International: United States
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.
Prometheus Materials uses algae-based cement to make masonry blocks
10 Jun 2022
Colorado-based Prometheus Materials has developed masonry blocks from a low-carbon cement-like material grown from micro-algae.
US landfills are getting a second life as solar farms
9 Jun 2022
When landfills get capped and grassed over, they have the appearance of lush, rolling hills. Despite their green appearance, however, these sites are known as “brownfields”—a term for an environmentally hazardous site without a promising future. Indeed, landfills are typically unsuitable for development because the contents below the surface are both contaminated and physically unstable.
L.A. is banning most gas appliances in new homes
3 Jun 2022
Citing the climate crisis, the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to ban most gas appliances in new construction, a policy that’s expected to result in new homes and businesses coming equipped with electric stoves, clothes dryers, water heaters and furnaces.
The US has fallen way behind on climate goals
1 Jun 2022
The US is doing a pretty horrible job of following through on promises it’s made to tackle climate change, according to two separate new studies.
Yes, you can save lives by planting trees, a new study says
1 Jun 2022
It’s hard not to love trees. They provide us with shade during the scorching heat of summer, help clean the air and water, and improve our physical and mental well-being. Now, a recent study has found that boosting urban greenery — including trees, shrubs, and other plants — could also save tens of thousands of lives in cities across the USA.
How mass shootings, ecofascism and climate change got tied together
30 May 2022
Two recent mass shootings in communities of color are renewing fears among environmental groups and climate activists that a growing number of young men are adopting racist right-wing ideologies to explain the worsening climate crisis and justify extreme violence.
U.S. proposal could change the way oil companies report their carbon footprint
30 May 2022
The officially disclosed carbon footprints of Canada's largest oil companies could balloon in size if tough new climate rules proposed earlier this year by a U.S. regulator come into effect.
Carbon credit standards body Verra suspends blockchain, crypto tokenization
27 May 2022
Yesterday Verra, the Washington-based non-profit that sets voluntary carbon credit standards, said it is immediately stopping the practice of creating blockchain tokens or instruments based on retired credits
The U.S. has spent more than $2 billion on a plan to save salmon. The fish are vanishing anyway.
26 May 2022
The U.S. government promised Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest that they could keep fishing as they’d always done. But instead of preserving wild salmon, it propped up a failing system of hatcheries. Now, that system is falling apart.
Massachusetts climate change case against Exxon can proceed, court rules
26 May 2022
A lawsuit by the state of Massachusetts accusing ExxonMobil of misleading the public about climate change can go forward, the state's highest court has ruled. Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by ExxonMobil to dismiss the lawsuit.
How San Francisco cracked the urban composting code
25 May 2022
California’s environmental achievements are something to behold. The state ranks first in the U.S. for growth in solar power generation and battery storage. It’s the national leader in cumulative electric vehicle sales and public EV charging stations. And it’s one of a growing number of states that aim to run entirely on carbon-free energy in the coming decades – a goal it briefly met, for about 15 minutes, on April 30.
HSBC suspends senior banker for dismissing 'nut job' climate change warnings
24 May 2022
Banking giant HSBC has reportedly suspended a senior banker after he dismissed climate change warnings as "unsubstantiated" and accused bankers of overstating global warming risks.
Biden commits $3.5 billion to carbon capture
23 May 2022
The US government is investing in machines that suck giant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air in the hopes of reducing damage from climate change.
Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?
20 May 2022
Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which gets released when livestock operations pool manure in open-air lagoons.
Survey reveals costs and benefits of climate-related disclosure for companies and investors
18 May 2022
A new survey reveals what private sector US organisations are currently spending on measuring and managing key climate change data and disclosure activities
California $19Bn carbon market not good enough to curb emissions
16 May 2022
California’s carbon market was supposed to be a model for the US, harnessing the power of capitalism to fight climate change in the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
What remains of the U.S. Green New Deal?
9 May 2022
In November 2018, the Green New Deal became a rallying cry for climate activists when members of the Sunrise Movement occupied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and adopted the slogan as their unifying message.
Barclays and Standard Chartered shareholders reject climate plans
6 May 2022
The annual general meetings of banking giants Barclays and Standard Chartered were disrupted by climate activists calling for heightened climate targets, with shareholders failing to align with current efforts from the organisations to meet net-zero emissions.
California just shy of 100% powered by renewables for first time
5 May 2022
Renewable electricity provided just shy of 100% of California's electricity demand on Saturday, a record-breaker, officials said, much of it from large amounts of solar power now produced along Interstate 10, an hour east of the Coachella Valley.
US carbon border fee gains traction, but hurdles remain
5 May 2022
Sen. Joe Manchin’s bipartisan energy gang is trying to breathe life into a carbon border adjustment, but it is still struggling with the same political problems that have dogged past efforts to slap tariffs on carbon-intensive goods.
Supreme Court abortion ruling could have climate fallout
4 May 2022
The bombshell draft opinion signaling that the Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade has implications that reach far beyond abortion access and could affect environmental law and climate policy for years to come.
US postal service sued over purchase of gas guzzling delivery trucks
2 May 2022
The US Postal Service is facing lawsuits from 16 states and several environmental groups challenging its decision to buy tens of thousands of gasoline-powered delivery vehicles instead of electric vehicles.
U.S. scraps incandescent bulbs, cuts 222 megatonnes of emissions over 30 years
28 Apr 2022
The Biden administration is scrapping old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, speeding an ongoing trend toward more efficient lighting that officials say will save households, schools, and businesses billions of dollars a year.
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.
