International: United States
Biden and Sanders go head to head on climate
17 Mar 2020
It only took 10 debates, a worldwide pandemic, and the winnowing of the Democratic field down to two men in their late 70s — but the American public finally got to hear a substantive debate about climate change.
Coronavirus could mean the end of Small Oil
16 Mar 2020
In a globalised world, the US economy cannot escape the effects of a global pandemic, geopolitical upheaval, and the subsequent plunge in oil prices.
Honolulu sues petroleum companies
11 Mar 2020
Honolulu city officials suing eight oil companies say climate change already is having damaging effects on the city's coastline, and lays out a litany of catastrophic public nuisances.
Pro-Trump climate denial group lays off staff
9 Mar 2020
An influential climate-denial think tank bankrolled by President Donald Trump’s far-right billionaire donors has laid off nearly a dozen staffers amid financial troubles, according to three former employees.
Is climate change urgent enough to justify a crime?
9 Mar 2020
On April 28, 2019, four retirees and a 20-year-old student were arrested for planting a vegetable garden on the railroad tracks at Zenith Energy, an oil distribution facility in Oregon.
BROADCAST SNOOZE: US networks drag the chain
2 Mar 2020
Television news is covering little more than the tip of the climate change iceberg, a new US survey shows.
Trump budget slashes environment funding
13 Feb 2020
President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal 2021 calls for significant reductions to US environmental programmes at federal agencies, including a 26 per cent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump blanks climate crisis in State of the Union
7 Feb 2020
In his State of the Union address to a divided Congress, President Trump president has extolled his own role in making the nation the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer.
Groups plan to sue Trump over airline emissions
4 Feb 2020
Protest groups plan to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate aircraft emissions after a 2016 agency determination that those emissions pose a danger to public health.
State marks first for coastal building rules
30 Jan 2020
New Jersey will become the first US state to require that builders take into account the impact of climate change, including rising sea levels, in order to win government approval for projects.
Amazon staff risk jobs to protest climate policies
30 Jan 2020
Amazon has threatened with dismissal hundreds of employees who are demanding the company adopts more eco-conscious practices.
GM to invest billions in EV plant
30 Jan 2020
General Motors will invest more than $2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to make the facility the automaker’s first devoted entirely to electric vehicles.
Court finds Exxon not guilty of fraud
11 Dec 2019
Exxon Mobil has prevailed in a lawsuit in which the energy giant was accused of downplaying the toll climate change regulations could take on its business.
Texas fossil fuel support paves the way for 'carbon timebomb'
9 Dec 2019
Texas is leading the way to a “looming carbon timebomb” as US output of oil and gas is forecast to rise by 25 per cent over the next decade.
Climate change important to me, says Trump
6 Dec 2019
US president Donald Trump has described climate change as important to him, saying clean air and clean water were top of his environmental agenda.
Kerry declares war on climate with some help from Hollywood
4 Dec 2019
FORMER US Secretary of State John Kerry has declared World War Zero by forming a bipartisan coalition of Hollywood stars, world leaders and military brass to push for public action on climate change.
Most Americans say US should do more
27 Nov 2019
A majority of Americans believe the government must do more to address pollution and climate concerns, according to a new study.
Michael Bloomberg is a climate leader
26 Nov 2019
Michael Bloomberg has poured his time and hundreds of millions of dollars into projects aimed at getting the world 'beyond carbon,' but can he win the presidency?
California makes stand against major carmakers
21 Nov 2019
California says it won't buy cars from General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and other automakers that are aligning with the Trump administration in its battle over emissions rules.
Green new-dealers go all out on housing
19 Nov 2019
US political firebrands Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have unveiled the next step to their Green New Deal plan with a bill focused entirely on reimagining public housing.
THAT'S THE SPIRIT: Vodka made from CO2
19 Nov 2019
In Brooklyn, they're making vodka without potatoes or grains. The key ingredients are hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide.
