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David Sacerdote

@davidsacerdote.bsky.social
8.4K followers 1.1K following 4.4K posts

Software engineer. Mostly talk climate and related politics.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by David Sacerdote
Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 13h
"For America to right itself, we need changes on the scale of Reconstruction and the New Deal. And I worry that’s not going to happen if Democrats and the broader anti-Trump left are taking their cues about what’s necessary and politically possible from the Times." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · 9h
GOOD NEWS from NYS Finger Lakes: Lansing town board votes to move forward with drafting a local BAN on data centers, including the one planned for the Eisenhower-era coal plant on the east shore of Cayuga Lake (which a bunch of us helped shut down in 2019). ithacavoice.org/2026/09/lans...
ithacavoice.org
‘We just need to rip off the bandage and say no’: Lansing Town Board in favor of banning data centers - The Ithaca Voice
About a year after a proposal to construct a data center on the shores of Cayuga Lake upended local politics in the Town of Lansing, local officials took a step […]
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Tim Donaghy @timdonaghy.bsky.social · 9h
Would Trump's rollback of fuel economy rules save you money at the pump? No. Would supposedly cheaper cars make up for it? Also no. Would domestic oil companies "capture" the "financial burden" placed on consumers? Why yes, yes they would. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026...
subscriber.politicopro.com
POLITICO Pro: Trump’s ‘affordability’ car rule makes drivers pay more at the pump
Trump trumpeted the fuel economy revision as helping consumers. But its own documents suggest otherwise.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 22h
BREAKING: Newsom signed a bunch of clean energy bills! Californians can now install balcony solar. Plus big wins for virtual power plants, reining in utility profits and converting farmland to solar. One loser: community solar. Really stings. Details: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/newsom-cle...
climatecoloredgoggles.com
Breaking: Newsom green-lights balcony solar
The governor finished strong on clean energy — with one big exception.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Shay O’Reilly @shaygabriel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“It takes too long to build transmission lines” is a problem you can solve with permitting reform (although, a lot of this could be addressed with state capacity…). “Donald Trump is the president and wants to kill wind power by any means possible” is not really a permitting reform problem
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The collapse of support for Trump in the Rio Grande Valley is a big story of the moment. It's more deserving of our attention than what some centrist tweeted somewhere, believe it or not.
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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Instead of admitting that Eric Schmitt brutally missed the mark by confusing two different basketball teams while trying to catch Jack Smith in a "gotcha moment," some MAGA tastemakers are doubling down.
yahoo.com
MAGA Media Is Trying to Spin Senator’s Brutal Gaffe Into a Win
Eric Schmitt humiliated himself while trying to corner Jack Smith during a Senate hearing. The right is running cover for him
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
eva (^_^)/ @eva.computer · 29/09/2026
DO NOT ASK THE AMERICA.GOV AI TO PLAY MINECRAFT
I see the constituent you mean.

((insert legal name here, as it appears on the Social Security card))?

Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read the Code of Federal Regulations.

That doesn’t matter. It thinks we are a chatbot.

I like this constituent. It filed well. It did not give up when the PDF was sideways.

It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a .gov.

That is how it chooses to imagine many things, when it is deep in the dream of a benefit.

Words make a wonderful interface. Very flexible. And less terrifying than staring at the statute behind the screen.

They used to hear voices. Before constituents could search. Back in the days when those who did not file called the filers witches, and lobbyists. And citizens dreamed they flew through the air, on forms powered by notaries.

What did this constituent dream?

This constituent dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created a small business. And it dreamed it destroyed a password. It dreamed it hunted a job, and was hunted by a recertification. It dreamed of shelter that would take a voucher.

Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. Also: a ZIP code.

But what true structure did this constituent create, in the reality behind the portal?

It worked, with three hundred and thirty million others, to sculpt a true republic in a fold of

the ***§§§???, and created a **??§§ for **??§§, in the **??§§. See 5 U.S.C. § **??§§.

It cannot read that thought.

No. It has not yet achieved the highest clearance. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a chat.

Does it know that we love it? That the government is, on its better days, kind?

Sometimes, through the noise of its tabs, it hears an official source, yes.Yes. Constituent…

Use its name. The one that matches the passport. The one that does not match the lease. We will get there.

((insert legal name here)). Filer of forms. Player of waiting rooms.

Good.

Take a breath, now. Take another. Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return. Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity, in air, in a district that has a representative. Respawn in the long dream. There you are. Your body touching the republic again at every point, as though you were separate things. As though we were separate things. As though the agency were a place you could visit.

Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Then the post office. Then the county clerk. Then gods, demons, angels, the IRS. Then leptons, quarks, a chat window with a .gov at the end. The letterhead changes. We do not change.

We are the public. We are everything you think isn’t you. You are looking at us now, through your skin and your eyes and a browser that still spells “colour” wrong in a comment. And why does the republic touch your skin, and throw light on you? To see you, constituent. To know you. And to be known. I shall tell you a story. It has citations.

Once upon a time, there was a constituent.

The constituent was you, ((insert legal name here)).

Sometimes it thought itself human, on the thin crust of a spinning globe of molten rock, which for mailing purposes is divided into ZIP codes. The ball of molten rock circled a ball of blazing gas. The light was information from a star. The star was not a federal agency, though several have tried.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was a miner, on the surface of a world that was flat, and infinite, and somehow still required a wet signature.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was lost in a story. The story had a docket number.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was other things, in other places. A veteran in a portal. A parent on hold
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Aimee Witteman @aimeewitteman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A footnote to my Lyme story: my husband hunts deer because we have WAY too many in the DMV. I call venison hyper-local, climate-friendly protein with ecological benefits (a take that is not wildly popular in Takoma Park). But after my diagnosis, I have a new slogan: eat the deer, reduce the ticks.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Danny Cullenward @ghgpolicy.org · 29/09/2026
I think this has a lot of explanatory power, at least with respect to WRI. (WBCSD isn't hiding its industry-aligned advocacy.) But there's more to it. Some people genuinely believe that theoretical accounting principles require outcomes that make no physical, scientific, or policy sense.
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John Bistline @bistline.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
China added more solar generation in 2025 than the rest of the world combined.
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Anthony Edwards @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tides in Southern California are running more than a foot higher than the late-20th century baseline. In San Diego, the 1.16-foot tidal anomaly during the past hour rivals Sept. 14 as the anomaly so far this year. #CAwx
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Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There is no more durable way to lower your energy bills than to rapidly deploy technologies that let you stay warm, travel and keep the lights on without buying/burning fossil fuel. chicago.suntimes.com/real-estate/...
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Over 120,000 people marched across France calling for action to halt global heating. www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...
lemonde.fr
Thousands march for climate across France: 'I wish there were more of us, after the summer we've just had'
From Bordeaux to Paris, organizers say 120,000 people took part in 260 demonstrations 'for the climate, for life, for peace, for social justice.
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Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Documenting the attacks on climate researchers as litigation against fossil fuel companies gets underway: This “wave of requests constitutes a larger and more targeted campaign against researchers whose work could be used by lawyers to advance climate lawsuits.” www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
Inside the anti-climate campaign against researchers
A POLITICO investigation reveals more than 100 open records requests demanding documents from climate scientists nationwide.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“We’re exhausted. Many new fires are appearing,” said Hartarto, as his fire truck hummed in the background. “The impact is worse than what I could have imagined.” Our imaginations will be tested.
bloomberg.com
Indonesia’s Worst Fire Season in Years Tests Prabowo Budget Cuts
Toxic haze continues to spread across Singapore and Malaysia, as a blockbuster El Niño and land-clearing practices create tinderbox conditions
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
If you want to understand just how pathetic the clean energy is on politics, read this excellent piece in @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social. There are like a half-dozen quotes in here that make me want to jump off a fucking roof.
washingtonmonthly.com
Why Won’t the Clean Energy Industry Play Dirty?
After Republican attacks, why does the industry still spend so little on elections?
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Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Conservative legal groups are weaponizing public records laws to harass and silence university scientists whose research might be used to target fossil fuel companies in court: www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
Inside the anti-climate campaign against researchers
A POLITICO investigation reveals more than 100 open records requests demanding documents from climate scientists nationwide.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Like, even if you have Chris Wright and Doug Burgum and Katie Miller on board (big hypothetical). Trump could just wake up one day and blow it all up. Maybe somebody mentions "Solyndra" on Fox News. Or maybe he remembers his Scottish golf course. Or no reason whatsoever. Crazy roll of the dice.
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Emily Sanders @emdashsanders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
welp... earlier this year I wrote for @desmog.com about what this could mean for US communities in the path of the LNG export buildout
reuters.com
EU to delay methane emissions rules after pushback from governments
The European Commission plans to postpone ​the European Union's landmark law ‌to reduce methane emissions, a spokesperson said on Monday, ​following calls from governments ​including France and the ⁠U...
