** Exxon Mobil Chair and CEO Darren Woods urged the incoming Trump administration to avoid making turbulent climate policy swings — and he pushed the president-elect to reject carbon border taxes favored by some GOP lawmakers. In an interview with POLITICO, Woods signaled that one of the most powerful players in the energy industry might serve as a moderating influence in Washington, even as Republicans seek to dismantle Biden-era climate policies.
** The boss of one of Tesla’s biggest rivals thinks he knows why the US public isn’t being won over by EVs. Peter Rawlinson, the CEO of Lucid Motors and a former VP of engineering at Tesla, spoke on the Cars and Culture podcast last week that most of the electric vehicles on offer “frankly suck.”
** Shares of fertilizer producer Mosaic Co. fell the most in over a year after multiple US hurricanes and lower selling prices led to sharply lower-than-expected profit and sales.
** Lower gas prices and the recovery of deferred costs from a 2021 winter storm will allow gas provider Spire Missouri to decrease monthly customer bills by more than 16% on average.
World
** Halliburton Company will open new facilities in Namibia highlighting the importance of the country’s growing oil and gas industry. The facilities, which will support the company’s in-country operations, are located in Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, and Lüderitz.
** BP has pledged to invest “first and foremost in oil and gas” as it pursues new projects in the Middle East and lobbies for climate subsidies, according to a Reuters report.The British oil giant appears to be abandoning a climate pledge it set in 2020 in a ploy to regain investor confidence.
** A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday overturned a landmark ruling that ordered energy company Shell to cut its carbon emissions by net 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, while saying that “protection against dangerous climate change is a human right.”
** Volkswagen Group (VW) and Tesla rival Rivian have launched a joint venture, with the German car giant increasing its investment in the partnership. The two companies say the deal is now worth $5.8bn (£4.55bn) – up from an initial pledge from VW of $5bn.
** Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels inched higher in 2024 and are estimated to set a record, further jeopardizing the planet’s prospect of meeting a key goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming, according to an annual report that tracks emissions.
** World leaders converged Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Azerbaijan with plenty of big names and powerful countries noticeably absent.
** Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Monday attended a rally in Georgia to protest against Azerbaijan hosting the annual United Nations climate talks.
Thunberg and scores of other activists who rallied in Tbilisi, the capital of the South Caucasus nation, argued that Azerbaijan doesn’t deserve to host the climate talks because of its repressive policies.
