Lunchtime Reads and Hot Takes
What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign — The Washington Post
Amy’s take: Some of the executives in the room are seeking to take advantage of tax credits that could be nixed or minimized if Trump wins, so I wonder how they're processing this.
Biden hiking tariffs on Chinese EVs, solar cells, steel, aluminum — adding to tensions with Beijing — AP News
Amena’s take: The idea is to prevent billions in investments from "unfairly underpriced exports from China" in areas like electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductor chips and solar parts.
U.S. bans Russian uranium imports, key to nuclear fuel supply — The Washington Post
Cat’s take: Enriched uranium is fuel for nuclear reactors, sources of carbon-free base load power. The same bill makes $2.7 billion approved in previous legislation available to spur uranium processing in the U.S.
FERC launches long-awaited overhaul for new transmission — POLITICO Pro (subscription)
Amena’s take: The nation's power grid is currently ill-equipped to deal with new resources coming online and extreme weather events. As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Willie Phillips noted, "the writing is on the wall."
Biden and oil companies like this climate tech. Many Americans do not. — The Washington Post
Bill’s take: The tough realities of making carbon capture and storage work at scale are becoming ever clearer as major oil and gas companies and the Biden administration implement the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Altman-Backed Oklo’s Shares Spiral in Debut After SPAC Deal — Bloomberg
Cat’s take: Nuclear may be a solution for power-hungry data centers, and demand for those is on the rise after Sam Altman’s company OpenAI catalyzed the industry with ChatGPT. But Oklo still has to get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Good COP, bad COP: Azerbaijan’s climate charm offensive is backfiring — POLITICO
Anca’s take: Good read assessing the growing scrutiny over the regime in Baku, as well as what to expect at this year's COP hosted, the second year in a row, by a petrostate.
Biden’s Solar Factory Boom Slows as Cheap Imports Flood Market — Bloomberg
Amena’s take: High borrowing costs and cheap solar panel prices are causing some, but not all solar manufacturers to pause or take stock of their plans. But as the story notes it's not all bad news.
Record-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere — The Guardian
Cat’s take: An Ember report finding renewables were 30% of global electricity in 2023 was encouraging climate news last week, but we must also hold this data showing a record-breaking increase in the global average concentration of CO2 front and center, too.
China’s green aluminum ambitions hit by erratic rains, power cuts — Reuters
Bill’s take: Faltering hydropower in the face of rising temperatures and droughts has become a major stumbling block in the energy transition globally, but especially in Asia where coal picks up the slack.
More of what we're reading:
Editor's note: A Lunchtime Read included in last week's newsletter incorrectly interpreted an Euractiv article on hydrogen subsidies. It said projects could produce hydrogen below €0.5 per kilogram, but that was actually the level of subsidy said projects could produce hydrogen at competitively, not the aggregate production price. We've corrected it on our website here.
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