Axios

Judith Garber, a career diplomat in an acting position at the State Department, is set to lead the Trump administration's delegation to a meeting this week in Montreal discussing an amendment to the 30-year-old treaty protecting the Earth's ozone layer, according to an administration official.

Why it matters: By not sending a higher level official, it shows the continued low priority the administration places on environmental and climate change issues. Garber, a 30-year career diplomat, also led the administration's delegation to the recent climate talks in Bonn, Germany, after a higher level official bowed out at the last-minute due to a family emergency.

Yesterday's Keystone XL approval by Nebraska state regulators hardly means the project is a sure thing, but it could make it more likely that TransCanada will build it.

Why it matters: Wood Mackenzie's Zachary Rogers said the outcome "greatly diminishes" the political risk facing the project, which is also getting a lift from recent market shifts that strengthen the need for heavy crude on the Gulf Coast.

A short Energy Information Administration analysis looks at how the link between power use and economic growth has been severed in some big countries, as the chart below shows.

Why it matters: Stagnant overall electricity growth in the U.S. has helped to shake up power markets as growing use of natural gas and renewables puts the squeeze on coal.

Reproduced from EIA Today in Energy, Nov. 20, 2017; Chart: Axios Visuals

The electric vehicle industry is at a tipping point, but policy and awareness-raising still matters. Those are some of the messages from Anne Smart, the VP for public policy with ChargePoint that has the world's largest network of EV charging stations, who spoke to Axios recently.

Here are three of the things the industry is working on:

When Elon Musk guaranteed that the new Tesla semi-truck would last 1 million miles without breaking down, experts assumed he was talking about the drive train, not the ultra-sensitive battery. But a person familiar with the truck tells Axios that he meant the battery, too.

Why it matters: A battery going that far would have multiple times the longevity of any commercial vehicle battery in use now or announced for release, and would help make Tesla's Semi competitive with diesel-burning competitors (since the battery is estimated to cost $170,000 on top of the $100,000-plus cost of the truck itself).