Green Lights May 17: Top stories this week
Green Lights May 17: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story of the best from Callaway Climate Insights.
. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, David Callaway spotlights some of the companies — especially tech giants — that aren’t waiting around for regulators to decide on emissions reporting. Mark Hulbert has some important, albeit dispiriting, research on where the proceeds from green bonds actually go. And Matthew Diebel is getting to the bottom of the (sustainable) wine bottle. Have a great weekend. Please subscribe.
. . . . Just a few weeks after announcing the largest purchase of new clean energy to date, Microsoft MSFT 0.00%↑ said it will clean up its vast supply chain of harmful emissions by the end of the decade. David Callaway observes that at a time when U.S. regulators are so hell bent on bringing the tech giants to their knees, it’s interesting to see that these companies are really the only ones trying to make a difference on emissions.
. . . . Matthew Diebel says more consumers are paying attention to whether their purchases (especially food and wine) are sustainable and healthful. One of the lesser-known aspects of sustainability in the wine industry is the weight of the bottles. Winemakers are now using less resource-intensive containers. He notes it’s not just younger consumers driving the trend, and this might require him to do more wine-shopping research.
. . . . Green bonds have been the darlings of the fixed-income market in the past four years, but a new study set to come out today will claim that less than 1% of the proceeds from them actually went into green projects. In an exclusive preview and interview with the report’s authors, Mark Hulbert details where the rest of the money went and why. Amid the ongoing confusion over what green financing actually is, it appears it’s been just business as usual for Wall Street — and investors.
. . . . Electricity generation emissions in the U.S. are dropping, as are auto emissions. But not the industrial sector, which is set to become the nation’s biggest source of world-warming pollution. A new report details the culprits and what can be done to improve matters.
. . . . Almost lost in the headlines about new tariffs on Chinese EVs and solar panels this week was an historic ruling by federal energy authorities to bring the three major U.S. electric grids closer together to invest in massive new clean energy transmission upgrades. David Callaway says it’s not as sexy as EVs and China-U.S. trade wars, but it is every bit as controversial.
. . . . The Sun has been emitting solar flares at a high level over the past week, resulting in the strongest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years hitting the Earth. The results included some radio blackouts and the northern lights extending as far south as the southern U.S. Earlier this week, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said “solar activity is expected to be at high levels” with a possibility of more solar flares, or bursts of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun.
More greenery . . . .
We need a bigger boat: Orcas open the 2024 yacht-sinking season in the Straits of Gibraltar (Reuters via The Sierra Club)
Hear no evil, see no evil: Ron DeSantis Signs Law Deleting Climate Change From Florida Policy (New York Times)
A heatwave walks into a bar: Meet the comedians telling hilarious jokes about climate change (Los Angeles Times)
On the rocks: Venezuela’s last glacier is now just an ice field (The Guardian)
Investors are wary: Strategy to boost private climate finance struggles (E&E News)