** At the U.N. Climate Change Conference on Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said that “America is back” as a leader on climate change and predicted that the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan and its wide-ranging climate provisions would soon be passed into law.
** The U.S. government projected that the global oil market will become oversupplied and prices will fall by early next year, cooling expectations that the White House may tap the nation’s emergency reserves.
** A group of Democratic Senators including Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called on President Joe Biden to reimpose a ban on crude oil exports as the administration struggles to contain retail fuel prices.
** Indiana is to be home to the largest solar farm in the country. At 13,000 acres, it is called the Mammoth Solar project.
** Now the White House pledged to discuss a key pipeline that carries Canadian crude through Michigan with the northern neighbor, stressing the U.S. isn’t considering a shutdown of the conduit the state’s governor wants shuttered.
** U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in an interview with Bloomberg at COP26 Tuesday predicted the U.S. would stop burning coal by 2030.
** The U.S. auto safety regulator announced on Tuesday its first-ever reward to a whistleblower, handing out more than $24 million to a former Hyundai Motor Co employee who provided key information about safety lapses at the South Korean carmaker.
** The recently passed federal infrastructure bill requires the U.S. Interior Department to develop a plan to plug orphaned and abandoned wells on public land.
** Shares in electric vehicle startup Rivian are set to be traded publicly this week and offer a clearer picture into how interested investors are in the electric vehicle market.
World
** In Europe, where sales are rising the fastest in the world, EVs in Poland and Kosovo actually generate more carbon emissions because grids are so coal-reliant, according to the data compiled by research consultancy Radiant Energy Group (REG).
** A Vietnamese oil tanker earlier seized by Iran was free in open water Wednesday, ending the latest maritime confrontation involving Tehran amid stalled negotiations over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers.
** China’s imports of Iranian oil have held above half a million barrels per day on average for the last three months, traders and ship-tracking firms said, as buyers judge that getting crude at cheap prices outweighs any risks from busting U.S. sanctions.
** European natural gas prices slipped on signs Russia may be starting to gradually deliver the boost in supplies President Vladimir Putin promised.
** France will start building its first new nuclear reactors in decades as part of efforts to meet its promises to reduce planet-warming emissions, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday.
