** Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives released an updated social spending and climate measure on Wednesday that expands a proposed $12,500 tax credit to pricier zero-emission vehicles, while lowering income limits for eligible buyers.
** President Joe Biden on Tuesday criticized Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for skipping the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow as well as the recent Group of 20 (G20) summit in Rome, questioning their commitment to fight climate change as other world leaders have sought consensus.
** Bill Gates sees a role for Big Oil companies and their skill sets in the transition to clean energy but doesn’t think all the incumbents will be left standing. Speaking in Glasgow this week, he cautioned against assuming “new eras are marked by the falling of giants,” but added: “Yes, some of these giants will fall, you know, 30 years from now, some of those oil companies will be worth very little.”
** Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced a resolution on Wednesday calling on the Pentagon to release a report on its annual greenhouse gas emissions, after the agency skipped a July 1 deadline set out in an annual defense spending bill.
** Exxon Mobil Corp on Wednesday said for the first time in a securities filing that some of its oil and gas properties may face impairment due to climate change.
** The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 63 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 29. That was below the average increase of 70 billion cubic feet forecast by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
** Maine residents overwhelmingly voted to halt a $1 billion electric line that is already under construction, but that doesn’t spell the end of the polarizing project in the state’s western woods. Workers reported for duty constructing the power line as usual Wednesday, and project supporters filed a lawsuit challenging the referendum’s constitutionality.
** A Kentucky manufacturer plans to add 170 jobs as part of a $27 million expansion to support future electric vehicle-related business.
** BMW pledges to manufacture electric vehicles at its Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant, as U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham criticizes Democrats’ proposed tax credit for union-made electric cars.
World
** Mayors from 1049 cities around the world committed to slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of this decade on Tuesday, indicating an increased sense of urgency for urban centers on the front lines of the climate crisis.
** The U.S. ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said Wednesday that his country has “serious concerns” about the Mexican government’s attempts to limit competition in the electrical power sector.
** China’s Sinopec has signed a contract with U.S. Venture Global LNG to buy 4 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 20 years. The deal is the largest LNG long-term contract signed between Chinese and U.S. companies, Venture Global said in a statement.
** Iran seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman last month and still holds the vessel, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday, revealing the latest provocation in Mideast waters as tensions escalate between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.
** The world’s top-selling carmaker Toyota has come in last in a Greenpeace ranking of carbon emission efforts by auto firms, according to a list published Thursday during the COP26 climate summit.
** The former head of Mexico’s state-run oil company has finally been ordered to jail on Wednesday, a year after he was extradited from Spain but offered to turn state’s evidence against other ex-officials.
