Al Gore predicted at an Axios event Tuesday that President Trump won’t reverse course about withdrawing America from the Paris climate deal.
Why it matters: The insight from the former vice president and long-time climate activist offers a blunt state-of-play almost a year after Trump announced he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris deal.
Companies including BP, Chevron and power giant Southern Company have formed a new coalition called the Energy Advance Center to work on carbon capture, storage and use.
Why it matters: Trapping CO2 from power plants and other industrial facilities is an important way to help eventually bring the steep emissions cuts needed to prevent the most dangerous levels of warming.
Rapper and businessman Kanye West told his 14.6 million Twitter followers how much he adores his Tesla (which, according to press reports, is a customized P100D Model S).
Why it matters: Tesla has been going through a rough patch, so rave reviews from a cultural icon probably can't hurt. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has called West an inspiration, retweeted a couple of West's new comments.
Axios' David Nather asks and answers a good question: What does the health care industry have to do with climate change?
The answer: It turns out the U.S. health care system is the 7th largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, according to the Commonwealth Fund — which is why the health care foundation says the system should do more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
University of Texas electricity expert Joshua Rhodes looked at how many power plants are poised to benefit from expanded carbon capture tax credits, per Forbes.
Why it matters: The credits in the February federal spending deal represented a rare bipartisan effort on climate policy, but whether they're attractive enough for use in the power sector (as opposed to other industrial facilities) remains a question.
As French President Emmanuel Macron today begins his State Visit with President Trump, a source who has watched the two men in action says that Macron, a former investment banker, treats Trump like a "prized client" — with a combination of flattery, attentiveness and wariness. Macron "has run a master-class on the care and feeding of POTUS," the source says.
The big picture: Trump this week is Continental Man, hosting a private dinner with Macron at Mount Vernon tonight; a press conference with the French leader tomorrow, followed by the first State Dinner of the 15-month-old administration; and then on Friday, a White House meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
President Trump's decision Friday to burst like the Kool-Aid Man into oil market debates — bashing OPEC in a tweet over "artificially high" prices — has generated a burst of analyses about what motivated his comments.
Why it matters: The tweet could herald a newly-aggressive posture toward the cartel as it weighs the longer-term future of the production-limiting deal with Russia that's currently slated to last through 2018.
President Trump is directing his administration to prop up financially struggling coal and nuclear power plants to ensure the electricity grid is resilient and reliable, but government data and most objective experts say there is no such problem.
Why it matters: America’s electricity fuel mix is undergoing significant change, which does present challenges. But Trump’s laser focus on coal and nuclear power — and companies seizing on that — distracts the debate from more substantive issues.
