Climate

Our policies encourage Americans to flock to areas particularly prone to climate-related disasters.

British director of Human Rights Watch attacks ‘dangerous hypocrisy’ of government

Britain’s crackdown on climate protest is setting “a dangerous precedent” around the world and undermining democratic rights, the UK director of Human Rights Watch has said.

Yasmine Ahmed accused the Labour government of hypocrisy over its claims to be committed to human rights and international law.

Continue reading...

The loan guarantees are one of the final attempts by the outgoing Biden administration to encourage power companies to cut emissions while trying to keep rates down.

Eaton fire tore through Altadena, burning buildings and killing many. Its residents are only now taking in the scale of devastation

A week after wildfires tore through the community of Altadena, the smell of destruction still hangs in the air. The acrid smoke seeped into the walls of homes that survived the Eaton fire, which burned 7,000 buildings and killed at least 15 people.

On Woodbury Road, where unblemished homes stand in between blackened lots of charred rubble, the devastation overwhelms the senses. The houses that haven’t completely collapsed offer glimpses of life before disaster arrived – pitchers and mugs in a cabinet, all a deep black, a bed still standing, a scorched bicycle and children’s toys.

Continue reading...

Oil company to lose 5% of its staff in effort to cut costs amid shareholder worries over green energy strategy

BP is to cut thousands of jobs from its global workforce, amounting to 5% of its staff, in an effort to save billions in costs to appease its worried shareholders.

The oil company told staff on Tuesday that it would cut 4,700 jobs and scrap another 3,000 contractor positions, after its chief executive promised to reduce the company’s costs by at least $2bn (£1.6bn) by the end of 2026.

Continue reading...

With few exceptions, the news has shied away from showing how the unfolding climate crisis plays a large role in the disaster

Last week, as the Sunset fire was bearing down on her Los Angeles home, Allison Agsten approached a group of television news crews gathering in her neighborhood. Did any of them plan to mention the role of the climate crisis in their reporting?

The question was professional as well as personal for Agsten, who runs a climate journalism center at the University of Southern California and has trained reporters on how to connect the climate crisis to what’s happening in the world. She has lived in her home along Runyon Canyon, near Hollywood, for a decade.

Continue reading...

Rules for a $7,500 tax break for electric vehicle purchases and leases recently changed, but more far-reaching changes are expected when President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

After being targeted by the meat industry, swept up in the culture wars and pummeled in sales, two plant based meat companies are reinventing themselves.

Tory leader to condemn predecessors’ Brexit, climate and migration failings amid rising popularity of Reform UK

Kemi Badenoch will attack the Conservative party’s record under Boris Johnson and Theresa May on Brexit, the economy, net zero and immigration in a speech aimed at “rebuilding trust”.

The Tory leader, who is competing with the sharp rise in popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, will “acknowledge the Conservative party made mistakes” under her predecessors.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Report by risk experts says previous assessments ignored severe effects of climate crisis

The global economy could face 50% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action by political leaders is taken to decarbonise and restore nature, according to a new report.

The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown. In a report with scientists at the University of Exeter, published on Thursday, the IFoA, which uses maths and statistics to analyse financial risk for businesses and governments, called for accelerated action by political leaders to tackle the climate crisis.

Continue reading...

La gestión de Biden estará en los libros de historia como un interregno entre dos mandatos de Donald Trump, una pausa en medio de un periodo caótico de cambio, para bien o para mal.

Biden’s disastrous debate performance highlighted age concerns.

Health hazards from soot and smoke blown indoors onto furniture and walls can linger for months: “Wind will get through every crack.”

I’ve been writing about climate change for years. I know my graphs won’t change minds, but facts matter

2025 has not started well, and you should be bloody angry.

We are less than five months from the federal election and both major parties’ climate change policies are an amalgam of indolence and lies.

Continue reading...

Do these disasters signal a shift in social conditions?

The agency offers different types of financial assistance after disasters. The fastest is a one-time payment of $770.

Will water soon be a marketable commodity or a priceless public good?

There’s a scene in the film Mad Max: Fury Road where the evil ruler Immortan Joe, gazing down from a cliff upon his parched, emaciated subjects, turns two turbines, and water gushes from three gigantic sluices. The wretched masses surge forward to catch the deluge in their pots and bowls. And as imperiously as he opened the gates, Joe shuts them. “Do not become addicted to water,” he roars. “It will take hold of you.” But, of course, he already has taken hold of them by withholding, essentially, life.

We don’t have to await the dystopian future for the water wars to begin. The struggle over water, between private interests and the public good, the powerful and the weak, is raging now. From Love Canal to Flint, Michigan; Bolivia to Ukraine to Tunisia; budget-cutting, privatization, corporate malfeasance and climate crises are conspiring to create political violence, mass migration, property damage and death.

Continue reading...

When it comes to gas exports and competition with China, the two administrations share a similar vision, the top U.S. energy diplomat says.

A century of foolhardy development, including public subsidies for rebuilding in the firebelt, hugely contributed to this tragedy, writes our architecture critic. LA must rethink – and build upwards not outwards

‘Crime don’t climb” is one of the glib mottoes long used by Los Angeles real estate agents to help sell the multimillion dollar homes in the hills that surround the sprawling metropolis. Residents of the lush ridges and winding canyons can rest assured, in their elevated green perches – safely removed from the smog-laden, supposedly crime-ridden flatlands beneath. What the realtors neglect to mention, however, is that, while crime rarely ascends the hills, flames certainly do. And that the very things that make this sun-soaked city’s dream homes so attractive – lush landscaping, quaint timber construction, raised terrain and narrow, twisting lanes – are the very things that make them burn so well. They create blazing infernos that, as we have seen over the past week, are tragically difficult to extinguish.

LA’s ferocious wildfires have seen an area about three times the size of Manhattan incinerated. At least 12,000 homes have burned to the ground and 150,000 people have been evacuated, as entire neighbourhoods become smouldering ruins. Twenty-five people have died, 24 more are missing. Estimates suggest the cost of damage and economic losses could reach $250bn, making it the costliest wildfire in US history – mainly due to the flames torching some of the highest-value real estate in the country. And it’s not over yet. The city is bracing for further destruction, as weather forecasts suggest winds might pick up again.

Continue reading...

Air Resources Board withdraws request for approval of rules to limit pollution from diesel trains and big rigs

California’s efforts to limit pollution from diesel-powered trains and big rigs were stalled in anticipation of pushback from the incoming Trump administration.

The California Air Resources Board said on Tuesday it withdrew its requests for federal approval to implement stricter emissions rules for locomotives and semi-trucks because the US Environmental Protection Agency had yet to approve them. The decision came just days before Joe Biden leaves office.

Continue reading...