The week ahead in climate policy

• The plastics industry produces 4 times more pollution than the aviation industry, or the equivalent of 600 coal plants, according to a new report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The findings come as governments from around the globe prepare for meeting in Ottawa, Canada, to resume negotiations for a global plastics treaty. The European Union recently called for a global ban on certain types of plastics, including microplastics. Plastics pollution costs more than $2 trillion annually, with the majority of the financial burden landing on small communities.

Offshore wind providers seek to reduce risk

• After a rocky 2023, the U.S. offshore wind industry leaders decided that the only path to profitability relies on much earlier derisking. Ørsted America’s CEO David Hardy said at the recent BNEF Summit that his company is focused on “derisking projects much earlier or spending a lot less until projects are derisked.” His comments follow Dominion Energy’s sale of 50 percent noncontrolling interest on its successful Coast Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Project to investment firm Stonepeak. CVOW is a blueprint for the future of U.S. offshore wind development, and its sale to Stonepeak — which is expected to contribute up to $11.3 billion in future project expenditures — underlines Hardy’s case.

US backs away from corporate accountability for climate damages 

• The cost of business-as-usual with burning fossil fuels is already six times higher than the total cost to transition to a clean economy, according to a report released in Nature last week. If no course correction takes place, researchers estimate, the global cost of enduring and adapting to climate change will total $38 trillion by 2050. This data was released as U.S. courts and policymakers take steps to reduce corporate liability for climate damages, including a pause on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule requiring corporations to disclose the risk associated with their Scope 1 and 2 emissions, a ruling from the Supreme Court stating that companies can’t be sued for failing to disclose information about future risks, including climate-related risks, and the introduction of a GOP-sponsored House bill that would ban the federal government from requiring companies to disclose any ESG information.