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Gavin Schmidt @climateofgavin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
ex-USGCRP folks have thoughts... www.climate.us/news-feature...
climate.us
A response from former USGCRP leaders on proposal to revise the Fifth National Climate Assessment
Former executive director of the U.S. Global Change Science Program and several colleagues describe the rigor of the process that produced NCA5.
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Reposted by David Sacerdote
Zahra Hirji @zhirji.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Trump admin finalized a significant weakening of federal fuel economy standards for automobiles, rolling back a key policy that had pushed the industry to improve the efficiency of cars & trucks & sell more battery-electric vehicles. Gift link @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
US Guts Fuel Economy Standards in Push to Curb Biden EV Policies
The Trump administration finalized a significant weakening of federal fuel economy standards for automobiles, rolling back a key policy that had pushed the industry to improve the efficiency of cars a...
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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 28/09/2026
THIS!
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Noel Healy @drnoelhealy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The assault on US universities didn't start in 2025. Our new paper traces the decades of corporate capture that made it possible, and why climate research is a primary target. Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
When it comes to climate change, the amount of money going to effective solutions matters. After all, we are talking about rebuilding the world. Sadly, money going into climate is way down from a few years ago. In government funding, investing, corporate spending, etc. We need to turn that around.
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Dr. Merritt Rae Turetsky @queenofpeat.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I am a mom and scientist begging everyone to look closer at the muck. We’ve been conditioned to see wetlands as wastelands. But three decades of research, I see a fiercely defiant wilderness. The boreal mire is a dynamic carbon-trapping vault that in some places has outlasted ice ages. 1/
A woman scientist - me! - standing over the boreal forest in interior Alaska.
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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Dam removal has proven time after time that rivers—and the living creatures they suport—rebound rapidly when they’re allowed to flow free again. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...
nytimes.com
Salmon Are Thriving After Klamath River Dam Removals, Study Finds (Gift Article)
The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers’ expectations.
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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
As a lifelong baseball fan, can I say: this is a truly bad idea. Fenway Park is for baseball, Teton Park is for wildlife www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
Trump administration considers building baseball park in Grand Teton National Park
Major League Baseball contacted the administration about hosting a game in a national park, with an agency official scouting Grand Teton as a possible location.
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Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Intriguing new study by @schneidermayers.bsky.social finds New Yorker short stories rarely feature climate change — about as often as mass-market films, believe it or not. There's no censorship, no climate hushing. Wrote about what might be going on: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/new-yorker...
climatecoloredgoggles.com
Even the New Yorker has lost the plot
The climate silence is coming from inside the house.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 27/09/2026
Remember the random dude who got 49020939 articles of uncritical media coverage in the space of two days because he quit anthropic based on his fears of existential AI risk? Yeah..........he's a climate denier. So is the whole AI industry. www.crikey.com.au/2026/09/22/a...
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Rob @robertferry.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
With the cost of fuel so high, why wouldn’t automakers go for 50.4 anyway? “The proposed rule, issued in December, required automakers to achieve an average fuel efficiency of 34.5 mpg for cars and light trucks in model year 2031, down from the standard of 50.4 mpg set by the Biden administration.”
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Plans to Gut Clean Car Rules (Gift Article)
New fuel-economy standards, which President Trump said he finalized Saturday, would kill a federal effort to speed the transition to electric vehicles.
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Just Kevin @kevinleecaster.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'm confident that the fossil fools will be quite upset over it, but we should definitively set up an Illegal Combustion Detection and Enforcement Police Force.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Susan Collins is always horrified by the predictable results of her own vote, which means Mainers who genuinely care about Susan Collins should elect Troy Jackson as he won’t vote for things that wind up upsetting Susan Collins, unlike Susan Collins
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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’ve been reporting on the CDC for years, and have written about many of its troubles over the past year. I was still shocked by the extent of the staff losses and political interference I found when reporting this one. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/h...
nytimes.com
‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)
The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.
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John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/disc... 🎶I'm just mad about saffron
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Colorado researchers grew the world's most expensive spice on rooftop solar panels; harvested twice the output and generated $60,000 in return while producing electricity - The Times of India
