Climate Week launching under Trump’s shadow

Presented by Enbridge: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Sep 20, 2024 View in browser   By Joel Kirkland and Arianna Skibell Presented by  The U.S. election will be a focus of global leaders and corporate executives meeting in New York next week on climate change. | Brittainy Newman for POLITICO Leaders in New York City next week to press for more climate funding and boost clean energy targets will wrestle with another tough subject: the specter of Donald Trump. Government officials and corporate executives at Climate Week — a flurry of policy panels, closed-door meetings, environmental activism and glitzy product launches — are gathering six weeks ahead of an American election that could undermine the global fight against rising temperatures, Zack Colman and Sara Schonhardt report. The Nov. 5 presidential contest between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will in turn be followed, just six days later, by the COP29 global climate talks in Azerbaijan. Climate Week participants told Zack and Sara that the New York gathering, which falls during the same week as the United Nations General Assembly, is an opportunity to hash out money issues that already plague climate negotiations in November. “It's the conversations happening now in capitals around the world that are about to happen in the U.N. General Assembly [and] New York Climate Week,” said Melanie Robinson, global climate, economics and finance program director at the World Resources Institute. “These really set the context and the drive for the deal that will take place in COP29.” Azerbaijan officials hope to set a new financial goal for climate aid to developing countries. The current target of $100 billion per year has ballooned in some discussions to $1 trillion. Yet countries are deeply divided over who pays and how much. President Joe Biden’s negotiating teams — previously led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and now under top aide John Podesta — have remained involved in the discussions. Where those talks go hinges on who steps into the Oval Office in January. The differences between Trump and Harris couldn’t be more stark. Trump has promised to exit the Paris climate agreement, if not the entire 1992 treaty underlying the global framework of climate negotiations. Environmental groups, meanwhile, are confident that Harris would keep up the flood of U.S. spending on clean energy technology under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. A Trump victory in November would raise a pivotal question: Who steps into the vacuum if the U.S. were to abandon its international role on climate change? “Even in panels, events, where that is not the main topic, it will be the first question that is asked,” said Frances Colón, senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund.   Thank goodness it's Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Gavin Bade breaks down why Vice President Kamala Harris has shifted away from President Joe Biden's campaign focus on domestic manufacturing in the Rust Belt.   A message from Enbridge: To meet America’s energy and climate goals, we must move past the renewables vs. conventional energy debate and embrace a diverse energy strategy, including more renewables, responsibly sourced fossil fuels, and carbon capture. New sectors, such as large-scale data processing and advanced manufacturing, require significant energy resources. This growing demand highlights the urgent need for modernized infrastructure to ensure energy can be delivered efficiently and sustainably across the country. Learn more.   Power Centers The Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant is seen in the early morning hours March 28, 2011, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. | Getty Images Three Mile Island is back Power giant Constellation Energy announced Friday that it had inked a 20-year deal with Microsoft to supply power to an artificial intelligence data center from the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. It's the latest sign of a revival for the nuclear sector driven by the voracious energy demand from the technology industry, writes Catherine Morehouse. The agreement — which would restart a reactor at the plant that was closed in 2019 and slated for decommissioning — comes as major tech companies scramble to secure reliable, carbon-free power supplies to run their power-hungry data and artificial intelligence centers. Three Mile Island was the site of the 1979 meltdown in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, notes Peter Behr. DOE floats $3B electric boost The Energy Department has announced $3 billion for projects to bolster the electric vehicle and grid battery supply chain, from mining to recycling, write Brian Dabbs, Hannah Northey and David Ferris. The 25 projects target one of the biggest challenges facing battery manufacturing: China’s dominance over raw materials and metals needed to build clean energy projects. The grants support retrofits and construction of domestic facilities for mining and battery production and reuse. Watchdog cautions 'green bank' ripe for fraud The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog, Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, said he was uneasy over the complexity of the agency’s “green bank” program and the potential for fraud, writes Timothy Cama. The $27 billion program, created as part of Democrats signature climate law, aims to spur investment in projects focused on clean energy and other environmental priorities. EPA has been working in recent months to get the money out the door before an Oct. 1 deadline in the law. In Other News Hot off the press: Scientists have captured Earth’s climate over the last 485 million years. Here’s the surprising place we stand now. Forecast-defying growth: Even solar energy’s biggest fans are underestimating it.   A message from Enbridge:   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) addresses reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday evening. | Angelina Katsanis/AP Congressional leaders are closing in on a deal to avoid a potential government shutdown on Oct. 1, even as Speaker Mike Johnson holds off on publicly blessing the plan. Despite prevailing in a court fight to stop an EPA civil rights probe of the state's environmental permitting practices, Louisiana's top lawyer is again angling to gut the underlying regulations nationwide. The House approved broad legislation Thursday meant to shield companies from people wanting to push what Republicans call “woke” investing. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!   A message from Enbridge: America’s economy with advanced manufacturing practices and rapidly growing data-intensive sectors is demanding more energy. Debate ensues around which energy source is the right one to generate affordable, 24/7 energy and lower emissions. It’s a question best answered with “all of the above,” but differing and hardened perspectives are driving a permitting and legal gridlock that results in none of the above — zero progress toward either goal. For example, it takes an average of 10 years to build new power lines in the U.S and anywhere from 2 to 8.5 years to bring a greenfield interstate pipeline into-service, according to ARBO, an energy infrastructure analytics firm. Recognizing a smart energy transition utilizes a mix of energy sources —more renewables, more responsibly produced natural gas and oil, more carbon capture, and more energy efficiency and innovation—is one of four steps required to meet America’s energy needs. Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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