Normal view

Received yesterday — 12 December 2025

Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Oil Exploration in Remote Areas of the Arctic

11 December 2025 at 19:29
A federal lawsuit argues that proposed work by ConocoPhillips could threaten delicate ecosystems in the largest tract of public land in the U.S.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times

A ConocoPhillips oil drilling site on the North Slope of Alaska near the Willow site, another ConocoPhillips oil exploration project.
Received before yesterday

Trump Panel Abruptly Postpones Release of FEMA Overhaul Recommendations

11 December 2025 at 18:06
The group’s report had been expected to provide a road map for change after months of upheaval at the agency.

© Jon Cherry/Reuters

Talk of a FEMA overhaul comes as disasters are becoming more frequent and costly as a result of climate change.

U.S. Helped to Weaken Report at U.N. Environment Talks, Participants Say

11 December 2025 at 13:54
American officials joined Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran in objecting to language on fossils fuels, biodiversity and plastics in a report that was three years in the making.

© Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

The opening session of the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday.

Our Children’s Trust Suit Asks Montana Court to Block Some New Laws

10 December 2025 at 18:45
The young plaintiffs, who won a major case over climate change policy in 2023, argue that legislators are illegally ignoring the effects of fossil fuels.

© Janie Osborne for The New York Times

Rikki Held, the named plaintiff in Held v. Montana, in June 2023. The same plaintiffs are asking the state’s top court to prevent legislators from undermining their victory.

This Arkansas City Shows How to Slash Emissions and Save Money, Too

In the Ozarks, the growing college town of Fayetteville, Ark., is using clean energy to power city facilities and embracing nature-based solutions to climate threats.

© Melyssa St. Michael for The New York Times

Some Mentions of Human Causes of Climate Change Removed From E.P.A. Site

9 December 2025 at 15:50
An E.P.A. site listing the causes of climate change no longer includes the main one: human activity.

© Ting Shen/Reuters

President Trump, who calls climate change a “hoax” is eliminating restrictions on coal, oil and gas while imposing new ones on renewable energy like wind and solar.

Scientists Are Measuring Ocean Currents in Hopes of Charting AMOC’s Future

6 December 2025 at 05:00
Scientists fear warming is driving a collapse in the ocean currents that shape climate far and wide. The ice-choked waters off Greenland might hold the key.

Scoresby Sound, a fjord in eastern Greenland, as seen from the research ship.

Climate Shift Upends Atlantic Seaweed: One Massive Patch Grows as Another Vanishes

4 December 2025 at 05:05
Blooms of yellowish-brown seaweed along the Equator are breaking records and defiling beaches, while a centuries-old patch farther north is disappearing.

© Paola Chiomante/Reuters

Mexican National Guard members during a sargassum seaweed cleanup event in Cancun, Mexico, in June.

Trump Expected to Significantly Weaken Fuel Economy Rules

2 December 2025 at 18:58
Executives from top automakers were invited to attend the announcement at the White House on Wednesday.

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Biden-era auto emissions rules have significantly reduced the planet-warming greenhouse gases from transportation, which is the single largest source of carbon pollution in the United States.

Many Fighting Climate Change Worry They Are Losing the Information War

Shifting politics, intensive lobbying and surging disinformation online have undermined international efforts to respond to the threat.

© Andre Penner/Associated Press

Oil-rich countries, including the U.S., are downplaying scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is dangerously heating the planet.

E.P.A. Delays Requirements to Cut Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas

26 November 2025 at 17:52
Oil and gas firms were supposed to start reducing methane, a powerful driver of climate change. The agency is giving them more time and may cancel the requirement.

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

A gas flare at an oil facility in Midland, Texas.

Trump Vowed Fewer Regulations and Lots More Oil. He’s Delivered on One.

26 November 2025 at 05:00
The president’s energy strategy is projected to generate more pollution, but so far production has not risen significantly and price drops have been modest, analysts say.

