San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO Mary Daly says climate change may pose a long-term risk to financial institutions that requires further study, though she is arguing for preparations now to ease the transition to a cleaner energy economy while noting that rebuilding the economy from the pandemic poses a more immediate concern.
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A federal appellate court is vacating the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of a natural gas pipeline for failing to adequately demonstrate it is needed, a ruling that bolsters environmentalists’ efforts to challenge such projects over their climate and other adverse effects.
North Dakota is joining other state and industry groups asking the Supreme Court to review and reverse a lower court ruling vacating the Trump EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) power plant climate rule just weeks before the Biden administration faces a deadline to respond to similar requests filed by other state and industry groups.
Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) has floated draft energy legislation that could influence a bipartisan infrastructure deal or be part of a Democrats-only package for approval under reconciliation, but it does not include a proposed Clean Electricity Standard (CES) which senior Biden administration officials have cited as a priority for achieving the president’s climate goals.
As President Joe Biden meets with financial regulators to discuss climate and other regulatory issues, a top official is echoing industry calls for the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) upcoming proposed climate disclosure rule to balance the broader use of metrics with principle-based reporting focused on the materiality of climate risks.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff are calling for negotiating an international carbon “price floor” among the United States and other key nations as a way to meet climate goals and encourage joint action, with officials suggesting it could accommodate the Biden administration’s approach favoring rules and investments over direct carbon pricing.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal year 2022 budget request includes new and increased spending for projects to develop geothermal energy, a low-emitting source of baseload power, that senior officials say is intended in part to help access oil and gas industry skills as the administration pushes to a net-zero economy and a transition away from fossil fuels.
California lawmakers have passed their fiscal year 2021-22 budget, but how billions of dollars in approved funding for climate, environmental and resources programs will be specifically allocated will be spelled out in upcoming budget “trailer bills” that will be negotiated by Democratic leaders and Newsom administration officials in the coming weeks.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a policy statement to clarify that states and transmission providers can enter into agreements on planning and paying for more power lines beyond current regional transmission organizations (RTOs), a move that could allow greater grid access for low-carbon renewable energy.
Appellate judges are grappling with how to quantify greenhouse gases stemming from approval of a coal mine expansion, appearing to reject environmentalists’ calls that the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) must use the social cost of carbon (SCC) metric to quantify long-term climate damages while also disputing the way OSM calculated the project’s GHGs.
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Environmentalists are ramping up calls for EPA to issue rules that achieve at least a 65 percent cut in methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas facilities by 2025 from 2012 levels, offering a broad show of support at agency listening sessions on the issue even as some industry officials warn against overly tough limits.
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Weekly Analysis
A new report may provide the Biden administration and key agencies with a roadmap to speed permitting and approval for major transmission and other projects that are needed to bolster clean energy development regardless of whether Congress revises the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an issue that officials acknowledge could stymie their climate agenda.
Climate Currents
New details on the emerging bipartisan Senate infrastructure plan show lawmakers plan to seek spending on some climate-related programs while also adding provisions from Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) draft energy bill.
"If it is regressive taxation -- you know, raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles, or the privatization of infrastructure, no I wouldn’t support it,” the Senate Budget Committee Chairman says.
Our top stories from this week include the Biden administration’s sprawling regulatory agenda, EPA’s plan to speed up vehicle rules, FERC’s latest steps on climate, and more.
Week Ahead
Lawmakers will continue to weigh President Joe Biden’s calls to fund low-carbon technologies and climate resilience as part of pending infrastructure talks and in the fiscal year 2022 budget. The Office of Management and Budget is slated to receive comments that could shape how the Biden administration revises the social cost of carbon damages metric.
Insider
The Biden administration’s regulatory plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, part of its sweeping strategy that includes reshaping major portions of the economy, is starting to take shape with the recent release of its semiannual rulemaking agenda.
Voices
White House international climate envoy John Kerry is rejecting the notion that natural gas pipelines will automatically become “stranded assets” as the economy shifts toward net-zero emissions, arguing such pipeline networks can be repurposed to transport low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia.
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