Publications

Energy and Environment News

April 7, 2016

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Energy Policy.  U.S. companies have lined up on both sides of the debate over the Clean Power Plan, which is considered to be the single most important policy relating to the Administration’s international climate commitment and long-term carbon emissions reduction goals.  Technology companies and some utilities have come out in support of the plan, while coal producers and local electricity companies largely oppose it; the divide among U.S. businesses has kept some industry associations from intervening in the legal proceedings under consideration at the Supreme Court.  FT

Oil.  The U.S. posted the highest (and third-ever) trade surplus with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the dollar-value of petroleum imports fell to the lowest level since September 2002.  Sustained low oil prices have pushed petroleum imports to less than 10% of the total U.S. trade deficit (compared with 60% as recently as 2011), while the strong dollar has increased the price of American exports overseas.  WSJ

Climate Change.  Coral Davenport of the New York Times writes that global GDP growth grew last year as global carbon emissions leveled off — marking the first time in 40 years that the two metrics have not risen in tandem.  Carbon emissions and growth “decoupled” in 21 countries, which tended to be Western or European nations, but 170 other countries continue along a traditional growth path that is tied directly to carbon pollution.  NY Times

Energy and Environment News

April 6, 2016

Top Stories

Energy Policy.  U.S. companies have lined up on both sides of the debate over the Clean Power Plan, which is considered to be the single most important policy relating to the Administration’s international climate commitment and long-term carbon emissions reduction goals.  Technology companies and some utilities have come out in support of the plan, while coal producers and local electricity companies largely oppose it; the divide among U.S. businesses has kept some industry associations from intervening in the legal proceedings under consideration at the Supreme Court.  FT

Oil.  The U.S. posted the highest (and third-ever) trade surplus with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the dollar-value of petroleum imports fell to the lowest level since September 2002.  Sustained low oil prices have pushed petroleum imports to less than 10% of the total U.S. trade deficit (compared with 60% as recently as 2011), while the strong dollar has increased the price of American exports overseas.  WSJ

Climate Change.  Coral Davenport of the New York Times writes that global GDP growth grew last year as global carbon emissions leveled off — marking the first time in 40 years that the two metrics have not risen in tandem.  Carbon emissions and growth “decoupled” in 21 countries, which tended to be Western or European nations, but 170 other countries continue along a traditional growth path that is tied directly to carbon pollution.  NY Times

Energy and Environment News

April 5, 2016

Top Stories

Climate Change.  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned at a conference of energy executives that rising seas could devastate cities such as New York as early as 2100 if the world does not more aggressively adopt renewable energy sources and abate greenhouse gas emissions.  Noting that there is still time to reverse the trend, Kerry called for the business leaders to accelerate the pace of change in the energy industry by using more rigorous accounting and disclosure practices about of the costs of fossil fuels.  Bloomberg

Oil Outlook.  David Sheppard of the Financial Times outlines the five key drivers of oil prices in 2016: (1) a possible OPEC output freeze; (2) the trajectory of U.S. supply; (3) hedge fund positioning; (4) risks of production outages amid political turmoil; and (5) global demand growth.  Weighing each driver against expected outcomes over the coming months, Sheppard concludes that demand growth — if it proves to be as strong as predicted by the International Energy Agency — should lead to market rebalancing and a partial rebound in prices by the end of 2016.  FT

Energy Policy.  Paul Tice writes in the Wall Street Journal that increasing regulatory scrutiny of banks’ lending to energy companies is akin to “kicking the oil business while it’s down” as companies struggle with collapsed prices, new rules and restrictions on fossil fuel production, and other federal decisions such as the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. Tice asserts that energy loan risks appear to be largely manageable within the banking sector, and that unwarraranted and aggressive regulatory scrutiny will likely have a “chilling effect” on bank lending to the oil and gas industry moving forward.  WSJ

Energy and Environment News

April 4, 2016

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Climate Change.   A year and a half after the Chinese government committed to a 2030 deadline for reversing its growth in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), recent energy data — coupled with a slowing Chinese economy — suggest that GHGs may already be falling.   While the better-than-expected progress could lend momentum to worldwide efforts to limit global warming and put pressure on other nations to meet their own goals, analysts warn that preliminary energy statistics from China are notoriously unreliable, and that electricity demand in China is expected to continue growing by way of coal-fired power — which casts considerable doubt on the degree to which China has actually reached “peak emissions.”  NY Times

Oil Outlook.  Nick Butler of the Financial Times discusses the implications of the “failed-state” status of OPEC member states like Venezuela, Algeria, and Libya, which are currently under-producing relative to their full potential due to various political and economic factors.   Butler argues that because these countries are likely to add additional supply to the market when they are rebuilt and strengthened in coming years, the long-promised freeze in production by stronger OPEC states will not prove enough to sustain price increases as many investors expected.  FT

Energy Policy.  The Bloomberg View Editorial Board writes that at coal’s current pace of decline, reductions in coal-fired power use are set to meet the goals outlined in the EPA’s Clean Power Plan within the next two years — rendering the policy “out of date” before the rules demand that any reductions actually begin.  The Board argues that this development underscores why the United States needs a more adaptable approach to emissions reductions policies, and asserts that lawmakers should implement a carbon tax in order to reduce the regulatory overhead associated with rules that are so quickly outpaced by market forces.  Bloomberg View

Energy and Environment News

March 31, 2016

Top Stories

Climate Change. Regulators and financial institutions around the world are examining the potential risks faced by banks, insurers, and pension funds in the event that efforts to contain climate change fail or the value of fossil-fuel assets suddenly collapses.  The bodies seek to develop new rules that would require companies to disclose exposures to both stocks and bonds based on stress-testing in various climate scenarios. Supporters hope the rules will promote both the “sustainability of finance” and the “financing of sustainability.”  WSJ

Oil Outlook.  A Reuters poll finds that oil industry analysts raised their average price forecasts for 2016 for the first time in 10 months in light of a potential production freeze among OPEC members and a decline in higher-cost U.S. shale output.  While the forecasts suggest that the oil price rout may be subsiding, analysts have cautioned that the lack of improvement in market fundamentals may again sour the short-term outlook.    Reuters

Climate Change. Attorneys general from both Massachusetts and the Virgin Islands joined 15 other states in support of an investigation into Exxon Mobil’s public disclosures about the threat of climate change.  The investigation, which was initiated last November under New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, seeks to determine whether the actions and statements that Exxon Mobile made to discredit climate science conflicted with some of the company’s own science research. NY Times