Axios

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Wednesday endorsed the findings of a major federal report — which reflects the wider scientific consensus — that human activities are the main driver of global warming.

Why it matters: Bridenstine's remarks before a Senate Appropriations panel make him the first top Trump administration official to publicly and fully agree that humans have been the dominant cause of warming.

After expressing frustration with the media (and incorrectly implying most journalism is influenced by advertisers,) Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested he may create a website where people can rate reporters and outlets' credibility — and he might be serious, according to a business registration document from October 2017.

Why it matters: Executives in Silicon Valley — and beyond — have had a difficult relationship with the media's critical coverage of their ambitions, and comments like Musk's can be especially harmful as journalists face unprecedented hostility from government officials and others in power.

An internal memo, obtained by the Washington Post, shows that the White House considered ignoring climate change research conducted by government scientists.

Why it matters, per Axios' Amy Harder: The memo takes us behind the scenes of the Trump administration's mostly dismissive nature of climate change. It shows that there was consideration of how to deal with it, rather than just a haphazard handling of it.

Meeting the more stringent global temperature targets included in the Paris climate agreement would save countries trillions of dollars in economic output, outweighing the costs of reducing emissions, new research has found.

Why it matters: The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is the first to look at how global economic output would be affected under different amounts of global warming, providing policymakers with the "benefits" side of a cost-benefit analysis.

Tropical Cyclone Mekunu is gathering strength in the Arabian Sea, where it could become the equivalent of a Category 2 or even Category 3 storm prior to making landfall in an unusual place: Southwestern Oman.

Why it matters: The storm is projected to move to the north-northwest through Saturday, eventually making landfall near the port city of Salalah. The city has a population of about 360,000, and typically receives just 5 to 8 inches of rain in an entire year. This storm could bring that same amount in under a day, presenting the risk of life-threatening flash flooding, in addition to damage from high winds.

American and Chinese consumers are head over heels for SUVs — a mutual love affair that seems likely to expand in the coming years into growing demand for electric SUVs, according to a new report.

Quick take: By 2022, Chinese demand for electric cars will triple, and the largest bloc — 39% — will be SUVs and crossovers, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research firm. Americans will buy more than twice as many electrics as they currently do, and 52% of them will be SUVs and crossovers.

Embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has a low approval rating, but substantial swaths of the public don't have a strong opinion about Pruitt or know much about the ethics controversies surrounding him, according to a HarrisX Overnight Poll commissioned by Axios.

Yes, but: The poll also finds that 80 percent of Americans believe Pruitt should be fired if EPA's inspector general finds that he misused his position — even if President Trump thinks he's doing a good job. That signals that even some of Trump's backers will not stand by Pruitt if the ongoing investigations find there's fire to go along with the all the smoke at EPA.

Momentum keeps building for a bipartisan coalition supporting technology that captures carbon emissions from a range of industrial and power facilities.

Driving the news: A Senate committee passed a bill supporting the technology, a key think tank releasing a report looking for solutions and a new industry coalition fills out its agenda. Let’s run them down.

Electric carmaker Tesla on Tuesday picked up Snap’s Vice President of monetization engineering, Stuart Bowers, as its VP of engineering, Cheddar reports.

Why it matters: Bowers is the latest in a string of almost a dozen top executives who have left Snap after its initial public offering early last year. The 3,000-person company's 27-year-old CEO and founder Evan Spiegel had said that all managers would be assessing their team sizes and locations amid several rounds of layoffs at the social media company.

NASA has two new eyes in the sky after SpaceX successfully deployed a pair of sensitive spacecrafts that can detect tiny changes in the Earth's gravitational field.

Why it matters: Known as the GRACE-FO mission, for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On, the satellites will provide scientists with crucial data for tracking climate change.

The Kremlin, buoyed by its success in helping the Assad regime stave off collapse, is trying to pull off a similar trick in a troubled part of America’s backyard: Venezuela. The Trump White House is having none of it, but a new stage is being set for U.S.–Russia confrontation.

The big picture: Putin is less interested in President Nicolás Maduro and his regime than in using him as a thorn in Washington’s side. Venezuela’s crisis provides Putin with a like-minded collaborator eager to denounce the U.S.

In 2014, well before the Paris Agreement, India’s newly elected central government dramatically raised its Renewable Energy (RE) targets to quadruple RE capacity by 2022, with almost all the gains to come from solar and wind. India aims to simultaneously green its energy supply, meet rising demand and tap into global capital for emerging technology.

Where it stands: A midway status update on the targets and achievements indicates India is behind schedule. Lack of finance is often cited as a bottleneck, but there are other structural challenges India will have to confront in scaling up its RE.

A new peer-reviewed analysis of hundreds of millions of dollars in climate and energy-related funding from a number of major philanthropies from 2011-2015 shows they devoted few resources to pushing carbon capture and none to nuclear power.

Why it matters: Foundations play a major role in shaping and supporting environmental movement work on energy and climate change.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has repeatedly said in recent days that the emerging trade compromise with China could pave the way for a $40 to $60 billion increase in annual U.S. energy exports.

Why it matters: It's a "whoa if true" comment. Those estimates suggest the Trump administration believes the U.S. oil-and-gas boom could lead to a massive expansion in supplies shipped to the world's most energy-thirsty nation.

A former top energy advisor to President Trump, George David Banks, will lead a new multi-million dollar campaign aimed at limiting the way large investment firms, like BlackRock, influence shareholder resolutions on hot-button issues like climate change.

Why it matters: As the Trump administration retreats on climate policy, investors of publicly traded companies are filling the void by pushing non-binding but symbolically important resolutions urging more disclosure around how climate policies could impact bottom lines. Climate change is among the most high-profile issues in this broader process known as “shareholder advocacy,” along with lobbying disclosure and gun control.