International: United States
Miami mans the pumps to beat sea level
23 Apr 2018
Miami Beach's $500 million attempt to elevate and pump itself out of sea level rise's path has drawn criticism, but an expert panel says the city's doing what it needs to survive.
Carbon markets pay off for US states
18 Apr 2018
Nine years after its launch, the US's first mandatory carbon-trading programme is still boosting the economy and creating jobs in its nine-state region.
Nature best weapon against flood damage
18 Apr 2018
Scientists have found nature is the most cost-effective way of reducing the impacts of extreme weather events.
Coal lobbyist becomes No2 official at EPA
16 Apr 2018
Former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler has been confirmed as second in command at the the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Seas rising too fast to save much of Mississippi Delta
16 Apr 2018
Louisiana is proceeding with ambitious plans to redirect the Mississippi River — but even this massive intervention might not be enough to save the most threatened lands from fast-rising seas.
Seattle wants to charge city drivers
9 Apr 2018
A Seattle proposal to make drivers pay a fee for coming downtown is a linchpin in a list of initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions from the city’s transportation sector.
US to ease car and truck emissions standards
5 Apr 2018
US environmental regulators will ease emissions standards for cars and trucks, saying that a timeline put in place by President Obama was not appropriate and set standards “too high”.
Walden Pond pilgrims pollute one of nature's sacred sites
5 Apr 2018
Even the waters of Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau famously retreated to try to understand nature, are not safe from climate change and human pollution.
Judge rejects Exxon bid to shut down fraud probe
3 Apr 2018
A US federal judge has rejected Exxon's attempt to shut down two state investigations into whether the oil giant misled investors for years about the risks of climate change.
US judge rules out mining on public land
29 Mar 2018
A federal court has ruled on clmate grounds against a US Interior Department plan to open more than 15 million acres of public land and mineral rights to fossil fuel extraction.
New York commits $1.4b to renewable energy work
16 Mar 2018
New York has said it will spend $1.4 billion on 26 renewable projects, including 22 solar farms, three wind farms, and one hydroelectric project.
Schwarzenegger planning to sue oil companies
15 Mar 2018
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to sue oil companies, alleging they are "knowingly killing people all over the world".
Pompeo is a buddy of the Koch brothers
15 Mar 2018
Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump's choice to replace Rex Tillerson as US foreign affairs chief, is an ally of the Koch brothers and a critic of the Paris climate agreement.
How America's clean coal dream unravelled
6 Mar 2018
Kemper power plant in the US promised to be a world leader in ‘clean coal’ technology but Guardian reporting found evidence top executives knew of construction problems and design flaws years before the scheme collapsed.
Major US emitters getting away with it
14 Feb 2018
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement activity against polluters has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.
Why hasn’t Trump affected carbon markets?
9 Feb 2018
US President Donald Trump's fight against climate change reduction efforts hasn't had a noticeable impact - yet. Why not?
Top universities form climate change coalition
9 Feb 2018
Leading universities across North America have launched the University Climate Change Coalition to leverage their research and resources to spur local climate action.
Half of US bases worldwide under threat from weather
9 Feb 2018
Nearly half of US military sites are threatened by wild weather linked to climate change, according to a new Pentagon study.
Florida Keys raising road levels to beat the sea
7 Feb 2018
Parts of the Florida Keys will spend millions on raising roads before they are inundated by rising sea levels.
California wants five million electric cars by 2030
31 Jan 2018
California Governor Jerry Brown wants to put five million electric cars on the state’s roads by 2030.
Trump tariffs will cost thousands of solar jobs
25 Jan 2018
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a tariff on imported solar panels will cost the US solar industry about 23,000 jobs this year and risks slowing the growth of clean energy.
INTERVIEW: Trump's man who doesn't know what 2deg means
15 Dec 2017
Donald Trump’s climate adviser George David Banks cut an intriguing, divisive figure at the recent climate talks in Bonn.
How Big Oil is tightening its grip on the White House
13 Dec 2017
The oil industry has stalled action on climate change from the inside and sold America on fossil fuels – and its influence goes back further than people realise.
GE's 12,000 job cuts highlight how it went wrong
13 Dec 2017
After spending years building up its gas-power business, General Electric is trying to figure out how to keep pace in a world that’s no longer all that interested in fossil fuels.
These high-speed trains could take 3m cars off the roads
13 Dec 2017
A $3 billion project that will introduce high-speed deisel trains to the US could take up to three million cars off the roads.
US judge sends Volkswagen exec to jail for seven years
11 Dec 2017
A senior Volkswagen executive has been sentenced to seven years in prison by a US court after being found guilty of concealing software used to evade pollution limits on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles.
Peru’s melting glaciers are a godsend (until they’re gone)
29 Nov 2017
Accelerating glacial melt in the Andes caused by climate change has set off a gold rush downstream, letting the desert bloom. But as the ice vanishes, the vast farms below might do the same.
What do the Koch brothers want from Time?
28 Nov 2017
That Charles and David Koch are putting $650m into Meredith Corp’s purchase of Time would ordinarily be cause for great soul-searching in media. But these are not ordinary times.
Drilling awakens sleeping faults in Texas
27 Nov 2017
Since 2008, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and a handful of other states have experienced unprecedented surges of earthquakes.
Community solar heads for rooftops of New York
24 Nov 2017
New York City’s public housing authority is taking bids in a plan to lease its roofs for community solar projects that could power thousands of urban homes.
Climate change drove Trumps out of Germany
24 Nov 2017
Climate change contributed to the wave of German immigration to the US that included Donald Trump’s grandfather.
California nets $860 million from carbon auction
23 Nov 2017
California will collect $860 million from auctioning carbon-emissions permits after the allowances sold out at a record price for the second straight quarter.
Senate bill would cut EPA funding by $150 million
23 Nov 2017
The US Senate Appropriations Committee this week introduced a bill that would cut nearly $150 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency next year.
EPA revises social cost of potent greenhouse gas
22 Nov 2017
The Trump administration is tweaking how it measures the costs of emitting a potent greenhouse gas, a move that will have major impacts for climate rules.
Wildfires are making Americans sick
17 Nov 2017
As climate change fuels large wildfires, the pollution they're releasing is making Americans sick and undermining decades of progress in cleaning the air.
GATESVILLE: Bill buys big bit of Arizona to build a smart city
15 Nov 2017
Bill Gates is buying 25,000 acres near Phoenix, Arizona, on which to build a high-tech smart city named Belmont.
What would happen if all Americans went vegan?
15 Nov 2017
To produce four US hamburger patties takes 25 kilogrammes of animal feed, 25 square metres of land, and about 220 litres of water.
Can California eliminate millions of fossil cars?
9 Nov 2017
California State leaders are discussing banning the sale of the millions of cars that run on gasoline or diesel.
EPA aims to block scientists who get EPA funding
2 Nov 2017
US Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is poised to jettison scientists who have received grants from the EPA and replace them with industry experts and state government officials.
Winter coming later ... and leaving earlier
1 Nov 2017
Across the United States, the year’s first freeze has been arriving further into the calendar, according to more than a century of measurements.
Why California’s wine country fires were so destructive
31 Oct 2017
As of late October, more than a dozen wildfires north of San Francisco had killed more than 40 people, burned approximately 160,000 acres and destroyed more than 7000 structures.
Rising seas are flooding Virginia’s vast naval base
27 Oct 2017
The giant United States naval base at Norfolk is under threat by rising seas and sinking land - and little is being done to hold back the tides.
EPA scrubs website clean of ‘climate change’
27 Oct 2017
The US Environmental Protection Agency has removed dozens of online resources dedicated to helping local governments address climate change.
US unprepared to face costs of climate change
27 Oct 2017
The risks to the US are big, and they’re rising, a new report says - just as the Trump administration is changing how it calculates costs to make them look smaller.
Texas power giant to shut coal-fired plants
25 Oct 2017
Texas power generator Luminant has announced it will close three coal-fired plants in early 2018. Combined, they account for 12 per cent of the state's coal power plant capacity.
Texas town mayor turns green-power tyro
19 Oct 2017
The mayor of Georgetown, Texas, Dale Ross is ‘a good little Republican’ – but ever since his city weaned itself off fossil fuels, he has become a hero to environmentalists.
How NASA tracks carbon emissions from space
16 Oct 2017
Fires, drought and warmer temperatures were to blame for excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the 2015-2016 El Niño, say scientists with NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
Puerto Rico wants Tesla to make it a showpiece
12 Oct 2017
Hurricane-hit Puerto Rico has urged Tesla to turn the islands into a flagship project that can show the world what solar and batteries can do.
The war on coal is over, says US environment chief
10 Oct 2017
“The war on coal is over,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt declared as he announced that this week he will sign a new rule overriding Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan.
Lawsuits try to paint green activism as a racket
9 Oct 2017
Logging and pipeline companies are using a new legal tactic to seek damages from Greenpeace and other groups. The long-shot cases are having a chilling effect.
Why your next car is a matter of national security
Mon 9 Mar 2026
COMMENT: Aussie motorists can take action to limit theirs and Australia’s exposure to the Middle East conflict.
What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change?
Tue 10 Mar 2026
China’s leadership has published a draft of its 15th five-year plan setting the strategic direction for the nation out to 2030, including support for clean energy and energy security.
Russia gets export boost from Iran war as price of oil to India surges
Tue 10 Mar 2026
The war in Iran has fuelled a significant bump in demand for Russian oil and gas, the Kremlin said on Friday, boosting exports which have been battered by sanctions linked to Russia's war in Ukraine.
UK emissions fall 2.4% in 2025 as coal hits 400-year low
Mon 9 Mar 2026
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.4% in 2025 to their lowest level in more than 150 years, according to new analysis.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
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.
Gaps in adaptation taxonomies hinder climate finance in Asia: report
Thu 5 Mar 2026
Without clearer criteria and metrics in adaptation taxonomies, Asia risks widening its climate financing gap, warns a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
Vanuatu moves forward with UN climate resolution despite Trump opposition
Mon 9 Mar 2026
The Trump administration’s attempt to sink a UN resolution demanding countries act on the climate crisis has caused cuts to the proposal but hasn’t entirely killed it, according to the tiny Pacific island country spearheading the effort.
Limiting warming to 2C is ‘crucial’ to protect pristine Antarctic Peninsula
24 Feb 2026
Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial temperatures is “crucial” for limiting damage to the Antarctic Peninsula’s unique ecosystems, according to a new study.
Heavy rains and flooding kills at least 23 in Nairobi
Tue 10 Mar 2026
At least 23 people have been killed in Nairobi after heavy rain overnight caused severe flooding in Kenya's capital city.
Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall
26 Feb 2026
Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.
Half of nations meet UN deadline for nature-loss reporting
4 Mar 2026
Half of nations have met a UN deadline to report on how they are tackling nature loss within their borders, Carbon Brief analysis shows. This includes 11 of the 17 “megadiverse nations”, countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity.
