International: United States
Big US banks resume lending to coal companies
30 May 2018
An environmental group’s analysis shows the five largest United States banks have started lending to coal companies again now that they’re out of bankruptcy.
Changing climate might be killing off bees
28 May 2018
Beekeepers in the US have reported an increase in honeybee deaths over the past year, possibly the result of erratic weather patterns brought on by a changing climate.
EPA ‘secret science’ proposal alarms health experts
25 May 2018
The EPA this month could finalise a controversial rule to limit what scientific research the agency can use in writing US environmental regulations.
Proud Norfolk wants to remake itself as seas rise
23 May 2018
US Navy town Norfolk sees itself as a living lab for coastal resilience, one in desperate need of solutions as flooding worsens. Not every neighborhood will be saved.
New York wants to end coal-fired power
23 May 2018
New York State has proposed telling coal plants to change the way they operate, or close down.
Oil-rich Alaska plans to tackle climate change
21 May 2018
Alaska, a major oil and gas producer, is crafting a plan to address climate change.
The world according to GOP ...
21 May 2018
The Earth is not warming. The White Cliffs of Dover are tumbling into the sea and causing sea levels to rise. Global warming is helping grow the Antarctic ice sheet. Those are some of the skeptical assertions echoed by Republicans in the US House of Representatives last week.
Investors urge oil firms to shun Trump's Arctic plan
16 May 2018
Investors managing more than $2.5 trillion have warned oil firms and banks to shun moves by US president Donald Trump to open an Arctic national wildlife refuge to drilling.
California turns farms into carbon-sucking factories
15 May 2018
In a grand experiment, California switched on a fleet of high-tech greenhouse gas removal machines last month.
California faces long road to reach e-car target
11 May 2018
California continues to lead the US in electric car sales but it faces a long, hard road before it can achieve its goal of getting five million emissions-free vehicles on the road in 12 years.
Why you can’t have free trade and save the planet
9 May 2018
Donald Trump is simultaneously chided for refusing to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and for promoting a trade policy that reduces the causes of such emissions.
E-waste innovator is going to prison
4 May 2018
A Southern California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste is headed to federal prison for 15 months.
DIVIDED COUNTRY: Border gets the creeps
1 May 2018
The stark climatic border in the US separating the sultry east from the dry west is rapidly shifting - a change that could have a significant future impact.
Hands up those companies making an effort
26 Apr 2018
An analysis of more than 600 top US companies has found that those seeing the effects of global warming first-hand are taking the most concrete actions.
Bloomberg vows to pay America's Paris dues
24 Apr 2018
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will write a $4.5m cheque to cover this year’s US commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.
California must live with whiplash events
24 Apr 2018
California is likely to swing from drought to extreme rainfall and flooding more often in the future, a new report says.
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.
Australia's battery subsidies spark rooftop solar resurgence
Tue 7 Jul 2026
The rooftop solar boom shows how countries stifled by transmission line logjams can continue reducing emissions, analysts say.
China warming faster than global average as extreme weather intensifies, report says
6 Jul 2026
China is warming faster than the global average, while extreme heat, heavy rainfall and other severe weather events are becoming more frequent and intense as climate change accelerates worldwide.
Europe may face 'more deadly weeks' as new heatwave builds, WHO warns
Thu 9 Jul 2026
The World Health Organization warned Europe could face “more deadly weeks” ahead, with another intense heatwave forming over the Atlantic.
Low-cost loans for solar panels could save households hundreds on bills – thinktanks
Thu 9 Jul 2026
Millions of UK households could save hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills if the government were to approve low-cost loans for solar panel installation, research has found.
Canada advances Alberta pipeline to Pacific Coast to expand oil exports beyond the US
6 Jul 2026
Canada took a step toward opening a new route for its vast oil reserves to Asian markets as Prime Minister Mark Carney advanced a Pacific Coast pipeline from Alberta, seeking to reduce the country’s dependence on the U.S. while easing separatist tensions and preserving environmental protections.
Enhanced flash flood risks in Hindu Kush Himalaya
Thu 9 Jul 2026
The communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region could face enhanced risks from flash floods due to bursts of extreme rainfall and cloudbursts during the southwest monsoon season along with high temperatures which could lead to accelerated glacier and snow melting.
‘Those blocking climate science are not our friends': Pacific leaders warn at Bonn talks
23 Jun 2026
Pacific nations and civil society groups have united at UN climate talks, pushing back against efforts to weaken agreed language on global temperature limits as negotiations continue behind closed doors.
Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average
16 Jun 2026
A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’.
Ugandan farmers launch UK court case against East African oil pipeline
Thu 9 Jul 2026
Four Ugandan farmers filed a case with London’s High Court aiming to stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline from starting to operate by asking the court to apply Uganda’s laws against the project’s UK-registered company.
Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle
26 May 2026
Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?
Strong El Nino will develop rapidly over coming months, says UN weather agency
Tue 7 Jul 2026
The United Nations weather agency on Friday raised its forecast for the rapid emergence of a strong El Nino in the coming months, warning that the phenomenon is likely to drive global temperatures higher.
