Axios

After delaying planting in spring due to widespread floods throughout the Midwest, farmers are now hoping to recover from yet another obstacle: an early blizzard, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: Historic flooding in the spring led farmers to delay plantings due to drenched fields. An uncharacteristically early blizzard in northern states in recent days has only amplified the race to harvest, with farmers scrambling to pull their crops before they freeze.

Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno said on Sunday that his administration would agree not to terminate the country's fuel subsidies and sit for talks with indigenous groups, in an effort to end deadly protests that had roiled the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: Thousands of Ecuadorians, set off by Moreno's announcement that he would end a 4-decade-old, $1.4 billion-per-year fuel subsidy, have been protesting for almost 2 weeks, clashing with police, ransacking government buildings and looting businesses. Confrontations between demonstrators and state security forces have resulted in 7 deaths, 1,300 injured and 1,152 arrests.

Go deeper: Ecuador’s president flees the capital amid protests

Renewables outpaced fossil fuels in U.K. power generation during the third quarter of 2019 for the first time since the late 1800s, according to a new analysis from the site Carbon Brief.

Why it matters: "It is another symbolic milestone in the stunning transformation of the UK’s electricity system over the past decade," writes Simon Evans, deputy editor of the climate news and analysis site.

Total SA is acquiring a 37% stake in the Indian gas distribution firm Adani Gas as the French energy giant looks to capitalize on rising LNG demand in the world's second-most populous nation.

Why it matters: The roughly $600 million deal announced Monday will give Total "a footprint in a market where annual LNG demand will hit 28 million tons by 2023, making it the fourth biggest importer of the fuel," Bloomberg reports. Total is already the world's second-largest LNG player.

San Francisco legislators have a new idea to tackle all the new tech that roams around their streets: an Office of Emerging Technologies that would dole out approvals to startups and companies wishing to unleash new gadgets and services on the city.

Why it matters: San Francisco is home to many tech companies that aim to reshape urban life, but the city has often seemed ill-prepared to deal with them, whether by welcoming or regulating them.

ExxonMobil is expanding its research efforts with the stated goal of producing more — but cleaner — energy in the face of climate change.

Driving the news: The world’s biggest publicly traded oil company has been creating new partnerships with American and foreign universities in recent years totaling at least $75 million, and it just inked another, unprecedented $100 million deal with the U.S. Energy Department.

A massive search and rescue operation involving 110,000 people was underway in Japan Monday after deadly Typhoon Hagibis lashed the country over the weekend, the BBC reports.

The big picture: The storm that triggered floods and landslides Saturday has killed at least 40 people and injured scores more, according to Japanese news outlets. "About 38,000 people across 17 prefectures had evacuated their homes" so far, the Japan Times reports. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there were concerns for the "impact on lives and economic activities," per the Japan Times.

At least 3 people have died in wildfires driven by gusty winds in Southern California, where up to 100,000 people were at one point under mandatory evacuation orders, authorities said Saturday, per NBC News.