Good morning! (Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,089 words, 4 minutes.)
And at this moment in 1999, Cool Breeze (and some talented friends) were atop Billboard's rap charts with today's intro tune...
Good morning! (Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,089 words, 4 minutes.)
And at this moment in 1999, Cool Breeze (and some talented friends) were atop Billboard's rap charts with today's intro tune...
New International Energy Agency estimates this morning put the economic effect of the novel coronavirus into sharp relief.
Driving the news: IEA's monthly market analysis says global oil demand will fall by 435,000 barrels per day in this quarter compared to the same period a year ago.
Why it matters: It's the first quarterly contraction in over a decade(!). The agency also revised its total 2020 demand growth figure.
The big picture: The report underscores something we highlighted last week — China's enormous influence on global energy markets and the spillover effect when travel and economic activity is curtailed.
Last year China accounted for over three-quarters of global demand growth, IEA notes.
But, but, but: While today's report puts a highlighter pen over all this, crude markets have already priced in a lot of the demand shock.
Go deeper: Coronavirus cases spike after China revises diagnosis criteria
It was probably inevitable: As Capitol Hill Republicans start pushing their own climate policies, there's new tension on the right.
Driving the news: House GOP leaders yesterday promoted four bills (here, here, here and here) focused on carbon capture and storage and tree planting.
It includes measures to make credits for industrial capture permanently available and increase their value.
The intrigue: That drew a tsk-tsk from the conservative American Energy Alliance, which called it a "slippery slope to a slightly less intrusive Green New Deal."
What we're watching: Whether the new criticisms on the right are a harbinger of wider conservative pushback.
My Axios colleague Amy Harder reports that its organizers are working to prevent that from happening. Per Amy...
Go deeper: Exclusive: What’s in Republicans’ new climate-change push
Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
Let's spend more time with something I just grazed Wednesday: how BP's new emissions pledges could create more pressure on U.S.-based giants Exxon and Chevron.
Catch up fast: BP vowed "net-zero" emissions from its operations and oil and gas it produces by 2050 and a 50% cut in emissions intensity from products it sells.
Why it matters: European oil behemoths have been more active on climate than their U.S. counterparts.
Now the question is whether BP's plan — which is the most aggressive among super-majors, albeit lacking detail — will change the landscape.
A good Bloomberg piece yesterday dives into this.
Where it stands: One big dividing line between European and U.S. majors is companies' willingness to set any kind of goals around Scope 3 emissions.
What they're saying: An HSBC note this morning calls the new plan "potentially a game-changer for the company and the industry."
Traffic moved faster in Austin after Uber and Lyft left the city, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.
Why it matters: Tarduno's paper shows that Uber and Lyft increase the number of cars on the road, increase congestion and decrease traffic speeds — even if the effects in Austin were relatively modest.
Background: After Austin insisted that Uber and Lyft drivers pass background checks, both companies ceased operations in the city overnight. (They eventually returned after the state of Texas effectively overruled the city.)
The bottom line: Tarduno calculates that while faster traffic is worth $61 million a year to Austinites, that's roughly the same as the value to citizens of having Uber and Lyft (also known as transportation network companies) in the first place.
Climate: "European lawmakers have called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to put climate change at the centre of the bank’s review of its monetary policy strategy this year, endorsing the bank’s chief vision for “gradually eliminating” carbon assets." (Climate Home News)
Natural gas: "Centrica Plc became the first energy company to book a major writedown on production assets in Europe as the global natural gas glut slashed valuations on both sides of the Atlantic." (Bloomberg)
Offshore drilling: "The spread of oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was far worse than previously believed, new research has found." (Washington Post)