EXXON TRIAL: It's now up to the judge
11 Nov 2019
Lawyers for New York State and ExxonMobil have wrapped up a landmark climate fraud trial, shaping a tangle of testimony and evidence.
US will keep seat at climate talks after it exits Paris
5 Nov 2019
Despite abandoning the Paris Agreement deal it helped to broker, the US will continue to influence global rulemaking on climate change.
How climate change could bust the housing market
4 Nov 2019
An investor whose firm saw the 2008 mortgage crisis coming, is warning that another financial disaster may be growing inside the real estate market: this time inflated by climate change denial on the coasts.
TILLERSON TALKS: Former Exxon chief in the dock
4 Nov 2019
Former ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson has taken the witness stand in the company's climate fraud trial and gave the clearest defense yet for his former employer.
US emissions will fall despite Paris pullout
1 Nov 2019
Greenhouse gas emissions from the United States will fall even if the country pulls out of the Paris Agreement, a new report says.
US green economy boasts 10 times more jobs
25 Oct 2019
The green economy has grown so much in the US that it employs around 10 times as many people as the fossil fuel industry.
Exxon turned its back on us, say scientists
25 Oct 2019
Telling their story before a Congressional committee for the first time, two former ExxonMobil scientists have detailed how the oil giant turned its back on the research they did for the company 40 years ago on the looming threat of climate change.
Packed court watches as Exxon goes on trial
24 Oct 2019
ExxonMobil has gone on trial in a packed courtroom in New York, where the oil giant stands accused of defrauding investors by misleading them about the risks it faces from future climate regulations.
Exxon and oil sands go on trial in New York
22 Oct 2019
The New York attorney-general says Exxon used two sets of books and misled investors by downplaying the potential costs of carbon emissions.
Trump plans to open 'America's Amazon' to loggers
18 Oct 2019
Donald Trump’s administration is proposing to lift longstanding restrictions on logging in part of southeast Alaska known as “America’s Amazon”.
Sacked scientists keep working in snub to Trump
27 Sep 2019
Air pollution scientists disbanded by the Trump administration plan to continue their work with or without the US government.
US bird numbers drop by nearly three billion
24 Sep 2019
In the past five decades US bird numbers have plummeted by 29 per cent. As populations dwindle, so do the chances of species survival.
California and 23 other states sue Trump
23 Sep 2019
California and 23 other states have filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from blocking California’s authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks.
Big Oil to woo climate summit delegates
19 Sep 2019
Oil and gas executives are holding an exclusive invitation-only forum with delegates to next week's UN climate summit, in what critics have condemned as an attempt to influence negotiations.
Trump to block California car emissions rules
19 Sep 2019
The Trump administration is poised to end California’s authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards and bar states from establishing their own regulations.
Trump's plan is to destroy Obama's green legacy
17 Sep 2019
The White House is not only overturning as many environmental protections as it can - it also wants to significantly change the legal landscape to make it harder to reinstate them.
Americans are waking up, new poll shows
16 Sep 2019
Two-thirds of Americans believe climate change is either a crisis or a serious problem, with a majority wanting immediate action to address global heating and its damaging consequences, a new poll shows.
Trump ditches water protection policy
16 Sep 2019
The Trump administration has repealed an Obama-era policy designed to protect US waterways.
Trump scraps Obama's lightbulb rule
9 Sep 2019
The Trump administration has finalised its rollback of an Obama-era rule that would have required US light bulbs to be more energy efficient.
Trump wants to log Alaska
4 Sep 2019
As Amazon wildfires blaze, the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, in Alaska, faces a wholly different threat: corporate exploitation.
HELLISH LAS VEGAS: 'A place where we never go outside'
4 Sep 2019
In Las Vegas, a laissez-faire attitude toward growth has allowed high temperatures to become more deadly and the scorching heat now threatens the city’s basic functionality.
Trump tries again to roll back methane rules
2 Sep 2019
The Trump administration has proposed eliminating US federal requirements that oil and gas companies control leaks of methane from new wells, storage facilities and pipelines.
