Nero Fiddles While Rome Burns
Actually, the whole world burns. .
Let’s just read it:
Sustainable Switch
Climate Focus
By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
Hello!
Today’s newsletter examines the United States climate policy rollbacks despite scientists confirming that 2024 was the first full year of global temperatures exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The milestone was confirmed by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
C3S said climate change is pushing the planet's temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans.
"The trajectory is just incredible," C3S director Carlo Buontempo told Reuters, describing how every month in 2024 was the warmest or second-warmest for that month since records began.
The WMO collated findings of meteorological observatories in Britain, China, the EU and the U.S., spokesperson Clare Nullis said.
"We saw extraordinary land and sea surface temperatures, extraordinary ocean heat, accompanied by very extreme weather affecting many countries around the world, destroying lives, livelihoods, hopes and dreams," she added.
Despite record high temperatures and more extreme weather events across the planet last year, the policy response by governments still remains too slow to meet the world's near 10-year-old goal of limiting global warming, writes Reuters sustainable finance editor Simon Jessop.
U.S. political backlash over environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) policies under incoming president Donald Trump means that gap could widen even if, in many cases, the economics, companies' near-term emissions reduction pledges and the rising costs of climate events keep the broad direction unchanged.
"In the U.S., we can expect a more conservative approach, with investors prioritising long-term risk-adjusted returns to avoid potential political or reputational risks," said Tom Willman, Regulatory Lead at sustainability tech firm Clarity AI.
But sustainable finance experts still see a growing need for green energy in spite of the potential for Trump to water down some ESG initiatives.
Charles French, co-chief investment officer at Impax Asset Management, said despite Trump's negative view on climate change – he has called it a hoax – companies in sectors from healthcare and industrials were eyeing climate tech solutions to cut costs.
"The era of tech-inspired transformation is not coming to an end. In many areas, it's just getting started," he said.
Climate Buzz
1. Los Angeles wildfires devour thousands of homes, death toll rises to 10
Wildfires raging across Los Angeles, including the record-breaking Palisades and Eaton fires, have killed at least 10 people, destroyed nearly 10,000 structures, and burned over 34,000 acres as dry winds continue to fuel the devastation.
Reuters photographers and videographers have been on the ground in LA capturing visuals that bring home the scale of fires. Many are veterans who have covered multiple wildfires, but say they have never witnessed anything like this. Click here for the full image-driven feature.
Climate Buzz
1. Los Angeles wildfires devour thousands of homes, death toll rises to 10
Wildfires raging across Los Angeles, including the record-breaking Palisades and Eaton fires, have killed at least 10 people, destroyed nearly 10,000 structures, and burned over 34,000 acres as dry winds continue to fuel the devastation.
Reuters photographers and videographers have been on the ground in LA capturing visuals that bring home the scale of fires. Many are veterans who have covered multiple wildfires, but say they have never witnessed anything like this. Click here for the full image-driven feature.
Sun rises over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of west LA after devastating wildfires in the LA area forced people to evacuate, in California, U.S. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona
3. Putin says more needs to be done to clean up Black Sea oil spill
Approximately 2,400 metric tons of oil products spilled into the sea, Russian investigators said last week, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin called "one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in years".
The oil leaked from two ageing tankers after they were hit by a storm on Dec. 15 in the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea. One sank and the other ran aground.
4. EU warns of 'serious blow' from Trump on climate change
Global climate efforts could suffer if President-elect Trump withdraws the U.S., the world's second-largest polluter, from the Paris Agreement, warned the EU climate chief. Sources say his team has prepared executive orders to exit the treaty. Click here for the full Reuters story.
5. BlackRock quits climate group as Wall Street lowers environmental profile
The trend of financial institutions exiting climate coalition groups continues after all the major U.S. banks left the Net Zero Banking Alliance. This time, BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, said it will leave the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, the latest Wall Street firm to depart an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians.
Hurricanes, storms, floods and other natural disasters caused an estimated $140 billion in insured losses in 2024, up from 2023 and one of the costliest years on record, German multinational insurer Munich Re said.
From Yale Climate Connections:
The fossil fuel industry spent $219 million to elect the new U.S. government
Most of that money went to Republicans.
by Karin KirkJanuary 3, 2025
The 119th Congress comes with a price tag.
The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a Yale Climate Connections review of campaign donations. The industry gave an additional $2 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, bringing the total spending on the winning candidates to over $26 million, 88% of which went to Republicans.
The fossil fuel industry exerts substantial financial power within the U.S. political system, and these contributions are only the tip of the (melting) iceberg.
Outside spending: An order of magnitude more than candidate contributions
The 2024 presidential election saw over $4 billion in various contributions to the candidates’ campaign committees and outside groups supporting them. Most of the money in politics isn’t given to specific candidates. Rather, it goes to political action committees, known as PACs, and political party committees. This is called outside spending.
In the 2024 election cycle, the oil and gas industry funneled over $151 million to into the election via this additional spending, according to Open Secrets. The industry gave $67 million to candidates (including those who didn’t win), bringing the total to a staggering $219,079,058 spent by the oil and gas industry to influence the 2024 election. The vast majority of this money went to Republicans, including nearly $23 million of oil and gas money donated to Donald Trump’s campaign and PACs supporting him.
These figures only include reported contributions – from individuals, political action committees, and various organizations. Transactions reported to the Federal Election Commission are gathered into a user-friendly format by Open Secrets, a nonpartisan, independent research group that tracks political donations. This data is easy to explore on the Open Secrets oil and gas summary page.
Nero fiddling:
Trump, who has long disparaged climate change as a “hoax,” has promised to supercharge the approach he took during his first term in office: unleashing oil and gas development, rolling back pollution rules and degrading federal support for renewable energy.
“The ocean will rise,” Trump said at a rally in Milwaukee on Friday. “Who the hell cares?” https://www.eenews.net/articles/whats-at-stake-for-climate-policy-who-the-hell-cares-trump-says/
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to unchain the oil and gas industry from federal regulations aimed at slowing climate change.
Last week, the President-elect once again promised to follow through, saying the U.S. would “have more liquid gold than any country in the world,” a promise that climate policy experts and advocates say will also mean weakening or eliminating federal rules aimed at slowing climate change.