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— Greenhouse gas emissions are directly tied to the weather disasters plaguing the globe this year, and scientists warn these disasters will only get worse as the planet keeps warming, according to the UN’s latest IPCC report on climate change.

— The Senate is expected to have its final vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal this week as it now dives into Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget resolution.

— Workers face growing health risks from working in hotter conditions, but OSHA is slow to issue heat regulations.

HAPPY MONDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Bravo Bob Powers of NEI for knowing Al Capone saw “Pagliacci” in “The Untouchables.” For today’s trivia: What country is the world’s biggest saffron producer? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018.

Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: OSHA's struggle to protect workers from climate change.

CATASTROPHE IS HERE: The United Nations’ premier climate science panel is out with its sixth major report today, issuing a damning outlook directly linking global catastrophes to greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. The report comes with the backdrop of historic drought and fire in the American West, extreme rainfall in Germany and China, and heatwaves and wildfires plaguing Siberia, Greece and Turkey.

The report contained no scenario where the world avoids surpassing 1.5 degrees celsius of global warming — the target that the Biden administration and several of its Western allies have set as they seek to cut emissions. And the 2-degree warming target will be breached unless greenhouse gas emissions peak by mid-century, it said.

It’s a severe assessment that prompted a clash between scientists and politicians in the runup to the report’s release, according to POLITICO’s Zack Colman and Karl Mathiesen. While climate scientists wanted to sound the alarm about the dire conditions the world faces, political leaders hoped to push more for optimism that the world could prevent and overcome the worst of climate change.

The report also comes as the Senate inches toward completion on its $1.3 trillion infrastructure deal that — though making major investments in clean energy research and demonstration — lacked many of the key climate initiatives progressives say are critical to mitigating the climate threat.

“I do not think that Washington, D.C. as a whole understands the implications for not investing in climate change measures right this minute," Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) told Zack.

The drive for more ambitious climate action will also be competing with election season entering the 2022 midterms, where Democrats will have to put up a robust fight to keep hold of their slim majority and Republicans plan to pounce on Democrats’ hefty climate spending. Zack has more on the domestic political landscape around the report’s release.

END IN SIGHT: The bipartisan infrastructure deal will get its final Senate vote this week after 68 senators voted to wrap up debate Sunday evening. It was a tumultuous home stretch, with lawmakers getting into a last-minute dispute on funding mechanisms targeting cryptocurrency that sparked outrage from the budding industry (Pro’s Victoria Guida breaks it down here).

Attention is now shifting to Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still says will be necessary for her to consider the Senate’s bipartisan deal. Moderate Democrats, however, are lobbying for them to push through the bipartisan deal now. More from POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine.

The split between the climate and infrastructure priorities Democrats could get into the bipartisan deal and the priorities they’re pushing for in the budget resolution is starting to tear at the notion that infrastructure is a bipartisan issue. It highlighted points where Democrats and Republicans share little to no ground, such as the divide on highway versus transit funding, and the whittling down of progressive priorities in the bipartisan deal is making many Democrats challenge the merits of bipartisanship to begin with. “Bipartisan doesn’t always mean that it’s in the interest of the public good,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on CNN last weekend. Pro’s Tanya Snyder has more.

Some more infrastructure coverage from the weekend: “Senate infrastructure bill slowed in last lap by lone Republican,” via Marianne and Burgess. AND: ”‘Powerful signal’: Biden’s infrastructure bill sends message to China,” via Phelim Kine.

THE CARBON CAPTURE SCHISM: The bipartisan infrastructure deal includes $12.5 billion for large-scale deployment of carbon capture, which industry analysts say would bring the technology into the U.S. mainstream. It’s a huge victory for several climate-focused Democrats, who say it’s a vital tool to slice down emissions and introduced a number of bills this year to boost its development.

But many progressives are deeming it a “dangerous distraction” that would allow the oil and gas industry to prolong their high-emitting operations. Carbon capture would also need a significant buildout in pipelines to transport carbon to storage sites — which would be politically dicey due to resistance to new pipeline projects. The bipartisan infrastructure deal includes $2.1 billion for carbon transport.

“We have no idea what happens if one of these pipelines leaks or explodes. Fossil fuel companies are going to get this money and in the end rural and tribal communities are going to be the ones shouldering the risk,” Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, told Pro’s Ben Lefebvre. Read more on the debate from Ben.

DON’T FORGET INTERIOR: With historic wildfires raging in the West, Democrats are facing increasing pressure to include major funding for the Interior Department as part of their $3.5 trillion budget resolution. Thirteen Western Democratic Senators demanded substantial Interior funding to preserve jobs in rural western areas and to ensure infrastructure investment is spread equally in a letter Friday to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Energy Chair Joe Manchin and Budget Chair Bernie Sanders.

It’s a sentiment echoing another letter from 10 environmental groups last week demanding at least $80 billion in additional funding for Interior as part of the budget resolution. “As horrific wildfires rage, extreme drought worsens, and wildlife become more imperiled, it’s incomprehensible to leave Interior Department programs out of the budget reconciliation package and Tribes underfunded,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, which was a signatory to the letter. Read it here.

