3 Bits periodically provides three bite-sized items of interest about climate news and information.
- Engine No.1. – Engine No. 1 is a hedge fund that is using climate action as a means to leverage its economic objectives while insisting on change. They have successfully garnered three board seats at Exxon under the pretext that, in addition poor financial performance by the company, that Exxon’s energy-transition strategy was not achievable. With a modest investment of $50 million they were able to convince other Exxon board members to back their environmental action argument and get Engine No. 1 onto the board. Chevron, that has followed the action closely, has redoubled their efforts to implement their own energy-transition plan that they hope will, among other things, keep Engine No. 1 at bay. Engine No. 1 brings a new strategy and a new interpretation of ‘enlightened self-interest’ into the fray. Money talks.
- Right Whale Population Isn’t All Right. A recent study by Meyer-Gutbrod, Greene, Davies, and Johns entitled “Ocean Regime Shift is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population” describes how oceanic climate changes have “altered the foraging environment and habitat use of right whales, reducing the population’s calving rate and exposing it to greater mortality risks from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement”. Among other stressors, warmer waters are reducing the availability of copepods, a main food source, which, in turn, is reducing the calving rates while pushing the right whales further north, outside of their traditional territories.
- Significant Gaps In State Action Plans. According to the Georgetown Climate Center, associated with the Georgetown University Law Center, 29 of 50 states have “”No state-led adaptation plan finalized” for addressing climate issues in their states. Of those 29 states, 6 states have state-led planning in process. States with no finalized plans include: AL, AZ, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, ND, OH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WV, WI, and WY. Of these states HI, MI, MN, NJ, and VT have plans in process. Please write your senators.
(Sources: Reuters, Engine No. 1 web site, Wall Street Journal, Science Daily, Georgetown Climate Center)
3 Bits shares pertinent news from the ocean of climate-related news and information. While the urgency surrounding climate change demands attention, CCC also wants to showcase where progress is being made and where committed organizations and people are doing their part. We hope you find 3 Bits to be interesting and informative.