International: United States
Trump's reversal of climate policies risks undermining U.S. manufacturing -- and could cost people jobs
7 Feb 2025
United States President Donald Trump's early executive actions have set American manufacturing on a collision course with his administration's fossil-fuel-driven agenda. It's clear that climate change policies run counter to his vision of American primacy.
US: More than 1000 Environmental Protection workers could be dismissed immediately
5 Feb 2025
The Trump administration has notified more than 1,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency that they could be dismissed immediately.
Living near active oil and gas wells may have increased risk of dying from COVID-19
5 Feb 2025
Californians who lived near the highest-producing wells were more likely to die of COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, recent research shows.
USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites
4 Feb 2025
Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites and document climate change references for further review, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO.
US Treasury withdraws from global climate-related financial oversight initiative
3 Feb 2025
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Federal Insurance Office (FIO) has withdrawn from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
California considers letting victims of natural disasters sue oil companies for damages
3 Feb 2025
Oil and gas companies would be liable for damages caused by climate change-related disasters in California under legislation introduced Monday by two Democratic lawmakers.
Yes, you can blame climate change for the LA wildfires
31 Jan 2025
Los Angeles wildfire season now lasts roughly 23 days longer than in preindustrial times.
Trump freezes $50 billion in funding, including for clean energy innovation
30 Jan 2025
The Trump administration has halted spending from the United States Department of Energy (DOE)'s approximately $50 billion budget while a 'comprehensive review' is conducted to ensure its spending and other actions - which include funding for new energy technologies - are in alignment with the priorities of President Donald Trump, according to an agency memo seen by Bloomberg.
US oilfield firms face pricing squeeze as fracking demand slumps
30 Jan 2025
Top U.S. oilfield services firms are facing weaker pricing and revenue this year as oil producers become increasingly efficient and keep a cap on spending, according to oilfield executives and analysts.
From showers to tiny fish to windmills, Trump's climate policies are driven by fixations
30 Jan 2025
'It was striking that the White House memo included toilets and shower heads as a presidential priority,' said one expert.
The price of coffee hits an all-time high - here's why
30 Jan 2025
Rising coffee prices are part of a larger, global challenge driven by climate change, economic pressures, and geopolitical uncertainty.
The consequences of US climate denial will be costly
28 Jan 2025
With the second Trump administration refusing to acknowledge ongoing climate change, primary concern is naturally with its plan to gut U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and again exit from the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, this is not all the wreckage that is to come.
Nine things to expect for the climate following Trump's return
28 Jan 2025
Climate scientists are probably among those most aggrieved by Donald Trump's return as US president.
I'm an economist. Here's why I'm worried the California insurance crisis could trigger broader financial instability
27 Jan 2025
The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have made one threat very clear: Climate change is undermining the insurance systems American homeowners rely on to protect themselves from catastrophes. This breakdown is starting to become painfully clear as families and communities struggle to rebuild.
Los Angeles is a climate disaster. The fires will change nothing
23 Jan 2025
OPINION: Los Angeles is burning. Fossil fuel companies laid the kindling. Soon the world will stop caring.
As climate change threatens Christmas trees, the farming industry tries to evolve
19 Dec 2024
Christmas trees, like any other crop, are affected by the general rise in temperature associated with global warming and the extreme weather events that result from it.
A marine heatwave killed 4 million of Alaska’s murre seabirds
19 Dec 2024
Beginning in late fall 2014 and lasting into 2016, an anomalous, massive marine heatwave nicknamed “the Blob” developed off the western coast of the U.S., covering all of Alaska’s coastwater and extending as far south as Southern California, raising ocean temperatures by several degrees Celsius.
Trump’s climate threats rattle world’s biggest science meeting
17 Dec 2024
Researchers attending the American Geophysical Union conference worry their work could disappear when a president who rejects climate science takes office.
What could a US-China trade war mean for the energy transition?
12 Dec 2024
Ahead of Donald Trump’s second term as US president, a rerun of his first trade war with China is firmly on the cards – and minerals key to the energy transition may end up in the crossfire.
Malibu residents flee as wildfire swallows homes along iconic Southern California coastline
12 Dec 2024
The beaches are empty in Malibu as a wildfire tears through swaths of the iconic Southern California coastline, consuming homes and vehicles and forcing residents – including legendary actor Dick Van Dyke – to flee their coveted hillside properties.
How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US
11 Dec 2024
‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say.
Jeff Bezos wants AI to design your Christmas turkey
3 Dec 2024
If you care about the climate but you’re looking forward to gobbling down some turkey, Jeff Bezos has a proposition for you: let artificial intelligence design a tastier meat alternative.
The Biden administration put $7 billion into 'hydrogen hubs'. Critics smell a boondoggle.
29 Nov 2024
Many experts question hydrogen’s cost and efficacy in reducing CO2 emissions.
Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails
29 Nov 2024
The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor's alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter.
California governor says state could offer EV rebates if Trump bins federal tax credit
28 Nov 2024
California could offer rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit for people who buy electric cars, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Trump win forces carbon removal developers to reconsider oil
27 Nov 2024
Startups seeking to vacuum carbon dioxide from the skies have long had an uneasy relationship with the oil giants fueling global warming.
Trump’s top staff choices could have far-reaching consequences for the climate
21 Nov 2024
Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s high-ranking staff choices have close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Climate skeptics urge Trump to boost coal, gut science in agencies
20 Nov 2024
Activists who downplay climate change delivered a wish list to Trump’s transition team, with one calling his win “a tremendous opportunity” to reverse US policy.
US ‘likely’ to pledge new climate target, says White House
15 Nov 2024
Donald Trump’s return raised doubts over whether the Biden administration would still produce the plan ahead of a February deadline.
How a former ExxonMobil employee confronted the climate disinformation machine
13 Nov 2024
Former ExxonMobil climate scientist Lindsey Gulden: “It was after I was fired for reporting a garden variety fraud that I really sat back and thought about the implications for climate change.”
Despite likely setback for climate action at the US election, new climate champions set to enter Congress
12 Nov 2024
Across the US, voters elected new members to Congress who have promoted climate action at the state level and could prevent environmental laws from being weakened under Republican leadership.
Donald Trump is likely to scale back America's climate targets - will other countries follow suit?
11 Nov 2024
The US had been a major diplomatic force in climate talks under previous administrations, but Donald Trump's election will likely usher in a new era.
'Sin City could be called Solar City': How Las Vegas is going green
11 Nov 2024
From conserving water to scaling up solar, Sin City is investing millions in sustainability measures.
Trump stranglehold adds to growing doubts at climate talks
8 Nov 2024
Nearly 200 nations will soon gather for the annual COP29 summit, where efforts to increase funding for poor countries and slash emissions will run against the reality of a hostile American president.
‘Drill, baby, drill’: What Trump’s victory could mean for the future, according to climate experts
7 Nov 2024
Trump's victory could be a 'major blow' for global climate action but experts say it may not slow the roll of the green transition.
Why didn’t climate change come up more in the presidential campaign?
7 Nov 2024
Climate change has dangerously supercharged fires, hurricanes, floods and heat waves. Why didn’t it come up more in the presidential campaign?
‘The world is watching’: Why US election result could dictate global progress on climate action
6 Nov 2024
The US presidential election comes just days ahead of the world’s most important climate negotiations at COP29. Experts say the outcome will have a profound impact on the US’ leadership role at the talks, and beyond.
Legal experts say Trump could quit Paris pact – but leaving UNFCCC much harder
6 Nov 2024
As the US Senate approved the US joining the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, it’s unclear if a president could easily pull the country out.
The US election’s climate choice
5 Nov 2024
There are many clear choices at stake in the US Presidential election. One of the starkest is climate.
Climate-fuelled extreme weather is hiking up car insurance rates
4 Nov 2024
Home insurers have raised premiums after extreme weather events. Now car insurers in the U.S. are doing the same thing.
The case for Kamala Harris in a burning world
1 Nov 2024
By Jeff Goodell | COMMENT: The race between Harris and Trump is not about saving the planet. It’s about saving ourselves.
