Transition Finance Weekly - October 17, 2024
Climate Deception Lawsuit, Texas Anti-ESG Hearing, Global Emissions Peak
1. Oregon County Sues Gas Utility NW Natural for Global Warming Deception
Climate deception suits have been filed against other industries, but this is the first time a utility’s been named as a defendant.
Portland, Oregon’s Multnomah County has added NW Natural, the state’s largest natural gas distributor, as a defendant in its $51 million lawsuit against fossil fuel companies for concealing the climate dangers of their products.
Per the complaint, NW Natural “rapaciously” sold fossil fuels while claiming it was committed to a “carbon neutral future.” This, says the suit, helped cause a 2021 heat wave that killed 69 people in the Portland area. The amended complaint also adds the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, an oil and gas front group, as a defendant.
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson says the plaintiffs looked to the successful tobacco and opioid lawsuits as a blueprint.
Vega Pederson: “We’re already paying dearly in Multnomah County for our climate crisis with our tax dollars, with our health and with our lives.”
2. Happening Today: Texas Senate Committee Takes Stock of Law Forcing Public Pensions to Finance Fossil Fuels
Today, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs will host a hearing to review the impacts of the state’s blacklist of financial institutions.
Passed in 2021, Texas SB 13 led to the creation of a blacklist of firms who have even minimal policies to consider the risks of investing in or financing fossil fuel companies or projects. The original blacklist included big backers of coal, oil and gas, like HSBC and BlackRock.
These laws have proven incredibly costly to Texans. A study from the Texas Association of Business —a Texas Chamber of Commerce affiliate — shows the blacklist leading to a loss of $668.7 million in economic activity and $37.1 million in reduced state and local tax revenue for the state, alongside the loss of over 3,000 jobs.
What will we be watching for? Over the past three years, Texas anti-ESG champions have doubled down on their approach of protecting fossil fuel and firearms corporations over the financial well being of Texas residents. Will they continue on that path or use this moment of reflection to reckon with the high costs and course correct?
3. Global Emissions May Peak This Year
A study shows that the clean energy deployment boom has helped avoid the global warming worst case, but we’re still likely to miss the Paris Agreement goal.
A Rhodium global study predicts global warming will stop slightly short of the 2.5 to 7.8 degrees C worst-case projection, showing how much progress the rapid deployment of new clean energy projects has achieved.
And another study by DNV projects that energy emissions will peak this year and then slowly begin to drop to half the current level by 2050. But given current trends, there’s only a 7% chance the world will meet the 1.5 degree C Paris Agreement target, which would require halving emissions by 2030.
Canary Media journalist Carrie Klein: “The world is managing to bend the curve on emissions due to the mass adoption of solar, batteries, and electric vehicles. These emissions-free technologies are helping to displace fossil fuels; next year, renewables could surpass coal, per an International Energy Agency forecast released last week.”
4. Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Is Adding 4.2 GW of Renewables
A new step in Xcel’s path toward compliance with the state's 100% clean law.
In an October settlement agreement filed with the Minnesota PUC, Xcel Energy has committed to add 3.2 GW of wind, 600 MW of battery storage and 400 MW of solar by 2030, which could cut Xcel’s Midwest regional emissions by 88%.
In an acknowledgment that the medium-term economics of natural gas are poor, Xcel is also dropping plans for one of two previously proposed new gas peaker plants that would lock in polluting emissions.
“This joint effort marks major progress in Xcel’s and Minnesota’s energy transition,“ said Allen Gleckner, Fresh Energy’s Executive Lead, Policy and Programs. “All the parties involved are working towards the same goal – reliably decarbonizing our state’s electricity. The outcome is a step in that journey that balances near-term needs while keeping on the path towards the future.
5. First U.S. Solar-Canal Combo Brings Solutions at the Energy-Water Nexus
Off-peak water delivery isn’t the only way to balance energy and water needs.
In the Western states, energy and water are part of the same ecosystem: hydropower makes a huge contribution to the energy supply; that energy helps move water to homes, farms, and businesses; some of that water is diverted to become steam for coal and gas generation.
Managing the delicate energy-water balance is a challenge. The Central Arizona Project, Arizona’s biggest energy user, tries to pump water to storage in Lake Pleasant during the months when energy demand is lower, and then let gravity deliver it to users during peak energy periods.
But there are other ways to help offset the energy costs of water management, like the Western Hemisphere’s first solar-over-canal project, funded by the Biden administration. By covering half a mile of the Casa Blanca Canal with solar generation, the Gila River Indian Community is generating carbon free electricity and providing water at the same time via a single set of infrastructure.
Rep. Greg Stanton: “Water savings here on Gila River Indian Community Land means savings for the entire Colorado River System – and in this drought, every acre-foot counts. These projects show what’s possible with strong partnerships between the federal government, states and Tribal leaders.”
MILITIA THREATS PUT FEMA RECOVERY EFFORTS AT RISK
During the ongoing recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, misinformation and rumors have continued to interfere with the federal disaster response.
Now FEMA has had to pause recovery work and move personnel in western North Carolina to a safer location after the National Guard reported encountering trucks of armed militia who said they were out “hunting FEMA.” One man was arrested.