CNN to run seven-hour climate crisis debate
29 Aug 2019
CNN will host a live seven-hour "climate crisis town hall meeting" next week with 10 Democratic primary candidates.
US Navy scuttles Obama climate task force
28 Aug 2019
The US Navy has quietly shuttered a task force created under former President Barack Obama to prepare the military branch for the impact of global warming.
Trump skips G7 talks on climate crisis
27 Aug 2019
Donald Trump did not attend yesterday's crucial discussion on climate and biodiversity at the G7 meeting in Biarritz, missing talks on how to deal with the Amazon rainforest fires as well as new ways to cut carbon emissions.
Sanders unveils $16 trillion Green New Deal
23 Aug 2019
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has unveiled a $16.3 trillion plan for a Green New Deal, giving shape to a massive programme to overhaul the nation's economy and eliminate fossil fuel use by mid-century.
Clean-energy jobs lead the way in California
22 Aug 2019
Clean energy jobs in California now outnumber jobs in the fossil fuel industry five to one, a new study has found.
Scientists get a rough ride in Trump's America
22 Aug 2019
When the news is bad, punish the messenger, as in today’s United States it’s increasingly the case that politics tops science.
Green groups challenge US ban on scientists
19 Aug 2019
US Environmental groups have appealed a court decision in their attempt to end the Environmental Protection Agency’s policy of excluding certain scientists from serving on its advisory boards.
Australia lets biggest LNG plant run to 2070 in climate blow
Thu 29 May 2025
Australia gave preliminary approval to extend the life of its biggest and oldest liquefied natural gas plant for decades, potentially creating billions of dollars in new drilling opportunities but raising questions about the nation’s climate agenda.
For the first time, China invests more in wind and solar than coal overseas
Thu 29 May 2025
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, long derided for its heavy carbon footprint, was dominated by wind and solar power projects for the first time from 2022 to 2023, according to a new analysis. But coal plants financed in earlier years are still coming online.
Brussels to propose ‘pragmatic’ 90% climate target for 2040
Fri 30 May 2025
The European Commission will tell countries to cut 90 percent of their planet-warming emissions by 2040, but offer “flexibilities” to make the goal politically palatable, according to EU climate chief Teresa Ribera.
Why expensive gas – not net-zero – is keeping UK electricity prices so high
Wed 28 May 2025
The UK’s high electricity prices have become intensely political, with competing claims over the cause of rocketing bills and how best to get them down.
Engineer explains why Alberta’s hydrogen strategy is money-losing climate failure
26 May 2025
Desperation, bad advice and lobbying likely underpinning the province’s plan to blend hydrogen with natural gas for home heating.
Indonesia backtracks on coal phase-out in new 2034 power supply plan
Thu 29 May 2025
Indonesia plans to add 69.5 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity by the end of 2034, much of it from renewable sources, but it still expects to add new coal-fired power plants.
Pacific Island nations support China's Taiwan claims at high-profile foreign ministers' meeting
Fri 30 May 2025
Pacific nations have backed China's claim over Taiwan during a high-profile meeting, but have shied away from directly endorsing Beijing's push to "reunify" the democratically ruled island with the mainland.
I just returned from Antarctica: climate change isn’t some far-off problem – it’s here and hitting hard
13 May 2025
Antarctica is often viewed as the last truly remote place on Earth – frozen, wild and untouched. But is it really as untouched as it seems?
TotalEnergies abandons its carbon plantations in the Republic of Congo
Thu 29 May 2025
TotalEnergies has quietly abandoned the Batéké Carbon Sink project in the Republic of Congo, with only 12.5% of the proposed trees planted.
South America sets historic benchmark: Zero new coal plants planned
Wed 28 May 2025
South America just achieved a remarkable energy milestone, quietly setting a global benchmark: for the first time in history, the entire continent now has zero new coal-fired power plants planned.
Nations agree on carbon-pricing system to steer shipping towards net-zero
14 Apr 2025
Nations have agreed to introduce a worldwide carbon-pricing system for international shipping to drive the sector towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
