Welcome to Monday’s Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-inscription.

Today, we take a look at the cost of this year’s climate disasters, the passage of NDAA, and four environmental fights we’ll be watching next year.

For The Hill, we are Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Write to us with tips: [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on twitter: @RachelFrazin and @BudrykZack.

Let’s go.

10 weather disasters cost $ 170 billion in damage

The 10 costliest weather disasters in the world in 2021 caused more than $ 170 billion in damage, according to a new report from a UK-based aid group.

The Christian Aid group publishes an annual report quantifying the costs of the worst weather disasters. The 10 disasters highlighted for 2021 together cost $ 20 billion more than the 10 disasters highlighted by the group in 2020.

The group said the costs it estimates are also based solely on insured losses, meaning the actual costs of these events may be higher.

Report author Kat Kramer, head of climate policy at Christian Aid, said in a statement that “the costs of climate change have been severe this year.”

Climate change has been linked to extreme weather events including heat waves, heavy rainfall, droughts and more extreme hurricanes.

The report comes as policymakers – in the United States and elsewhere – seek to determine how to factor the cost of damage from climate change, or the potential savings resulting from reduced climate impacts, into their decision-making.

Christian Aid’s report found that the three costliest disasters of 2021 occurred in the United States and Europe, but noted that financial costs are generally higher in richer countries because they can to pay for insurance and because they have higher real estate values.

The most expensive? Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana in August, then moved northeast. Christian Aid said the event cost $ 65 billion.

Read more about the report’s findings here.

Biden signs defense bill with PFAS provisions

President BidenJoe BidenThe 10 Races That Will Decide The Majority In The Bidens Senate: Desmond Tutu’s Legacy “Will Resonate Through The Ages” Media loves bad news; you don’t have to PLUS on Monday signed a sweeping $ 768 billion defense policy bill, establishing guidelines and policy for the Pentagon, the White House said.

Biden signed the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) Tax Law 2022 after Congress rushed through the annual bill earlier this month.

The House passed the bill by a majority two-party vote of 363-70 in early December, and the Senate then passed the bill with a two-party vote of 88-11.

The $ 768.2 billion compromise bill came after efforts to pass an earlier version of the bill in the Senate encountered several problems, including failure to reach agreements on the amendments. who would benefit from a vote on the ground.

So what kind of energy and environmental provisions are there? According to a Senate summary, he:

• Increases funding for military, navy and air force cleanup of a class of toxic chemicals called PFAS
• Increases funding for a national PFAS health assessment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Limits the use of open-air burns for waste
• Prevent the Department of Defense from burning PFAS until there is direction from the department or an EPA rule on the destruction of PFAS
• Requires consideration of climatic and environmental issues in the “core processes”

Learn more about the bill itself from our defense team.

LOOKING FORWARD

While Democrats have recently faced uncertainty about the future of their sprawling climate and social spending bill, there will be plenty of climate fights to watch out for in the New Year.

Here are four environmental fights we’ll be watching in 2022:

1. Oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters

One of the biggest environmental battles of 2021 is set to spill over – whether and how to restrict the rental and authorization of oil and gas drilling on federal lands and in federal waters.

Environmental groups are set to oppose future sales, including a proposal to auction off ocean plots near the Alaskan coast and an expected land lease sale in New Mexico, while the Republicans should support them.

2. Which waters benefit from federal protections?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to propose a rule next year for regulated waters in the United States.

The Biden administration is expected to propose to regulate more water than the Trump administration, but its specific course of action is not entirely clear, saying that Obama’s and Trump-era decisions “didn’t not necessarily listened to the will of the people ”.

3. To what extent will power plant emissions be regulated?

The battle over emissions from power plants will likely be played out through regulations and in the Supreme Court.

The EPA is expected to come up with rules next year regulating emissions from new and existing power plants, with both rules due to be finalized in 2023.

But in October, the Supreme Court said it would take up the case after demands from coal companies and Republican-led states. There are plans to review tools the EPA can use to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

4. Will countries increase their climate commitments?

The Glasgow Climate Pact, agreed at the 2021 COP26 climate summit, calls on countries to review their short-term climate commitments by the end of 2022.

He called on countries to strengthen their targets for 2030 “as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature target … taking into account different national circumstances”.

But it’s unclear which countries, if any, will actually increase their targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Learn more about these upcoming fights here.

WHAT WE READ

ICYMI

And finally, something quirky and quirky: A deep dive into a different kind of scoop.

That’s all for today, thanks for reading. Discover The Hill’s energy and environment page for the latest news and coverage. See you on Tuesday.