Green Lights Feb. 14: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story from the best of Callaway Climate Insights.
. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights this week. David Callaway looks at how extreme weather events are shaping the insurance industry, as well as the decision to kill the SEC’s struggling climate disclosure proposal. What will investors do in these situations? Plus, international competitors are pressuring Tesla as the new Trump administration backs away from supporting investing in electric vehicles. Have a great Valentine’s and Presidents Day weekend. Please subscribe.
. . . . David Callaway looks at the Los Angeles wildfires and the state’s FAIR plan — California’s insurer of last resort — and writes that these extreme weather disasters and their costs no longer are just a phenomenon to discuss in scientific or political terms; to debate along party lines. Or to volunteer to fight or not. The disasters have reached the point where everybody will have to pay. Theoretically, if we have a long period without disasters, insurance premiums will eventually come down, but who’s willing to take that bet?
. . . . Of all the ‘shock and awe’ maneuvers of the new Trump organization, perhaps the most inevitable and widely telegraphed was the decision to kill the SEC’s struggling climate disclosure proposal. Equally inevitable is that removal of the proposal will have little impact on climate investors, who understand that climate risk is real and how to look for it. Companies choosing to ignore identifying how they contribute to harmful greenhouse gas emissions or the environmental regulations will find themselves on the wrong side of rules imposed by other regulators and also increasingly shunned.
. . . . It didn’t take long for Tesla’s TSLA -0.72%↓ international competitors to pile the pressure on the leading EV maker as the new Trump administration backs off investing in electric vehicles. Chinese EV leader BYD unveiled a “God’s Eye” driver assistance system this week, helped with technology from AI company DeekSeek, that will directly compete with Tesla’s automated driving technology. At the same time, Italian sports car maker Ferrari unveiled plans to introduce its first electric vehicle later this year and start making electric batteries.
. . . . BP’s dire earnings report only increased speculation it is poised to retreat from green transition investments and enact a major reorganization later this month, as CEO Murray Auchincloss promised to “fundamentally reset our strategy.” Other oil companies, all of which have dipped their toes in the environmental waters over the years, will be watching closely to see which direction Auchincloss goes.
. . . . A major storm hit Southern California hard Thursday, adding massive mudslides and dangerous debris flows to the region’s list of woes in the wake of last month’s wildfires. The above shots from EarthCam via Caltrans shows part of the Pacific Coast Highway that was shut down Thursday, between Malibu and Pacific Palisades.
More Greenery . . . .
Bitter taste: Climate change is threatening cacao crops, researchers say (CBS News)
Conflict, hunger, migration: Climate change threatens EU’s survival (Politico.eu)
Stewards of the Earth: Faith groups mobilize to keep fighting climate change (Yale Climate Connections)
Lost empires: Climate Change Wiped Out These 5 Powerful Ancient Civilizations (Discover Magazine)