Economy & Business

"Some of the world’s best-known corporations have clamored to show how seriously they are taking climate change, with an increasing number pledging to eliminate their carbon footprints in the decades ahead. But many of those firms are not yet doing nearly enough to back up their promises, according to a new analysis by the New Climate Institute, an independent organization based in Germany that promotes measures to slow Earth’s warming."

"President Biden’s nominee to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator came out swinging yesterday against Republican assertions that she’s on a mission to combat climate change by diverting dollars away from the oil and gas sector."

"While world leaders have vowed to scale back the use of fossil fuels to help keep a lid on global warming, a drastic upheaval in the markets for oil, natural gas and coal could complicate the shift toward cleaner sources of energy."

"How far the Federal Reserve can go to compel banks to consider the consequences of climate change in their lending policies could take center stage at a Senate hearing Thursday on the nominations of Sarah Bloom Raskin and two economists to the Fed’s influential Board of Governors."

"Russia’s $11 billion natural gas conduit to Germany is a by-product of Donald Trump’s pro-Putin foreign policy—and a real headache for President Biden."

"As tensions simmer on the Ukraine-Russia border, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has become an emblem of the energy and climate issues underlying the conflict—even though it has yet to deliver a molecule of natural gas.

"Regular citizens have taken the fight against illegal logging into their own hands in the pine-covered mountains of western Mexico, where loggers clear entire hillsides for avocado plantations that drain local water supplies and draw drug cartels hungry for extortion money."

"As climate change drives more droughts, rain and extreme weather across American farmland, the cost of insuring the country’s farmers has soared, putting taxpayers increasingly on the hook for the growing tab."

"Tiffany and Akira Shimbo were both on Zoom work calls on Dec. 14 when they heard a roaring crash outside their home in Silverado Canyon, a sylvan outpost 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Akira ran outside and saw a wave of fast-moving mud and water topping their fence and shoving their Jacuzzi, garden beds and more into raging Silverado Creek just below them."

"Funds allocated by the Canadian government to help clean up the country’s orphan oil and gas wells may fall short if the main oil-producing province of Alberta continues to allocate the money to financially viable companies, the parliamentary budgetary watchdog said on Tuesday."

"The Biden administration is engaged with European countries and major energy companies to prepare for a scenario in which a Russian invasion of Ukraine leads to a natural gas shortage in Europe, a senior administration official said Tuesday."