Date: 2024-09-27 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021784
DAILY HEADLINES
AXIOS
Axios Daily Headlines for March 1st 2022
AXIOS
Axios Daily Headlines for March 1st 2022
Original article:
Burgess COMMENTARY
The world is very complex, but only a very few metrics are discussed by the media and delivered to the general public. These metrics are woefully outdated and are used more to support various types of misinformation and disinformation than anything else. The metrics that are used to make most of the big decisions that have impact on the performance of the socio-enviro-economic system as a whole are not easily visible ... and for good reason.
Peter Burgess
By Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman ·... Axios Generate
March 1st 2022 ... 8:45 AM
- 🚨 Situational awareness: U.S. oil prices traded at a seven-year high this morning.
1 big thing: Supreme Court hints at constraining Biden on climate
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
The Supreme Court's conservative majority looks keen to limit executive power to issue sweeping climate rules absent new legislation, but it's unclear if they'll unite around greatly curtailing federal regulatory discretion writ large, Ben writes.
Catch up fast: The high court held arguments yesterday in related cases about now-defunct regulations to curb carbon emissions from the electricity sector, the second-largest U.S. source of heat-trapping gases.
A few takeaways...
1. New limits appear likely. Harvard Law professor Richard Lazarus said there appear to be six votes to 'align' the case with recent rulings against the federal eviction moratorium and vaccine mandates.
That would prompt the court to 'sharply cut back on EPA’s authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants,' he said via email.
2. The appetite to go big is unclear. A huge question is whether the court's 6-3 conservative majority will set a precedent that broadly cuts executive power to regulate on 'major questions' absent explicit congressional blessing.
'While some warned this case could be a Waterloo for the administrative state, most of the oral argument focused narrowly on how to interpret the relevant provisions of the Clean Air Act,' Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Adler said in a post yesterday. 'The major questions doctrine was raised repeatedly throughout the argument, largely as an input to the statutory interpretation inquiry, rather than as a stalking horse for the nondelegation doctrine.'
3. Timing is everything. The argument occurred just hours after United Nations-convened scientists issued a massive report that finds global warming is reshaping the world more rapidly and severely than was known several years ago.
The case is unfolding as President Biden's push for massive new federal investments in clean energy has stalled in Congress. That puts a heavier burden on the federal agencies to act via regulation, even as their authority is now in doubt.
4. There's probably no escape hatch. The majority seems ready to weigh in, contra Biden officials' argument that the case isn't ready for action because there are currently no power plant CO2 regulations in place.
'Chief Justice Roberts made it clear that he thinks the case is justiciable even though the government made a strong argument that any ruling would be only an advisory opinion,' University of Maryland law professor Robert Percival tells Axios via email.
Go deeper: Supreme Court conservatives seem skeptical of EPA’s authority for broad emissions regulation (Washington Post)
2. Big Oil's partial break with Russia
Illustration of a fissure in the ground opening up towards barrels of oil. Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Multinational oil-and-gas giant TotalEnergies today said it won't fund new projects in Russia but did not follow BP, Shell and Equinor in pulling out of existing investments there, Ben writes.
Driving the news: The French-based major said it 'condemns Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, which has tragic consequences for the population and threatens Europe.'
TotalEnergies has a 19.4% stake in the big Russian natural gas company Novatek and its work with them includes LNG onshore gas joint ventures, as well as onshore oil interests.
The intrigue: The situation appears fluid. Bloomberg reports that 'France is still weighing the potential impact of a complete pullout from Russia by TotalEnergies.'
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is meeting with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné today, it reports, citing an unnamed source.
What we're watching: Exxon, which has longstanding investments and operations in Russia, including a 30% stake in the big Sakhalin oil-and-gas project in the far east.
Exxon has not responded to requests for comment on its Russian holdings. Company officials are sure to face questions at its investor day presentation tomorrow morning.