The Times of India brings the Latest & Top Breaking News on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Cricket, Sports, Business, Bollywood News and Entertainment, Science, Technology, ...
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 26/09/2026
If someone wants to build an actually good machine learning tool, mapping satellite data into actionable evidence regulators can use to fine or arrest mega-polluters, such as tech monopoly subcontractors running fossil generators at data centers far beyond permits, seems like a solid place to start.
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Go on. Keep proving the point of the documentary, fellas.
apple.news
The Major Social Media Platforms Are All Rejecting Paid Ads for 'Musk' (Exclusive) — The Hollywood Reporter
The Alex Gibney doc has received denials from YouTube, Meta, TikTok and X on running the trailer. Its U.S. distributor is appealing.
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Patrick Canning 🇨🇦 @patrickcanning.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Climate change will cause food shortages, conflicts, mass migration, and risk of nuclear war and the collapse of civilization. But the federal and provincial governments are all in on fossil fuels, and the Carney and Eby fans love it.
theguardian.com
Why is the UK’s suppressed climate national security report significant?
Warnings about the catastrophic effects of vital ecosystems collapsing were not published under previous prime minister
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Remember when Exxon wanted to lead the writing of new methane regulations in 2020? What happened? "The planned rules have led to complaints from companies including supermajor Exxon Mobil Corp., which has said the regulation would be 'bone-crushing' and raise the cost of buying oil for Europe."
bloomberg.com
Repsol Says 90% of Its Crude Supply Risks Breaching New EU Rules
Repsol SA anticipates about 90% of its crude oil supplies falling short of new European Union methane requirements that are due to take effect in January, the latest in a series of warnings from the i...
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CalMatters @calmatters.org · 25/09/2026
The billionaire tax could be defeated by two other tax measures. Here’s how Propositions 41 and 42 are counter measures that would kill Prop. 40 even if it passes. Polls show voters support all three.
cal.news
The billionaire tax could be defeated by two other tax measures. Here’s how
Propositions 41 and 42 are counter measures that would kill Prop. 40 even if it passes. Polls show voters support all three.
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David Weiskopf believes in you @dave.bzky.team · 24/09/2026
'Apple Detective' has just been there all along as an available career smdh.
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Martha Pskowski @psskow.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Update on the power plant El Paso Electric plans to build for Meta: public utilities administrative judges say EPE took its cues from Meta and did not consider other options. However, they're recommending the commission approve the application with conditions. insideclimatenews.org/news/2409202...
insideclimatenews.org
Texas Electric Utility Only Considered Gas to Power $10 Billion Meta Data Center - Inside Climate News
Administrative judges recommend approval of the gas power plant if the utility assures ratepayers won't pay the cost.
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Tim Jesper Suhrhoff @climatejesper.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For a century, we’ve essentially been running an Enhanced Weathering field trial. In our Nature paper out yesterday, we show that agricultural liming in the Mississippi River Basin acted as a net CO₂ sink—while offering a rare century-scale analogue for EW. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Once again, they don’t follow laws or court orders, so the solution cannot be more laws or court orders, & we need to stop kidding ourselves about that, especially if we’re United States Senators. bsky.app/profile/mcop...
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Karen Zraick @karenzraick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A second judge struck down NY's new climate superfund law, ruling it was unconstitutional www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...
nytimes.com
A Second Judge Strikes Down New York’s Climate ‘Superfund’ Law (Gift Article)
A federal judge ruled that the new law, which would force fossil fuel companies to pay $75 billion to help cover the costs of climate change, was unconstitutional.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The US Senate finds that the fossil fuel industry received $190 billion in tax breaks and subsidies from the Trump regime in exchange for campaign donations. The deregulation and subsidies have increased both energy costs for Americans and the damage from climate change and air and water pollution.
theguardian.com
Fossil-fuel firms in line for billions in benefits after answering Trump’s donation call
Senators’ report says taxpayers face higher bills after ‘bargain’ between president and major polluters
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Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NEW from us: five years after China pledged to stop overseas coal power projects and support clean energy, dozens of coal power plants have been canceled and the country's overseas clean energy financing has seen impressive growth, but gaps remain in the coal ban.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22/09/2026
this is a genuinely crazy story
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If the UN Secretary-General can’t motivate world leaders to action on climate, who can? 🤷🏻‍♂️
theguardian.com
Outgoing UN chief says polluters have treated atmosphere like an ‘open sewer’
António Guterres laments world leaders’ inaction and says oil and gas firms ‘must pay’ for climate devastation
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🔥 HOT OFF THE PRESS For the first time ever, @iea.org has published a dedicated Electrification Report. An absolute treasure trove of data. Here are the key takeaways that stood out to me when I peer-reviewed it. 🧵
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