** Although the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which passed the House of Representatives on Friday, will be by far the largest federal action ever taken to confront climate change, it will fall short of the U.S.’s pledge in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% from 2005 levels by 2030.
** Al Gore’s reaction to the IRA? “In crossing this threshold we have changed history and will never go backwards,” former Vice President Al Gore told the Guardian in an interview on Friday. “I’m extremely optimistic that this will be a critical turning point in our struggle to confront the climate crisis.”
** Tax credits in the $430 billion U.S. climate and tax bill set to be signed into law this week will kickstart carbon sequestration projects, say oil and gas proponents, offsetting startup costs for some of the anti-pollution initiatives.
** Hanwha Q Cells — one of the few solar-panel makers with US production — is considering sites for a massive new facility as the country prepares to incentivize cleantech manufacturing. The company is evaluating sites in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas, according to documents filed in Texas. The potential project in Dallas County, Texas, would feature a suite of manufacturing — panels, ingots, wafers and cells.
World
** The European Union is planning a five-fold increase in financial support to an African military mission in Mozambique, an internal EU document shows, as Islamist attacks threaten gas projects meant to reduce the EU’s reliance on Russian energy.
** Europe’s benchmark power price surged above 500 euros for the first time, ratcheting up pressure on households and businesses as the worst energy crisis in decades looks set to persist well into next year.
** Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s flip-flop over the sale of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s assets could discourage investment in Africa’s largest oil producer in the wake of industry reform meant to grow the sector.
** The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) announced that they had killed two Russians who were supposedly preparing a “terrorist attack” on an oil pipeline in Volgograd Oblast “under the control of Ukraine’s special services.”
** Twenty killed in Pakistan bus-oil tanker collision. Police say it happened near the central city of Multan, as three buses that were “racing” and one of them rammed into an oil tanker.
