• The ongoing wildfires on the West Coast are releasing previously unseen levels of carbon dioxide and particulate as they burn more than 5 million acres and cast their smoke as far as New York City and, later this week, potentially Europe. According to Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service satellite observations, the fires’ intensity has been up to hundreds of times higher than the 2003-19 average, resulting in the first wildfire emission increase in the United States since 2015. (Bloomberg)

• House Democrats released a mammoth energy package put forth as a response to climate change, and even though it has not had a hearing or passed through the typical legislative hurdles, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the chamber will vote on it next week. Among other things, the bill would lead to additional investment into research and development and would promote energy efficiency in homes, schools and other buildings. (The Hill)

• The Business Roundtable, a trade association representing some of the largest and most influential companies in the United States, will endorse an unspecified “market-based mechanism” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. (Politico)

• As the slow-moving Hurricane Sally makes landfall on the Gulf Coast, governors of four states have urged evacuations as the National Hurricane Center warns of “extreme life-threatening flash flooding” and storm surges up to 7 feet. Energy companies have shut refineries and pulled their workers from offshore oil and gas platforms, resulting in the closure of more than a quarter of U.S. offshore oil production in total. (Reuters)

EPA postpones speaker series on racism after White House order
Alex Guillén, Politico

EPA this week postponed an internal speaker series on environmental problems faced by racial minorities and low-income communities after the White House issued a governmentwide order for agencies to stop certain “un-American” race-related training.

Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill

Senate Democrats continued their pressure campaign on the White House on Tuesday, taking to the floor to ask President Trump to immediately remove the controversial acting head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from his post.

A ‘Crossroads’ for Humanity: Earth’s Biodiversity Is Still Collapsing
Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times

The world is failing to address a catastrophic biodiversity collapse that not only threatens to wipe out beloved species and invaluable genetic diversity, but endangers humanity’s food supply, health and security, according to a sweeping United Nations report issued on Tuesday.

EPA reappoints controversial leader to air quality advisory committee
Rachel Frazin, The Hill

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced that Administrator Andrew Wheeler is reappointing a controversial official to lead an air quality advisory committee. 

Oil Gains After Report of Surprise Drop in U.S. Crude Stocks
Sharon Cho and Grant Smith, Bloomberg

Oil extended gains to near $39 a barrel in New York, buoyed by an industry report of a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles and advances in other financial markets.

Big Oil’s green makeover
Steven Mufson, The Washington Post

Led by a new chief executive, BP is trying to reinvent itself as an energy company in the age of climate change. The company is shrinking its oil and gas business, revving up offshore wind power and developing solar and battery storage. It is even considering installing electric car charging kiosks at its gas stations, part of a drive to eliminate or offset its carbon emissions to a net zero level by 2050.

Trump’s fossil fuel agenda gets pushback from federal judges
Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

Federal courts have delivered a string of rebukes to the Trump administration over what they found were failures to protect the environment and address climate change as it promotes fossil fuel interests and the extraction of natural resources from public lands.

US shale producers bleed cash despite slashed spending
Derek Brower, Financial Times

North American oil and gas groups suffer a dismal second quarter.

Premier Oil in financing talks with rival Chrysaor
Harry Dempsey, Financial Times

The restructuring of the energy group’s debt could pave the way for a North Sea merger.

Oil Giant Vitol Bulks Up Power Trading in Shift to Electricity
Andy Hoffman et al., Bloomberg

Vitol Group is bulking up its power trading business as the world’s biggest independent oil trader eyes a looming shift to cleaner fuels.

Biden rips Trump’s record on ethanol
Stephanie Kelly, Reuters

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden late on Tuesday attacked President Donald Trump’s record on ethanol, saying his administration’s recent moves to help the industry were too little, too late and transparently political.

Are Batteries the Trade War China’s Already Won?
David Stringer and Akshat Rathi, Bloomberg

Come next summer, at a lithium-ion battery factory in Endicott, N.Y., thousands of rechargeable cells should start rolling off a production line. Run by Imperium3 New York LLC, a consortium of small companies, it will be the only new production facility of its type to open in 2021 in the U.S., delivering batteries to clients in defense, transportation, and other industries.

VW Follows Daimler With Green-Bond Debut for Electric Cars
Priscila Azevedo Rocha, Bloomberg

Volkswagen AG is making its green-bond debut, about two weeks after Daimler AG, as automakers tap socially responsible investors to help pay for the hugely expensive shift to electric vehicles.

Hitachi Abandons $26 Billion Nuclear Power Project in U.K.
Stephen Stapczynski and Rachel Morison, Bloomberg

Hitachi Ltd. exited a long-planned U.K. nuclear power project despite the most generous support package for an atomic station in Britain, a bad omen for future projects.

Top EU official proposes new 2030 target to reduce emissions
Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press

The European Union’s top official proposed a more ambitious target Wednesday for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, setting a reduction goal of at least 55% by 2030 compared to the current target of 40%.

The Most Important Number for the West’s Hideous Fire Season
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

To understand the ravenous wildfire season in the American West this year, boil some ravioli. Put the heat on high. After about 10 minutes, the pasta will go limp and start to break apart. Keep boiling. When the pot holds a shallow puddle of water and a pile of soggy debris, keep going. Don’t turn down the heat until the last bubbles of water sizzle and vanish. Then—and only then—the lump of ravioli will start to singe and burn and smoke.

A New Front in the Biden-Trump Battle for the Suburbs: Wildfires
Adam Nagourney and Shane Goldmacher, The New York Times

An issue that has always been on the sidelines in presidential campaigns may be coming to the forefront as Joseph Biden seeks to cast climate change, not violence, as the real and immediate threat to the suburbs.

Hurricane Sally Is a Slow-Moving Threat. Climate Change Might Be Why.
Richard Fausset and Rick Rojas, The New York Times

Forecasters warn of storm surges and devastating floods from Sally, which is unleashing a deluge in Mississippi and Alabama. Scientists say climate change contributed to the storm’s power.

The Activist Trying to Bend the U.S. Congress Toward Climate
Akshat Rathi, Bloomberg

The 27-year-old Sunrise co-founder Varshini Prakash has found herself reshaping the Democratic Party from the inside. In a conversation with Bloomberg Green, she discussed the work it will take to enact policies big enough to address global warming—she was also a member of presidential nominee Joe Biden’s climate task force—and how to keep pressure on cautious Democrats. 

On the Fire Line, Grueling Work and a Shared Purpose
John Schwartz, The New York Times

Basic firefighting techniques have changed little in decades — but fires themselves are now changing as the world warms, complicating an already perilous profession.

‘Nothing to Do With Climate Change’: Conservative Media and Trump Align on Fires
Michael M. Grynbaum and Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times

Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson dismiss scientists’ determination that climate change is a key culprit in West Coast wildfires.

The 15 percentage points of emissions cuts that change everything
Karl Mathiesen and Kalina Oroschakoff, Politico

Cut emissions so deeply and so fast in just a decade that it would be roughly the same as shutting down Germany, Ursula von der Leyen is set to ask EU countries this week.

Pandemic Is Hurting, Not Helping, Green Energy
Meghan L. O’Sullivan, Bloomberg

Environmentalists and “degrowthers” are hoping the global economic slump is a model for phasing out fossil fuels. They are likely to be disappointed.

Global Biodiversity Outlook 5
United Nations

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures driving this decline are intensifying. None of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will be fully met, in turn threatening the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and undermining efforts to address climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of the relationship between people and nature, and it reminds us all of the profound consequences to our own well-being and survival that can result from continued biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems