** The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 1 imposed fresh sanctions on three transnational entities involved in violating the Treasury Department’s price cap on Russian oil sales.
** Climate advocate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Sunday slammed the UAE – host of the COP28 climate summit – saying its position as overseer of international negotiations on global warming this year was an abuse of public trust.
** U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said he thinks coal plants should not be “permitted anywhere in the world.” During a speech at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Kerry said he is becoming “more and more” militant about climate policy because people are avoiding responsibility.
** In a weekend speech to the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged $3 billion from the U.S. to the Green Climate Fund.
** California’s two big public pension funds have been under increasing pressure to divest billions from fossil fuels as other big institutional investors move to shed their holdings in oil companies and other heavily polluting industries.
** On Nov. 29, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) installed the first-ever wireless electrified roadway. The technology works similar to that of a wireless charging pad.
** A sewage spill has closed an area of California beaches. There are no swimmers or surfers along this stretch of the famous SoCal coastline. A break in a main sewer line caused around 94,500 gallons of sewage to spill into the ocean.
World
** COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber is facing a backlash over his claim that there is “no science” behind calls for a phase out of fossil fuels — a demand that many believe will ultimately determine the success of the U.N. climate conference.
** Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, the president of this year’s United Nations climate talks said Saturday, a move that environmental groups called a “smokescreen.”
** The U.S. and 21 other countries have said they want to triple the global generation capacity of nuclear power by mid-century. The pledge, announced Dec. 2 at the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), comes as more of the world’s governments say increased use of nuclear power is critical to reduce emissions of carbon and combat climate change.
** Germany will pay out €700 million ($762 million) to ensure a battery plant gets built after officials won an exemption from the government’s spending freeze.
