US president Donald Trump indicated yesterday that his administration would attempt to rescue US oil companies that have been hit by record low oil prices because of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Politico. On Twitter, Trump wrote: “We will never let the great US Oil & Gas Industry down…I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!” The president did not provide additional details after his tweet, notes the Hill, while “the White House declined comment, and the Energy and Treasury departments did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for additional information”. An estimated 51,000 drilling and refining jobs were lost in March, a 9% reduction that is likely to get worse as prices plunge, says Bloomberg, and the US energy sector as a whole is facing a forecasted “58.9% year-over-year decline in energy earnings for the first quarter”, notes Reuters. The Financial Times looks at the possible ways that the government could help the oil industry, which include pushing oil-producing countries to reduce supply, buying oil to store in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), and buying oil that producers leave in the ground until prices recover. Oil demand has plummeted due to coronavirus-related lockdowns, says Reuters, and with “oil depots that normally store crude oil onshore filling to the brim and supertankers mostly taken, energy companies are desperate for more space”. Brent oil futures prices “plunged again” yesterday, says Reuters, “extending oil market panic into a second day with no end in sight”. And producers across the Middle East were already struggling with lacklustre growth before the crisis hit, notes the Financial Times. Reuters reports that the US energy secretary Dan Brouillette said yesterday he would talk with leaders in the US House of Representatives and urge them to fund the purchase of crude to fill the US emergency oil reserve. The Energy Department last week said it is negotiating with nine companies to store roughly 23m barrels of oil in the SPR, says Axios. However, so far, Congress has declined to fund the purchase, with some Democrats opposed to bailing out the oil industry, notes Al Jazeera. And the Financial Times reports that there is already opposition to Trump’s comments yesterday. “If Trump asks for an oil bailout, remind him of the favours he’s already done for them, including his ongoing effort to undo the safeguards put in place after the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” said Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland, reports the FT. North Dakota’s oil regulator said it is looking at providing aid to the state’s oil producers that would allow them in the future to restart shut-in wells amid a sharp downturn in production, says another Reuters piece. Another Reuters piece says “two of three Texas oil and gas regulators on Tuesday delayed a controversial vote to force producers to curtail oil output, predicting the move would land the state in a years-long legal battle”. A Reuters explainer says that while it is “illegal for oil producers to meet to discuss pushing up oil prices under US antitrust law”, it is “perfectly legal if state regulators or the federal government set lower production levels for them”. Independent US oil producers have accused China of falling behind in its promise to spend $52.4bn buying US energy over two years – even as it is filling its storage tanks with Russian and Saudi crude, reports Bloomberg: “The American Exploration and Production Council urged the administration in a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to get tough with China.”

In related oil news, Reuters reports that Norway’s oil minister said yesterday that the country would “soon” decide whether to cut output, while Mexico’s state oil company Pemex “will halt crude production at newly drilled oilfields and refine more as it tries to ride out a falloff in global demand”, says another Reuters article. The plunging oil prices “are hurting the budgets of Gulf countries that rely heavily on crude exports and their currencies are also under pressure”, says Reuters. Yet, Reuters also reports that “Opec’s powerful Gulf oil producers Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates as well as non-Opec Russia” missed a conference call held by some Opec+ members yesterday evening. Reuters also reports that the Trump administration on Tuesday gave Chevron – the last major US oil company still operating in Venezuela – until December to “wind down” its business in the country. Finally, Climate Home News reports that “Greenpeace is taking the fight against Arctic oil drilling to Norway’s supreme court, after two lower courts rejected calls for a ban”.

UN secretary general António Guterres says that, despite the coronavirus, the world must not forget the “deeper environmental emergency” facing the planet, reports BBC News. In remarks released to celebrate Earth Day, Guterres says that while the pandemic is “immediate and dreadful”, it is also a wake-up call “to do things right for the future”. The planet is facing an “unfolding environmental crisis”, Guterres adds, and “must act decisively to protect our planet from both the coronavirus and the existential threat of climate disruption”. Guterres says governments should use their fiscal firepower to drive a shift from “the grey to green” economy, reports Reuters: “Where taxpayers’ money is used to rescue businesses, it needs to be tied to achieving green jobs and sustainable growth…Public funds should be used to invest in the future, not the past, and flow to sustainable sectors and projects that help the environment and the climate.” The Independent, Politico and BusinessGreen all have the story.

The head of the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) says it could be cheaper, better for the economy and more climate-friendly to invest in fibre-optic broadband rather than road building, BBC News reports. Chris Stark told the outlet that “the government mustn’t be investing in anything likely to increase carbon emissions. I expect that video conferencing will become the new normal, and we won’t return to travelling the way we did”. He added: “I would spend the roads budget on fibre. You would get a huge return to the economy with people having better connections…You would save people’s time and increase their productivity.” Elsewhere, Kathryn Brown – head of adaptation at the CCC secretariat – writes on its website that it is “likely that the UK will experience at least another half a degree of warming by 2050”. This means that, while “reducing global emissions rapidly can still prevent further warming in the UK”, it “means that we have to adapt”, she says.

