Green Lights Nov. 1: 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 weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. David Callaway considers the impact of China’s cleantech investments on the next White House administration; and notes signs of life in U.S. clean tech venture funding. Plus, Mark Hulbert explains why an effort to improve transparency in mutual funds and ETF marketing is a double-edged sword. Don’t forget to vote. Have a great weekend, and please support our great climate finance journalism by subscribing.
. . . . Whoever wins the White House next week will have to face a different China than his or her predecessors — one that is quickly becoming a world leader in the production and export of clean technologies, David Callaway writes. While both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are expected to continue hard lines on China trade and geopolitics, how each attacks climate change and cleantech will likely impact whether China dominates the electric vehicle, battery, solar, and wind industries worldwide in coming years or not.
. . . . Clean tech venture funding, in a funk for two years as higher rates hurt entrepreneur’s efforts to borrow money, stirred to life last week when two renewable energy companies announced plans to raise cash, both connected to Bill Gates.
. . . . The new Labour government in the UK, which came barnstorming in three months ago with grand plans to be a global climate leader, will have its first test on the world stage next month at COP29, the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan (above). But those ambitions may be weighed down by Labour’s painful new budget.
. . . . Private equity giants KKR and Energy Capital Partners became the largest Wall Street titans to join the data center/AI gold rush this week, pledging $50 billion for investments in power projects. The sudden rush brings an extra risk to the booming new revenue stream of AI, David Callaway says, as it underscores that demand is growing so fast that many of the tech and power giants building the centers will have to turn to fossil fuels instead of renewable energy.
. . . . The SEC’s expanded Names Rule, designed to increase transparency in mutual funds and ETF marketing, is actually a double-edged sword, writes Mark Hulbert. Companies might actually start going more vague in their marketing to escape punishment, which has already hit one fund company.
. . . . We hope you had a fun and safe Halloween. We’re happy to share that Hoary Potter, (a hoary bat, seen above) is the winner of the 2024 Bat Week beauty contest, sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management. The contest to find the best-looking bat spotlights the great role bats play in supporting our natural environment through pest control, pollination and Halloween decorations.
50 years of travel: Unsettling Observations Of Climate Change (Forbes)
Set your clocks back: Is Daylight Saving Time good for the climate? (The Week)
Renewable power: EU emissions fall by 8% in steep reduction reminiscent of Covid shutdown (The Guardian)
Catastrophic floods hit Spain: Deadlier weather clearly linked to climate change (Euronews)
Driving more: Wider highways reduce traffic, but don’t cut emissions (Fast Company)
Where the money is not going: Climate change shifting ‘energy poverty’ to U.S. South (E&E News)