Climate takes back seat

[View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( The global drive to set out concrete steps to tackle climate change could hardly have come at a worse moment. An avalanche of crises — Covid-19, energy shortages, tanking economies, [snarled]( supply lines — don’t augur well for crunch climate [talks]( among the Group of 20 nations in Rome this month and the United Nations summit in Scotland, known as COP26. Europe and the U.K. are [scrambling]( to shield people and businesses from high oil and gas prices that have revealed the danger of trying to give up fossil fuels before less polluting renewables are ready to fill the gap. In the U.S., political infighting is jeopardizing key elements of President Joe Biden’s plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in a sharply divided Congress and raising the possibility that he will show up in Glasgow with little to offer. Key members of his own political party [oppose]( his proposals — including Senator Joe Manchin of gas- and coal-rich West Virginia, who [raked]( in hundreds of thousands of dollars from energy-industry donors last quarter. China is racing to boost output from its coal mines after a shortage forced factories in more than 20 provinces to curb output or shut down. There’s no sign President Xi Jinping will be attending either the G-20 or the meeting in Scotland. Likewise, it doesn’t look there will be an appearance by President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, where the [Amazon]( basin plays a critical role in absorbing carbon. However much intensifying droughts and floods point to the need for urgent action, chances are dimming for groundbreaking commitments to prevent more irreparable damage to the climate. — [Karl Maier]( Climate activists near the Bank of England in London on Aug. 27. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg Click [here]( to follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines Dwindling time | U.S. Democrats have a [staggering]( amount of challenges to overcome in the next several weeks, from approving Biden’s economic agenda and voting-rights legislation to engaging in a risky fight over avoiding a government debt default. As [Laura Litvan]( explains, how they fare could determine whether they can stop the Republicans from capturing the Senate and the House in next year’s midterm elections. - Democrats concerned by the tight race for Virginia governor are [rushing]( to bolster party member Terry McAuliffe’s campaign in a state that could set the national tone for the midterms and the 2024 presidential election. Border tensions | Chinese and Indian military commanders are [deadlocked]( over the best way to pull back troops from a strategic area in the Himalayas, people familiar with the discussions tell [Sudhi Ranjan Sen](, raising the prospect of another strained winter along the border where tensions have simmered since the summer of 2020. China’s housing slump and electricity shortages [dragged]( down economic growth to 0.2% from July to September from the previous quarter, with signs there will be more pain to come as the country heads into winter and property curbs remain. Beijing has signaled it’s not rushing to stimulate the economy, suggesting growth may continue to slow in the coming months. Democracy fight | The European Union may [trigger]( a new tool as soon as this week that allows it to withhold payments to members that don’t adhere to its democratic standards. With concern growing that nationalist governments in Poland and Hungary are breaching the rule of law, the bloc already withheld approval of their plans to spend billions of euros from the EU’s pandemic stimulus package, while the new mechanism could also freeze a different pot of cash from the 27-nation alliance’s budget. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [China’s Slowdown Is a Win for Camp Transitory: Daniel Moss]( - [It’s Too Soon to Declare Draghi King of Europe: Rachel Sanderson]( - [Global Energy Drought May Herald Future Excess: David Fickling]( Courting controversy | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent a ritual [offering]( to a controversial war shrine yesterday, a move that has angered both China and South Korea. The Tokyo shrine honors millions of Japanese killed in World War II and is seen as a symbol of the country’s past militarism. - A third-generation Korean woman born in Japan has sued an employer for discrimination, [testing]( the country’s laws and exposing workplace racism. Ally protest | Venezuela’s government pulled out of a round of negotiations with the political opposition to protest the [extradition]( of a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro to the U.S., calling the move a “kidnapping.” Colombian businessman Alex Saab was sent on a plane to face money-laundering charges in a federal court in Florida after spending more than a year fighting deportation from Cape Verde, where he was detained. Bloomberg TV and Radio air Balance of Power with [David Westin]( weekdays from 12 to 1pm ET, with a second hour on Bloomberg Radio from 1 to 2pm ET. You can watch and listen on Bloomberg channels and online [here]( or check out prior episodes and guest clips [here](. What to Watch This Week - [Plunging]( temperatures across parts of China have sparked an early start to the winter heating season, likely lifting power demand and intensifying the nation’s energy crisis. - Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for “urgent research” into a [mutation]( of the delta variant — known as delta plus — following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the U.K. - EU Leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss topics ranging from energy prices and immigration to foreign relations and trade. - China said the [mystery]( object launched into space earlier this year was a reusable space vehicle, describing a more innocuous incident than a report over the weekend that Beijing sent a hypersonic missile into orbit. - Chile’s conservative candidate Jose Antonio Kast is in a statistical [tie]( with left-wing frontrunner Gabriel Boric in an opinion poll before Nov. 21 presidential election. Thanks for the 44 responses to our Friday quiz question and congratulations to Mumtaz Ansari, who was the first to name Iran as the nation that asked Saudi Arabia to reopen consulates and re-establish diplomatic ties. And finally ... Google’s newest campus in California is being imagined as the [embodiment]( of the tech giant’s grander ambition to run every office and data center on electricity from clean sources, around the clock, by 2030. But as [Mark Bergen]( reports, it will take more than just money to put in place perhaps the most ambitious corporate commitment to decarbonization ever. “It’s a bit stressful,” CEO Sundar Pichai says, “because we don’t fully have all the answers to get there.” Google’s new Bay View campus still under construction. 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