"One of Poland’s leading coal companies has become the first official sponsor of the UN climate talks, which start in the southern city of Katowice next week."
"The U.S. Geological Survey reported Friday that about one-quarter of all U.S. carbon emissions come from fossil fuels extracted from public lands."
"On the eve of the most important global climate meeting in years, a definitive United Nations report has found that the world is well off course on its promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions — and may have even further to go than previously thought."
"Incoming Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) is seeking a seat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee even after she clashed with the next chairman of the panel over climate change."
"President Trump had a clear message Monday when asked about the core conclusion of a scientific report issued by his own administration: that climate change will batter the nation’s economy. “I don’t believe it,” he said."
With flooding from hurricanes and other climate disasters becoming the new normal, badly needed flood insurance reform continues to founder in the halls of Congress. The National Flood Insurance Program is billions of dollars in debt, and aid packages are doing little to get people out of flood-prone areas. Congress watchers will keep an eye on new House leadership for insurance solutions, although politically unpalatable rate hikes swamped the big reform. This week’s TipSheet has more on the story, with leads on what to watch in 2019.
"Coal, the fuel that powered the industrial age, has led the planet to the brink of catastrophic climate change."
"Governments typically try to bury bad news in the Friday news cycle when people are distracted with plans for the weekend. The best day all year to bury a story is Black Friday .... The latest National Climate Assessment report from the federal government was due to be released before the end of 2018, but it is filled with such shockingly bad news for Trump and his failed environmental policies that his maladministration decided to release it a month early on the afternoon of Black Friday."
"A major scientific report issued by 13 federal agencies on Friday presents the starkest warnings to date of the consequences of climate change for the United States, predicting that if significant steps are not taken to rein in global warming, the damage will knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end."
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