California's schools are embracing vegan meals
1 Nov 2024
How have plant-based lunches spread so successfully? Credit environmentally conscious students — and a handful of state funding programmes.
Microsoft clinches ocean-based carbon removal deal
31 Oct 2024
The tech giant will contract an initial 1,333 tons of carbon dioxide removal from Ebb Carbon, with options to purchase up to 350,000 tons of removal over 10 years.
Trump megadonor’s plan to change US democracy
31 Oct 2024
A Texas fracking billionaire wants to rewrite the US Constitution to advance climate denial and other extreme far-right priorities.
United States: 'Worrying confluence' of flood risk, social vulnerability and climate change denial
25 Oct 2024
In certain parts of the United States, especially Appalachia, New England and the Northwest, the ability of residents to prepare for and respond to flooding is being undercut on three different levels.
US disaster loan program exhausts funds after Hurricane Helene
24 Oct 2024
The U.S. Small Business Administration said on Tuesday it has exhausted funds for its disaster loan program following increased demand from Hurricane Helene, with the U.S. Congress being in recess.
American university requires students to take a class on climate change
24 Oct 2024
To better prepare students for a future shaped by climate change, University of California, San Diego is requiring students to take at least one course relating to climate change in order to meet graduation requirements.
Public EV chargers are good for business as well as the planet
23 Oct 2024
Research shows that businesses with charging stations nearby see an economic boost.
Where there’s smoke: the rising death toll from climate-charged fire in the landscape
23 Oct 2024
Now, new international research has linked the warming climate to some of the deaths from exposure to fire smoke in large parts of the world.
New York officials call for big oil to be prosecuted for fueling climate disasters
21 Oct 2024
Oil majors’ conduct can constitute reckless endangerment due to fossil fuels’ effect on global heating, advocates claim.
Warmer seas fuel dangerous ‘weather bomb’ in New South Wales
Today 11:00am
If the storm shapes up as predicted, we can expect to see damage to houses and trees as well as significant beach erosion – especially in heavily populated areas exposed to the storm’s southern flank.
Floods swamp cities in Southwest China with more storms due
26 Jun 2025
Citizens in Guizhou and other parts of southern China have been swamped by days of record-breaking rainfall as the East Asia monsoon kicked into high gear over the past week.
Brussels to stand its ground on 90% emissions cut by 2040
Wed 2 Jul 2025
The European Commission is set to propose a target to slash greenhouse gas emissions to a mere tenth of the levels seen back in 1990 – but a leaked summary confirms it will offer significant leeway as a sweetener for reluctant EU members.
Activists protest at London headquarters of global ad giant promoting fossil fuels
Today 11:00am
The agency’s work for the fossil fuel industry has made it “complicit in causing existential harm to people and planet”, say campaigners, who are calling on WPP to drop those clients.
Is Mark Carney turning his back on climate action?
23 Jun 2025
The G7 summit in Alberta, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has ended with only passing mention of fighting climate change, including a statement on wildfires that is silent on the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pakistan slams climate ‘injustice’ as deadly floods hit country again
Tue 1 Jul 2025
Pakistan’s climate minister says country facing ‘crisis of injustice’ as more deadly flooding and extreme weather events hit the country.
Nearly a third of Tuvaluans have applied for climate migration visa
Fri 27 Jun 2025
With their country threatened by sea level rise, the people of Tuvalu have been offered an escape route through an agreement with Australia, and many are contemplating leaving their home.
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?
Congo death toll hits 77 after extreme weather brings floods and sinks boats, 107 remain missing
18 Jun 2025
Authorities in Congo said the death toll following devastating floods and separate boat accidents has reached 77, with more than 100 people missing.
‘We are perilously close to the point of no return’: climate scientist on Amazon rainforest’s future
Tue 1 Jul 2025
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached.
Global climate science body roiled by controversies stoked by Saudis, US
Today 11:00am
The proposed selection of a Saudi Aramco oil company staffer as one of the authors of a key science report has been denounced as “political capture.”