© Eli Hartman/Reuters

Since President Trump took office, oil production is up, but largely because of improved efficiency, and it has not translated into more jobs for either the industry or the overall economy.

COP30 Climate Summit Ends With Dire Warnings and Scant Plans for Action

23 November 2025 at 13:13
The final agreement, with no direct mention of the fossil fuels dangerously heating Earth, was a victory for countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia, diplomats said.

© Pablo Porciuncula/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The closing session of the COP30 climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, on Saturday.

China Offers Panda Totes, but No New Commitments, at Climate Talks

21 November 2025 at 11:25
The United States has retreated on climate. China, the only superpower at COP30 and the world leader in clean energy, is not filling the void.

© Adriano Machado/Reuters

The China pavilion of the COP30 conference in Belém, Brazil, last week.

Fine Chocolate in Brazil, Home of the Cacao Bean

A new generation of craft chocolate makers in Brazil is creating bars with “identity.” And they’re helping to sustain the forest, too.

Energy Department Reorganization Reflects Shift Away From Renewable Energy

20 November 2025 at 17:38
The reorganization reflects the ongoing shift in the federal government’s energy priorities: less renewable energy, more fossil fuels.

© Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations no longer appear in an organizational chart posted by the Energy Department on Tuesday.

Fire Breaks Out at COP30 Climate Talks in Brazil

20 November 2025 at 15:08
Delegates were evacuated from the conference venue, where thousands from nearly 200 countries had gathered.

© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A screen grab from a video taken on Thursday at the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil.

As the World Pursues Clean Power, Millions Still Have No Power at All

20 November 2025 at 05:02
Just outside Belém, the Amazonian city where the world is meeting to discuss climate change, electricity is a very recent arrival.

© Alessandro Falco for The New York Times

Driving an E.V. Across North Dakota? Thank the Standing Rock Tribe.

A tribally owned network of chargers will soon be complete, connecting reservations and bridging a gap in the Midwest.

© Jaida Grey Eagle for The New York Times

Driving an E.V. Across North Dakota? Thank the Standing Rock Tribe.

A tribally owned network of chargers will soon be complete, connecting reservations and bridging a gap in the Midwest.

© Jaida Grey Eagle for The New York Times

Greenpeace Faces an Unusual New Legal Attack From a Pipeline Giant

18 November 2025 at 05:02
The company that won a huge verdict against Greenpeace earlier this year has asked a North Dakota court to block a countersuit in the Netherlands.

© Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline project near Cannonball, N.D., in September 2016. Earlier this year a court found Greenpeace liable for its role in demonstrations there.

A Plan for Private Jet Taxes Would Fund Climate Measures

17 November 2025 at 12:24
A small group of countries is aiming to impose a fee on private jets and premium commercial fares. The revenue would help nations adapt to warming.

© Neil Hall/EPA, via Shutterstock

A private jet at the Farnborough International Airshow last year. Aviation accounts for roughly 4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Thousands March for Climate Action as COP30 Talks Enter Second Week

17 November 2025 at 05:02
As the talks continue, some countries are pushing for a detailed “road map” for a global transition away from oil, gas and coal.

© Andre Penner/Associated Press

A demonstration near the U.N. climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on Saturday. The atmosphere has been a marked contrast to the past three summits that were held in countries where governments restricted public protests.

How Many People Die in India From Hot Weather? Nobody Really Knows.

16 November 2025 at 13:28
Officials have yet to grasp the magnitude of heat-related deaths, let alone effectively deal with the problem, public health experts and scientists say.

© Anindito Mukherjee for The New York Times

Commuters drinking water from canisters placed near a bus stand during a heat wave in Rajasthan, India, in June.

Indigenous People Take the Stage at COP30 Climate Talks in Belém, Brazil

This summit is unlike any of its predecessors in at least one significant way: The Indigenous presence is palpable and strong.

