"President-elect Donald Trump is considering appointing a White House “energy czar” to coordinate the incoming administration’s energy policies across the administration, according to two people with knowledge of the transition."
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule Tuesday that implements a charge for oil and gas companies that release too much of the planet-warming gas methane."
"The president of Azerbaijan, host of this year’s UN climate summit, lashed out at Western critics of his country’s oil and gas industry on Tuesday."
"America’s oil industry released its wish list for the incoming Trump administration on Tuesday, a five-point plan that would eliminate many of the Biden administration’s most far-reaching efforts to reduce climate pollution and limit the warming that is driving ever more destructive and deadly extreme weather."
"Even as Earth sets new heat records, humanity this year is pumping 330 million tons (300 million metric tons) more carbon dioxide into the air by burning fossil fuels than it did last year."
"India promised to burn its trash mountains and safely turn them into electricity. But a New York Times investigation found hazardous levels of toxic substances around homes, playgrounds and schools."
"In one of its most controversial decisions, California’s air board voted tonight to revamp a key climate change program, which could increase gas prices in a state already facing some of the nation’s steepest costs at the pump."
"The Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has published proposed updates to strengthen conservation and management of greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands, informed by the best available science, collaborative work with states, and input from local, Tribal and federal partners."
"A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals, the BBC can report. A secret recording shows the chief executive of Azerbaijan's COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing "investment opportunities" in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor."
Again this year, a petrostate hosts the COP climate gathering. Azerbaijan as host not only raises questions of how an oil-rich nation can help foster the fossil fuel cuts needed to stem climate change. But WatchDog Opinion also worries what Azerbaijan’s poor press freedom record will mean for journalists covering the gathering and for the civil society that normally enlivens the meeting.
Advertisement 
