International: United States
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.
5 ways the Inflation Reduction Act will fight climate change
10 Aug 2022
More clean energy, less dirty energy, new punishments for methane leaks and billions of dollars for communities most in need of climate-related help — those are the provisions that have environmentalists celebrating what they see as a monumental step for U.S. climate action.
Scientists urge global action after ‘historic’ US climate bill
9 Aug 2022
Scientists welcomed the passing of US President Joe Biden’s “historic” climate bill while calling for other major emitters – namely the European Union – to follow suit and implement ambitious plans to slash emissions.
The end of snow threatens to upend 76 million American lives
5 Aug 2022
The Western US is an empire built on snow. And that snow is vanishing.
How the climate deal would help farmers aid the environment
4 Aug 2022
The climate deal reached last week by Senate Democrats could reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that American farmers produce by expanding programs that help accumulate carbon in soil, fund climate-focused research and lower the abundant methane emissions that come from cows.
A $7.3B pot of money to prepare US infrastructure for climate change
3 Aug 2022
The Biden administration is providing states with more detail about how they can use money from the federal infrastructure law to protect people and structures from the perils of climate change, a move that’s drawing cheers from both political parties.
Amazon strayed further from its climate pledge in 2021
3 Aug 2022
Since Seattle-based Amazon pledged to cut its carbon output in 2018, the company has strayed further from its climate pledge. Amazon's companywide emissions increased by 18% in 2021 alone, according to its own sustainability report.
Vermont moves to become first state to phase out linear fluorescent lights
2 Aug 2022
Aiming to reduce mercury hazards and boost energy efficiency, Vermont will prohibit the sale of the long, tube-shaped fluorescent lamps that light up supermarkets, office buildings and classrooms as of Jan. 1, 2024.
The Biden-Manchin Climate Bill isn’t very good, but It’s all we’ve got
1 Aug 2022
Biden’s climate bill is better than nothing — but just barely. “It’s a renewable energy revolution on top of a fossil fuel build-out,” says one climate advocate: in other words, a historic clean energy investment chained to a fossil fuel giveaway.
Schumer-Manchin reconciliation bill has $369 billion to fight climate change — here are the details
29 Jul 2022
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., on Wednesday unveiled a long-anticipated reconciliation package that would invest hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change and advance clean energy programs.
US to plant a billion trees
27 Jul 2022
The Biden administration says the government will plant more than one billion trees across millions of acres of burned and dead woodlands in the U.S. West, as officials struggle to counter the increasing toll on the nation's forests from wildfires, insects and other manifestations of climate change.
Without Congress, what can Biden do to stem the climate crisis?
20 Jul 2022
The White House is scrambling to reassure Democratic voters that President Joe Biden can still take action on climate change after another blow to proposed climate legislation from Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
White House economic adviser says Biden will pursue climate agenda 'with or without Congress'
18 Jul 2022
White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein told CNN on Sunday that President Joe Biden will pursue his climate agenda "with or without Congress," following the news Thursday that West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin wouldn't back climate or tax provisions in his party's budget reconciliation package.
US energy secretary says switch to wind and solar “could be greatest peace plan of all”
13 Jul 2022
A global transition to cleaner energy sources could be the world’s best opportunity to minimise the chance of global conflicts, the US energy secretary has told a major energy forum in Sydney.
As temperatures rise, farms are sprouting in Alaska
13 Jul 2022
Even as farms decline across the US, a longer growing season is bringing food security to a state that has long relied on sustenance from afar.
Major Arctic drilling project seen as ultimate test for Biden's climate legacy
11 Jul 2022
Climate groups raised the alarm and put President Joe Biden on notice after the Bureau of Land Management opened the public comment period Friday for a proposed drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic that critics warn would unleash a dangerous "carbon bomb" and threaten pristine ecosystems if given approval by the federal government.
The downside of corporate reforestation pledges
7 Jul 2022
Many big companies have pledged to offset some of their carbon pollution by investing in tree planting project
US Supreme Court limits ways to curb emissions
1 Jul 2022
For two decades, Congress has failed to pass standalone climate change legislation.
The US city where all buses are free
1 Jul 2022
Ever since Canek Aguirre got elected to the Alexandria City Council, he wanted to make the city’s bus transit service, known as DASH, free.
Ex-fossil fuel workers convert old oil fields to solar farms
30 Jun 2022
A group of 15 trainees will be heading out into the field to begin converting two Alberta oilfield sites into solar farms, after graduating from a rapid upskilling program for fossil industry and Indigenous workers hosted by Iron & Earth and Medicine Hat College.
Harvard receives $200 million gift for new climate institute
23 Jun 2022
Harvard University announced yesterday that it had received a $200 million gift from Melanie and Jean Eric Salata, which it will use to establish the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, providing a campus hub for multidisciplinary research and education about climate and the environment.
US Navy holding climate change war games
22 Jun 2022
THE US Navy next week will host an open-source table-top wargame to experiment with how climate change could affect a future conflict, a service official said today.
Is moss a climate change superhero in disugise?
21 Jun 2022
Ask most gardeners what they think of moss and the chances are you will get a string of expletives in return.
New England Medical Journal weighs in climate change
17 Jun 2022
The New England Journal of Medicine kicks off a series of articles Thursday with an examination of the effects of air pollution on children’s health.
Carbon tariffs are coming. Here’s how the U.S. is preparing
17 Jun 2022
The world’s first carbon border fee was always expected to roil nations that export their emissions through polluting goods. Now it could go further than originally proposed.
This CRISPR pioneer wants to capture more carbon with crops
15 Jun 2022
Plants are the original carbon capture factories—and a new research program aims to make them better ones by using gene editing.
‘Aggressive’ policies needed to curb airline emissions and meet Paris goals: report
15 Jun 2022
One highly touted way of reducing one’s carbon footprint is to cut down on fossil fuel use in everyday life. For many Americans, this can mean finding transportation alternatives to air travel.
Industry-linked sustainability standard allows clothing giants to ramp up emissions
10 Jun 2022
More than a decade ago, the clothing world’s ultimate would-be do-gooder, Patagonia, partnered with Walmart to clean up the fashion industry’s environmental image. The reason was obvious: The garment industry is the second largest polluter in the world.
The case for Australian carbon tariffs
Thu 19 Feb 2026
OPINION: It may seem a niche issue but sorting the issue of carbon leakage from emissions-intensive facilities is needed to put industrial climate policy on a firm footing.
As Trump retreats from climate goals, China is becoming a green superpower
Thu 19 Feb 2026
How the world's biggest carbon emitter is now at the helm of a renewables revolution.
EU countries back stronger price curbs on new carbon market
Fri 20 Feb 2026
European Union countries on Wednesday backed plans to strengthen price curbs in the bloc's upcoming carbon market, EU diplomats told Reuters, in response to concerns from some governments that the policy could raise fuel bills.
Britain strengthens ties with California as new clean energy and climate agreement signed
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Britain has forged a deeper alliance with California on clean energy and climate action, as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new agreement aimed at boosting transatlantic investment and environmental protection.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
Tue 17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
Modi's rooftop solar push slowed by reluctant lenders, states
Thu 19 Feb 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar power is falling short of targets despite heavy subsidies due to loan delays and limited support from state utilities, vendors and analysts say.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
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.
Warming climate threatens Greenland's ancestral way of life
12 Feb 2026
The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.
Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says
Mon 16 Feb 2026
A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines
12 Feb 2026
The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.
