters), Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help (NPR)

JOYSTICKS: The video game industry Is slowly waking up to climate change (CNET)

BOOKS: Dark novel ‘Blue Skies’ explores world hit by climate change (Republican-American)

‘MEAT’: There's a big environmental downside to lab-grown meat, UC Davis study finds (San Francisco Chronicle)

HAHA: Strange, unpredictable, and energizing: Dark comedy as climate solution (Yale Climate Connections), ‘The Great North’s showrunners on exploding rotten meat, climate change gags and summer strike bods (Cracked)

TUNES: Dolly parton’s new song is a climate anthem — if you want it to be (Grist)

UNI: University investment funds urge ‘bold action’ to stop new fossil fuel projects (The Guardian)

TICKED OFF: Experts track new tick species and diseases in Maine (NewsCenter)

INTERNATIONAL: G7 calls on all countries to reach net zero by 2050 (Climate Home), Germany rejects criticism it watered down language on gas at G7 summit (AP), G7 accused of issuing climate goals with glaring loophole: ‘Time is running out’ (The Independent), How big a deal is US and Australian cooperation on climate and energy? (The Guardian), Unpacking the Group of Seven's climate outcome (Axios)

• Keeping small islands financially afloat (Project Syndicate, Ralph Gonsalves, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa and Wavel Ramkalawan)

• One Planet, Two Crises: Tackling climate change and biodiversity in the fight for our future (Scientific American, Katharine Hayhoe op-ed)

• Urgency needed in fight against climate change (Las Vegas Sun, Chris Brooks)

• Climate change gave us the Great Salt Lake, but it’s not the reason it’s shrinking today (Deseret News, William Hayden Smith)

• The climate crisis is Maine’s storm of the century (Portland Press Herald, Kathleen Meil)

  Gov. Newsom cuts climate change protections in California (Sacramento Bee,

• Robin Epley $)

• Why I stopped arguing about the climate emergency and tried the silent treatment instead (The Guardian, Helena Echlin)

• The top global solar power potential hotspots (Reuters, Gavin Maguire column)
• Time the wind industry found its ambition on gender diversity (Wind Power Monthly, Kate Jackson)
• Natural gas, renewables are vital partners in reducing emissions (NOLA, Mary Landrieu $)

Top 21 Fossil Fuel Companies Owe At Least $5.4 Trillion In Climate Reparations

Yesterday, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization released new data showing that extreme weather, climate, and water-related events caused almost 12,000 disasters between 1970 and 2021, resulting in economic losses of $4.3 trillion.

Who should pay for these huge costs? A new paper has a suggestion: the fossil fuel companies responsible.

A peer-reviewed paper published in One Earth last Friday, called "Time to pay the piper: Fossil fuel companies’ reparations for climate damages," argues that “fossil fuel producers contributed to climate harm through their operational and product emissions, have a documented history of climate denial and of discourse and practices of delay, disinformed the public and their shareholders on climate science and corporate risks, are complicit in slowing down or defeating climate legislation, and must be held accountable for climate harm by paying reparations.”

The authors analyzed the operational and product-related emissions from 1988 to 2022 of the top 21 fossil fuel companies, surveyed 738 climate economists, and concluded that the 21 companies are responsible for $5.4 trillion in cumulative reparations over the period of 2025 to 2050.

The company with the most cumulative emissions between 1988 and 2022, according to the authors, is Saudi Aramco. The study argues that the oil giant owes $1.11 trillion in cumulative reparations, which amounts to $42.7 billion annually over 26 years. The next four are familiar names that also owe massive annual reparations: ExxonMobil ($18.4 billion), Shell ($16.3 billion), BP ($14.5 billion), and Chevron ($12.8 billion).

Harjeet Singh of Climate Action Network International told The Guardian, “This new report puts the numbers on the table – polluters can no longer hide from their crimes against humanity and nature.”

That said, don’t hold your breath for these companies to suddenly start using their profits to make up for their mistakes. Rather, study co-author Richard Heede told Inside Climate News that the main point of the study is to fuel a discussion. “We have no rational mechanism for raising funds, or managing funds or allocating funds to victims of climate change. And so we expect a vigorous debate about which approach is fair,” Heede stated.

Deniers previously exploded in outrage at the idea of climate reparations in the form of the historic COP27 loss and damage fund, and we have no doubt that they’ll react just as immaturely to this study. If and when they do, we’re ready for the “vigorous debate”!

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