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Energy Outlook.  Commodity prices are set to continue declining until global demand picks up or supply is curbed, according to a new report from a top investment bank.  Commodity prices have fallen by 16% this year to their lowest level in five years, but analysts are split on whether prices have reached a trough; in particular, China’s shift from an investment-led to a consumer-driven economy has created downside risks to the non-oil commodity price outlook that are difficult to quantify.  FT

Energy Policy.  Senate Republicans are targeting a $3 billion “Green Climate Fund” — launched by the Obama administration in 2014 as part of a pledge to help developing economies prepare for the effects of climate change — just weeks before President Obama attends global climate talks in Paris.  Although Republicans may be able to deny the White House the first tranche of the fund this year, the Senate will likely be unable to weigh in on any deal made in Paris, unless it is determined to be a treaty requiring Senate ratification.  The Hill

Energy Policy.  Members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reached an agreement this week to sharply lower export subsidies for technology used in coal-fired power plants, phasing out public financing for 85 percent of coal plants currently in the pipeline.  The decision represents a victory for the Obama administration, which spearheaded the effort, as well as for major multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  WP

Climate Change. Controversy between House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is erupting over a major June 2015 study positing that global warming had not paused over the last fifteen years, as previously thought.  The notion of a global warming “hiatus” from 1998 – 2012 had been used by climate change skeptics to dispute the 2013 findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but Smith is charging that the NOAA study challenging that theory was rushed to publication and is subpoenaing agency officials on the matter.  WP

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Energy Outlook.   Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi issued a statement calling for additional petroleum sector investments in order to keep up with global oil demand growth through the next decade.  Mr. Naimi reasoned that because global oil demand is expected to grow by an average of more than one million barrels per day per year, the oil industry will need around five million barrels a day of additional crude output capacity to keep up with rising demand and guarantee the stability of the market over the short and long term.  WSJ

Natural Gas.  The Chinese government announced a 28% cut to natural gas prices yesterday in a move to spur weak demand, particularly by the domestic industry.  Analysts note that while the move is important because it signals that China is serious about reducing its reliance on coal, the deep price cuts could also slow domestic exploration and production of Chinese shale deposits.  WSJ

Energy Policy.  Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) are set to introduce a bill today that would qualify carbon capture and storage projects for tax-exempt private activity bonds, which helped reduce air pollution in the 1970s and 1980s.  The senators’ aim is to help make large-scale carbon capture and storage projects financially viable, particularly given the recent momentum for emissions reduction and abundance of coal and natural gas plants in operation around the globe.  NY Times

Energy Outlook.  Nick Butler of the Financial Times critiques the International Energy Agency’s recent report on India’s energy future, arguing that its forecasts are highly optimistic and largely ignore the key challenges that the nation is sure to face in years ahead.  Butler notes that while India’s population and energy demand will certainly rise,  the nation will need critical investment in energy and other sectors of its GDP in order to become the modern economy forecasted in the IEA’s report.  FT

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Energy Policy.  Senate Republicans blocked the EPA’s Clean Power Plan yesterday through two separate measures of disapproval, both of which passed with a 52-46 vote.  While the President will almost certainly veto the resolutions, they symbolize a strong message of congressional resistance to the Administration’s climate change efforts leading up to the international summit on Climate Change in Paris next month.  WP

Energy Outlook.  The British government announced yesterday that it will require all coal-fired power plants to be closed by 2025 in a move to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  While the announcement is widely seen as “posturing” in advance of the international summit on climate change, given that most British coal plants had previously been scheduled to be phased-out by the mid-2020s, others caution that coal provides a reliable and flexible source of power as the electricity grid moves toward greater dependence on renewable energy sources, which may take longer than ten years to transition. NY Times

Climate Change. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that China and the United States together account for nearly 40% of global emissions and are the top two emitters of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.  EIA reviews each country’s pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the next 10-15 years in conjunction with the ways in which they have set out to cut emissions, noting that China will face a more difficult challenge of balancing its environmental goals with its economic growth and development targets.  EIA

Energy Outlook.  While oil supplies continue to stockpile throughout the world amid a continued slump in prices,  energy experts warn that the oil market could easily be shaken by a crisis in the Middle East because the market has not priced in sufficient geopolitical risk factors.  With the majority of global oil stemming from the volatile Middle East, investments in new oil exploration down  by about 20 percent this year, and additional consolidation likely in 2016, a geopolitical shock such as a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia or collapse in Iraq could cause prices to soar.    NY Times

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Energy Policy.  The Wall Street Journal discusses recent debates surrounding the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve, in light of Congress’s recent budget deal which authorizes the government to sell 58 million barrels from the stockpile.  While supporters of the reserve assert that it protects the country’s economy from supply disruptions and geopolitical turbulence, opponents argue that America’s increasing role as an oil producer has undermined the need for a store of national reserves.  WSJ

Energy Outlook. The rapid decline in the cost of batteries is making their use in power grids appear increasingly plausible, with the investment bank Lazard predicting that batteries will be cost-competitive with back-up fossil fuel power generators within five years.  Growing use of renewable energy has encouraged investment in batteries; according to one research firm, new electricity storage installed on the grid to support wind and solar power is set to grow more than 60-fold over the next decade.  FT

Energy Policy. The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans on Tuesday to update its “good neighbor” rule regulating air pollution that crosses state lines.  The update will impact 23 Eastern states and will require a 30% cut in nitrogen oxide emissions by 2017 compared to 2014 levels, which the EPA forecasts will produce a net benefit cost of $27 billion.  The Hill

Climate Change.  Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson writes in the FT that a successful green finance strategy needs to incentivize private businesses to invest in clean technology.  Paulson notes that the key challenge will be to direct abundant capital to sectors that are both low-carbon and high-growth; opportunities to do so will grow in the coming decades as another two or three billion people around the globe move to cities, which will require investments in green infrastructure.  FT

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Energy Outlook.  The Financial Times reports that amid a climate of declining U.S. oil production, output from the Permian basin is expected to rise in 2016.  The Permian basin is both the largest and newest shale play in the U.S.; given its relatively recent entrance to the oil market, oil analysts expect that significant productivity gains remain, prompting hopes that the Permian will become the “Marcellus of oil” — a reference to the prolific Northeast natural gasfield.  FT

Renewable Energy. The looming expiration of a 30% investment tax credit for residential solar installations will represent a key inflection point for an industry that has boasted a 30% jump in installations this year and a pace of job growth that is twenty times the national industry average.  Analysts are split over whether the expiration of the incentive will represent a “cliff” for the industry or will merely slow its growth from the recently elevated levels.   WSJ
 
Climate Change. Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics argues in Project Syndicate that greater private sector investment would help advanced economies reach a 2009 goal to mobilize $100 billion annually for the purpose of helping poorer countries reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and protect populations against potential displacement from climate change-related crises.  In 2014, advanced economies raised nearly $62 billion, up from $52 billion in 2013.  Project Syndicate