** US climate envoy John Kerry bluntly summed up in one word what the planet needs to avoid a global warming catastrophe at the World Economic Forum this week: money.
** One of the country’s first offshore wind projects comes to life off the coast of Massachusetts where the wind will be used as an emissions-free energy source. Vineyard Wind is currently constructing the country’s largest commercial offshore wind project, and the goal is to use electricity produced by wind turbines to power homes starting in 2023.
** Bill Gates has joined a slew of billionaires investing in an Australian climate technology startup that has plans to disrupt the methane-emitting animal agriculture industry with a lab-grown feed additive.
** Wyoming coal mines would have produced about 300 million tons of coal in 2022, but were ultimately about 50 million tons short of that because there weren’t enough trains to ship it out. This translates to $100 million in lost revenue to the state of Wyoming.
** Negotiations have begun on legislation intended to give Arkansas residential solar energy users extra cash on any excess power generation that goes into the energy grid. Under HB 1047, filed Jan. 3, so-called “net-metering” retail customers in Arkansas would be compensated for any excess solar generation.
** Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin calls a planned Ford electric vehicle battery factory a “Trojan horse” that would bring Chinese influence into the U.S. auto industry.
World
** In Canada’s western oil patch, controversy is raging over federal government legislation intended to help the fossil fuel labour force transition to a greener economy, but union and community leaders are warning politicization of the Just Transition bill obscures the needs of workers.
** Schlumberger CEO Olivier Le Peuch sees oil and gas activity accelerating in the Middle East and Latin America while slowing down in North America in 2023. Schlumberger CEO Olivier Le Peuch sees oil and gas activity accelerating in the Middle East and Latin America while slowing down in North America in 2023.
** The largest aircraft powered partly by hydrogen took flight this week over the English countryside. The startup ZeroAvia said it successfully flew its 19-seat prototype plane during a 10-minute flight test on Thursday, marking an early but important step toward hydrogen-fueled flying.
** Much of Pakistan was left without power for several hours on Monday morning as an energy-saving measure by the government backfired. The outage spread panic and raised questions about the cash-strapped government’s handling of the country’s economic crisis.
** European natural gas fell as an icy blast was forecast to ease next week, while high stockpiles helped the region guard against any supply disruptions.