Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail — to be served on weekends — on Tuesday in a Washington, D.C. federal court.
Why it matters: His sentencing wraps up one of the final outstanding portions of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, which Gates cooperated with extensively.
An interesting Bloomberg piece compares the European Union's newly unveiled climate proposals with the Green New Deal that's in vogue in American progressive circles on the left.
The intrigue: There's a lot there, but at one point the authors wonder whether the multitopic focus of the Green New Deal — which tackles health care, job and wage guarantees — will make it tougher to implement than the European Green Deal.
A pair of events over the past few days offers a preview of upcoming investor efforts to push some of the world's largest companies to get more active on global warming.
Why it matters: Shareholder pressure is becoming an increasingly important driver of corporate decision-making at a time when national governments' political will on climate is uneven at best.
Investors are pouring record amounts of money into passive ESG funds — but the vagueness of just how money managers determine the makeup of their sustainable funds is now attracting attention from regulators.
Why it matters: Investors are paying high management fees for these "socially responsible" funds. It's important that they get what they pay for.
After briefly declining as the Paris Climate Agreement was finalized in 2015, global coal consumption is now poised to keep growing — albeit only slightly, according to a new International Energy Agency forecast.
A 2018 explosion at a natural gas well owned by an ExxonMobil subsidiary emitted more methane into the atmosphere than some countries do in a year, a new study using satellite data has found.
Why it matters: It's the first time methane from an oil or gas incident has been detected and quantified using data gathered by satellite. The study shows space technology could become a key tool in detecting leaks of methane — one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
A severe storm system spawning tornadoes across the Deep South killed at least three people as it damaged homes, downed trees and caused power outages Monday, AP reports.
The UN’s annual climate conference ended in failure yesterday, with big decisions on how to slow the relentless rise of global temperatures pushed off to 2020 and beyond.
Why it matters: World leaders gathering at global forums like the UN often frame climate change in existential terms. But their views of what remedies are necessary and fair tend to be colored by their own national interests.
Goldman Sachs says it won't directly finance Arctic oil-and-gas exploration, new coal-fired power plants (unless they trap carbon), or new mines for coal used in electricity.
The big picture: Those are three big pieces of the banking giant's revised climate policies unveiled over the weekend.
