Message From the Editor

This week Nick Cunningham reports that the Bank for International Settlements, aka the central bank for central banks, has warned that the climate crisis will cause “green swan” events, or sudden and major financial disasters, and that unaddressed climate risks remain “uninsurable and unhedgeable.” 

While bankers are sweating the climate crisis, Julie Dermansky has striking photos and reporting from the Permian oilfields, where activists are exposing how the fracking boom continues to leak invisible but potent pollution that is worsening global warming, often with apparent impunity.

And Justin Mikulka reports that New York isn’t handling well an early test of its ambitious climate plans when state officials voted to raise electricity rates to pay for more natural gas infrastructure.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

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‘Uninsurable and Unhedgeable’: Central Banks Warn of Financial Crisis from Climate Change

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

A future climate disaster, or “green swan” event, could bring down the global financial system, according to a new report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international financial organization that serves as a bank for central banks around the world.

Like black swan events, “green swan” events will be very difficult to predict and will hit with little warning. The potential for a cascading series of crises stemming from climate change threatens global financial stability, and the world’s central banks are not equipped to respond to them, or even predict what exactly might unfold, the 100-page BIS report said.  

The Hunt for Fugitive Emissions in the Permian’s Oilfields

— By Julie Dermansky (10 min. read) —

Meaningful regulation of the fracking, industry is a non sequitur to Sharon Wilson, organizer for Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project. She supports her employer’s efforts to encourage tougher industry regulations, but believes that humankind needs to keep oil and gas in the ground if there is any chance of meeting the benchmarks set by the Paris Climate Accord to limit global warming. 

After spending a couple days with Wilson as she monitored for methane leaks at oil and gas industry sites in the Permian oilfields of West Texas, it is easy to understand why she believes that talk of meaningful regulation of the industry lacks meaning itself.  

Defying Climate Goals, New York Approves Rate Hike to Pay for New Natural Gas Infrastructure

— By Justin Mikulka (6 min. read) —

One of the first tests of New York’s ambitious climate plan didn't go well, as the New York Public Service Commission voted on January 16 to raise electricity rates on customers by $1.2 billion over the next three years to help Consolidated Edison, or Con Ed, pay for new natural gas pipelines and infrastructure.

New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) targets 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To meet those goals, any new gas infrastructure constructed now and in the future would have to be retired well before the end of its useful life, becoming stranded assets.

Groups Funded by Oil Industry Bash Plan to Reduce Northeast's Dependence on Oil

— By Dana Drugmand (9 min. read) —

Last month New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced the state would not be participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a regional cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing carbon emissions from vehicles. The program is still in early stages of development, but groups tied to petroleum interests and conservative networks funded by the Koch empire are already fighting it with opposition campaigns.

These campaigns are active in multiple states throughout the Northeast, featuring public events to sway legislators, public letters co-signed by various free market groups, and at least one study produced by a Koch- and oil-industry funded think tank based in Texas. 

'Like Handing Out Blankets Affected With Smallpox': US Called to End Oil Exports to Thwart Climate Crisis

— By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams (3 min. read) —

A new report released Tuesday by Oil Change International and Greenpeace USA found that reinstating the U.S. crude oil export ban Congress lifted in 2015 would slash global carbon emissions by up to 181 million tons of CO2-equivalent each year — a reduction comparable to shuttering dozens of coal-fired power plants.

Given the significant impact it would have in the fight against the global climate crisis, Oil Change and Greenpeace demanded that the next president and Congress commit to reviving the crude oil export ban as part of a broad and just transition away from fossil fuel production, which the Trump administration has worked to increase.

New Emails Show Trump Admin Exploited Wildfires to Help Logging Industry

— By ClimateDenierRoundup (4 min. read) —

Earlier this month we discussed how during Australia’s devastating fires, conservatives tried to claim that it was green party forest management policies that were to blame. That is, of course, wrong. It throws us back to 2018 in the U.S., when Secretary Ryan Zinke and others wrongly blamed environmentalists for California's wildfires and Trump wrongly blamed a lack of raking.

Now, new emails obtained by The Guardian show that messaging around forest management in 2018 was more than just a way to pin the blame on California and deny climate change. Like most other actions taken by this administration, it also helped prop up industry profits by embracing the industry’s propaganda.  

From the Climate Disinformation Database: State Policy Network

State Policy Network is a network of think tanks based in states across the country that advocate against climate and clean energy policies and other initiatives deemed in opposition to “economic freedom.” The network is supported largely by conservative foundations, including from the Kochs and Mercers, and receives the majority of its funding from dark money groups. Several members of the State Policy Network have recently been active in fighting the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing carbon emissions from vehicles in the Northeast.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.