OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Fade to black (carbon), UN climate report in focus

It finds that “independent of the effects of the Great Recession, oil dependence added roughly $1 trillion to the national debt between 2002 and 2012,” an advisory states.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire on Monday . . .

McConnell’s Dem challenger ‘understands the reality of climate change’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) Democratic opponent really dislikes federal carbon standards for new coal-fired power plants, but where does Alison Lundergan Grimes stand on climate change?

{mosads}Click here for the whole story.

Al Gore: ‘We have to put a price on denial’

Former Vice President Al Gore on Monday called for making climate change “denial” a taboo in society.

“Within
the market system we have to put a price on carbon, and within the
political system, we have to put a price on denial,” Gore said at the Social Good Summit New York City.

Click here for the whole story.

Shutdown would shutter EPA, chief says

A government shutdown would effectively close the doors at the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency’s administrator warned
on Monday.

Speaking at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, EPA chief Gina McCarthy said that a potential government shutdown “will mean that EPA effectively shuts down.”

Click here for the whole story.

Green groups strike back in ‘social cost of carbon’ battle

Environmentalists are urging the Energy Department to reject an industry-backed petition to pull back microwave oven efficiency rules that used a recently increased estimate of carbon pollution’s toll.

“The
Department’s use of updated data on the cost of carbon pollution to
calculate the social cost of carbon was appropriate and did not require a
second round of public comment,” state comments to the department from the
Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the Natural Resources Defense
Council and Earthjustice.

Click here for the whole story.

EPA won’t require carbon-trapping for existing plants

The Environmental Protection Agency will not call for existing coal
plants to install carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology next
year, the head of the agency said Monday.

By ruling out the requirement, the EPA avoids a major fight over its upcoming rules to reduce carbon emissions.

Click here for the whole story.

Emissions regs are central battle in Obama’s climate agenda

If the Obama administration’s proposed limits on greenhouse gas
emissions from new power plants were to become law, they would represent the
first major victory for the president on his second-term climate plan.
But opponents are not ready to roll over.

Click here for the whole story.

AROUND THE WEB: UN CLIMATE REPORT IN FOCUS

The United Nations is slated to unveil its latest major assessment of climate change later this week. Here’s some coverage of the closely watched meeting in Stockholm that’s occurring to finalize the report:

Reuters reports that the assessment raises the chances that climate change is man-made to 95 percent and warns of more and more extreme weather.

“Scientists and officials from more than 110 governments began a four-day meeting in Stockholm to edit and approve the 31-page draft that also tries to explain a ‘hiatus’ in the pace of global warming this century despite rising greenhouse gas emissions,” their story states.

The Los Angeles Times looks at the report and the slowdown in surface warming here.

The BBC unwraps the report here, and The Associated Press explores the Stockholm gathering here.

“Seeking to dispel any doubts over the credibility of their work, U.N. climate experts called their latest report an unbiased and reliable assessment of global warming as they presented it Monday to officials from 110 governments for a final review,” AP reports.

And finally … the lobbying before the storm: The White House
Office of Management and Budget has posted several new records of
meetings with outside parties trying to influence EPA climate rules for
new power plants.

The long-awaited and controversial rules were
unveiled last week. Click here to see who tried to bend the White
House’s ear as the rules neared release.

Please send tips and comments to Ben Geman, ben.geman@digital-release.thehill.com

Follow E2 on Twitter: @E2Wire, @Ben_Geman