Julia Steyn, who ran GM's urban car-sharing service, Maven, until early this year, has been named CEO of Bolt Mobility, a Miami Beach-based electric scooter company co-founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt.
Why it matters: Bolt's co-founders B. Sarah Haynes and Kamyar Kaviani will step aside as co-CEOs to make room for Steyn, whose urban mobility experience is expected to help the 1-year-old company improve and refine its business model. Renting scooters today, Bolt had intended to add a shared electric car to its lineup in 2020, but the company now says it has scrapped that plan.
Donald Trump Jr. blasted Time for picking teen Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg to be its 2019 Person of the Year instead of honoring protesters in Hong Kong.
"Time leaves out the Hong Kong protesters fighting for their lives and freedoms to push a teen being used as a marketing gimmick. How dare you?"
Chevron announced a $10 billion to $11 billion write-down on several natural gas assets and one of its oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico.
Driving the news: The company said yesterday that the downward revision in its long-term price outlook means that it will "reduce funding to various gas-related opportunities."
ExxonMobil notched a big win in the New York Supreme Court, but don't expect the victory to inoculate Big Oil against several other courtroom challenges over global warming.
Catch up fast: A judge ruled yesterday that the state's attorney general failed to show that the oil giant misled investors about the costs of addressing climate change. The decision called the claims "hyperbolic."
A recently formed venture capital firm backed by Malaysian oil-and-gas giant Petronas is going into launch mode.
Driving the news: The San Francisco-based Piva today announced a $250 million fund to invest in "breakthrough technologies needed to usher in a new era of energy and industry."
Context: Thunberg has received international attention and praise for her work to raise awareness on climate change — symbolizing a generational movement against the issue. She inspired millions of students to go on strike earlier this year, demanding governments take action against pollution.
The American Petroleum Institute is now supporting the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement and, separately, technology for capturing carbon dioxide.
Why it matters: These are subtle but important shifts reflecting the oil and natural gas industry’s reluctant and uneven embrace of climate change as a problem the government should address.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg released his client list from his time working at consulting firm McKinsey & Company from 2007 to 2010 on Tuesday evening.
Where it stands: According to The Atlantic, Buttigieg's clients included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws, Best Buy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Energy Foundation, the U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Department of Defense.
The Arctic's thawing permafrost could release an estimated 300 million to 600 million tons of net carbon into the atmosphere each year, according to NOAA's 2019 Arctic Report Card released Tuesday.
Why it matters: Consequences of ongoing changes in the Arctic's climate — accelerated by warming air temperatures and dwindling sea ice — will result in "altered weather patterns, increased greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels," the Washington Post reports.
Micromobility provider Wheels — whose shared scooter-bikes aim to make riding safer with bigger wheels, a lower center of gravity and the ability to stand or sit — is now outfitting them with a shareable smart helmet.
Why it matters: Riding a scooter or bike without a helmet is like driving in a car without a seatbelt, but nobody wants to carry around a helmet all day for a quick jaunt. By making it easier — and more sanitary — to use a shared helmet, these micromobility devices could become safer.
Chile's Air Force on Tuesday said a military cargo plane carrying 38 people crashed while flying to the country's base in Antarctica, Reuters reports.
The latest: Search and rescue crews have not located the plane, but the Air Force concluded that the aircraft crashed based on the number of hours it has been missing. The C-130 Hercules was carrying 17 crew members and 21 passengers when it lost contact with operators. Three civilians were on board, per AP.
ExxonMobil won a closely watched fraud lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general alleging the oil giant misled investors on its handling of climate-change costs, a New York judge ruled Tuesday morning.
Why it matters: It’s a key victory for both Exxon and the sector writ large amid years of liberal politicians and environmentalists waging various legal battles trying to exact blame for climate change.
Elizabeth Warren is out with new plans to speed up offshore wind projects, expand marine sanctuaries, and bolster use of oceans to soak up carbon emissions.
Driving the news: Those are three pillars of the far wider "Blue New Deal" — a riff on the "Green New Deal" concept — on ocean policy that the Democratic White House hopeful unveiled Tuesday.
America is poised to produce far more oil and natural gas over the next five years than any other country in the world, according to a new report.
Why it matters: It shows how America, already the world’s largest oil and gas producer, is poised to cement that position, with pivotal implications for geopolitics and climate change.
