National

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Energy & Environment

President Biden predicted Wednesday that "the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified" in the near future as he announced plans for adding more electrical vehicle infrastructure to dozens of states.

The big picture: Biden laid out his plans for building more electric vehicles and clean energy infrastructure at the Detroit Auto Show, highlighting his recent win streak at the same time.

Driving the news: Biden said at the show that his administration is approving funding for 35 states, including Michigan, to build their own electric charging infrastructure.

Biden added he hopes to see 500,000 electric charging stations built across the country. He did not provide a timeline.

Biden sits at the wheel of a Cadillac Lyriq.

Biden sits at the wheel of a Cadillac Lyriq. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Drive-in: The president also celebrated the electric vehicles displayed at the Detroit auto show, including those from Chevrolet, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.

"The vehicles here give me so many reasons to be optimistic about the future," Biden said during his speech.

"I believe we can own the future of the automobile market," he said. "I believe we can know the future of manufacturing."

Biden also test drove an electric Cadillac Lyriq. A Secret Service agent sat in the passenger seat with him, according to the White House pool.

"It's a beautiful car but I love the Corvette," he said. 

Go deeper: The electric car Battery Belt is reshaping America’s heartland 

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Biden announces plans to increase electric vehicle infrastructure

He predicted that "the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified" in the near future.

President Joe Biden sits in a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 as he tours the Detroit Auto Show.

President Joe Biden at the Detroit Auto Show. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Biden administration

Electric vehicles

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko yesterday told a Senate committee that the social media company had put financial considerations ahead of user security.

The assembled senators were shocked. And dismayed. And appalled.

This included members of a Republican Party that's wielding opposition to corporate ESG (aka "woke capitalism") as an electoral messaging strategy, filtering down to state investment bans that could soon impact private equity.

Why it matters: Two-thirds of the ESG acronym refer to the very things that Zatko alleged.

Social responsibility: Twitter put profits over people.

Governance: Twitter's board was not properly informed about what was happening, and there were other communications breakdowns.

The big picture: The anti-ESG movement is primarily about protecting legacy fossil fuel interests, under the guise of protecting investors.

It intentionally flies in the face of Corporate America's relatively new mantra about how driving shareholder value is no longer its sole business goal; that there are other legitimate stakeholders, including customers, employees and communities.

As yesterday's hearing showed, elected Republicans don't really object to most core ESG tenants. In fact, they find the "S" and the "G" to be super duper important, in spite of their own political rhetoric.

The bottom line: There's a compelling argument that the "E" (environment) comes first for a reason, given that unfettered carbon emissions could prove globally catastrophic (thus rendering irrelevant most corporate social or governance advances).

At the same time, however, there's value in not always emphasizing one letter at the expense of the other two, whether you're running a company like Twitter or running for Congress.

Twitter whistleblower testimony reclaims ESG

Republicans don't really object to most core ESG tenants.

Illustration of a thin, rectangle shaped Rubik's cube stylized as a briefcase.  

Twitter

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Generate

Axios Generate

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed a series of proposals to combat Europe's energy crisis during her annual state of the union speech on Wednesday, promising the EU's enduring solidarity with Ukraine.

Why it matters: Previously heavily reliant on natural gas from Russia, the west's sanctions on Russia have drastically upended Europe's energy supply.

The big picture: Von der Leyen unveiled a series of proposals to aid consumers and businesses grappling with high gas and power costs.

Among the proposals is a cap on revenues of power companies making huge profits during the bloc's energy crisis that could yield $140 billion to "cushion the blow," she said in her speech.

She also said major oil, gas and coal companies "have to pay a fair share" via a "crisis contribution."

"In these times it is wrong to receive extraordinary record revenues and profits benefiting from war and on the back of our consumers. In these times, profits must be shared and channeled to those who need it most," she added.

High energy prices and inflation have prompted some politicians in the bloc, particularly those from the far-right, to argue the measures against Russia should be eased, Reuters reported.

Von der Leyen vehemently shut down any such suggestion in her remarks.

"This is the price for Putin's trail of death and destruction. And I want to make it very clear, the sanctions are here to stay. This is the time for us to show resolve, not appeasement. The same is true for our financial support to Ukraine."

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska was present as a guest of honor at the speech, per Reuters.

EU unveils plans to combat energy crisis and vows solidarity with Ukraine

Among the proposals is a cap on revenues of power companies making huge profits during the bloc's energy crisis.

Ursula von der Leyen delivers a State of the Union address at the European Parliament on Sept. 14. Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth/picture alliance via Getty Images

European Union (EU)

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Federal officials on Tuesday proposed adding the tricolored bat, a microbat native to eastern North America, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Why it matters: The tricolored bat is one of the bat species affected by a deadly fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. The disease, caused by an invasive fungus, has killed over 90% of its population in under 10 years, according to a study released last year.

