"The United States will “make good” on financial commitments to developing countries struggling with climate change, top U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told a summit of world leaders on Monday."
"DuPont de Nemours Inc. and Chemours Co. agreed to a $4 billion settlement of a dispute over environmental liabilities shifted to Chemours after it was spun off in 2015. The accord, which also includes DuPont’s former seed business Corteva Inc., covers payments for liabilities tied to a class of chemicals known as PFAS, the companies said in a statement on Friday."
The Biden administration has moved rapidly to reset energy and environment policies dramatically shifted by the Trump White House. But how quickly can such a reversal occur, what are the priorities and what are the critical pathways for change? To help sort out the latest news and track larger trends, SEJournal offers this overview and analysis, part of our extensive “2021 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment.”
"President Joe Biden‘s most potent weapon for making climate change a priority for companies and federal officials may already be in his arsenal as chief executive: the country’s roughly $600 billion annual procurement budget."
"The Alaska state agency that submitted most of the bids in a lightly attended auction for drilling rights in the Arctic Nationa"l Wildlife Refuge expects to have those leases in hand by next week, the organization’s executive director said on Wednesday."
"A top federal banking regulator today finalized new standards against pledges by major banks to halt investment in the fossil fuel industry."
"President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan to end “a crisis of deep human suffering” by speeding up vaccines and pumping out financial help to those struggling with the pandemic’s prolonged economic fallout."
Watch the Jan 27 recording of the Society of Environmental Journalists' 9th annual look ahead at the year's key energy and environmental issues. Hosted by National Geographic Society and co-sponsored by the Wilson Center, the event kicked off with a prerecorded interview with new White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, followed by a live interview with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, and SEJ's annual panel of leading journalists offering their predictions for the year ahead.
"When the full story of the 6 January storming of the US Capitol building is told, historians will have to make sense of what might seem an odd footnote. The two most prominent rightwing militia groups that participated in the mob onslaught on Congress – the Three Percenters, based in Idaho, and the Oath Keepers, based in Nevada – cut their teeth in obscure corners of the American west, where for close to a decade they have threatened violence against federal employees and institutions that steward the nation’s public lands."
"The Democratic takeover in the Senate increases the likelihood that lawmakers will seek to curb climate-related financial risks, according to observers. That has a lot to do with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a longtime Wall Street critic who is set to become chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee."
