| | | | |  | | By Lorraine Woellert, Catherine Boudreau, Jordan Wolman and Debra Kahn | | | | | 
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will discuss a climate disclosure rule later this month. | (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo) | SEC STARTING GUN — The Securities and Exchange Commission fired the starting gun yesterday on its proposal that would require public companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and exposure to climate risks. The commission will meet March 21 to kick off the rulemaking process, which will take months. The climate disclosure rule is the hottest item on SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's plate, coming as businesses face greater risks from flooding, wildfires and other extreme weather, along with new regulations around the globe to curb climate change. The rule has been delayed while commissioners debate the details of the proposal. People who have spoken with Gensler tell us the rule would require companies to report emissions from their own operations and energy consumption, or what are known as scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. Some companies may eventually have to report scope 3 emissions, which are those generated from the goods and services within their supply chains. At first, that may only apply to businesses with a lot of scope 3 emissions — think retailers, automakers and oil companies. Supporters of such disclosures argue that without them, companies won't provide a full picture of their carbon footprints. Take Amazon or Walmart: The largest share of their emissions by far are from scope 3. But opponents argue that the data from third-party suppliers isn't always available and therefore wouldn't be accurate. Methodologies for measuring scope 3 emissions remain a work in progress, which means even well-meaning companies might slip up, said Alicia Seiger, managing director of Stanford University's Precourt Sustainable Finance Initiative. Then there are the plans for eliminating emissions. The SEC can't make companies decarbonize, but it can hold them to their promises. If a corporation says it's going net zero, it will have to report progress in filings with the agency. Finally, reporting on big-ticket items such as capital investment and research and development might take on a green tinge. Regulators might urge companies to break out climate specifics. If our educated guess at the broad contours of the SEC's rule proves correct, it shouldn't be that difficult for companies to deliver, said Paula DiPerna , special adviser to CDP North America, a nonprofit repository of corporate climate reporting. Thousands of companies already voluntarily provide emissions data to the CDP. In the U.S., nearly 32 percent of those companies even supply their scope 3 emissions, she said. What's next: If a majority of the SEC's four commissioners vote to advance the proposal, the agency will take comments from the public before issuing a final rule. Watch this space, because it's getting crowded. U.S. financial regulators are late to the game when it comes to climate disclosures. Globally, there are more than 680 policies already in place, with nearly two dozen systems in the works for identifying and verifying sustainable investments. Companies and their investors are looking for standardization.
| | | METALS MELTDOWN — We're about to see how much pain Americans can put up with at the pump — or whether a silver lining might be increased appetite for electric vehicles, as President Joe Biden suggested in his ban Tuesday on Russian oil imports. One immediate complication, though, is chaos in the market for critical minerals that EV and battery manufacturers depend on, asJael Holzman and Benjamin Storrow of Politico's E&E News report. Nickel trading on the London Metal Exchange shut down on Tuesday after prices hit a record of more than $100,000 per metric ton. Morgan Stanley analysts called it a "seven-sigma event" that could have lasting impacts on the EV market. A battery-storage project developer said companies are delaying projects or renegotiating contracts with utilities to reflect higher prices. The market fluctuations are also causing waves in the environmental community, which is beginning to embrace the idea of more domestic mining projects. "We actually need to produce the products that can help mitigate the climate crisis," said Jean Su , director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Energy Justice Program.
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Offshore wind development is growing at a fast pace. | (Michael Dwyer, File/AP Photo) | WIND WARS — Offshore wind is finally taking off in the United States — see last month's $4.3 billion auction of leases off New York and New Jersey. But fishing interests around the country are still mounting a fight, as Jordan Wolman reports. The resistance could complicate President Joe Biden's timeline for getting 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management wants to review at least 16 plans for potential approval in the next three years, up from two total approvals since the agency was created in 2011. Oregon officials are asking BOEM to delay a planned lease sale next year over concerns about its potential impacts on commercial fishing. "I think that timeline is just completely unrealistic," Kaety Jacobson, a county commissioner in Oregon, said at a hearing last month. The Biden administration is planning to release a draft proposal this spring to compensate fishers for wind turbines' impacts, but the fishing industry views it as a death knell. "Here we are for centuries keeping the coastal communities alive, and you just feel like you are going to be stamped out," said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. TESLA-CRYPTO CRACKDOWN — Tesla is fighting a shareholder resolution to get it to liquidate its energy-intensive cryptocurrency assets, Corbin Hiar of Politico's E&E News reports. The previously unreported proposal, filed last year, would have Tesla sell off its crypto holdings because of their huge energy demand. The company owned nearly $2 billion in bitcoin at the end of 2021. "This is a massive step backwards for Tesla's mission of accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy," the proposal's author, Karen Róbertsdóttir, wrote. Tesla Managing Counsel Xuehui Cassie Zhang told the SEC that the company would fight the resolution because it's unnecessary and overly prescriptive (it would have Tesla sell off its "newly acquired" cryptocurrency within 5 business days). She said Tesla uses bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. Financial experts agreed the proposal is on the restrictive side but said future crypto-curbing attempts could gain traction.
| | | — California is spending billions on high-tech adaptations to increased wildfires, but rural residents are often resorting to old-school two-way radios, Capital Public Radio reports. — The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought Republicans and Democrats together when it comes to energy sanctions. But don't expect it to last, POLITICO's Josh Siegel writes.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | GAME ON – Welcome to the Long Game, where we're delivering the latest on efforts to shape our future. Tuesday through Friday, we'll have data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and more news to keep you in the loop on sustainability. Our team is sustainability editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn, reporters Lorraine Woellert and Catherine Boudreau and digital producer Jordan Wolman. Reach them at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com , lwoellert@politico.com, cboudreau@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Thanks to Zack Colman and Josh Siegel as well as Jael Holzman, Ben Storrow and Corbin Hiar of Politico's E&E News for contributing today. Want more? Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still totally free! POWER PLAY: POLITICO's The Recast has named the 40 power players of 2021. From strategists to politicians, activists to influencers, they undeniably impacted the intersection of race, politics and policy. Explore the full list here.
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Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP and Joshua Roberts/Getty Images | | | | Events are listed in Eastern Time March 15 — The Bipartisan Policy Center will discuss securing domestic supply chains with Biden administration officials at 12:30 p.m. March 16 — The House Agriculture Committee discusses the 2022 Farm Bill and the role of USDA in addressing climate change at 10 a.m. March 16 — A House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee will discuss proposals for water resources development at 10 a.m. March 17 — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider the nomination of Kathryn Huff to be the Department of Energy's assistant secretary for nuclear energy at 10 a.m. March 17 — The Atlantic Council, featuring Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, will discuss a green and equitable future at 12 p.m. March 17 — A House Natural Resources subcommittee discusses a number of resiliency and sustainability-related measures at 1 p.m.
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