Green Lights May 15: Top stories
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. David Callaway looks at what would really help consumers pay their energy bills (Hint: It’s not the gas tax holiday), while Mark Hulbert finds that investors need not give up profit for purpose. Have a great weekend and please subscribe to support our climate finance reporting.
. . . . While politically popular, a federal gas tax holiday such as the one proposed by President Donald Trump this week would be too little too late for most consumers. Even Trump acknowledged that suspending the national tax of 18.4 cents a gallon to help lower prices wouldn’t do much, though he added, “it’s still money.” Releasing oil from the strategic reserve would also help. Far more helpful than either, however, would be some sort of resolution in Iran that would open the Strait of Hormuz before global fuel stocks start to expire in coming weeks.
. . . . Investing in clean energy has always suffered from the stigma that to bet on a climate change company, you have to give up profit for purpose. Not so, writes Mark Hulbert, citing a new study. It turns out that companies with aggressive market cultures focused on metrics and profit results make the best type of companies to hit climate targets and lower carbon footprints. Hulbert breaks down how the study profiled corporate cultures and how other types of cultures impact climate policies as well.
. . . . The best new China energy deal came before the Trump-Xi summit, writes David Callaway. The most-promising deal with China took place far away from the pomp and circumstance in Beijing, in Michigan. That’s where Ford CEO Jim Farley announced the creation of a new energy business, Ford Energy, that relies in major part on battery technology from China’s CATL battery giant.
. . . . It took 10 weeks from the start of the Iran war and the spike in global oil prices to filter through the U.S. economy and jack the inflation rate to a three-year high. It will take much longer, most likely through the next presidential election in 2028, for that rate and our prices to subside. That’s the enduring legacy of the decision to start a war in the Middle East from a president who won election two years ago by claiming he would lower prices and subdue the inflation of his predecessor, writes David Callaway. It will now define the upcoming midterm election and almost certainly the presidential race.
. . . . As clean energy companies go, Fervo Energy FRVO 4.26%↑ isn’t the cheapest or the cleanest. But the nine-year-old geothermal energy company out of Houston, which debuted on the Nasdaq Stock Market this week with a 35% gain, represents a major opportunity to unite the renewables and fossil fuel markets over climate change.
More greenery . . . .
Start counting: Scientists measure diseases caused by climate change (Forbes)
Rethinking: UK halves funding to flagship global climate fund (Financial Times)
Where is it?: Fastest-growing coastal city is bracing for climate impact (UNEP)
Too hot?: Scientists say the Southern Ocean is “sweating” more (Science Daily)
Coming due: Global Economy Faces Nearly $1 Trillion Hit From Extreme Weather (IBT)