"Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills Saturday that would require large corporations operating in the state to disclose both their carbon footprints and their climate-related financial risks starting in 2026."
In the first of a two-parter for our 2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment & Energy, TipSheet looks at what climate-driven disasters mean for the home insurance market. Storms, floods and fire rip through communities, yet a federal insurance program falls short, lawmakers shy away from real reform and insurers grow hesitant to cover the risks, while homeowners often attempt to rebuild in the same problematic locales. Plus, see part two on extreme weather and insurance.
"The current strike by the United Auto Workers against the Detroit carmakers is, in part, about the transition to electric vehicles. A key union demand—in addition to a 40 percent wage increase, endorsed last week by President Biden when he joined a UAW picket line—is job security for union members as the auto industry reshapes itself."
"State regulators on Monday released their draft rules for what to do with all the hazardous oilfield waste that’s left over once a well is drilled. The announcement gives the public one month to comment on the new rules — while some industry representatives started giving input more than two years ago, documents and interviews show."
How did the Lahaina wildfire spark an AI-driven influence campaign out of China? Perhaps a technological leap. Or perhaps, the new WatchDog Opinion column suggests, a natural evolution of a decades-old disinformation playbook with roots in a war against science and culminating in climate denial. A look at the disturbing prospects and a plea for journalists not to sidestep the phenomenon but to cover it.
"A warming planet is creating a booming and loosely-regulated disaster restoration industry fueled by immigrant labor. Without protection, workers are exposed to lethal toxins making them sick long after the cleanup."
"A new report finds that five major global insurers are still backing U.S. coal mines, even when they've promised not to."
"First Solar kept producing them in Ohio after most of the industry moved to China. President Biden wants many more domestic manufacturers."
"Congressional Democrats are vowing to defend President Joe Biden’s new federal green jobs program from future Republican attacks."
"From California to Florida, homeowners have been facing a new climate reality: Insurance companies don’t want to cover their properties. According to a report released today, the problem will only get worse."
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