The Senate's debate over energy legislation this week is slated to bring fresh collisions over climate change overall and electric vehicles policy specifically.
Catch up fast: The Senate will consider a grab bag of measures introduced as a catch-all package by Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who head the Senate's energy panel.
OPEC and Russia are slated to meet in Vienna this week to decide whether to extend and deepen their production-cutting agreement as the novel coronavirus eats into global oil demand.
Why it matters: The economic slowdown from the spread of the virus has pushed oil prices down to their lowest levels in over a year — creating new tests for the 3-year-old OPEC+ alliance between the cartel, Russia and allied producers.
Don’t hold your breath for big climate policy changes— even if a Democrat wins the White House.
Why it matters: Congress is likely to remain gridlocked on the matter, leading to either more of the same with President Trump’s re-election or a regulatory swing back to the left no matter which Democrat wins — but far short of a legislative overhaul.
The huge CERAWeek energy conference in Houston that was slated to begin March 9 has been canceled due to concerns about the novel coronavirus, organizers announced Sunday.
Why it matters: The week-long annual conference is among the world's biggest and most prominent industry gatherings, drawing CEOs of the world's most powerful energy companies, energy ministers, U.S. Cabinet secretaries, OPEC leadership and more.
Pollution levels have plummeted over China and it's "partly related to the economic slowdown following the outbreak of coronavirus," NASA said in a statement accompanying the release of satellite images demonstrating the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) changes.
Driving the news: The outbreak caused China's factory activity to fall to a record low of 35.7 in February from 50.0 in January, officials said Saturday, per the Financial Times. NO2, a key contributor to smog and a major health hazard, is the gas that's emitted by motor vehicles, power plants and other industrial facilities.
