‘Green News Report’ – January 19, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: European Union unveils ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ to compete with America’s Inflation Reduction Act; Banks still spending billions on new fossil fuel projects despite net zero pledges; German police crack down on anti-coal protests; PLUS: Dark money groups led Ohio Republicans to legally redefine natural gas as ‘green energy’… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Climate misinformation gets ‘rocket boosters’ on Musk’s Twitter; As CA storms end, reckoning with flood insurance begins; ‘It’s time to start suing’: GOP states tee up next WOTUS war; Oil company chief’s appointment to lead COP28 climate conference sparks backlash; Greenland warmest it’s been in 1,000 years; Oil companies sue Los Angeles over ban on oil and gas drilling; Wyoming lawmakers propose ban on EVs by 2035; VA GOP governor axes new Ford EV battery plant and 2,500 jobs …PLUS: Republicans’ ‘Solyndra’ search impacts GOP districts… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• German police crack down on anti-coal protest:
• VIDEO: Lutzerath: Why are people protesting at coal village where Greta Thunberg was detained? (Independent UK)
• HSBC’s secretive loan to a coal company bulldozing a village (Bureau of Investigative Journalism)
• VIDEO: German Police Stuck in Mud Taunted by ‘Wizard’ at Coal Mine Protest (Yahoo News)
• Germany plans to destroy this village for a coal mine. Thousands are gathering to stop it (CNN):
  As far back as 2013, the German courts ruled the company was able to expand, even at the expense of nearby villages… [I]n October 2022, the government struck a deal with RWE that saved several villages – including Kuckum – but allowed Lützerath to be demolished to give RWE access to the coal beneath it. In return, RWE agreed to bring forward its coal phase-out from 2038 to 2030…”We were able to save five villages and three farms from being destroyed.”
• Banks are still bankrolling fossil fuels despite climate change pledges:
• Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2022 (Banking on Climate Chaos)
• Banks still investing heavily in fossil fuels despite net zero pledges – study (Guardian UK)
• New report shows just how much the world’s biggest banks give to oil and gas companies: ‘The dirty dozen’ (The Cool Down)
• Citi, BofA Lead Wall Street Banks Funding Fossil-Fuel Expansion (Bloomberg News/Yahoo News)
• Banks Signed a ‘Net Zero’ Pledge, Then Shoveled Cash at Fossil Fuels (Earther 3/31/2022):
  The world’s most powerful banks have funded fossil fuel projects to the tune of $4.6 trillion in the six years since the Paris Agreement.
• Dark money groups led Ohio GOP to redefine natural gas as ‘green energy’:
• How dark money groups led Ohio to redefine gas as ‘green energy’ (Washington Post):
  Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group, assisted in the effort.
  …
  The Empowerment Alliance, meanwhile, has barely paused to celebrate its victory in Ohio. The group is already targeting other energy-rich states.
• Lobbying, ‘dark money’ were behind Ohio law rebranding natural gas as ‘green energy,’ records show (Cleveland Plain Dealer):
  “It help[s] companies that are subject to ESG requirements in our state,” wrote an aide to Sen. Mark Romanchuk, a Republican who drafted the amendment, referring to the investment strategy that accounts for a company’s carbon footprint and corporate responsibility.
• AUDIO: Now we know: Mike DeWine, OH lawmakers were puppets of natural gas honchos in defining methane as green energy (Today in Ohio, Editor Chris Quinn, Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• Ohio GOP leadership shrugs off dark money behind bill rebranding gas as ‘green energy’ (Cleveland Plain Dealier):
  Recently revealed records show an executive within the natural gas industry, from under cover of a dark money nonprofit, pushed state lawmakers to legally redefine the methane-based fossil fuel as ‘green energy’ months before the idea was rushed through the statehouse in a 36-hour dash.
• E.U. unveils Green Deal Industrial Plan to counter US Inflation Reduction Act:
• EU Commission announces ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’, but no fresh money (Euractiv):
  The initiative comes largely in response to America’s $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was widely criticised in Europe for incentivising EU automakers to relocate production across the Atlantic. It also comes in reaction to Chinese subsidies for the production of green technologies and raw materials that depend on it.
• EU to prepare law to help its green industry (Reuters):
  The EU is concerned that European companies will move to the United States, which has a $369 billion scheme to subsidize green production. The EU will therefore provide money for its industry as well, von der Leyen said.
• VIDEO: E.U. pushes forward with ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ for clean tech (NBC News)

‘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

• Climate Misinformation ‘Rocket Boosters On Musk’s Twitter (AP)
• As California’s Storms End, Reckoning With Flood Insurance About To Begin (Grist)
• ‘It’s Time To Start Suing’: [GOP] States Tee Up Next WOTUS War (E&E News)
• Oil company chief’s appointment to lead COP28 climate conference sparks backlash (ABC News)
• Renters: Was Your Home Damaged by Rain or Floods? Here’s What to Do (KQED)
• Oil companies sue Los Angeles over ban on oil and gas drilling (CNBC)
• Wyoming Legislators Want to Ban EVs by 2035 (Autoweek/Yahoo News)
• One of the World’s Coldest Places Is Now the Warmest it’s Been in 1,000 Years, Scientists Say (Inside Climate News)
• The secretive legal weapon that fossil fuel interests use against climate-conscious countries (Salon)
• Ford EV battery plant halted by Youngkin would have created 2,500 jobs in Southside (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Republicans’ ‘Solyndra’ search impacts GOP districts (Axios)
• Another North Carolina power substation was damaged by gunfire (NPR)
• Brazilian Meat Giant Under Fire For Allegedly Misleading Investors (Washington Post)
• Over 90 percent of Rainforest Carbon Offsets By Top Provider Worthless: Study (Guardian UK)
• ‘Advanced’ Plastic Recycling Is Costly and Polluting: Study (Inside Climate News)
• Ocean heat hit another record high in 2022, fueling extreme weather (CNN)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’ (AP)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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.