Axios

Royal Dutch Shell announced two new renewables deals on Wednesday, the latest sign that oil-and-gas behemoths — especially the European-based majors — are increasingly moving into the zero-carbon power space.

The big picture: It comes on the heels of a separate Shell-backed joint venture — this one with Portugal's EDP — submitting a $135 million winning bid Friday for a wind energy tract in federal waters off Massachusetts.

More information about House Democrats' plan to create a new select committee on clean energy and global warming is emerging — and creating tension between party leaders and insurgent progressives.

Why it matters: The inside baseball reflects broader, more consequential questions and deliberations over how the party should prepare to act on climate policy if a political window for big legislation opens after the 2020 elections.

An important new commentary in the journal Nature Climate Change offers a path for quantifying the emissions-cutting initiatives emerging from cities, states, companies and others worldwide.

Why it matters: These efforts are a key part of the climate policy landscape. And that's especially true as these parties respond to the White House's abandonment of Obama-era initiatives and plan to quit the Paris agreement, and as scientific warnings pile up about the need for steep and near-term CO2 cuts.

After legalizing adult use almost two years ago, Massachusetts opened the state’s first two recreational marijuana stores last month, which sold more than $2.2 million in product on their first day. The retail sales from recreational marijuana could generate an estimated $219 million in taxes for the state over the next two years.

Yes, but: The state's Cannabis Control Commission’s Energy Working Group (CCCEWG) is concerned with skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions from the cultivating facilities. Massachusetts aims to cut statewide emissions by 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. As of 2017, the state was at a 21% reduction, and many fear that the cultivation facilities' increasing energy demands may put the 25% goal at risk.

Nine Northeast and mid-Atlantic states are teaming up to cap and reduce carbon emissions from transportation in the region.

Why it matters: Cars, heavy trucks and other transport have surpassed electricity production as the largest source of U.S. emissions in recent years.

The commentary atop the IEA's monthly oil market report a week ago was headlined "A floor under prices?" and said Brent crude "seems to" have found one around $60-per-barrel. That question mark, in retrospect, is doing lots of work.

Where it stands: Prices plummeted by several dollars per barrel in trading Tuesday, the latest sign of volatility that's carrying the day despite the OPEC+ efforts to stabilize the market.

Elon Musk unveiled his Boring Company's test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif. on Tuesday night, allowing guests to take some of the first rides on the tech entrepreneur's solution to "soul-destroying traffic."

Details: "Guests boarded Musk's Tesla Model S and rode along Los Angeles-area surface streets about a mile away," the Associated Press reports. It then approached a "wall-less elevator that slowly took the car down a wide shaft, roughly 30 feet ... below the surface."