Midterm Results Pose Challenge to Obama’s Climate Pledge

Today’s Washington Brief:

  • President Obama’s pledge to lead a U.N. effort to raise $100 billion to help developing countries like China and India fight climate change may be an “early casualty” of a Republican-controlled Congress. The financing efforts are seen as critical to getting an international treaty done in 2015, Mark Drajem reports for Bloomberg News.
  • With U.S. coal exports nearing record highs, Charles Ebinger of the Brookings Institution writes that the U.S. is simply exporting its pollution elsewhere rather than focusing on new technologies to make coal cleaner and more efficient.

Today’s Business Brief:

  • Coal-fired capacity in Asian countries is expected to double by 2035, boosting demand for U.S. imports, Rohan Somwanshi reports for SNL.
  • After Denton, Texas, passed a ban on hydraulic fracturing, city officials, industry executives and local groups are gearing up for a long legal battle. Michael Brick has the story for Fuel Fix.
  • Gas prices fell 13 cents in the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg survey. The decline is largely driven by a slide in crude oil prices. More from Reuters’ Ashley Lau.
  • Fossil-free investment is the “cause du jour,” writes John F. Waski for the New York Times. But while the movement is spreading, the list of divesting institutions is still short.

See the full brief here.

Morning Consult