Collected headlines from around the web, every weekday.
In a major step against climate change, President Biden is proposing to return to aggressive Obama-era vehicle mileage standards over five years, the Associated Press reports. Biden aims to achieve even tougher anti-pollution rules after that to forcefully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nudge 40 percent of U.S. drivers into electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
Associated Press
Global efforts to tackle climate change suffered another setback this week as India, the world’s third-biggest emitter, failed to attend a key diplomatic gathering in London, Bloomberg Green reports. India was the only one of 51 invited countries that didn’t attend the ministerial meeting hosted by the incoming COP26 president. The move could signal further hurdles for the upcoming global talks.
Bloomberg
Before nations signed onto the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international pact that aims to keep global warming between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century to avoid catastrophe, one economist’s research showed the accord may have been doomed to fail all along. So, can the deal still be salvaged? The Montreal Protocol, signed 34 years ago, offers some critical lessons.
Inside Climate News
A group of 14,000 scientists, who have collectively declared a global climate emergency, are doubling down on their calls for the world’s governments to do more to curb global warming. In a paper published in BioScience on Wednesday, the scientists said that governments had consistently failed to address “the overexploitation of the Earth,” which they say is the root cause of the climate crisis.
Al Jazeera
The Senate voted 58-41 Tuesday to confirm Todd Kim as the first Asian American to lead the Justice Department’s environmental office, with eight Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with all the chamber’s Democrats, The Hill reports. Kim will be responsible for enforcement of federal environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act.
The Hill
By the end of the year, Royal Dutch Shell plans to complete a deal to buy the renewable energy company Inspire Energy as part of the oil giant’s larger strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Reuters reports. Like other oil companies, Shell has come under investor pressure to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and has pledged to spend more on low carbon technologies.
Reuters
The water levels at the Great Salt Lake have hit a historic low, a grim milestone for the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River that comes as a megadrought grips the region, the Associated Press reports. The new record comes months earlier than when the lake typically hits its lowest level of the year, indicating water levels could continue to drop even further, officials said.
Associated Press
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it intends to set more stringent standards on water pollution from coal power plants, reinstating regulations that the Trump administration had rolled back, CNN reports. But the administration won’t begin drafting the replacement rule until fall of 2022, drawing some criticism from environmentalists that officials aren’t moving fast enough.
CNN
A nine-year-old defamation case can continue against bloggers, who prominent climate scientist Michael Mann says spread disinformation regarding his scientific work. But Mann cannot sue the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank that published the blogger’s work, a Washington, D.C. judge ruled. The decision shows the high burden of proof required under the First Amendment.
Inside Climate News
Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in California’s Klamath River as low water levels brought about by drought allow a parasite to thrive, devastating a Native American tribe whose diet and traditions are tied to the fish, the Associated Press reports. Separately, the Sacramento River is facing a “near-complete loss” of young Chinook salmon due to abnormally warm water, officials said.
Associated Press
President Biden’s push for “good, union jobs” in clean energy has increased hope that organizing solar and wind workers can close the pay gap between them and fossil fuel workers. Comparisons between the fossil fuel and renewable energy industries are complicated, but one thing that’s clear is that median wages for solar and wind remain lower in comparison. Labor organizers want to change that.
Inside Climate News
China didn’t finance any coal projects via its Belt and Road Initiative in the first half of the year, marking the first time the program bucked funding such projects since it was launched in 2013, Bloomberg Green reports. The move comes amid increased scrutiny from investors and environmental groups due to concern over coal’s outsized contribution to man-made climate change.
Bloomberg
Most of the nation can expect above-average temperatures this week as a giant heat wave descends on much of the continental United States, USA Today reports. Affected regions will see temperatures spiking at least 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit above average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, with many states seeing triple digits.
USA Today
More than 200 of the world’s leading climate scientists will begin meeting today to finalize a landmark report summarizing how Earth’s climate has already changed, and what humans can expect for the rest of the century, NPR reports. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report, last issued in 2013, comes as worldwide deadly disasters underscore the urgency of addressing global warming.
NPR
Arctic seabirds, found dead in their nests a decade ago, could be “canaries in the coal mine for the effects of climate change,” warned scientist Emily Choy, author of a new study that looks at whether Arctic species can adapt in a rapidly warming world. The traits that allow the high-latitude animals to thrive in cold climates could now threaten their survival, the study found.
Inside Climate News
As California’s Dixie fire, just north of California, converged with a second blaze Saturday night, officials ordered evacuations in several communities, Reuters reports. As firefighters struggled to contain the Dixie fire, which has incinerated more than 190,000 acres, officials in Northern California worry the smoke columns could spawn lightning storms that ignite more blazes.
Reuters
Officials have reported that at least 130 people are dead and nearly 100,000 have been displaced after a Monsoon hit India this weekend, causing severe flooding and deadly landslides, The Hill reports. One landslide killed 38 people in a small village, and 59 more were reported dead after nine separate landslides plowed through parts of Maharashtra, government officials said.
The Hill
Mecca, the site of an annual Muslim pilgrimage, is already one of the world’s hottest cities. But the 2 million that gather there each year may soon face deadlier conditions, a new study shows. Another study found warming temperatures are to blame for Monarch butterfly declines. And an artist attempts to convey the climate crisis on painted seaweed. That and more in the latest Warming Trends.
Inside Climate News
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