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Presented by Ceres: | | | | | |  | | By Catherine Boudreau | Presented by Ceres | | | | | 
A combine harvests triticale, a hybrid plant derived from wheat and rye used for animal feed, near Haesen, Germany. | Sean Gallup/Getty Images | BIG DECISIONS ON OUR PLATE — Creating a climate-friendly food system is cooking up a showdown between the U.S. and the European Union. The two power players are at odds over the best way to mitigate the climate impact of the agriculture industry, from deforestation to the way food is grown and packaged to the waste it creates. This is no side dish: The sector accounts for fully one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. position is that farmers can keep growing more food without environmental consequences through new technology, such as gene-edited crops that store more carbon in the soil, data analytics that help farmers use fewer chemicals and feed additives that reduce methane emissions from cattle. The EU is taking a more regulatory approach, aiming to slash pesticide and fertilizer use by 2030 and expand organic production to a quarter of farmland. “We’ve created a system that pushes farmers to increase and go bigger all the time. But that system has pushed the Earth past its limits,” said Frans Timmermans, chief of the Green Deal, the EU’s vehicle for making the bloc climate neutral by 2050. Success shouldn’t be measured by the number of “wagons of food” produced. That ignores projections that the world’s appetite could double by midcentury as the population grows, Biden administration officials say. “The world’s got to get fed, and it’s got to get fed in a sustainable way. And we can’t basically sacrifice one for the other,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a recent POLITICO summit in Paris. The tension was on full display at the U.N. Food Systems Summit in late September, when Vilsack announced the U.S. will go its own way with a new sustainable agriculture initiative. He wants to court other countries across the Americas to start. The U.S. livestock sector, which Vilsack formerly worked for, was immediately on board. The initiative is a counter strike to the EU’s Farm to Fork plan, which critics have said threatens food security. The U.S. Agriculture Department released a study forecasting an 11 percent drop in world food production and an 89 percent price hike if all countries adopted the European model. EU officials say it’s too early to know how the plan would affect farm productivity. A main fear of U.S. agribusiness groups is that Europe will try to impose its new food standards on other countries by throwing up trade barriers — threatening billions of dollars worth of exports. French President Emmanuel Macron is already considering restricting food imports from countries with laxer rules on deforestation, chemicals and labor. In other words, food is emerging as another flashpoint in international trade as countries erect more stringent climate laws, similar to carbon border adjustment taxes being considered by the EU, Canada and Japan. Taking a step back: What does this mean for global efforts to transform the food system into a climate solution, rather than a problem? It might be a good thing, because agriculture has largely been left out of major climate talks, including the Paris Agreement, said Ben Lilliston, director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a research and advocacy nonprofit. “I think this is starting a debate that we’ve needed to have for a long time,” Lilliston said. “There isn’t a strong consensus over what types of agricultural systems are most resilient against the climate crisis. Ultimately, each country will have to decide their own strategy.” Read more from POLITICO’s Eddy Wax and Emma Anderson. BTW, global food insecurity is at “unprecedented, catastrophic” levels, the U.N. warned Monday. Close to half a million people are experiencing famine-like conditions in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen. Another 41 million are on the verge of famine. | | A message from Ceres: U.S. businesses are taking action to build a cleaner, more resilient economy because it’s good for the planet and for business. Now Congress must do its part. Join the growing call to state leaders across the country to step up and confront the climate crisis head-on. Raise your voice now! | | | | | | This is personal to your host, a native Vermonter. Climate change threatens leaf peeping. Go see the foliage now while you still can! Reach us at cboudreau@politico.com and lwoellert@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter @ceboudreau and @Woellert. FOMO? Sign up for The Long Game. We couldn’t have done it this week without Shayna Greene. | | | | 
Chair and CEO of General Motors Mary Barra | Richard Drew/AP Photo | CLIMATE RIFTS AMONG BIG BIZ — General Motors CEO Mary Barra will be the Business Roundtable’s new chair starting in January, marking the first time a woman will hold the post at the influential lobbying group of top executives. Awkward timing. Barra’s appointment comes as climate advocates blast the Roundtable for opposing the $3.5 trillion spending package under debate in Congress, calling CEOs disingenuous for publicly endorsing climate action only to lobby against it through their trade associations. Take GM, which has some of the most aggressive greenhouse gas targets among automakers. GM pledged to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035 and spend $35 billion on electric vehicles in the coming years. GM distanced itself from the Roundtable’s position on the Build Back Better Act last week, issuing its own statement of support for the legislation because it will advance its vision for “zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.” Other Roundtable members have taken a similar stance, including Salesforce, which specifically endorsed the climate-focused provisions. Build Back Better would pour a historic amount of money into programs that reduce emissions and fund them by hiking taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. It also includes an array of Democrats’ social priorities, such as expanding tax breaks for families with children and boosting wages for child care providers. Roundtable President