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The US clean electricity transition continued as wind and solar generated more than coal for the first time. Electricity demand growth sped up and solar generation rose more quickly than gas to help meet it.

But how do we ensure everyone has equal access to shade? Tucson, where heatwave mortality has soared, shows a path forward.

Nearly a tenth of global climate finance could be under threat as US president Donald Trump’s aid cuts risk wiping out huge swathes of spending overseas, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Last year, the US announced that it had increased its climate aid for developing countries roughly seven-fold over the course of Joe Biden’s presidency, reaching $11bn per year.

This likely amounts to more than 8% of all international climate finance in 2024.

However, any progress in US climate finance has been thrown into disarray by the new administration.

Trump has halted US foreign aid and threatened to cancel virtually all US Agency for International Development (USAid) projects, with climate funds identified as a prime target.

USAid has provided around a third of US climate finance in recent years, reaching nearly $3bn in 2023, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Another $4bn of US funding for the UN Green Climate Fund (GCF) has also been cancelled by the president’s administration.

One expert tells Carbon Brief that more climate funds will likely end up on the “cutting block”.

Another warns of an “enormous gulf” to meeting the new global $300bn climate-finance goal nations agreed last year, if the US stops reporting – let alone providing – any official climate finance.

Carbon Brief’s analysis draws together available data to explain how the Trump administration’s cuts endanger global efforts to help developing countries tackle climate change.

Increasing greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the atmosphere’s ability to burn up old space junk, MIT scientists report.

There are still hurdles to overcome, but growing the seaweed industry in a state known for lobster could be a win for local fishermen, dairy and cattle operations, and the planet.

The US government is eschewing paper straws and going back to plastic. So why are the plastic variety restricted in many countries around the world in the first place?

The terminology will be stricken in classes for future officers in a service that confronts global warming every day, a move some say will weaken it.

For decades, coal mines operated by the world's largest mining multinational with the support of the world's largest asset manager have polluted the rivers and aquifers of Mpumalanga province, with serious consequences for the population, say local NGOs and experts. An investigation in collaboration with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Daily Maverick.

In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban the production, import, marketing and use of polythene bags, a type of single-use plastic bag. The ban, made through the Bangladesh Environment Conservation (Amendment) Act, was seen as a major environmental milestone. Yet by 2020, per capita plastic consumption had tripled from 3 kg in 2002 to 9 kg, according to a 2021 World Bank study.

For the riverine country, plastic pollution worsened flooding, clogged drainage systems and contaminated waterways. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority estimates that 12-13 feet of plastic waste now sits at the bottom of the Buriganga River, a lifeline for the capital, Dhaka.

As Bangladesh’s new government, in power since October 2024, launches a renewed crackdown on plastic bags, it is worth examining why the original ban failed, what lessons can be learned, and whether the new act can succeed.