Summary
In today’s edition, Brussels needs to work out $100 billion roadmap and iron out internal position before Paris talks, says Luxembourg environment minister Carole Dieschbourg. Also, the Obama administration is teaming up with three major unions to encourage creation of jobs that will be needed to implement the new climate rule for power plants. Finally, Chris Cline, the billionaire coal baron, revealed himself today as the donor behind a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
Quote of the day
“This partnership will enable the Energy Department and our labor unions to work with the states on designing plans that maximize job creation.”
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, in The Hill’s story Obama admin launches jobs program for climate rule
Lead stories
EU needs climate finance plan by Paris, says Luxembourg presidency
By Ed King – RTCC (Responding to Climate Change)
Finance ministers from the 28 member states are scheduled to meet on October 10, where they will discuss the duchy’s plan for a “toolbox” of measures to fund green projects in poor countries.
http://jlne.ws/1Ma3o3R
COP21 and decoding the economics of climate change
By Lauren Hepler – GreenBiz
With just four months to go until international delegates descend upon Paris for the much-discussed United Nations climate conference, COP21, the stakes for shifting to a low-carbon economy are starting to come into focus.
http://jlne.ws/1Hvime8
Obama admin launches jobs program for climate rule
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
The Obama administration is teaming up with three major unions to encourage creation of jobs that will be needed to implement the new climate rule for power plants.
http://jlne.ws/1DzgohG
The King of Coal Reveals $1 Million Bet on Jeb Bush
By Zachary Mider – Bloomberg News
Chris Cline, the billionaire coal baron, revealed himself today as the donor behind a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
http://jlne.ws/1UsMvEi
Green California Just Won the Climate Fight, Now Comes the Pain
By Alex Nussbaum – Bloomberg News
Here’s some irony for you. California, the world’s pioneer of carbon and climate change policy, may actually lose out on some clean power thanks to President Obama’s federal limits on carbon pollution.
http://jlne.ws/1NeydTw
HSBC India To Launch Green Bonds Soon
By Smiti Mittal – CleanTechnica
The Indian subsidiary of international banking giant HSBC is planning to issue its first green bond issue in the country this year.
http://jlne.ws/1W5vNg0
***LB: Also in this story “HSBC is the world’s fourth largest issuer of green bonds, and now looking to tap the Indian market as well.”
Events
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
http://bit.ly/192w3CR
2015 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
November 12-13, 2015, Cambridge, MA
http://jlne.ws/1Uxkext
Carbon
Renewables and paying a fair price for climate action
Sydney Morning Herald (Editorial)
Many readers have seen the commercial featuring Ray and Evon, the sun-stealing grey nomads who park their campervan outside your house and nick your solar energy. The message is, don’t waste your roof by not having a solar panel.
http://jlne.ws/1DzcbL8
Is the Caribbean a paradise for renewable energy?
By David Ince – The Guardian
Derek’s one-door shop selling cakes, sweets and soft drinks in Barbados appears at first glance to be just like any other, until you lift your eyes upward.
http://jlne.ws/1PayJTS
Japan Heads for Nuclear Unknown With Reactor Restart
By Stephen Stapczynski and Yuriy Humber – Bloomberg News
Japan is about to do something that’s never been done before: Restart a fleet of mothballed nuclear reactors.
http://jlne.ws/1J14VKm
***LB: Also in this story “The first reactor to meet new safety standards could come online as early as next week. Japan is reviving its nuclear industry after all its plants were shut for safety checks since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station north of Tokyo, causing radiation leaks that forced the evacuation of 160,000 people.”
In the post-RET twilight zone our biggest polluters champion renewable energy
By John Hewson – The Guardian
Welcome to the post-Renewable Energy Target (RET) twilight zone, where Australia’s biggest polluters are also apparently its biggest champions of renewable energy.
http://jlne.ws/1IvcdQX
Natural gas / coal
$1 Natural Gas: Crazy Town?
By Alix Steel – Bloomberg News
If you take a look at natural gas pricing in the Northeast not every price metric is depressed.
http://jlne.ws/1J14IXD
South Africa’s Sibanye Gold seeks coal assets for power
By Ed Stoddard – Reuters
South Africa’s Sibanye Gold is looking to buy coal assets to help provide power, it said on Thursday, as it strives to reduce dependence on unreliable supplies from state-run utility Eskom.
http://jlne.ws/1Edo6sQ
Coal is not the answer to India’s energy poverty, whatever (Australia’s) Tony Abbott says
EAS Sarma – The Guardian
Adani’s huge Carmichael coal mine – the biggest in Australian history – has been overturned by the federal court, causing much consternation for coal advocates, chief among them Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.
http://jlne.ws/1KUmAkj
Power
US carbon pollution from power plants hits 27-year low
By Seth Borenstein – AP
Heat-trapping pollution from U.S. power plants hit a 27-year low in April, the Department of Energy announced Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/1IMP0ZU
France launches tender for floating offshore wind projects
Reuters
France has launched a tender for several floating offshore wind turbine projects in what is set to be the first attempt to test this new technology on an industrial scale.
http://jlne.ws/1NezKZS
Sunverge Energy links with Ergon Energy for Qld home power storage program
By Angela Macdonald-Smith – Sydney Morning Herald
Californian electricity storage developer Sunverge Energy has forged an alliance with Ergon Energy for a limited commercial rollout of its power systems in Queensland homes, with at least two similar deals with other Australian partners expected to follow later this year.
http://jlne.ws/1gi03U8
Clean tech
Tesla’s new snake-like charger plugs itself in, but is it creepy, sensual or both
The Guardian (+ Video)
This metal snake is actually the prototype for the new charger from Tesla Motors.
http://jlne.ws/1TaEqSf
Tesla says it sent update for security flaws found by hackers
Reuters
Tesla Motors Inc said on Thursday it has sent a software patch to address security flaws in the Tesla Model S sedan that could allow hackers to take control of the vehicle.
http://jlne.ws/1Ma60yA
Water
Undamming rivers can offer a new source for clean energy
By John Waldman and Karin Limburg – Yale Environment 360 (part of the Guardian Environment Network)
Hydroelectric power is often touted as clean energy, but this claim is true only in the narrow sense of not causing air pollution.
http://jlne.ws/1JQE6Y1
EPA team spills million gallons of waste water into Colorado rivers
Reuters
A team of U.S. regulators probing contamination at a Colorado gold mine accidentally released a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of orange-hued waste water containing sediment and metals into a local river system, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/1W5z7Ym
Bilfinger launches water unit sale as it streamlines ops
Reuters
Struggling German engineering services group Bilfinger has launched the sale of its Water Technologies unit as it continues to streamline its activities following six profit warnings in a year, two people familiar with the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/1W5zkuP