Green Lights July 5: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story of the best from Callaway Climate Insights.
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. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, David Callaway looks at the ripple effects of major elections here and around the world on climate progress and investment. We also look at how high interest rates are hitting climate tech entrepreneurs. You might want to take your family, friends and Fido and head out to a National Park this summer to escape the heat, political and otherwise. Have a safe summer weekend.
. . . . Beleaguered Tesla surprised its loyal investors this week with second-quarter delivery figures that beat expectations, writes David Callaway. The question now is whether we’ve seen the bottom, he says, and a look at recent trends suggests the endurance of the year-long, industry-wide sales slump in electric vehicles may be fading.
. . . . Concern that climate progress could be imperiled by dozens of elections in major democracies this year threatened to turn to panic this week as four major elections take center stage. David Callaway takes a look at Marine Le Pen (above) in France and Keir Starmer in the UK, and reminds readers that clean energy investment has never been stronger. How much political influence will affect that investment will be a major storyline of the second half of this year.
. . . . From derelict oil wells to solar energy storage? Researchers are working on the world’s first attempt to store solar energy in a natural geologic reservoir, and they want to store that energy for more than 1,000 hours.
. . . . High interest rates aren’t just holding back the EV industry, they’ve led to a serious crunch in financing for climate tech entrepreneurs in the past year, particularly ones already far along in their plans who now can’t get new funding to continue.
. . . . Only 1% of global emissions are priced high enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature target in 2024, according to a report for Visual Capitalist titled Visualized: The Price of Carbon Around the World in 2024. Carbon prices should range from $50–100 per ton of CO₂ by 2030 to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s temperature goal. This year, the global average carbon price is $32/tCO₂ — $18 below the minimum needed in six years.
. . . . Here are six national parks considered a great fit for Fido. Emily Pennington writes for Tripadvisor that she’s an “insufferable dog mom” who’s been to all 63 of the major national parks in the U.S. Check out her tips for trekking with your dog, and how to plan a great vacation with your best friend and family year-round.
More greenery . . . .
The geoengineering rain dance: Cloud-brightening experiment halted on San Francisco Bay (CBS News)
Goodbye, cheap fares: Climate change will make British Airways airlines more expensive (Quartz)
And goodby, cheap veggies: Climate change is pushing up food prices (Financial Times)
Stand back: Climate change presents a growing threat to the nation’s nearly 92,000 dams (InsideClimateNews)