* * *
Speaking of Russian energy, Reuters reports: 'The Swiss-based company which built the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is considering filing for insolvency, two sources familiar with the situation said, as it attempts to settle claims ahead of a U.S. sanction deadline for other entities to stop dealings with it.'
3. Exclusive: Solar deal hints at supply constraints
Illustration of a stack of solar panels with a currency band Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (GSI) tells Axios that it’s bought a portfolio of utility-scale solar projects from Denver-based developer CMDAJ Holdings, Axios' Alan Neuhauser scoops.
Why it matters: The transaction shows how some companies are preparing for expected supply chain constraints in 2022, especially in solar markets.
'Developing utility-scale takes 2-3 years, minimum,' GSI CEO Mazen Turk tells Axios. 'We feel fairly comfortable that this will get resolved before we have the need to acquire panels and develop the plants.'
Zoom in: The deal will see GSI buy a 233 MW portfolio of utility-scale projects from CMDAJ, signaling GSI's start at larger-scale projects.
GSI has largely focused on smaller distributed and community solar projects, the biggest amounting to about 7 MW of generating capacity. The transaction will more than triple GSI's solar-energy holdings and double its footprint in the U.S. from 5 to 10 states, a company spokesperson says.
Read the whole story.
Fossil fuels aren’t going anywhere until we can power jets, replace plastics and heat industrial processes with sustainable alternatives.
Okay, but: We need to produce and refine oil and gas with the lowest emissions possible — and we’re going to do it with data.
Learn the impact data can have.
Bonus: New solar tech VC support
Aurora Solar, a tech platform that helps solar developers design and sell projects, raised $200 million in a Series D funding round led by Coatue and Energize Ventures.
'Aurora Solar will accelerate its mission to create a future of clean energy by equipping solar professionals with a powerful and accessible software platform for every step of the solar adoption process,' it said in a release.
ICYMI: 'Palmetto Clean Technology, a home solar and energy company, raised about $375 million in a funding round led by Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital.' (Bloomberg)
4. Chart of the day: U.S. electric car sales
Reproduced from DOE; Chart: Axios Visuals
Sales of plug-in vehicles — including battery-electric and plug-in hybrids — nearly doubled last year, even as the auto industry grappled with widespread supply chain disruptions, Axios' Joann Muller reports.
Zoom in:
- The industry sold 608,000 plug-in vehicles in 2021, up from 308,000 a year ago.
- EVs rose 85% and accounted for three out of four plug-ins sold (the vast majority of them Teslas).
- Plug-in hybrid sales grew 138%.
- The growth was remarkable considering that overall vehicles sales were up just 3% in 2021.
- The big picture: The biggest transportation shift in more than a century has begun.
The American Petroleum Institute wants the Interior Department to clarify the effects of a federal judge's ruling that thwarts regulators from using a key metric of harms from carbon emissions, Ben writes.
Driving the news: API's letter seeks specifics on lease sales and permits delayed by Interior's response to the Feb. 11 injunction on use of the White House's social cost of carbon estimate.
Why it matters: Interior statements and federal court filings said the injunction will tie up many analyses unless stayed pending appeal.
What they're saying: API disputes the administration's expansive view of the injunction's impact, arguing it should be more limited.
Their letter calls the social cost metric 'inappropriate for use in any project-level or site-specific application.'
Go deeper: Federal judge halts Biden admin from using social cost of carbon
6. Number of the day: 11.7%
That's the decline in Lucid Motors' stock price in after-hours trading. The drop came after the luxury electric car startup cut its production forecast. Go deeper
A MESSAGE FROM COGNITE
Why data is crucial in building the energy systems of tomorrow
We’re headed for a future where electricity is generated when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and where every house has solar panels on the roof and an electric vehicle in the garage.
Take note: Our grids aren’t prepared for that complexity — yet. With data-driven technology, they can be.
Bring the strength of Smart Brevity® to your team — more effective communications, powered by Axios HQ.
Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you’re interested in advertising, learn more here.
Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content.
Axios, 3100 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201
You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.