Daily on Energy: France exits COP29, EU delays deforestation ban, and Hickenlooper optimistic

In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen continue to cover new developments coming from the UN’s climate conference in Azerbaijan. We also take a look at the European Union delaying the deadline for companies and countries to comply with its controversial deforestation import ban. 

In other news, House lawmakers passed two GOP bills related to critical mineral and geothermal energy operations. Meanwhile, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to eliminate the agency if the administration is “serious about reducing government bureaucracy.”

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

COP29 – FRANCE PULLS NEGOTIATORS: Not even one week into the UN’s climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, a second nation has pulled its top negotiators from the summit. 

The details: France has reportedly pulled its negotiators just after Argentina did the same, according to the Financial Times. The decision to withdraw negotiators reportedly came after Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev accused the “regime of President [Emmanuel] Macron” of killing citizens of the Pacific island French territory New Caledonia during protests earlier this year. 

Following Aliyev’s remarks, French environmental minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said his comments were “unworthy of a COP presidency.” A source close to the French delegation told the Financial Times that Pannier-Runacher was driving the French COP29 negotiations, despite not traveling to Baku. 

“Azerbaijan is instrumentalizing the fight against climate change for its own unworthy personal agenda,” she wrote in a post to X, per a Google translation. “These attacks constitute a flagrant violation of the UNFCCC Code of Conduct. They will not go unanswered.”

EUROPEAN UNION TO DELAY DEFORESTATION BAN: After months of global pressure, the European Union has officially delayed the deadline for companies and countries to comply with its controversial deforestation import ban. 

The details: The European Parliament voted Thursday in favor of pushing back the deforestation rule until December 2025, one month after the European Commission suggested the delay, according to Reuters. 

The bloc had been facing increasing pressure on a global scale as several EU members and foreign nations, including Brazil and the U.S., appealed the regulations. With the recent vote, the EU has not made any changes to the ban itself – leaving the door open for additional appeals and negotiations before it goes into effect next year.  

In September, dozens of members of the House of both parties asked the EU to reconsider the ban, saying it would cause a number of “negative economic impacts” on U.S. manufacturing job losses and inflationary pressures on the EU. 

“The United States is a global leader in modern sustainable forest management, and we are deeply concerned that well-intentioned regulations from Europe will disincentivize the huge investments U.S. Forest owners have made in the long-term health and sustainability of our forest resources,” the lawmakers wrote.  

A reminder: The EU’s deforestation law went into effect in June of last year and is meant to reduce the number of products consumed in Europe that contribute to deforestation, reduce carbon emissions, and address deforestation on a global scale. Under the new rules, products made from commodities like coffee, soy, palm oil, cocoa, cattle, wood, and rubber must not have come from recently cleared forest lands and must not have contributed to forest degradation.

HOUSE LAWMAKERS PASS GOP-ENERGY BILLS: House lawmakers passed two Republican bills to boost critical mineral mining projects and geothermal energy operations. 

The House passed Arizona Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024 in a 245-155 vote. The bill would add the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials to the U.S. Geological Survey Critical Minerals list. 

National Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan said in a statement “The Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024 is a win for American miners, for domestic supply chain security and is essential to ensuring domestic production can increasingly meet soaring demand.”

The group is now asking the Senate to pass its companion bill introduced by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mike Lee earlier this week. 

In addition, the House voted 225-181 to pass California Republican Rep. Young Kim’s Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources (HEATS) Act, which would speed up the permitting process for geothermal energy by waiving the requirement for operators to obtain a federal drilling permit for wells on state and private lands. 

Read more from Maydeen here. 

NYC PENSION JOINS CLIMATE GROUP: One of the largest New York City pension systems is joining forces with a UN-convened climate finance group in an effort to tackle its coals in reducing emissions and ending fossil-fuel investments. 

The details: On Thursday, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander announced that the New York City Employees’ Retirement System had joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. By joining the group, the NYCRS will be focusing its investments on areas and projects dedicated to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. 

“This significant step builds on NYCERS’s history of climate leadership, underscoring our responsibility to confront the clear and present dangers of climate change,” Lander said. “Climate risk is financial risk, and by joining the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, we reinforce our commitment to sustainable investments that protect our retirees’ futures while pushing for a resilient, net-zero economy.”

Furthering climate goals: In recent years, the pension fund has established several climate-focused goals, including reaching net-zero by 2040. In February 2023, the group adopted a four-step plan to reach this target, which includes divesting, disclosing emissions and setting interim targets, investing in climate change solutions, and working with portfolio companies and asset managers to be aligned with the net-zero goals. 

Just last month, Lander proposed ending all fossil-fuel investments in the private market by the city’s pension funds – including NYCERS, according to Bloomberg. This would include keeping funds away from pipeline and LNG projects. 

FACING THE CONSEQUENCES…STONEHENGE VANDALS CHARGED: The two environmental activists accused of spraying orange paint powder on Stonehenge in June have formally been charged over the incident. 

The details: Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 22, were charged Thursday with “destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument, and intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance,” according to the Associated Press. The two activists are tied to the environmentalist group Just Stop Oil, which is known for conducting public and disruptive protests, such as walking onto the track of the 2022 British Grand Prix and gluing themselves to famous paintings.

Both activists are expected to appear in Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on Dec. 13.  

Some background: In June, the two protestors were caught on video spraying the 5,000-year-old landmark in Salisbury, Wiltshire with an orange substance, while onlookers yelled for them to stop. They were arrested shortly following the incident. 

Just Stop Oil claimed responsibility for the vandalism, claiming their activists “decorated” the monument. “They are demanding that the incoming UK government commit to working with other governments to agree to an equitable plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030,” the group said at the time.

The group also reportedly revealed that the orange paint powder was made of cornstarch, meaning it would dissolve with water or rain. 

HICKENLOOPER OPTIMISTIC FOR CLEAN ENERGY UNDER GOP-LED CONGRESS: Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper said yesterday that the U.S. transition toward clean energy will continue despite Republicans’ full control of Congress – albeit at a slower pace.  

“I think that the great transition is going to continue. It might slow down a little bit, but you look at the largest wind, solar state in the country, it’s not Colorado, it’s not California – it’s Texas,” Hickenlooper said. 

“It’s not because it’s politically correct, it’s because there is a genuine factual basis that this transition makes sense on so many levels. Politically, it’s not something you want to talk about, but we as a country have to move in that direction,” he added. 

There’s been talk about the Inflation Reduction Act being repealed under a Trump administration. Hickenlooper said Republicans may try to claw back certain tax incentives but noted that many of the bill’s incentives are going to both Republican and Democratic states, making them harder to eliminate. 

FORMER BUREAU OF RECLAMATION COMMISSIONER CALLS FOR THE CLOSURE OF THE AGENCY: Daniel Beard, who served as commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation under former President Bill Clinton said President-elect Donald Trump should eliminate the agency if the administration is “serious about reducing government bureaucracy,” The Hill reports.

Trump has announced a “Department of Government Efficiency” outside of government to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and tasked with cutting government spending and bloat.

The purpose of the Bureau of Reclamation is to “manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmental and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public,” according to its website. 

But Beard told The Hill, if the “administration is serious about reducing government bureaucracy, cutting wasteful expenditures and restructuring federal agencies, it should start by abolishing the Bureau of Reclamation.”

Beard said that Congress maintains the agency only for political reasons. 

RUNDOWN 

Associated Press  Food aid interventions can curb climate change-induced hardship. But should they do more?

Inside Climate News  What Just Happened to the Idea of Progress?

New York Times  A Big Climate Goal Is Getting Further Out of Reach