ExxonMobil released today an analysis for how its oil and natural gas resources would fare in a carbon-constrained world.
Why it matters: The analysis is the latest in a string of moves by publicly traded oil companies in response to investor pressure to disclose the risks that action on climate change poses to their fossil-fuel products.
Exxon Mobil reported fourth quarter earnings of 88 cents a share Friday, missing analysts estimates of $1.04 a share.
The big picture: Despite Exxon's rare earnings miss, the oil giant still posted its strongest annual earnings since 2014, per CNBC. And last week, Exxon announced that it's tripling its Permian shale production as part of a plan to invest $50 billion in the U.S..
I faced a good bit of criticism for the piece I wrote Thursday about America’s polarized climate and energy debate, and most of it centered around particular words I used.
What I heard: Arguments mostly from left-leaning people that I misused the term “far left,” and also perpetuated the idea of false equivalency by putting people calling for urgent climate action on the same level as people who don’t acknowledge the issue at all.
Why it matters: Oklahoma never used to experience many earthquakes, but since 2009, a number of damaging temblors have shaken the area. "State regulators could cut about in half the number of man-made quakes by restricting deep injections in the ground," study author Thea Hinck told the Associated Press.
Cameras mounted on polar bears have captured the fine line between feast and famine that characterizes bear life. In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers found that polar bears burn more calories while hunting than previously believed.
Why it matters: Some populations of bears — including these bears on the Beaufort Sea — are in decline. As the Arctic warms and sea ice melts, bears will have to travel farther each hunting season. This study provides a baseline that will help researchers understand the impacts of climate change on polar bears in the future.
Royal Dutch Shell's profits, helped along by the rise in oil prices in recent months, more than doubled in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year before, showing a net adjusted profit of $4.3 billion compared with $1.8 billion the same quarter a year ago, CNBC reports.
The far left corners of the Democratic party and environmental movement held an event Wednesday night to launch Fossil Free USA, a campaign urging America to transition entirely away from oil, natural gas and coal, with no regard to the reality that the global economy remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
That follows Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, where President Trump said America is forging ahead with its fossil-fuel dominance, with no regard to the serious problem of climate change.
My thought bubble: It’s like they’re two ships not passing, but colliding in the night. Trump’s backers say the far left and their alarmist messaging pushes them away from acknowledging climate change, while the far left is fed up with decades of delay and neglect of climate change.
Hundreds of young, hypothermic, near-death turtles wash up on the shores of Cape Cod every year. But when Bob Prescott first found a Kemp’s ridley turtle on a frigid Massachusetts beach in 1974, he thought it was an anomaly. The number of stranded turtles has steadily climbed — over 1200 washed ashore in 2014 — and experts think climate change is partly to blame.
Axios traveled to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, where about 30 of those turtles were being treated and monitored. Watch this video, or read on to learn more about them.