On the 50th anniversary of the very first Earth Day, there is an abundance of comment on the annual celebration of environmental protection. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, veteran climate campaigner Bill McKibben says “this won’t look like any Earth Day since the first one. Because we can see more clearly now, in all kinds of ways”. He continues: “The air outside for Earth Day 50 will be, in most places, the cleanest in living memory. People everywhere can suddenly see vistas that had been shrouded in haze since they were born.” Despite the coronavirus, the day will still be marked by demonstrations, says McKibben: “Like everything else, protest during a pandemic has to take other forms. We’ll be – check your surprise – moving online, with a three-day Earth Day Live extravaganza, starting Wednesday.” In the New York Times, reporter Henry Fountain looks back at how the paper “went big” on covering the first Earth Day: “The paper covered the day’s events – rallies and teach-ins attended by millions – across the entire country, from New York to California. These days, that kind of wall-to-wall coverage would be called ‘flooding the zone.’” A New York Times feature looks at “10 big environmental victories” since the first Earth Day and “10 big failures”. And BBC Future Planet has a feature on “how the environmental movement was born”, based on conversations with “Earth Day’s original and present-day organisers”. In a Washington Post “KidsPost” piece, freelance journalist Marylou Tousignant speaks to environmentalist Denis Hayes – who organised the first Earth Day in 1970. He tells Tousignant: “The priorities have changed because we’ve made remarkable progress in addressing the issues of that first Earth Day…On the other hand, climate change, which was not an issue in 1970, has grown worse…Every year, the world emits more greenhouse gases than the year before.“ In the New York Times, Devi Lockwood – a fellow of the Times opinion section – writes that the steady climb of global temperatures has resulted in “a slow build to creating a movement with the power and public support that emerged from the first Earth Day”. She asks: “What would it take for environmental fervour to reach the level of passions lit by Earth Day 1970?”. Writing for Foreign Policy, Jason Bordoff – former senior director on the staff of the US National Security Council and special assistant to president Barack Obama – says that the successes of the environmental movement offer “some sobering lessons for how to solve today’s environmental challenge of climate change”. “Most importantly,” he says, “reflections on this historic Earth Day teach us that action on climate change will not be possible until a cultural groundswell demands it”. Elsewhere, both the Independent and Associated Press look back at 50 years of Earth Days, and the Hill, New York Times and i newspaper pick out some of Earth Day’s online events. Finally, writing in the Australian, climate-sceptic author Bjorn Lomborg argues that Earth Day’s anniversary is the time for “alarmists to grow up”.

There is widespread comment on the turmoil in global oil markets, including the price of American crude falling below zero for the first time in history. A Financial Times editorial says the oil price collapse “is no short-term price shock”, adding: “The drop in prices is in many ways a harbinger of things to come for the energy industry. ‘Big Oil’ was already out of favour with investors and the general public over its role in climate change. Oil demand could peak sooner than previously expected. The current rout means companies will have to accelerate restructuring plans.” An editorial in the Daily Telegraph says “nothing is more emblematic of the turmoil caused by the response to Covid-19 than the collapse of the oil price”. It warns that “oil producers themselves may go bust which, given their integral role in many financial systems, will have knock-on effects on lenders and pension funds”. The editorial notes that “future demand for oil was falling as a result of pressure from environmentalists”, and ends by asking: “Is their desire to see the meltdown of the capitalist system finally being realised?” Writing in the Times Red Box, John Sauven – executive director of Greenpeace UK – says that while “you might think that campaigners would rejoice at the misfortune of [oil] companies that are hellbent on destabilising our climate…we do not”. “This kind of volatility is a rehearsal for what catastrophic climate change will bring to the oil market in the future,” he explains: “Our response to the coronavirus crisis must not exacerbate the climate crisis. We must not leave workers facing inevitable industry shocks just around the corner. The best support we can give to workers and families who depend on the fossil fuel industry right now is to begin a just transition to renewable energy including investing in job retraining opportunities and support for impacted communities.” In the Washington Post, Venezuelan political commentator Francisco Toro notes that “renewable energy technology, already competitive with oil, will continue to improve and might soon simply leave fossil fuels behind”.

In related comment, the Independent’s economics editor Ben Chu asks whether environmentalists should “rejoice or despair” about negative oil prices, Axios energy reporter Ben Geman looks at the “aftermath of oil’s march into the unknown”, and BusinessGreen asks the experts to react to the plummeting oil prices. Finally, a Sun editorial complains that the low oil prices are not translating into “plummeting” road fuel prices “on our forecourts”.

Writing in the Times Red Box, UK business secretary Alok Sharma and Italian environment minister Sergio Costa comment on the postponing of the COP26 climate talks as a result of Covid-19. Despite the delay, “we must continue to increase climate action across the globe” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, they say: “Credible and ambitious climate plans, in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term strategies to take us to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, are vital to this aim. Italy, as part of the EU, and the UK are committed to coming forward with enhanced NDCs. We call on every country to do the same and follow the examples already set by the Marshall Islands, Suriname, Norway and the current COP presidency, Chile.” The rebuilding of economies after the pandemic “must continue to embrace the opportunities offered by technology if we are to accelerate the transition to a cleaner future”, they argue: “Innovations in energy storage technologies, smart and no-waste electricity grids, zero-emission vehicles and eco-friendly buildings are some of the technologies on our side.” They conclude: “The stretch of time between now and COP26 is vital. As we emerge from Covid-19, we must take our lead from the international collaboration and science-led thinking we have seen during the pandemic to fight climate change, for the sake of all our peoples, future generations and our planet.”

The growth of methane emissions from dairy farming in India could be twice as large as current estimates suggest, a new study finds. This means that methane emissions from dairy production could be 40% higher than currently forecasted by 2050, according to the research. The authors add that a transition to crossbred animals could “drastically reduce” the expected rise in emissions.