Joe Biden emphasized climate change in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination Thursday night, as the days leading up to it offered fresh evidence of the problem's scale and tensions within his coalition.
Why it matters: It was a statement of priority in the most important speech of Biden's campaign to unseat President Trump, and the address mentioned the topic repeatedly.
A new report from several groups shows strong opposition among asset managers, financial advisers and other industry actors to Labor Department plans to restrict sustainable investing — or ESG, for environmental, social, and governance.
Why it matters: The rule has transformed the Labor Department into a battleground over climate (though of course climate is just one part of ESG investing).
The response from America’s political class to California’s overlapping crises of heatwaves, wildfires and power blackouts shows just how politicized these topics have become.
Driving the news: President Trump and other Republicans say the whole country will face California’s problems if Democrats pass their climate policies. Meanwhile, some Democrats are pushing political messages with the state’s extreme weather.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) used his Democratic National Convention address on Thursday to highlight the real-world effects of climate change, speaking just a mile from the site of one of the over 370 wildfires that are currently ravaging his state.
What he's saying: "Well, I confess this is not where I expected to be speaking here tonight," said Newsom, who was originally set to speak at the DNC but remained in California to monitor the fires. "We are just coming off a record heat wave that led to 130 degree temperatures — the highest temperature ever recorded in California."
One of the few policy specifics offered up repeatedly during the Democratic National Convention has been Joe Biden's promise to create millions of renewable energy sector jobs.
Axios Re:Cap digs into his plan with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose state is a major player in both renewable energy and fossil fuels.
Electric bikes are seeing a major spike in sales that began even before the coronavirus pandemic but has sharply accelerated since March.
Why it matters: E-bike manufacturers are racing to keep up with the newfound demand as people, wary of crowded public transit and facing less congestion from commuting cars, adopt new ways of getting around.
Electric trucks have the potential to displace enough oil to make a "significant dent" in transportation sector CO2 emissions, per a Rhodium Group analysis.
Why it matters: There's lots of buzz — and a lot of money — around electric trucks these days.
Joe Biden's campaign is emphasizing that he really, really doesn't like subsidies for fossil fuels at a time when climate activists are blasting the removal of anti-subsidy language from the Democratic National Committee platform.
What they're saying: "[Joe Biden] continues to be committed to ending U.S. fossil fuel subsidies [and] then rallying the rest of the world to do the same — as was outlined in his climate plan last year," Biden policy director Stef Feldman tweeted Wednesday.
