Economy
2024 April
2024-04-01 Climate-related cocoa shortages drove prices to record highs. Some manufacturers reduced cocoa content, substituted palm kernel oil for cocoa butter, and relabeled products under FDA rules. Some estimates suggest chocolate production could become severely threatened by 2050.
https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/chocolates-climate-crisis/
https://eciu.net/analysis/reports/2025/climate-impacts-on-cocoa
https://www.renewablematter.eu/en/why-price-cocoa-dropping-but-chocolate-rising
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/cocoa
2026 May
2026-05-21 Trump rolled back refrigerant regulations intended to reduce emissions, arguing the move would lower grocery costs.
2026 July
2026-07-08 ExxonMobil’s top attorney Robert Levy retired and joined Trump’s newly renamed Energy and Natural Resources Division, previously the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Co-president of Public Citizen’s Robert Weissman wrote, “Big Oil’s capture of the U.S. government is now complete. The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet”.