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Sustainability
Sustainability
The Big Story
The Biden-Trump matchup is already roiling the energy industry
World energy markets are holding their breath over the outcome of the U.S. presidential election — with the interests of the gas import/export industry and the renewable industry at odds.
© AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Many international natural gas buyers are hoping that a Trump victory will end the Biden administration’s pause on new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals, as Aura Sabadus, an editor at ICIS – a leading chemicals and energy intelligence provider, told The Hill.
But the renewable industry worries that only the Biden administration will take steps to work with European governments to ensure consistent standards for technologies ranging from electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines to hydrogen and biogas.
“Standardization is the holy grail of industry — whoever sets the standard will have the monopoly position,” Sabadus said. “So regulatory alignment would really benefit both markets,” she said, allowing the sector to “speak with one voice.”
Within Europe, she said, many countries don’t have the same kind of EV chargers — and so far, the only place where European and U.S. governments have synced up is on the heavy-duty chargers used by electric trucks and buses.
The trans-Atlantic wind industry also doesn’t follow consistent standards, and attempts to set up a “clean hydrogen” industry will be hampered if governments on both sides of the ocean don’t agree on what makes hydrogen clean.
A potential Trump victory — and the possibility that the Biden climate stimulus package will be hollowed out — threatens to hamstring the renewables industry just as it’s getting off the ground, Sabadus said.
But another risk comes from Europe, where populist parties are gaining in strength ahead of the June elections for E.U. Parliament — parties like Germany’s AFD or France’s National Rally that often back fossil fuels like gas and coal over renewables, and that Sabadus said are less likely to prioritize shared standard setting with the U.S.
Even if Biden wins, she said, “there is a risk that these populist parties, similar to the Trump administration, could reverse some of these achievements in terms of pushing the transition further.”
Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I'm Saul Elbein — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.
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Essential Reads
Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond:
Upper Colorado River Basin states push for long-term guidelines based on real-time water conditions
The Colorado River’s Upper Basin contingent sent the federal government a proposal Wednesday outlining its vision for the watershed’s long-term management as talks among all seven of the region’s states falter. The talks pertain to the forthcoming update of the Colorado River’s 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages: rules set to expire at the end of 2026 that govern where, when and how much the water from …
Full Story Biden administration backs short-term Colorado River water savings plan
The Biden administration announced its support on Tuesday for a consensus-based, short-term proposal that will promote significant water conservation efforts across the Colorado River basin. The plan, which involves at least 3 million acre-feet of system-wide usage reductions, serves to tide the region over until current operational guidelines expire at the end of 2026, according to the Department of the Interior. The administration …
Full Story Plastic food packaging contains thousands of hormone-mimicking chemicals: Study
Plastic food packaging contains chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system — and that can leach into food, a new study has found. Once there, these chemicals can mimic — or disrupt — the effects of the hormones estrogen and testosterone on the body, according to the study published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology. Other chemicals discovered in the plastic packaging bind to chemical receptors that …
Full Story California snowpack improves as new blizzard barrels in
After a dry start to the West Coast winter, California snowpack levels showed considerable improvement Thursday, just as a multi-foot blizzard was about to barge into the Sierra Nevada region. Measurements conducted live at Phillips Station, just south of Lake Tahoe, revealed a snowpack depth of 47.5 inches, with a snow-water equivalent — the amount of water contained in snowpack — of 18 inches. While this reading constitutes …
Full Story Insect Culture
Bees may build a shared culture, study finds
© Getty Images
Honeybees work together to solve problems that are more complex than any bee can handle on her own, a new study has found.
The findings published on Wednesday in Nature challenge the idea that complex learning is the sole preserve of humans — and suggests that the bees may be building something akin to a shared culture.
The researchers designed a two-step puzzle that rewarded bees with a sweet reward if they could complete it — something that individual bees could only do if researchers gave them rewards along the way.
Eventually, researchers took away these intermediate rewards — leaving individual bees unable to solve the box.
Unless, that is, they watched another honeybee successfully complete the task. After watching a “demonstrator bee” complete both steps of the box, oberver bees could complete it themselves — even if they hadn’t seen the box before.
“Other bees learned the whole sequence from social observation of these trained bees, even without ever experiencing the first step's reward,” said coauthor Alice Bridges of of the Queen Mary University of London in a statement.
The finding raised the possibility that many of the more complex behaviors of social insects — like the intricate hives of bees and wasps, or the agricultural activities of aphid and fungus farming ants, “may have initially spread by copying of clever innovators,” coauthor Lars Chittka of Queen Mary said.
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- As the United Auto Workers campaign to organize the auto factories of the traditionally anti-union South gathers, a Toyota plant in Troy, Mo., has become the first of that company’s plants to have 30 percent of its members sign union cards.
- The U.S. Senate is also holding hearings on the responsibility plastic producers have for the ingredients in consumer packaging, and on the state of global food security.
In Other News
Branch out with different reads from The Hill:
Puerto Rico waits anxiously for EPA power plant approval
Puerto Rico’s leadership is growing nervous waiting for pending federal permits to operate two sets of power generators that are propping up the island’s fragile electrical infrastructure.
Full Story Nine states file legal challenge to SEC climate disclosure rule
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced a coalition of nine states will file a legal challenge to new regulations requiring public companies to disclose their climate-related risks and direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Full Story Around The Nation
Local and state headlines on sustainability issues:
- ‘Sad and debilitating’: rural midwesterners contend with well water tainted by livestock waste (The Guardian)
- Risks ease for Colorado River reservoirs after wet winter, but long-term challenges loom (Los Angeles Times)
- Investors are gobbling up homes in one of California's last 'affordable' regions (SFGate)
What We're Reading
Sustainability news we've flagged from other outlets:
- S.E.C. to Approve New Climate Rules Far Weaker Than Originally Proposed (NYT)
- US banks abandon ‘bare minimum’ environmental standards project, alarming climate groups (The Guardian)
- ‘There aren’t seasons any more’: a childhood without water in north Colombia (The Guardian)
What Others are Reading
More stories on The Hill right now:
California woman known as the oldest living American dies weeks after turning 116
Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli died on Feb. 22 — 17 days after her 116th birthday, according to Suzanne Picetti-Johnson, who helped organize Ceccarelli’s birthday parade in early February. Read more
Mountain lion spotted steps from California resident’s front door
The homeowner checked her camera recordings from the previous night and found that the mountain lion had made two separate appearances the night before. Read more
What People Think
Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill:
- Reality is forcing Biden to roll back his electric vehicle mandate
- Gas-powered cars aren’t being banned, despite big oil’s propaganda
- Withdrawals from Climate Action 100+ highlight the wrong risks
You're all caught up. See you next week!
Check out The Hill's Sustainability page for the latest coverage.
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