[GWSG] Vs. SEC; cooling trees; vertical farms; a natural factor; Permian leaks; US climate agenda

[Tilley, Al]

1. Patrick Parenteau of the Vermont Law School anticipates an issue which endangers the SEC proposal on disclosure of emissions and climate risks for publicly traded companies. “The ‘major question doctrine’ will come into play in the litigation challenging the SEC rule once it becomes final. It's a vague undefined doctrine favored by the conservatives on the Supreme Court who have used it twice this term to strike down agency rules deemed to be beyond their authority. Once in the case of an OSHA rule requiring protections for workers exposed to covid; and in the second a CDC rule placing a moratorium on evictions during the height of the omicron surge. In both cases the conservatives thought the agencies were going beyond their historic regulatory roles --driving ‘outside their lane.’ They may see the SEC rule in the same light. Historically SEC has limited disclosure rules to information deemed ‘material’ to the average investor. When it comes to disclosure of GHG emissions, especially Scope 3 emissions from supply chains and customers, SEC will have to prove that this information would be important to investors interested in earning a fair return. SEC is aware of this and is building the best record it can, but we won't know for some time how successful it will be.”

2.  Forests cool the globe in a number of ways—reflecting sunlight, pumping water vapor into the atmosphere, producing certain chemical compounds, and, of course, sequestering carbon. The net effect is to cool the globe by at least .5C, thanks especially to tropical rainforests. The effect in the tropics is about twice as marked as the global average.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/23/forests-climate-crisis-carbon-cooling-effect

3.  Vertical farms are growing greens and, recently, strawberries organically with 95% less water than conventional farms, and far less land use. They use LED lights to replace sunlight, and so consume lots of energy. Solar and wind are making that less of a problem. We can’t live on greens and berries, but add some garbanzos and rice, and we are getting close.  https://climatecrocks.com/2022/03/24/vertical-farms-not-just-lettuce-anymore/

4.   The Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure has recommended that the interests of nature be included in government decisions—“Nature everywhere and for everyone.”   https://phys.org/news/2022-03-nature-netherlands-deteriorating-rapidly.html

5.  The Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico is the world’s top-producing oil field and at least one of the top gas sources (Qatar’s field is king). https://www.aogr.com/magazine/markets-analytics/importance-of-permian-basin-is-delineated-in-tipro-report  The Permian’s gas leaks are now measured at over 9% of gross production. The good news is that we know where to put the stopper in to achieve immediate, significant methane emissions reduction. https://climatecrocks.com/2022/03/24/methane-emissions-from-permian-are-huge/

6.  What has happened to Biden’s climate agenda, and what are the prospects? Grist’s Zoya Teirstein reports that all is not lost. So much is at stake. If she is right, we may have some bitter gas to take along with the legislation. https://grist.org/politics/why-the-senate-hasnt-passed-climate-legislation-yet/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

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