** Senator Elizabeth Warren accused the financial services industry of being a major contributor to climate change and urged U.S. regulators to hold it to account.
** One of the biggest environmental fights of 2021 is expected to spill over into 2022 – whether and how to restrict leasing and permitting for oil and gas drilling on federally owned lands and in federally owned waters. Environmental groups are poised to oppose future sales, including a proposal to auction off ocean parcels near Alaska’s coast and an expected onshore lease sale in New Mexico.
** Climate activist Greta Thunberg criticizes President Biden, telling WaPo Magazine, Biden isn’t leading on climate. “It’s strange that people think of Biden as a leader for the climate when you see what his administration is doing. The U.S. is actually expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. Why is the U.S. doing that?”
World
** The number of U.S. natural gas cargoes heading for European ports jumped by one-third over the weekend as the continent shivers amid a deepening energy crisis.
** Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has secured contract extensions for the Shelf Drilling Chaophraya and Shelf Drilling Krathong jack-up rigs with Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production for operations in the Gulf of Thailand, Shelf Drilling reported on Dec. 27.
** Risen Energy Co. is planning to build a 45 billion yuan ($7 billion) integrated solar power factory in Inner Mongolia that’ll run on clean energy.
** A South African high court on Tuesday blocked Shell from conducting seismic testing offshore from South Africa’s pristine Wild Coast, in the latest ruling in a case seeking to prevent the oil major from exploring for oil and gas.
** The captain and first mate of an oil freighter that crashed into a coral reef off Mauritius, unleashing the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worst environmental disaster, will be released “imminently” after their 20-month sentence was commuted Monday, a lawyer said.