© Mauro Pimentel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

An Indigenous rights demonstration on Thursday in Belém, Brazil. The snake in the background was a prop with a meaning.

The Global Climate Leadership Vacuum

19 November 2025 at 14:15
The United States is largely absent from the United Nations climate negotiations in Brazil. So who is stepping up?

© Fernando Llano/Associated Press

A lobby of the COP30 United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil.

Missing at U.N.’s Climate Meeting: American Executives

12 November 2025 at 05:02
Many business leaders are skipping the annual United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil, or are attending events in other cities.

© Fernando Llano/Associated Press

Officials from around the world are attending the U.N. climate summit in Belém, Brazil, this week, but U.S. government and business leaders are not among them.

There’s a New Forecast for Peak Oil Demand. It’s Increasingly Cloudy.

12 November 2025 at 09:10
The International Energy Agency once projected that oil and gas demand could level off by 2030. Now it’s backing off, sort of.

© Alexander Manzyuk/Reuters

Pump jacks in Russia in 2023. The energy agency’s reports are influential and often cited by energy companies and investors as a basis for long-term planning.

Newsom in the Spotlight at the Climate Conference That Trump Decided to Skip

12 November 2025 at 00:06
The California governor painted the president as a threat to American competitiveness by letting China dominate the renewable energy industry.

© Fernando Llano/Associated Press

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on Tuesday.

Trump Is Said to Propose Opening California Coast to Oil Drilling

13 November 2025 at 02:57
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.”

© Mike Blake/Reuters

An oil rig off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif. The plan would also require new oil and gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Chinese Technology Is Shifting Climate Politics

10 November 2025 at 11:15
At this year’s climate summit, the United States is out and Europe is struggling. But emerging countries are embracing renewable energy thanks to a glut of cheap equipment.

© Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times

A solar farm near Kayathar in southern India. The country can now meet half of its electricity demand with wind, solar, and hydropower.

Leaders at COP30 Climate Summit in Belém Focus on the Rising Toll of Warming

7 November 2025 at 16:56
“All we have to do is look outside,” one delegate said. “The sea rises, the coral dies.”

© Wagner Meier/Getty Images

World leaders posed for a photo on Friday at COP30, the United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil.

COP30 Begins With U.S. Allies and Rivals Alike Calling for Action

The calls for action on opening day stood in sharp contrast to the position of the President Trump, who has called global warming a “con job.”

© Pablo Porciuncula/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Leaders meeting on Thursday in Belém, Brazil. The conference is scheduled to run through Nov. 21.

Climate Diplomacy and Hardball Tactics

6 November 2025 at 15:18
With this year’s global climate summit opening in Brazil, we offer a glimpse of how the Trump administration sometimes operates behind closed doors.

© Fernando Llano/Associated Press

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, at the climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on Thursday.

Lula Hitches a Ride to the COP30 Climate Talks in an E.V.

7 November 2025 at 15:13
The climate-friendly fleet assembled to shuttle delegations to the gathering in Brazil sent a clear signal: China is making inroads in Latin America.

© Joa Souza/Reuters

A factory in Camaçari, Brazil, assembling electric vehicles for BYD, a Chinese manufacturer.

The U.S. Is Skipping This Year’s Climate Summit. For Many, That’s OK.

6 November 2025 at 07:58
World leaders, gathering in Brazil, will try to agree on new, more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gases.

© Pablo Porciuncula/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The conference venue in Belém, Brazil, this week. The talks, known as COP30, are scheduled to run through Nov. 21.

COP30 U.N. Climate Talks Are Starting in Brazil. Here’s What to Know.

6 November 2025 at 05:01
Diplomats and leaders from around the world are gathering on the edge of the Amazon rainforest for annual talks on how to limit global warming.

© Wagner Meier/Getty Images

The COP30 venue in Belém, Brazil, this week. World leaders will address the meeting starting on Thursday.
❌