HAPPENING TODAY: U.S. and China climate officials are meeting today in Washington to discuss working together to combat climate change within the decade – the first formal negotiating meeting between White House Climate Advisor John Podesta and China’s envoy for climate change, Liu Zhenmin.
The details: According to the State Department, the U.S. will host Zhenmin today and tomorrow for meetings, building off of previous meetings in Sunnyland, California, in November 2023. Following the November meeting, the department reaffirmed a promise from both countries to collaborate on actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and work on concrete climate solutions under a bilateral working group.
More specifically, the meeting will focus on the “energy transition, methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases, circular economy and resource efficiency, low-carbon and sustainable provinces/states and cities, and deforestation, among others,” according to a statement.
Why this is important: Any actions resulting from this week’s meetings could create a pathway for movement ahead of the COP29 global climate conference in Azerbaijan in November.
But: Keep in mind the background of rising tension between the two countries on the issues of trade and energy. Just recently, the Biden administration has finalized rules that would designate China as a “foreign entity of concern” – a wonky term that works to limit the participation of these countries in the domestic battery supply chain, while bolstering the U.S. and allied nations’ domestic manufacturing and battery processing for electric vehicles. China currently dominates the supply chain for the critical minerals processing related to EVs.
Be on the lookout for: Any further statements from the visit that outlines any actions from both countries.
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ENERGY DEPARTMENT IDENTIFIES PRIORITY SITES FOR EXPEDITED POWER LINES: The Department of Energy released a list of the first 10 sites it has identified for expedited buildout of power lines to connect clean energy to grids using authorities and funding available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
The details: Giving the sites the designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue permits for building or modifying power transmission facilities along the site, including in some circumstances where a state cannot or has not acted on an application for siting.
That could include granting developers right-of-way via eminent domain – which could be controversial in certain circumstances, if a project is opposed by landowners, environmentalists, or other interest groups.
“In order to reach our clean energy and climate goals, we’ve got to build out transmission as fast as possible to get clean power from where it’s produced to where it’s needed,” Podesta said in a statement.
Being given the designation also makes transmission projects eligible for consideration for funding via public-private partnerships under a BIL program and for direct loans under the IRA.
The sites: Many of the sites run parallel to existing rights of way, such as state highways and high-voltage transmission lines, DOE said. They also have the potential to connect wind and solar to the grid, and to increase transmission between the Eastern and Western Interconnections. DOE has maps of the corridors on its website.
ON YOUR RADAR: Two members of President Joe Biden’s cabinet, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, testified in the Senate today.
Regan’s testimony: Regan testified before the Environment and Public Works Committee to examine the president’s budget for the EPA. He fielded a number of questions about the implementation of a range of EPA rules, especially from Republicans worried about the auto emissions and power plant rules. Several GOP members argued that the power plant regulations, which would require coal plants to control their emissions in the long run through carbon capture and storage, amount to a de facto ban on coal power over time.
In response to questioning from ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, Regan responded that plants would be able to comply with the requirements, given expected improvements in carbon capture and incentives for the technology in the IRA. “Our timeline does match with the technology,” he said. Capito then objected that the carbon pipelines that would be needed in that scenario won’t get permitted.
In the Approps hearing room: Haaland testified in front of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on the president’s budget request for her department.
Along with discussing budgetary matters, Haaland got heat from Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski for the Interior Department’s most recent decisions to restrict new oil and gas leasing on a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska and reject the proposed Amber Road project that would have allowed access to critical minerals.
“Alaska is being sanctioned by this administration more heavily than a sanctioned regime in places like Iran or Venezuela,” Murkowski said during her open remarks. “There is so much that we have to offer in terms of energy, in terms of the minerals that we need to produce clean energy, but it seems like the administration just does not care.”
Murkowski went as far as to threaten to cut Interior’s budget, “until the department gets the point and returns to following the law and the balance that’s reflected within it.”
Haaland defended the decision, arguing the department’s decision falls in line with the law, and reiterated that the department has yet to make a final decision on the Ambler project.
DEMOCRATIC ‘YES’ VOTES ON HOUSE GOP BILL ON APPLIANCE RULES: Seven Democrats voted yesterday for the House GOP bill, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, that would make it far more difficult for the Biden administration to implement energy efficiency rules for home appliances.
The Democrats crossing the aisle were Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Donald Davis of North Carolina, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mary Peltola of Alaska, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. All are in seats considered competitive this cycle, except for Gallego, who is running for Senate in a race considered a toss-up.
SURVEY OF IPCC AUTHORS: The Guardian contacted every lead author or review editor of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports since 2018 for a survey on their views on projections for global temperatures. About half replied, providing some interesting answers.
The vast majority see temperatures rising at least 2.5 degrees Celsius this century, above the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees, meant to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Some respondents gave responses that were quite dire. One unnamed scientist, for example, outlined expectations for a “semi-dystopian future with substantial pain and suffering for the people of the global south.”
Others were more measured, though. “Climate change will not suddenly become dangerous at 1.5C – it already is,” said Peter Cox of the University of Exeter. “And it will not be ‘game over’ if we pass 2C, which we might well do.”
Related: This past month was the hottest April on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring service said yesterday, according to Reuters, extending an 11-month streak in which every month was the hottest on record.
RIVIAN TAKES HIT ON LOWER PRODUCTION FORECAST: Share prices for EV maker Rivian fell more than 6% this morning after it gave guidance yesterday that stuck to lower production forecasts.
Rivian said it will make 57,000 vehicles this year, well below analysts’ expectations, Reuters reported.
The company has been reworking its production process to cut costs, and said its capital expenditures this year would be lower than expected. It reported losses of $38,784 per vehicle, smaller than the $67,329 loss last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
On the plus side, CEO RJ Scaringe said that Rivian vehicles have been driven over 900 million miles, cumulatively.
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