International: United States
Experts back more robust US estimates of social cost of carbon
15 Feb 2023
Some 400 scientists and climate experts expressed support on Monday for a US government proposal to revise a key metric that estimates the damage from carbon dioxide emissions.
US climate legislation could create 9 million jobs
10 Feb 2023
In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden touted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as “ the most significant investment ever in climate change. Ever. Lowering utility bills, creating American jobs, leading the world to a clean energy future.”
Fighting climate change was costly. Now it’s profitable
9 Feb 2023
It is a good time to be in the decarbonization business in the United States. The Inflation Reduction Act—with its $374 billion cornucopia of green incentives, subsidies, and grants—was designed to entice private companies to invest in the transition away from fossil fuels
How California’s ambitious new climate plan could help speed energy transformation around the world
27 Jan 2023
California is embarking on an audacious new climate plan that aims to eliminate the state’s greenhouse gas footprint by 2045, and in the process, slash emissions far beyond its borders.
Climate change may be increasing the use of pesticides
26 Jan 2023
A new report from the Pesticide Action Network finds pesticide use is expected to increase and become more hazardous as the climate warms.
The Federal Reserve is starting a climate experiment
25 Jan 2023
The US Federal Reserve is running its very first climate change experiment.
US again fails to deliver to climate aid for developing countries
22 Dec 2022
Congress just dealt a blow to President Joe Biden's pledge to quadruple climate financing for poorer nations to $11 billion a year.
New York adopts cap and trade as a pillar of climate action
21 Dec 2022
Sales of gasoline powered cars would be banned in 2035, natural gas hookups in new homes would be prohibited starting in 2025 and a statewide cap and trade program would be implemented by the end of the decade under the recommendations approved by a New York climate committee Monday.
Minnesota's solar boom 10 years later
21 Dec 2022
It sounded absurd, the idea of spending a large sum of money to install solar panels in a Minnesota farm field that is covered in snow for much of the year.
Americans increasingly sceptical of airline offsets
19 Dec 2022
Recent polling shows one-third of Americans would be willing to pay for carbon offsets when buying a plane ticket to reduce their carbon footprint, but claims of airline “greenwashing” with carbon credits are one of the reasons more companies are moving away from reliance on this climate approach.
Biden administration updates social cost of carbon
9 Dec 2022
Amid the flurry of news from the recent UN climate summit COP27, the Biden administration made an overlooked announcement that could help modernize U.S. climate policy.
How an early oil industry study became key in climate lawsuits
1 Dec 2022
For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered in libraries are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.
New York cracks down on carbon fuel-based crypto-mining operations
24 Nov 2022
New York State has banned a practice becoming more common in the crypto-mining industry – the rescuing and repurposing of mothballed fossil fuel plants to exclusively provide energy for mining digital currency.
The climate case against Elon Musk
24 Nov 2022
This newsletter has written a lot about so-called “climate billionaires”—billionaires who claim to be doing a lot for the climate. But we’ve never said much about Elon Musk.
A green wave of climate activism is cresting — companies must be 'all in'
22 Nov 2022
Companies ignore young people’s concern over climate change at their peril, as evidenced by the U.S. midterm elections.
New fossil fuels ‘incompatible’ with 1.5C goal, comprehensive analysis finds
25 Oct 2022
There is a “large consensus” across all published studies that developing new oil and gas fields is “incompatible” with the 1.5C target, a new report says.
Can charging frequent flyers for their carbon solve aviation’s climate problem?
25 Oct 2022
If you were to design a scheme to deliberately accelerate climate change, you couldn’t do much better than an airline loyalty program. The more you fly, the cheaper and easier your flights become. Now what if that was switched around, and each flight you took in a year was instead more expensive than the last?
Will ‘carbon neutral’ claims land brands in legal hot water? Danone sued over Evian eco claims
21 Oct 2022
Could ‘carbon neutral’ claims land food & beverage brands in legal hot water, even where they are certified by a third party such as the Carbon Trust? FoodNavigator-USA asked attorneys to weigh in after Danone Waters America found itself at the receiving end of a lawsuit.
