Federal Reserve preps for final meeting, House to probe US lag on leveraging clean energy, and more

Fed officials convene for their final meeting before November's election on September 15 and 16. The central bank is expected to set new economic and interest rate projections that run through 2023. It may also put more meat on the bones of a new strategy, unveiled last month, under which it could let inflation run higher to help the economy recover.

Fossil fuel consumption is set to shrink for the first time in modern history as climate policies boost renewable energy while the coronavirus epidemic leaves a lasting effect on global energy demand, BP said in a forecast.

BP’s 2020 benchmark Energy Outlook underpins Chief Executive Bernard Looney’s new strategy to “reinvent” the 111-year old oil and gas company by shifting renewables and power.

Thus far, U.S efforts around aligning clean energy policy with recovery efforts have been suspended, but some in the Senate have indicated that change may be coming. A coalition of Senate Republicans in July urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to include clean energy efforts in the next stimulus package, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has indicated she hopes to see the Energy Innovation Act hit the Senate floor again this year, after it stalled in March.

Just seven years ago, Exxon was the biggest U.S. company by market capitalization. It has since lost roughly 60% of its value, with its market cap now at around $160 billion, after the pandemic crushed demand for fossil fuels.

Analysts estimate Exxon will lose more than $1 billion this year, compared with profits of $46 billion in 2008, then a record by an American corporation. The company’s removal from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in late August, after nearly a century on the index, marked a milestone in its decline.