How it works: The fungus thrives in cool, humid conditions and typically kills bats hibernating in winter in caves, abandoned mines and tunnels.

It grows on the bats' skin and wakes them when they should be hibernating, causing them to expend their winter fat reserves and starve to death.

What they're saying: The Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday the fungus is responsible for the deaths of "millions" of bats, "which unfortunately means surviving bats are more vulnerable to other stressors, such as human disturbance and habitat loss."

The big picture: The tricolor bats' range includes almost all of the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains, the southern portion of Canadian provinces east of the Great Lakes and portions of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Nicaragua.

The fungus was first documented in the U.S. in New York in 2006, and, as of 2021, was found in 35 states and seven Canadian provinces, while white-nose syndrome had been confirmed within 12 North American bat species.

Bats promote biodiversity in ecosystems and are crucial for pest control, pollinating plants and commercial crops and dispersing seeds, according to the National Science Foundation.

Go deeper: Monarch butterflies are now considered endangered

Federal agency seeks protections for bat species decimated by fungus

The tricolored bat is one of the bat species affected by a deadly fungal disease called white-nose syndrome.

A person holding a tricolor bat at a bat rescue center in Mertztown, Pennsylvania, in August 2018.

A person holding a tricolor bat at a bat rescue center in Mertztown, Pa., in August 2018.

Animals

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

Science

A new climate software firm that's announcing itself to the world on Tuesday says it has a competitive edge that other companies lack.

The big picture: Climate Alpha, which just raised a $4 million seed round, uses AI and machine learning to tell customers where to invest and move to in light of climate change and other factors.

Other firms focus on where to avoid, says its founder and CEO, Parag Khanna.

Driving the news: Climate impacts like sea level rise and extreme weather events will interact with socioeconomic trends and other developments to make places more or less desirable places to live.

Zoom in: Climate Alpha uses software to consider as many drivers as possible that could affect real estate values in a warming world.

The result, Khanna told Axios, is a guide to where businesses, governments, individual homeowners and others should invest for a more resilient future. 

Other companies right now are focused on identifying climate risk, rather than adaptation opportunities, he said.

Climate Alpha's customers and partners include the homebuilder Lennar and asset manager BentallGreenOak.

Between the lines: Climate Alpha's models include all U.S. ZIP codes, with different algorithms for each property type.

The company forecasts real estate values for every year out to 2040 under various climate scenarios.

Through a partnership with Mastercard, cities may use Climate Alpha's "Resilience Index" platform to prioritize where to spend resilience grants and funds for public housing, Khanna said.

Of note: The company began as research for Khanna's latest book, "Move: The Forces Uprooting Us," and spun out of another of his ventures, FutureMap.

What they're saying: "The climate analytics industry has been focused on telling people where they'll need to sell, but not where they should buy," Khanna told Axios via email.

One advantage to his company's approach, he says, is that it incorporates factors far afield from climate.

"Risk analytics alone don't predict consumer behavior, otherwise nobody would move to Miami or Phoenix," he said. Its models include other relocation influences, such as affordability and tax rates.

Yes, but: Climate Alpha is predicated on a bet that proactive relocation can keep Americans a step ahead of the climate.

However, this rests in part on the rate of global warming being manageable.

Nasty surprises, such as tipping points, lurk within the climate and are difficult to model.

In addition, growing inequality could limit America's resilience.

Lastly, a big wild card will be how the millions of climate refugees worldwide will affect geopolitics.

Climate Alpha wants to guide real estate through climate change

The company is looking at finding climate adaptation opportunities, not just risks.

Illustration for a for sale sign in the middle of a body of water

Climate change

The skyline of Manhattan in New York City.

A U.S. appeals court on Monday heard arguments on minimum airplane seat size rules that a flyer advocacy group says is necessary for passenger safety, per Reuters.

Driving the news: The Justice Department said the Federal Aviation Administration's "examination of existing evidence has not yet demonstrated a safety need for minimum seat dimensions" but that the agency is continuing to examine the issue, Reuters reported.

But FlyersRights.org, an advocacy group, argued that without the court's intervention, the FAA will "continue to treat the statutory requirement as a low priority that it can ignore indefinitely, despite Congress’s express direction to the contrary."

What they're saying: "Currently there are no minimum seat dimensions," Michael Kirkpatrick, a lawyer for FlyersRights.org, said according to Reuters. 

"Maybe they're going to codify the current seat dimensions and status quo for all conditions required for safety, then maybe there'll be a challenge on the merits," he said. "But the point here is that there is no regulation now on seat pitch, width or length."

Background: In 2018, Congress directed the FAA to issue new rules on minimum dimensions for passenger seats after a notice and comment period.

Although passed the deadline, the FAA asked for public comment last month and has already received nearly 12,000 comments. The comment period closes Nov. 1.

FlyersRights.org did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

U.S. appeals court hears argument on airline seat size rules

There are no minimum seat dimensions currently.