World Bank’s president survives climate gaff, but its fossil fuel policy may not
17 Oct 2022
WASHINGTON — David Malpass' job as president of the World Bank appears safe despite calls for his ouster by climate advocates, but the recent controversy over his climate views may have helped ram through changes to help clean energy despite his resistance.
Permafrost slumps spew carbon into streams, study shows
10 Oct 2022
Streams affected by permafrost slumps carry substantially more carbon than typically found in other streams flowing through permafrost landscapes, according to a new study.
The US ban on hydrofluorocarbons is a climate game-changer
3 Oct 2022
A lot of climate change-fighting strategies focus on removing air pollutants, or preventing them from reaching the atmosphere at all. While pretty much everybody these days can recognize carbon dioxide and methane as two of them, the US just joined around 130 other nations to take a big step in knocking out a third: hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs.
The world’s largest carbon removal project will break ground in Wyoming
3 Oct 2022
A pair of climate tech companies is set to break ground on what will become the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project to help industries meet their net-zero goals and slow down the Earth’s rapidly warming climate.
Hurricane Ian: When the power grid goes out, could solar and batteries power your home?
30 Sep 2022
Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds and flooding are likely to bring long-lasting power outages to large parts of Florida. The storm is the latest in a line of hurricanes and extreme heat and cold events that have knocked out power to millions of Americans in recent years for days at a time.
As carbon dioxide grows more abundant, trees are growing bigger, study finds
30 Sep 2022
Trees are feasting on decades of carbon dioxide emissions and growing bigger as a result, according to a new study of U.S. forests.
How carbon calculators can help rail customers
27 Sep 2022
Among the freight transportation modes, the railroads are considered to be a more environmentally friendly option for shippers or customers seeking to transport higher volumes of goods while emitting fewer carbon emissions.
New report reveals organic dairy farming stores carbon, reduces greenhouse gas emissions
27 Sep 2022
A recent study published in the Journal of Cleaner Productions finds greenhouse gas emissions to be 24% lower on organic dairy farms when compared to conventional dairy farms in the United States.
What many progressives misunderstand about fighting climate change
27 Sep 2022
Since the 1960s, fighting for the environment has frequently meant fighting against corporations. To curb pollution, activists have worked to thwart new oil drilling, coal-fired power plants, fracking for natural gas, and fuel pipelines. But today, Americans face a climate challenge that can’t be solved by just saying no again and again.
Offsets aflame: The risk of wildfires to tree-planting carbon credits
23 Sep 2022
Recent fires at reforestation projects raise the question, can the carbon-capture claims of a booming offset industry hold up?
Vultures prevent tens of millions of metric tons of carbon emissions each year
22 Sep 2022
New research shows vultures are 'nature’s flying sanitation crew' and play an important part in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
World’s biggest carbon capture plant set for Wyoming
20 Sep 2022
The US state of Wyoming is set to welcome the world’s largest direct air capture plant for the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
How to make kelp aquaculture a better - and more economical - carbon sink
15 Sep 2022
Researchers claim to have developed a kelp aquaculture model for the Gulf of Maine that maximises carbon sequestration and cost-effectiveness of this natural carbon sink.
How climate change is tweaking the taste of wine
13 Sep 2022
Warming, wildfires and unpredictable weather threaten to disrupt the delicate processes that underlie treasured wines, putting the fine distinctions between grapes at risk.
How waves could power a clean energy future
9 Sep 2022
Waves off the coast of the U.S. could generate 2.64 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity per year — that’s about 64% of last year’s total utility-scale electricity generation in America.
New Fed banking chief targeting crypto and climate change as top priorities
8 Sep 2022
The Federal Reserve’s new banking regulator outlined a broad agenda in a speech Wednesday that pushed for action on stablecoins, climate change preparations and both the safety and fairness of the finance industry.
When it comes to fighting climate change, California turns to beavers
8 Sep 2022
As California grapples with drought, a record heat wave and persistent wildfires, one state agency is turning to the beaver in its battle against climate change.
Costs associated with carbon emissions three times US govt estimate: study
6 Sep 2022
The social cost of carbon is significantly higher than the federal estimate, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.
Mapping US coastlines may ‘drive more equality’ in climate adaptation policy
2 Sep 2022
A Canadian technology company is building aerial imagery of US shorelines which could be used to help coastal communities mitigate climate change.
