| | | | |  | | By Debra Kahn | | | | | 
U.S. allies at COP27 aren't laughing at a possible Trump return. | Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP | BRACING FOR THE STORM — The potential for a strong Republican wave in today's midterm election is raising fears of a Trump victory in 2024 — and triggering PTSD among attendees at this week's climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. "I don't want to think about that," Laurence Tubiana , a former French diplomat who led the design of the U.N.'s Paris Agreement and who now leads the European Climate Foundation, told POLITICO's Karl Mathiesen. Under the sword of Damocles, world leaders on Monday called for multilateral development banks to boost financing for vulnerable countries by an order of magnitude — trillions, not billions. They'll need it. One could argue, as the Economist does this week, that the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree target, if not achievable, has at least helped get the private sector to the table. But businesses aren't picking up the slack. Publicly listed companies are on track to emit enough to warm the planet by 2.9 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, according to a report by investment research firm MSCI. And while a third of the world's 2,000 largest companies have net-zero targets, 93 percent are on track to miss them, Accenture said in a report last week. The U.S. has some credibility at COP thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which could get us to 40 percent below 2005 emissions levels by 2030. But its inward-looking provisions are cutting against cooperation, even with our key allies. The European Union filed comments on Friday with the Treasury Department alleging that five of the IRA's tax credits for electric vehicles and clean energy violate World Trade Organization rules against protectionism, Jean Chemnick reports for POLITICO's E&E News . See also: IRA booster Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) clapback Saturday at President Joe Biden's vow to shut down coal plants "all across America," as E&E's Emma Dumain reports. Said the centrist Manchin, who's always being rumored to be considering switching parties: "[I]t is time he learn a lesson that his words matter and have consequences." Climate policy — and ESG, by association — is firmly entrenched in the global culture wars. Wall Street is bracing for more attacks against green investing if Republicans take the House and potentially the Senate, as our Jordan Wolman reported . Long story short: We're not on track, the pieces aren't fitting together, and the political noose is tightening. | | | | NEW AND IMPROVED POLITICO APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. With a fresh look and improved features, the sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don't miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. Already a POLITICO app user? Upgrade today! DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID . | | | | | | | | NO GREENWASHING — A U.N.-convened group led by former Canadian environment minister Catherine McKenna released recommendations today about how to prevent the private sector from turning climate change into strictly a marketing boon. Among the principles: No new fossil fuels: "City, region, finance and business net zero plans must not support new supply of fossil fuels." No cheap offsets: "High integrity carbon credits in voluntary markets should be used for beyond value chain mitigation but cannot be counted toward a non-state actor's interim emissions reductions required by its net zero pathway." No undermining through trade groups: "Non-state actors must lobby for positive climate action and not against it." NO RESPECT — Here's a potential political downside of using spending to achieve policy goals: It can take forever, and people may not recognize your role in it. Nearly a year after Biden signed the biggest infrastructure bill in decades, he and his fellow Democrats are struggling to reap the electoral rewards. Part of the reason is that decisions about how to spend its $1.2 trillion for roads and bridges, broadband service, electric vehicle infrastructure and drinking water repairs are just getting underway. Polls show most voters have no idea that Congress even passed the legislation — let alone that it's set to provide tens of billions of dollars for projects such as rail tunnels under the Hudson River, Everglades restoration work or a bridge replacement in Tennessee. And many of the spending decisions will rest with Republican governors who opposed Biden's push to fund projects to counteract climate change or redress the legacies of racial discrimination. Read more from Tanya Snyder, Jordan and the crew here .
| | | AUDITORS LOBBY UP — Internal auditors' representatives in Washington are launching a political action committee, partly on the expectation of corporate governance, climate disclosures and ESG coming to the forefront in Congress next year. The Institute of Internal Auditors' PAC will work to educate lawmakers and staffers about what internal auditors do, particularly as it pertains to compiling corporate disclosures, Mat Young, the association's vice president of global advocacy, policy and government affairs, told POLITICO's Caitlin Oprysko . "We fully expect that there will be a major debate next year on cyber and data privacy and ESG and corporate governance," he said. While the group isn't going to weigh in on whether climate disclosures should be mandated, he said, "we are interested in making sure that as policies develop, that they're done correctly, that internal audit is adding value and enhancing the quality of climate disclosures." WHAT'S IN A NAME? — There's a lowkey debate about whether the Inflation Reduction Act should be known as 'I.R.A.' or 'Ira,' Robin Bravender reports for POLITICO's E&E News. 'I.R.A.' still seems to be the dominant pronunciation among administration officials, with White House aide John Podesta and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo both using it recently. But Princeton University professor Jesse Jenkins likes 'Ira' (as does Ira Ehrenpreis of venture capital firm DBL Partners). "It rolls off the tongue better, it doesn't connote the Irish Republican Army, and it is a bit more 'personified,'" Jenkins said.
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| | | — "The things Americans value most are at risk," the new draft National Climate Assessment warns. — 125 of the world's richest billionaires have investments that are worth 393 million tons of CO2 per year — double the average of the S&P 500, Oxfam says in a new report .
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