The Big Story 

President Biden on Thursday announced the U.S. will provide $1 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which assists low-carbon projects in developing countries.

© Greg Nash, The Hill

At a Thursday meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), President Biden also announced he would try to secure $500 million toward anti-deforestation work in Brazil.

“Today, we have to do more than recognize the climate challenge,” Biden said at the meeting, adding world powers must “recommit ourselves to action” and “step up our ambitions.” 

Biden further called for participating nations to set a target of having 50 percent of light-duty vehicle sales be electric by 2030, pushing global leaders to adopt a goal set by his own administration.

Read more on Biden’s comments in a full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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Essential Reads 

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

EPA proposes to ban most uses of toxic paint remover

Biden administration takes first step to protect more than 100 million acres of forest

Ocasio-Cortez, Markey reintroduce Green New Deal resolution: ‘We need bold big climate action’

In Other News 

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Elephant seals nap while they dive, study finds, shedding new light on sleep

Elephant seals avoid predators by sleeping while they dive, a new study has found. The research published Thursday in Science sheds new light on the universal mammal need for sleep and the …

What We’re Reading 

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

• The Most-Cited Number About the Inflation Reduction Act Is Probably Wrong, and That Could Be a Good Thing (Inside Climate News)

   

• Feds will release more water downstream into drought-stricken Lake Mead after wet winter (CNN)
  
  

• Citing Neo-Nazi Plots Against The Grid, States Pass Laws Meant To Thwart Climate Protests (HuffPost)
  

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

Michelle Obama: ‘We’ve been married for 30 years,’ and 20 of them were ‘great’

Michelle Obama says the world tends to “glamorize marriage,” while the reality is that matrimony “is hard.” Read more

Manchin slams Biden for ‘deficiency of leadership,’ applauds McCarthy debt limit plan 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who faces reelection in a Republican-leaning state, on Thursday slammed President Biden for showing “a deficiency of leadership” on a potential national default and applauded Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for proposing a plan to raise the debt limit.   Read more

Opinions in The Hill 

Op-eds related to energy & environment submitted to The Hill: