International: United States
Fossil fuel giants set for virus bailout bonanza
13 May 2020
Fossil fuel companies and coal-powered utilities in the US are set for a potential bonanza under federal government plans for a bond bailout, part of the rescue package for the coronavirus crisis.
Trump reverses nearly 100 green rules
8 May 2020
After three years in office, the Trump administration has dismantled most of the major climate and environmental policies the president promised to undo.
Struggling farm workers face worsening heat
7 May 2020
Life is already bad enough for underpaid and overworked crop pickers in the US, but as lethal heat levels rise they will render outdoor labour in the harvest season increasingly impossible.
Trump-friendly fuel firms get millions in aid
5 May 2020
US fossil fuel companies have taken at least $50m in taxpayer money they probably won’t have to pay back, according to a review of coronavirus aid meant for struggling small businesses.
Warren Buffett dumps US airline stocks
4 May 2020
Legendary American investor Warren Buffett has sold his firm’s entire holdings in the four major US airlines, warning that the world has changed for the aviation industry because of the coronavirus crisis.
North America’s fracking boom flounders
1 May 2020
The shale industry made the US a major producer once again. But Covid-19 looks likely to ruin many prospectors.
Trump wants to mine Grand Canyon
29 Apr 2020
The Trump administration, seeking to restore America’s “competitive nuclear advantage,” wants to mine uranium on land bordering the Grand Canyon.
Big Plastic asks Congress for $1b bailout
29 Apr 2020
The plastics industry is asking Congress for $1 billion to bail out plastic recycling during the coronavirus crisis.
Climate fighter Gore throws weight behind Biden
24 Apr 2020
Climate champion and former US vice-president Al Gore has endorsed Joe Biden's presidential candidacy.
Everything points to a megadrought
20 Apr 2020
Climate change could be pushing the US west and northern Mexico towards the most severe and most extended period of drought observed in a thousand years of US history, a full-blown megadrought.
TEXAS OIL: We will disappear as an industry
16 Apr 2020
Texas just did something that only recently might have been unthinkable. The state whose name is synonymous with American oil took the unusual step of formally considering statewide production cuts.
Biden must convince climate voters he's a believer
14 Apr 2020
Bernie Sanders’ departure from the US presidential race left hardcore climate change activists in mourning—and wondering where former vice-president Joe Biden stands.
San Francisco bans reusable shopping bags
6 Apr 2020
San Francisco is banning reusable shopping bags to prevent outside germs from entering grocery stores.
Obama urges voters to 'demand better'
3 Apr 2020
Former US president Barack Obama has urged voters to "demand better" of the government after the Trump administration rolled back a key Obama-era fuel standard intended to combat climate change.
Trump throws lifeline to oil industry
31 Mar 2020
The Trump administration's unprecedented decision to suspend enforcement of US environmental laws amid the covid-19 crisis throws a lifeline to the oil industry.
Pensacola plays host to a climate killer
25 Mar 2020
Ten miles north of Pensacola, Florida, an aging chemical plant, its tanks, smokestacks and stainless steel pipes sprawling across hundreds of acres, is a climate killer hiding in plain sight.
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.
Rising seas will threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050 – report
Today 11:15am
One and a half million Australians living in coastal areas are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, a landmark climate report has warned.
China aims to nearly double battery storage by 2027 in $35 billion plan
Today 11:15am
China is looking to almost double its so-called new energy storage capacity to 180 gigawatts (GW) by 2027, according to an industry plan announced by authorities on Friday.
EU considers faster Russian oil and gas exit after US pressure
Mon 15 Sep 2025
The European Union is considering a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions.
UK foreign aid for nature hits £800m record due to cash for carbon credits
Today 11:15am
The UK’s climate-aid spending on “nature protection and restoration” reached record levels of nearly £800m last year, according to government figures obtained by Carbon Brief.
Carney government noncommittal about Canada meeting 2030 climate goals
9 Sep 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney would not say Monday whether Canada will meet its climate goals under the Paris agreement by 2030, as his government faces criticism over his emission-reduction plans.
Tax rebalancing in Indian energy sector: Renewables cheaper, coal costlier
Fri 12 Sep 2025
Industry experts and developers have hail GST cuts on clean energy equipment, saying it will be a major enabler for India’s ambitious climate goals.
China, climate crisis and COP31: Five takeaways from the Pacific Islands Forum
Today 11:15am
A key climate crisis funding treaty struck as Pacific leaders backed Australia’s bid for Cop31 despite some criticism of its environmental credentials.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Second Africa Climate Summit seeks to jump hurdles to green industrialisation
Wed 10 Sep 2025
A report on progress since the first summit in 2023 says financial, infrastructure and trade obstacles are hampering “climate-positive growth” on the continent.
Brazil implores businesses to attend COP30 climate summit, despite 'second thoughts' amid Trump backlash
5 Sep 2025
November's COP30 summit comes at a precarious time for climate action, as companies back away from environmental initiatives, and attacks on green energy by President Trump.
UN pushes countries for new climate targets this month
9 Sep 2025
The United Nations urged countries on Wednesday to set more ambitious climate plans during this month, seeking to pressure major economies including the EU and China ahead of this year's U.N. climate summit.
