President Trump's latest headache comes from outdoor brands increasingly radicalized by climate change and his stewardship of public lands.
Driving the news: Trade groups representing hundreds of outdoor companies announced a new effort this week to push for policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and explore renewable energy.
Although 2018's new vehicle sales in the U.S. were fairly flat with the previous year's, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) were up more than 80%, smashing previous records. That remarkable growth comes despite the fact that you can’t even find an EV at many dealerships across the country.
The polar vortex came swirling back into the U.S. this week, bringing with it record cold temperatures not seen in 20-plus years, and wind chills capable of causing frostbite in mere minutes.
Why it matters: It was a reminder that it's possible to have extreme cold in a warming world. That's partly because there will always be weather variability. But there's also some evidence that, paradoxically, global warming may be leading to more frequent disruptions of the polar vortex — which can cause extreme cold and high-impact winter storms across the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Cities across the Midwest and Northeast U.S. set new record low temperatures Wednesday and Thursday morning as a once-in-a-generation cold snap swept through the U.S. The frigid conditions have been linked to at least nine deaths already.
The big picture: An air mass that originated in the High Arctic is sweeping through the U.S., but even though temperatures are expected to start easing this afternoon and be above freezing this weekend in parts of the Midwest, this is likely not the last time this kind of sudden cold snap could affect large portions of the nation. Recentstudies show climate change could cause more southward jogs of the polar vortex in the future.
"Royal Dutch Shell Plc came through a quarter of volatile oil prices to beat earnings estimates, delivering a surge in cash flow the company said will underpin 'world-class' returns to investors," Bloomberg reports.
By the numbers: The company on Thursday announced a $5.7 billion fourth quarter profit and a full-year profit haul of $21.4 billion.
Oil prices have been rising this week. But here's the more interesting thing: they're not going bananas these days, not at all, despite a good dose of geopolitical turbulence and market intervention, including U.S. sanctions.
The big picture: Prices are up in recent days (Brent is pushing $62 per barrel and WTI is above $54), but they're still more than $20 below the elevated early-October levels, which were four-year highs.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are set to unveil legislation laying out a “Green New Deal” as soon as next week, Axios has learned.
Driving the news: A spokeswoman for Markey confirmed the offices are working on legislation, but said there is no final text and timing isn’t final yet for next week. A request to Ocasio-Cortez’s office wasn’t immediately returned. Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, also said legislation is due as soon as Wednesday or Thursday of next week. The youth-led group has been at the forefront of the Green New Deal movement.
An extreme winter weather event is unfolding across the Midwest on Wednesday through Thursday, and numerous daily and some all-time temperature records have been shattered.
Tesla's CFO Deepak Ahuja is leaving the company, CEO Elon Musk said at the end of an earnings call on Wednesday.
Why it matters: Ahuja is retiring following a string of executive departures last year. Ahuja left the company after being CFO from 2008-2015, and later returned to the position in February 2017. He will remain an adviser to Tesla, but will be replaced as CFO by VP of Finance Zach Kirkhorn.
Tesla said it was profitable for the second straight quarter on Wednesday, though it reported a slightly smaller profit than analysts expected. The company also reassured investors that it had "sufficient cash on hand" for a bond payment due in March.
Details: Tesla said strong sales were offset by cheaper Model S and Model X vehicles in China, as well as the lower-priced version of the Model 3. Additionally, the company expects between 360,000 to 400,000 vehicle deliveries in 2019, which would constitute a 65% increase from last year.
Why it matters: In a 2016 study, only 4% of Norwegian EV owners indicated that they might go back to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in the future. The experience seems to prove what was observed in the case of the transition to smartphones: Once users adjust to newer technology — even at significantly higher costs — they don’t want to go back.
GOP leadership has officially named the Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee, four weeks after the new Democratic-controlled Congress took office.
Why it matters: The panel was the final House committee to be filled by Republicans, with the delay hampering the ability of the Democratic majority to start conducting business and issuing subpoenas related to the Trump-Russia investigation. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new chair of the committee, has pledged to reopen the Russia probe in light of the indictments of several Trump associates, and said his first order of business would be to hand over all witness transcripts to the Mueller investigation.
Temperatures overnight sank into the negative double digits in nearly a dozen states, with the polar vortex descending on the Midwest and threatening to break all-time cold records.
The big picture: Mail deliveries have been suspended, schools and businesses closed, and Midwesterners warned that the frigid cold is not to be trifled with. Even so, some brave souls have ventured outside to test out the temperatures.
Mail delivery on Wednesday is suspended in several cities in the Midwest based on brutal cold temperatures, the U.S. Postal Service announced.
Details: Mail will not be delivered in parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, western Pennsylvania, the Dakotas and Nebraska. Schools, businesses and government services are closed, and hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled throughout the country.
An interesting piece in Harvard Business Review shows that when people know their neighbors are cutting energy consumption, they tend to reduce their own.
Between the lines: The amount of the reductions is linked to why people think their neighbors are using less.
The last day or so has brought more hints of what the crowded field thinks about the topic and the policy response.
What's new: Sen. Kamala Harris has offered full-throated support for the Green New Deal, using phrasing that's less equivocal than prior statements from her office.
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