Axios

The International Energy Agency's latest oil market analysis warns of a potentially bumpy ride ahead.

Why it matters: "If demand continues to grow strongly or supply disappoints, the low level of stocks and shrinking spare capacity mean that oil markets could be in for another volatile year in 2022," IEA said.

Global sales of electric passenger vehicles are projected to surpass 10.5 million this year, about 4 million above 2021 levels, as the tech grows more mainstream, the research firm BloombergNEF said in a new report.

Driving the news: Its 2022 outlook for battery-electric and plug-in hybrids sees a number of forces rowing in the same direction.

A new memo from House Energy and Commerce Committee Democratic staff lays out why the panel is exploring cryptocurrency-related energy demand and carbon emissions.

Why it matters: It cites estimates that the 2021 CO2 emissions from digital mining for Bitcoin and Ethereum is "equivalent to the tailpipe emissions from more than 15.5 million gasoline powered cars on the road every year."

NASA scientists estimate that the power of Tonga's volcanic eruption over the weekend was equivalent to 5-6 megatons of TNT.

Threat level: Saturday's eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano and subsequent tsunami killed at least three people. Scientists warn an "ash-seawater cocktail" poses a potentially toxic health threat, and drinking water could be contaminated.

Even as firefighters reported some overnight success, the Rolling Pines Fire east of Austin remains a threat Wednesday morning to residential communities, forcing more than 250 families to evacuate.

Driving the news: Officials said it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the wildfire, which is running roughly along the same burn scar of a record 2011 blaze. But it was likely linked to a planned, 150-acre burn in Bastrop State Park, they added.

• "We do think that it is likely that embers from the prescribed fire were the cause of the fire outside the park," Carter Smith, executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said in a Tuesday evening press conference.

The Department of Agriculture on Tuesday unveiled a 10-year plan to combat the kind of catastrophic wildfires that have devastated parts of the West in recent years.

Driving the news: Climate change, as well as overgrown forests and an increasing number of homes in areas where nature and urban life meet, have led to a "full-blown wildfire and forest health crisis," the strategy document notes.

Latinos in the fight against climate change will gather this week during a virtual summit highlighting the community’s growing environmental activism.

The big picture: Climate change and pollution have outsized impacts on communities of color in the U.S.

Eastman said it's investing up to $1 billion to build a French plant capable of recycling up to 160,000 metric tons annually of "hard-to-recycle plastic waste that is currently being incinerated."

Driving the news: The chemicals giant, in Monday's announcement, said that huge companies, including Estée Lauder and Procter & Gamble, have signed letters of intent to use the plant.

Fossil fuel-related government revenues are slated to plummet if the U.S. deeply cuts greenhouse gas emissions, and policy tools to make up the shortfall face hurdles, a new paper finds.

Why it matters: The analysis from the nonpartisan Resources for the Future is a rare holistic look at revenue flows across levels of government — federal, state, tribal and local.

The Jan. 15 explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga caught climate scientists' attention since major eruptions throughout history have temporarily cooled the globe.

Why it matters: Large volcanic eruptions are one of the main natural control knobs that can slow the pace of human-caused global warming. Studies have shown that tropical volcanoes, such as in Tonga, tend to be particularly effective at injecting sunlight-reflecting material.

ExxonMobil on Tuesday announced a target to achieve "net-zero" emissions by 2050, a pledge that arrives as the oil industry faces activist and investor pressure to act more aggressively on climate change.

Why it matters: The non-binding target, which follows a net-zero goal set last fall by U.S. rival Chevron, marks a reversal of sorts for one of the world's most powerful multinational oil-and-gas companies.

A major winter storm lashed much of the East Coast Sunday and Monday, causing widespread power outages and disrupting travel over the holiday weekend.

The latest: Authorities in North Carolina confirmed that two people died in a car crash and that they responded 600 vehicle accidents during the storm on Sunday, per the Washington Post.