Climate scientists and indigenous leaders are urging policymakers to embrace traditional burning to avoid catastrophic wildfires like those experienced in the American West in recent years.
Why it matters: Climate change is expected to cause extreme fire events this decade. Per traditional cultural practitioners like Don Hankins, who's worked alongside indigenous leaders in California and northern Australia, indigenous controlled burns are proven to help prevent fire disasters.
The electric vehicle era, barely underway, could soon be stifled by a shortage of batteries and raw materials that will require significant investments in U.S. manufacturing, mining and recycling.
Why it matters: President-elect Joe Biden has made vehicle electrification a core element of his energy and economic policy. But the U.S. is far behind in the global battery race, creating a potential supply chain bottleneck that could slow EV adoption for the next decade.
Hyundai is in preliminary talks with Apple about the tech giant's mysterious plan to develop self-driving electric cars, per reports in CNBC and Bloomberg.
Driving the news: "We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor. As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing has been decided," a Hyundai rep tells CNBC.
President-elect Joe Biden's final burst of Cabinet picks could have important roles to play in the new administration's climate change and energy agenda.
Last year tied 2016 as the warmest year ever recorded, capping the end of the warmest decade on record, according to data released Friday by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
By the numbers: "2020 was 0.6°C warmer than the standard 1981-2010 reference period and around 1.25°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period," Copernicus said in a summary of their data. The last six years are the six warmest on record, they said.
There's a certain symmetry to a pair of energy sector developments Wednesday: Solar stocks jumped on a day that also brought hard evidence the oil industry has little interest in trying to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The big picture: Solar and oil aren't really direct competitors, but both will be affected by the incoming Biden administration's policies and the speed of the global transition toward lower-carbon sources.
The average fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. dipped in model year 2019, newly released federal data shows.
Why it matters: Transportation is the nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The overall trends (see above) show that the sector is far from steep emissions cuts.
Part of a new post by energy analyst Nikos Tsafos raises an important point: Joe Biden's approach to U.S. financing of natural gas projects abroad and LNG exports is something of a mystery, even as he plans new domestic regulations.
The big picture: Tsafos notes there's been significant support in recent years from a pair of U.S. agencies — the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corp.