and CEO Joshua Bolten said the group’s position is based on the totality of what’s in the bill. “Congress has unnecessarily tied climate action with $1 trillion in tax increases on job creators, which we strongly oppose, and trillions in non-climate-related spending,” he said in a statement. “Importantly, the proposed tax increases, which would be one of the largest corporate tax increases in history, would only make it harder for companies to invest in technology to address climate change.” The Roundtable isn’t the only game in town. A network of business groups, including the American Sustainable Business Council and E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), are rallying hundreds of executives who support paying higher taxes now to help mitigate climate change — which if left unaddressed, will cost far more down the road, they said. The state of play: Democrats are recalibrating their strategy after the House missed a self-imposed deadline of Sept. 27 to pass both the Build Back Better Act and a bipartisan infrastructure deal. Catch up fast. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | | 
Oil and sea water collect in a tide pool after an oil spill from an offshore oil platform on October 3 in Newport Beach, California. | Michael Heiman/Getty Images | MAJOR OIL SPILL — Crews are rushing to contain and clean up one of California's largest oil spills, AP reports. Some 144,000 gallons of heavy crude leaked into the waters along Huntington Beach and nearby shorelines over the weekend. Martyn Willsher, CEO of Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp., said it shut down pipeline operations at three offshore platforms on Saturday night. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the cleanup and investigation of the leak is led by a “unified command,” including the U.S. Coast Guard, Amplify Energy, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the cities of Long Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and the Orange County Sheriff's Department. More than 3,000 gallons of oil have been recovered from the water so far. They set up a website to update the public with new information. | | | WE KINDA KNEW THIS, BUT — A first-of-its-kind report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has found that climate change and a global push to reduce greenhouse gases present systemic risk to the financial sector. The staff report is not a statement of New York Fed policy, but it‘s the first time the bank has presented a model for stress-testing financial institutions against climate change. This is important, because the Federal Reserve and other central banks are trying to figure out how to measure climate risk, Lorraine reports. The model shows that climate risk to banks has been rising for at least a decade, said Richard Berner, an author of the report and co-director of the Volatility and Risk Institute at New York University’s Stern School of Business. One takeaway: A climate shock to the financial system today could have a bigger impact than it would have had a decade ago. Why? Markets are paying more attention and might react more strongly, Berner said. UNDERWRITING GAINS — Banks are routinely condemned for helping fossil fuel producers raise cash, but the banking industry as a whole is making more money from underwriting ESG-related bonds, Bloomberg reports. Banks have earned about $3.6 billion in fees in 2021 from arranging sales of bonds advertised as green, social or sustainable. That’s more than double the $1.6 billion they’ve pocketed this year from issuing debt for fossil fuel companies. | | | |   | | | | | | BIG ADAPTIVE ROTORS — When it comes to wind turbines, bigger is better. But how do you ship a gigantic turbine blade across the country? Not by truck, obviously. And bends and twists in railroad lines mean the upper limit for moving a single-piece blade is 75 meters. Now the big thinkers at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory may have found a way to transport 100-meter blades on land by making them more flexible. Those giant rotors are being proposed for offshore turbines, which can be served by barge. On land, they’d require the length of four rail cars, said researchers with DOE’s Big Adaptive Rotor Project. Why do we care? Bigger turbines can produce more energy, even when wind is weak. Making them more cost-effective could open more of the country, including the Southeast, to wind power. Trainspotters, don’t get excited just yet. The technology is still about five years away. | | | | TELL US WHAT YOU THINK: Do you listen to POLITICO podcasts? We want to hear from you! Tell us what you like, what you could do without, and what you want to see in the future from the POLITICO Audio team! Your responses will help us improve our offerings and tailor our podcast content to better fit your needs. Find the survey here. | | | | | | | | — Chip challenges. The Commerce Department is setting up an early warning system for semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks and wants input from companies and manufacturers. Send information to covid_microelectronics_alerts@trade.gov. — Bye bye blue star. The Biden administration knocked natural gas appliances off Energy Star’s “most efficient” list, Grist reports. — Algae-based fuels: fact or fiction? The Wall Street Journal digs in to a climate solution being pushed by Exxon Mobil Corp. — The world’s whitest paint could make air conditioning obsolete. Architectural Digest has more. | | A message from America’s Plastic Makers®: We are at a critical moment in the fight against climate change. Tell Congress you agree: it’s time for the U.S. to step up and confront the climate crisis head-on. We need a climate-smart budget to build a more resilient, competitive economy so that communities across the country can thrive—and we need it now.
A growing number of businesses are taking action to build a cleaner, more sustainable economy because it’s good for the planet and it’s good for business. Now Congress must do its part.
It's time for the U.S. to invest in clean energy and climate solutions, create millions of jobs, and build a more competitive economy.
Raise your voice now! | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
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