The Canadian province of Quebec has big plans of becoming the “battery of the U.S. northeast” by feeding power generated from its dams and other hydro plants to millions of people in Vermont, Massachusetts and New York state. But dry conditions that have affected energy output worldwide are forcing one of the world’s largest hydropower ..read more

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/cold-weather-businesses-suffer-in-the-winter-that-wasnt-a59ac42b?mod=djemclimate MINNEAPOLIS—On a 60-degree day here in early March, Derek Hughes and his son, Dylan, tried out their cross-country skis on artificial snow that had melted into a slushy mess. “It feels like the cross-country equivalent of water skiing,” said Hughes, 42 years old, as his 8-year-old son—skiing for only the third time all winter—looked ..read more

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/hes-a-renewable-power-billionaire-not-an-environmentalist-f7f4cbef?mod=djemclimate Michael Polsky is getting into fights all over the country. The Chicago billionaire, a Ukrainian immigrant who made his fortune through wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects, wants to build a lot more. And he also wants to build natural-gas-fired power plants. At every turn, he says, he faces opposition from either the left or ..read more

https://www.ft.com/content/8a436da0-0531-4561-b6f8-35fcd79b6d79?accessToken=zwAGExJ_ic-IkdOKQ22gBTFFYdO2-DX815tteQ.MEQCIFZ4zjEF38gZJ4o5CTyLK2UoNKmmpge8KD2hjXAG60rmAiBHiKt-jtdxflBtGHNFubG2cXiEEBj_Ruu7psfbKaHZtw&sharetype=gift&token=4262673e-b55d-4dd6-afd9-34749d7f62c7 Global average temperature rise in February reaches 1.77C above pre-industrial levels The warmest northern hemisphere winter on record was accompanied by unsurpassed sea surface temperatures and unusual drought and rain patterns across the world, the European Earth Observation Agency said.  The global average temperat ..read more

https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/sec-climate-disclosure-greenhouse-gases-d57de27c WASHINGTON—The Securities and Exchange Commission approved new requirements that public companies disclose their greenhouse-gas emissions, but dropped a key provision that was fiercely opposed by business groups. The 3-2 vote in favor of the rule comes after a two-year process involving intense lobbying from some of the world’s biggest industries and influential climate groups ..read more

Wall Street’s top regulator will vote on March 6 on whether to adopt rules requiring U.S.-listed companies to report climate-related risks, the agency said in a notice on Wednesday, in a potentially major overhaul of U.S. disclosure rules. The Securities and Exchange Commission rules aim to standardize climate-related company disclosures about greenhouse gas emissions, risks ..read more

SANTIAGO, Chile—Forest fires roared across a heavily populated swath of central Chile, killing about 100 people and destroying some 3,000 homes, according to government officials. The destruction is disrupting Latin America’s most market-friendly economy. Some 370 people were missing, Mayor Macarena Ripamonti of Viña del Mar said early Sunday. Her city, along with hillside communities ..read more

https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2024/01/17/climate-risk-and-the-future-of-us-commercial-real-estate/?s_cid=eml_Enterprising The imperatives of climate change demand enhanced risk management in the commercial real estate (CRE) loan market: Investors and lenders must refine their strategies and conduct meticulous property-level risk assessments as part of their credit analysis. Community and regional banks are particularly susceptible to climate-related financial risk due to their CRE loan balance sheet ..read more

https://www.pionline.com/esg/us-esg-funds-notch-first-year-outflows-2023?utm_campaign=smartbrief U.S. sustainable funds had their worst calendar year in 2023, according to Morningstar, which has been tracking them for more than a decade. Investors pulled $13 billion from U.S. sustainable funds in 2023, including $5 billion in the fourth quarter alone, due to a combination of lagging performance, politics and one iShares fund’s bad ..read more

https://www.ft.com/content/3be2100f-3ea5-42a2-9523-33e05953705c?accessToken=zwAGDClbwdTwkc874hAPPqVCotOVIzPgWVNwXA.MEQCIHT1yBcO55ONzsrmsoZxsFYiyQrsyRpR386NdGaMpL4SAiA9pnlxrD-Dr4x0p–78Rwrq0U3fhb1SIK5Mufb_NaWsw&sharetype=gift&token=2536f27a-c18b-4616-82e3-8ddbf2b0413c Unprecedented dry spell plunges residents into crisis and highlights threats to rainforest’s role as carbon sink One of the world’s largest rivers and a major tributary of the Amazon, the yawning Rio Negro is a pillar of the rainforest ecosystem that is crucial to the stability of the global climate. But vast sections of ..read more