Tensions were running high on Saturday as protesters committed arson and looted luxury stores on the streets of Paris, in the 18th weekend of "yellow vest" demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron, the AP reports.
Why now: Onthe 4-month anniversary of the yellow vest movement,the action turned aggressive and destructive in a key moment, "marking the end of the great debate." Protesters say Macron is full of "hot air," failing French people as living standards decline, wages are sluggish and unemployment continues to increase.
Walking back a 2015 regulation under President Obama, the Trump administration on Friday finalized a move to lift protections on nearly 9 million acres of federal lands for the greater sage grouse, with the aim of expanding leases for the oil, gas and mining industry, reports the Washington Post.
The big picture: Also this week, the Interior Department spelled out plans to keep the Atlantic coast in its program to expand offshore oil-and-gas leasing despite criticism. Per WaPo: “In pursuit of that agenda over the past two years, the administration has sought to reverse dozens of regulations aimed at making oil platforms safer, reducing carbon dioxide and methane released into the atmosphere, and protecting the habitats of endangered animals and those on the verge of an endangered status.”
Former Vice President Al Gore said on Friday that the unintended consequence of President Trump's resolute rejections of climate change is that more people are demanding that we take action to protect the planet, reports CNN.
The backdrop: Gore— who was in Atlanta on Friday to meet with climate change activists and expressed his support of the Green New Deal — besmirched Trump in his 2017 documentary: "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power," and called the president's abandonment of the Paris climate agreement "indefensible."
HOUSTON — Democratic 2020 hopeful John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, told energy executives at CERAWeek that "urgency" is needed to tackle climate change, but steered clear of offering policy specifics.
The big picture: Hickenlooper casts himself as a problem-solving "doer" as he seeks the moderate lane in the progressive field. He often touts the methane regulation deal he forged as governor of an oil-and-gas state.
Thousands of youth students and protestors joined global protests on Friday in a massive demonstration against climate change, sparked by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Our thought bubble, per Axios' Andrew Freedman: The protests on Friday are the largest and most widespread demonstrations on this issue since the run-up to the Paris Climate Summit in 2014 and 2015, and illustrate that young people feel a sense of urgency on this issue that those in power have lacked.
Youth demonstrations and school walkouts against climate change are expected in at least 112 countries, including the U.S., on Friday in a global movement sparked by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg rose to prominence through weekly climate protests and prominent speaking roles at the UN Climate Change Summit in Poland and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The big picture: These walkouts were inspired by the Fridays for Future movement, which calls for students to skip classes once a week to make a statement about the existential threat posed by climate change for the young and future generations. The protests reached America by way of Europe on Friday morning, and even spread to Antartica.
HOUSTON — Power from offshore wind is finally poised for liftoff in the U.S.
Why it matters: The U.S. has long been a laggard, but that's poised to change thanks to a convergence of forces that analysts see bringing enough coastal wind online over the next decade to power millions of homes.
HOUSTON — The CEO of Norwegian oil company Equinor, Eldar Sætre, spends more than half his time on climate change and is optimistic the industry will unite on the issue despite the existential threat it presents, the executive told Axios on the sidelines of a major conference.
Why it matters: Equinor, partially owned by the Norwegian government, is the most progressive global oil and gas company in the world when climate change. It even changed its name last year from Statoil to reflect its transition away from oil and toward cleaner sources like offshore wind. Here are excerpts of our interview Monday at CERAWeek by IHS Markit.
