CLIMATE: There’s a 50-50 chance Earth’s annual temperature will spike beyond Paris Agreement goals within the next five years, a World Meteorological Organization study predicts. (Inside Climate News)

ALSO: Cities need to include public health agencies when making climate plans to ensure efforts equitably help residents, a study finds. (Inside Climate News)

POLITICS: About a quarter of the roughly 400 emissions reduction-related bills states passed from 2015 to 2020 made it through Republican legislatures, presenting a possible blueprint for advancing climate legislation in Congress. (Grist)

GRID:
• State and federal energy regulators consider studying interconnection requests in clusters to help alleviate a widespread backlog in projects seeking to connect to the grid. (Utility Dive)
• New modeling suggests California can achieve an 85% carbon-free grid in 2030 by ramping up offshore wind and geothermal power and avoiding overreliance on utility scale-solar and storage. (Canary Media) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A coalition of 17 states develop recommendations for how policymakers can advance truck and bus electrification. (Utility Dive)
• A Texas company that installs electric vehicle chargers uses Instagram to record where EVs are spotted and then pitches building chargers in those areas. (KRIV)
• Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors seeks $150 million in additional capital to help bring its electric pickup truck model to market. (Reuters)
• Shares of electric vehicle startup Rivian dropped 14% Monday after reports that early investor Ford would be selling part of its stake in the company. (Reuters)

SOLAR:
• Biden administration officials raise concerns about the Commerce Department’s solar panel imports probe, though Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says she has no influence over the investigation. (Washington Post)
• Residents of conservative northwest Florida say their outrage at Florida Power & Light and its handling of winter price hikes was a catalyst in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto of an FPL-backed bill to end net-metering. (Miami Herald)

OIL & GAS:
• Clean energy advocates say countries should avoid using natural gas as a transition fuel as they move from coal to renewables, pointing to the dropping cost of clean energy installations and fossil fuel price volatility. (Guardian)
• Publicly traded oil and gas corporations with net-zero commitments are increasingly selling assets to private firms without such goals, raising concerns that the transfers may increase pollution, research finds. (New York Times)

WIND:
• Tomorrow’s lease auction for an offshore wind site near North Carolina marks a significant step toward achieving federal energy goals in a state that hasn’t yet formally codified its commitment to wind power. (S&P Global)
• A West Virginia wind energy project to supply Toyota and American Electric Power finds bipartisan support even as U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin remains a crucial holdout vote on federal climate legislation. (Washington Post)

NUCLEAR: An Ohio bill seeks to establish a nuclear development authority that could help funnel state and federal resources toward developing a molten salt reactor in the state. (Energy News Network)

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Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.