HEAT PROTECTION: Heatwaves are getting longer and more frequent, claiming more lives and altering working environments built for cooler climates. But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been slow to set up protections that could save workers from heat-related injuries and death, E&E News’ Ariel Wittenberg and Zack report together. It has ignored three recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a temperature floor for safe working conditions and has denied similar petitions from labor groups.

It isn’t a reluctance specific to any one administration or party. Ariel and Zack’s four-month investigation found bureaucracy and a lack of political will repeatedly halting the creation of heat protections through nine administrations. Standardizing heat protections is also a challenge with heat impacting local environments and building materials differently and posing varying risks to different demographics of workers. Meanwhile, heat has killed 815 workers between 1995 and 2017 and seriously injured 70,000 more. Read more from Ariel and Zack here.

SPIRE’S POSSE: Spire STL Pipeline is getting support from an eclectic group in its effort to convince FERC to take emergency action allowing the pipeline to continue operating despite a federal court decision that could force the pipeline to shut down as soon as Friday. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote to FERC in support of Spire’s petition, saying the pipeline has proven its value in providing a “safe and abundant supply of energy” during severe weather this past winter. “Some regions of our nation have increasingly been forced to deal with power shortages and even power outages,” he said in a filing Friday. “Such disruptions add an element of uncertainty to both the state and national economies at the very time they seek to recover from the far-reaching effects of a global pandemic.”

The American Gas Association and United Steelworkers expressed similar concerns, with AGA urging FERC to grant the certificate “to avoid potential negative impacts and assure maintenance of adequate service to Spire STL’s customers.” “Removal of this pipeline won’t only mean a loss of good middle-class jobs for our members, but a direct impact on Missourians’ abilities to keep their families safe and comfortable during the impending winter cold,” Emil Ramirez, director of USW District 11, said in its filing.

FERC’s Office of Energy Projects requested additional information from Spire to assist in its analysis, including support for its statements about limitations to available capacity of local gas infrastructure and service contracts expiring over the next 12 months, freeing capacity that Spire Missouri could acquire to meet its distribution needs.

ICYMI: Appeals court hands FERC partial loss in market manipulation case, from Pro’s Gloria Gonzalez.

CAFE PENALTY REVIEW SLIPS: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is behind schedule in reviewing the Trump administration’s delay of a congressionally mandated increase in the penalties for missing fuel efficiency targets under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, program. (Reg. 2127-AM32) "Review of the interim final rule is ongoing, but will not be completed within the six-month time frame that NHTSA estimated in March 2021," the agency wrote in a Friday filing, though it did not explain why the timeline has slipped. Blue states, environmentalists and Tesla failed to get a court to fast-track their lawsuit over the delay, partly on NHTSA's statement that it could complete its review of the rule within six months.

CALIFORNIA BEAMIN’: The Bureau of Land Management is moving forward on three photovoltaic solar projects that, if approved, would cover 4,700 acres of land under the Obama-era Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, a joint federal and state effort that identified areas in the California desert for renewable energy development. The agency said Friday it opened up public comment on the draft environmental analysis for the proposed Arica and Victory Pass projects that will generate up to 265 megawatts of electricity with up to 200 MW of battery storage. BLM also said it expects to make a draft EA public for the Oberon solar project within the next few days. That project, if approved, would sit on 2,700 acres of public lands and could generate up to 500 MW.

The move comes as part of the Biden administration's larger push to increase renewable energy production on public lands and waters. The three projects are proposed for areas already identified as suitable for development under the DRECP, which the Trump administration sought to scale back. The Biden White House ultimately scrapped those plans. The 30-day public comment period for the Arica and Victory Pass EA will run through Sept. 6.

OKLAHOMA WANTS SCOTUS TO REVERSE ITSELF IN TRIBAL CASE: Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor on Friday asked the Supreme Court to overturn its 2020 ruling that concluded a big chunk of the state is actually Indian territory. That decision, known as McGirt, was decided when Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the court’s liberal wing. However, the replacement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Amy Coney Barrett may have changed the math. If the high court doesn’t reverse itself, “the negative consequences will damage Oklahomans for years to come,” O’Connor said.

The McGirt case dealt directly with criminal prosecutions, and much of O’Connor’s petition focuses on confusion in that realm. But he also warned that it’s had unintended side effects in other areas — like energy and environmental oversight. “Citing McGirt, the Department of the Interior has moved to seize control over surface coal mining and reclamation in the State,” he wrote. “And despite the tribes’ assurance that the State could retain regulatory primacy over environmental matters… the Environmental Protection Agency appears to be reconsidering the State’s authority under pressure from tribal leaders.”

EXXON EXPELLED: The Climate Leadership Council kicked out Exxon Mobil over the Keith McCoy scandal, where a company lobbyist was caught saying the oil major viewed pricing carbon as nothing but a PR mechanism. Exxon was a founding member of CLC, which worked toward a pro-market, centrist position on climate change, including advocating for a carbon tax.

“CLC’s decision is disappointing and counterproductive,” Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said in a prepared statement. “It will in no way deter our efforts to advance carbon pricing that we believe is a critical policy requirement to tackle climate change.” Ben Lefebvre has more for Pros.

— ”VW CEO Blasts EV Charging Venture’s Station After Italy Trip,” via Bloomberg.

— “Weed’s dirty secret: It’s an energy villain,” via POLITICO.

— "Peru's new govt eyes natural gas, hydroelectric sectors for public companies," via Reuters.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME!