Royal Dutch Shell paid the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's most powerful lobbying group, at least $12.5 million in 2019, the oil giant revealed.
Driving the news: The tally, which Shell tells Axios is consistent with recent years, shows up in a report Shell published yesterday on its trade group memberships.
The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating a years-long decline in coal-fired electricity.
The state of play: Weaker electricity demand and super-low natural gas prices, both driven by the pandemic, have prompted coal to drop to just 15% of the U.S. electricity mix for the first time in modern history, according to a new analysis of government data by consultancy Rhodium Group.
The Trump administration is expected on Thursday to withdraw the legal justification for an Obama-era regulation that forced coal-fired power plants to cut mercury and other toxic air pollution, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: It's another step by the administration to relax health-related regulations even during the coronavirus pandemic. The administration curtailed vehicle emissions standards despite studies linking pollution to higher COVID-19 death rates.
Three pieces of analysis suggest trouble for the growth of low-carbon energy sectors, as we continue gauging the ongoing effects from the coronavirus pandemic.
State of play: Several industry groups and analysts issued a memorandum tallying the early stages of U.S. job losses in the sector at 3% already. Meanwhile, an intergovernmental agency warns that COVID-19 could hinder oil industry efforts on climate and a group of business leaders said 84% of their members have delayed projects.
Royal Dutch Shell unveiled wide-ranging new climate goals Thursday that would see the oil-and-gas giant become a "net-zero emissions energy business" by 2050.
Why it matters: It's the latest and among the biggest moves by European-based majors on global warming — one that would require a major transformation of their businesses to succeed.
The amount of jet fuel airplanes consumed last week in the U.S. plummeted to the lowest level on record, shows new government data going back nearly 30 years.
Driving the news: No other crisis in modern history has come even close to causing such a precipitous drop in demand as the novel coronavirus — including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 economic crash.
