Energy transition
A recently filed lawsuit alleges that a Colorado firm loaded up its clean-up liabilities onto another shell company that was designed to fail, saddling landowners and taxpayers with old polluting oil and gas wells.
Utility regulators rejected renewable natural gas and hydrogen as climate solutions, and ordered gas utilities to align their investments with climate laws. That may force gas utilities towards electrification.
In the first week of COP28, the U.S. and Canada announced or joined a long list of climate initiatives. But both countries, along with other major producers, are reluctant to commit to the larger task of phasing out fossil fuels.
A cost-of-energy analysis of different sources of electricity generation shows that solar, wind, and batteries offer some of the cheapest sources of power on offer. Still, there are challenges slowing faster deployment.
Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures has announced a new investment in a biofuels company, in spite of the ExxonMobil algae biofuel exit late last year But critics say the technology has long featured in oil industry greenwashing campaigns and is far from a commercial reality.
An expected Republican wave did not materialize, which solidifies some U.S. climate change policy even as the U.S. needs more action to hit its targets.
Huge investments in renewable energy will accelerate transition, but climate justice advocates voice concerns about being left behind.