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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Climate change could blow up the global economy, and the world's banks aren't ready; U.S. banking system isn't ready for climate change, either; 'Coronavirus' dampening global demand for oil; New Jersey requires developers to design for climate impacts; PLUS: House Democrats roll out massive climate change legislation... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.
IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The climate crisis is about right and wrong; How the environmental lawyer who won a massive judgment against Chevron lost everything; Trump Administration moves to ease rules against killing birds; Indiana bill would make it harder to close coal plants; Is banning fossil fuel ads really the fix activists think it is?; 14 states sue EPA over chemical safety regulations rollback; U.S. carbon emissions will fall just 4 percent By 2050: EIA... PLUS: Missing Monarch Butterfly Activist Found Dead In Mexico... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- China's response to 'coronavirus' dampens global demand for oil:
- Coronavirus and the unexpected risk to oil demand (The Hill):
What is moving oil markets is the novel coronavirus...We are already witnessing a direct hit on oil demand. China is the world’s largest importer of oil, with over ten (mbd) in 2019. A dramatic slowdown in air travel, and closure of offices and manufacturing plants and stoppages on infrastructure projects, means a deepening impact on demand at a time of weakening overall global demand. - OPEC’s waning influence laid bare as coronavirus outbreak hammers oil prices, analysts say (CNBC)
- The Energy 202: Coronavirus is slowing the global demand for oil (Washington Post):
[A]nalysts say concerns about a massive spread of the virus — and potentially slower global economic growth overall— may depress energy prices even further. "The threat of a pandemic is having a larger effect than the effects of the actual outbreak." - World's banks not accounting for risk of climate shocks:
- Climate Change Could Blow Up the Economy. Banks Aren’t Ready. (NY Times):
Like other central banks, the E.C.B., which met on Thursday, is scrambling to prepare for what a report warns could be a coming economic upheaval...“Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to human societies, and our community of central banks and supervisors cannot consider itself immune to the risks ahead of us,” François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Banque de France, said in the report. - Central banks can't save the world from climate change, BIS says (Reuters):
If the more extreme climate scenarios start to play out, central banks, having played a vital role in the financial crisis, might be asked to step in as the “climate rescuer of last resort” - VIDEO: Pres. Christine Lagarde, ECB Governing Council Press Conference (ECB)
- Climate change becomes a top business threat (Axios)
- Warren calls on big U.S. banks for steps on climate risk (Reuters)
- Fed has a role in combating climate change risk, Powell says (Reuters)
- Report: The Green Swan [PDF] (Bank for International Settlement)
- U.S. banks not accounting for risk of stranded assets:
- The Biggest Threat to Financial Stability Is the Climate (David Dayen, American Prospect):
A new paper makes the case that financial regulators are ignoring the significant risks from a warming planet and even from efforts to green the economy. - AUDIO: David Dayen, U.S. Financial System 'Whistling Past a Climate Graveyard': 'BradCast' (The BRAD BLOG)
- House Democrats unveil massive 'green' infrastructure draft legislation:
- House Democrats unfurl climate-tinged infrastructure plan, but GOP support uncertain (Politico):
House Democratic leadership unveiled Wednesday the outlines for a $760 billion, five-year infrastructure package, an amalgamation of recurring highway and transit and water measures as well as an ambitious climate agenda meant to send a message as Congress pivots away from impeachment and toward the election. - House Democrats unveil $760B infrastructure plan with an ambitious climate agenda (Politico)
- House Democrats unveil $760 billion infrastructure package — and call on Trump for bipartisan push (Washington Post)
- Florida DEP moves to protect Everglades from oil drilling:
- Florida plans to buy and protect Everglades land in Broward targeted for oil drilling (Miami Herald):
A swath of land in the Everglades at the center of a fight between a family determined to drill for oil and a constellation of parties urging them not to might finally have a new future. The state intends to buy the 20,000-acre tract outright and halt the threat of oil drilling on the protected lands near Broward County’s western suburbs, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday. - Land buy ends Everglades oil drilling plan (Sun-Sentinal)
- New Jersey to require builders to design for climate impacts:
- With 130-Mile Coast, New Jersey Marks a First in Climate Change Fight (NY Times):
Builders will be forced to take climate change, including rising sea levels, into account to win government approval for projects. - Murphy just unveiled N.J.'s master plan for energy and made a big pledge to fight climate change (NJ.com)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page
- The Climate Crisis Is About Right and Wrong (Earther)
- How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything (The Intercept)
- Trump Administration Moves to Ease Rules Against Killing Birds (NY Times)
- Indiana Bill Would Make it Harder to Close Coal Plants (Inside Climate News)
- Is Banning Fossil Fuel Ads Really the Fix Activists Think It Is? (Drilled News)
- 14 States Sue EPA Over Chemical Safety Regulations Rollback (The Hill)
- U.S. Carbon Emissions Will Fall Just 4 Percent By 2050: EIA (The Hill)
- Study: Methane emissions in central U.S. twice EPA estimates (Penn State Univ.)
- Missing Monarch Butterfly Activist Found Dead In Mexico (AP)
- Colorado Launches Carbon, Energy Programs For Cannabis Firms (Denver Post)
- Bureau Of Land Management Scrubs Stewardship Language From News Releases (Huffington Post)
- What Does '12 Years to Act on Climate Change' (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
- VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
- SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
- Explainer: The 'Green New Deal': Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
- What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
- A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
- Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
- An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
- The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
- The world's bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
- The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps. - The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak - sooner than you think. - A beginner's guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it's possible for the whole world to run on renewables - we merely lack the "political will." So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page