The Inflation Reduction Act could change the world in at least five ways.
1 Sep 2022
Nearly seven years ago, a single mischosen word nearly killed the Paris Agreement.
Despite conservative outcry, reducing fertiliser emissions won’t lead to famine
31 Aug 2022
The US government’s plan to cut fertilizer emissions by 30% by 2030 has garnered significant attention from farmers, agriculture organizations and other industry stakeholders.
University of Michigan explores low-carbon construction with robot-built pavilion
29 Aug 2022
A team of students and researchers has shown how, with the help of robots, it's possible to build an intricate pavilion using only small pieces of timber.
Inflation Reduction Act could curb climate damages by up to $1.9 trillion, White House says
25 Aug 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act, the most aggressive climate investment ever taken by Congress, could cut the social costs of climate change by up to $1.9 trillion by 2050, the White House says.
“This is total, total greenwash”: Santos claims massive Alaska oil project will be carbon neutral
22 Aug 2022
Last week, at the same time as reporting a huge profit windfall, Australian gas giant Santos gave the final investment green light to its $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion) Pikka oil venture off the coast of Alaska, citing a need to boost global energy supplies amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kansas made transit safer by making it free
22 Aug 2022
Kansas City, Missouri, made national headlines in the fall of 2019 when its city council voted unanimously to become America’s first large city to make public transportation free citywide. Now, two and a half years later, anyone living anywhere in the city can ride buses without paying a fare.
China, US spar over climate on Twitter
19 Aug 2022
The world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases are sparring on Twitter over climate policy, with China questioning whether the U.S. can deliver on the landmark climate legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden this week.
Amid severe weather, poll finds fewer Americans are concerned about climate change
19 Aug 2022
A new survey conducted by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center shows 35% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about how climate change will impact the
Leaving the island: The messy, contentious reality of climate relocation
19 Aug 2022
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, Louisiana — A sliver is all of this islet that remains above water. What hasn’t slipped into the Gulf of Mexico shows the punishing effects of disastrous climate change: trees killed by saltwater, grasslands overtaken by bayous, empty wrecks that were once homes.
Organic dairy farming can store carbon and reduce GHG emissions: study
19 Aug 2022
A new study in the August issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production reveals that it is possible for farms to sequester carbon and reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions. A University of Wisconsin Madison research group unveiled a dairy lifecycle assessment conducted on Organic Valley farms that shows small organic dairy farms, which focus on grazing and organic production techniques, are low greenhouse gas champions.
Massachusetts’ Republican governor signs far-reaching climate bill into law
16 Aug 2022
Massachusetts’ Republican governor, Charlie Baker, signed a sweeping climate and energy bill into law last week, approving an array of policies intended to advance the state’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Democrats jettison carbon pricing in favor of incentives to counter climate change
15 Aug 2022
The US's first comprehensive climate law, expected to be sealed with a vote in the House of Representatives on Friday, will not look anything like the program imagined by either climate economists or those in Washington and the environmental movement who had faith in bipartisan action
What is the Kigali Amendment? The Senate’s next big climate win is within its grasp
12 Aug 2022
The Senate just took its biggest climate action ever with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, but there’s another major climate win lurking on its to-do list.
Battery subsidy scheme set for 'urgent' overhaul as costs run out of control
16 Dec 2025
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced big changes to the government's battery subsidy scheme amid claims most of its $2.3 billion budget has been spent in just six months.
Verra cancels four tree planting projects in China. And starts reviews of 45 more projects
16 Dec 2025
“Multiple carbon projects in China are facing serious allegations regarding the authenticity of government approval documents."
France updates its 2050 carbon neutrality roadmap
17 Dec 2025
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, France released a revamped climate plan promising to phase out oil and gas and sharply increase electricity use.
Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
15 Dec 2025
A scenario that meets the “net-zero by 2050” goal would be the “cheapest” option for the UK, according to modelling by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The ecological havens flourishing beneath power lines
Fri 19 Dec 2025
Initiatives to foster native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs are turning utility corridors into wildlife corridors.
‘Not normal’: Climate crisis supercharged deadly monsoon floods in Asia
12 Dec 2025
Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
Fri 19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
18 Dec 2025
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
