#legal-climate-assessment

#legal-climate-assessment

Air pollution is the second-largest risk factor for early death globally. Traditionally, our response has focused on reducing the levels of pollution people breathe, but this is only part of the story.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, provides a home for interdisciplinary and collaborative research focused on anything atmospheric. Many of the country's leading academic researchers in the field have spent time working there or have been involved in collaborations that involve NCAR.

Last year the JIC produced a hard-hitting report which found the collapse of globally important ecosystems around the world including the potential shift of the Amazon from rainforest to savannah, the demise of coral reefs, and the loss of glaciers would threaten the UK's national security, through food shortages at home and the potential for conflict overseas.

The lawsuit specifically argues that the EPA's decision to rescind a 2009 study that determined greenhouse gases are dangerous to public health was illegal. The study, which is the source of what's called the "Endangerment Finding," was one of several justifications - along with things like the Clean Air Act - for the agency's ability to regulate emissions.

Absolutely, I have experienced investing in a way that green growth has led to both equitable growth and decarbonization, but also have lived experience of what degrowth can do to a country, and how, in my view, [degrowth] is not really a solution.

Young activists behind a legal challenge of Ontario's climate plan are set to ask the province's highest court to revive their case. Premier Doug Ford's government put the case in limbo late last year when it gutted its own climate legislation days before it was to answer for its weakened 2018 emissions target in court. Courts had previously found the gap between that target and what's required to help avoid severe climate impacts was large and without any apparent scientific basis.

as the EU's climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating. Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already paying a price for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part common-sense and low-hanging fruit. It is a daunting task, but at the same time

Covering Climate Now was formed in 2019 in response to the climate silence that then prevailed in much of the press, especially in the United States. Over the years that followed, hundreds of newsrooms joined our effort, and press coverage of the story began to reflect the scale of the crisis. Newsrooms beefed up their climate reporting teams; they confronted misinformation that sought to play down the problem; they thought creatively about how to find the climate connection on every beat.

"So whenever people think about hot weather, they always talk about the temperature," he says. "There's two issues with that. First of all, most people don't realise that the temperature is measured in the shade. So if you're in direct solar radiation, the amount of heat stress you're exposed to is much greater as it will stress your body out a lot more."

In a Wednesday presidential memorandum, the president said the US shall withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with 65 other organizations, agencies and commissions that it deemed contrary to the interests of the United States. It marks the first time any country has ever moved to exit the agreement. The UN climate body requires one year's notice for withdrawal, so the United States will not cease being a party for a year.

Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report. Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbots and image generation tools driving the sector's explosive growth of gas-guzzling datacentres, the analysis of 154 statements found.

We're seeing more frequent, more severe extreme weather events and that inevitably affects claims and affects pricing it can't not. And this is happening all over the globe. More, after this week's most important reads.

The UN-run market allows companies and countries to offset their excess emissions by financing projects that cut greenhouse gases in other nations. The new initiative involves a clean cooking project in Myanmar, which distributes efficient cookstoves that reduce pressure on local forests. Implemented in partnership with a South Korean company, the project will generate credits that will count towards the climate targets of South Korea and Myanmar.

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change.

Enforcement of environmental laws against major polluters has virtually ground to a halt under the Trump administration, a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency records from January 2025 to January 2026 shows. Major polluters typically include companies that are among the largest in the oil, gas, coal and chemical industries. Records show the EPA filed just one Clean Air Act consent decree compared with 26 in the first year of Trump's first term, and 22 during Biden's first year.

Earthjustice seeks a Senior Attorney to join the Fossil Fuels Program. We use the power of the law to challenge the onslaught of new oil and gas infrastructure development that threatens climate, communities, and the environment. This position will focus on oil and gas infrastructure and related projects in the U.S. Gulf region, particularly Louisiana and Texas. The attorney in this position will be place-based in the New Orleans' satellite office space shared

Carbon markets are simultaneously promoted as an essential climate financing tool, and criticized as a license to pollute. A carbon market puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions via carbon credits that get bought and sold, almost like stocks. A credit represents one metric ton of CO 2 that has been avoided or removed through a specific project. A project could target emissions through agricultural practices, CO 2 capture or reforestation.

Last spring, the Environmental Protection Agency made a surprise announcement: President Donald Trump would consider giving some polluters exemptions from a handful of Clean Air Act rules. To get the ball rolling, all it would take was an email from a company making its case. The EPA set up a special inbox to receive these applications, and it gave companies about three weeks at the end of March to submit their requests for presidential exemption.

You have probably heard about voluntary carbon offset-if not from elsewhere, from buying plane tickets, where, after you have paid for the ticket, the tax, the seats, maybe the luggage fee, and the priority boarding, you have an option to also pay to offset your carbon footprint. Companies get to do this, too, and, unlike you, they get to brag about it.

When the category-5 storm Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica in October, its path crossed communities that had varying levels of preparedness. Many with maintained coastal protections, upgraded drainage and reliable early-warning systems had power and water restored in days. Others were immobilized for weeks.

The world spends 30 times more money destroying nature than protecting it. That's according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that exposes a massive gulf between so-called "harmful investments" and financing that promotes nature preservation. The global environment agency's latest "State of Finance for Nature" (SNF) report is calling to phase out the US$7.3 trillion (6.2 trillion) in global investments that damage nature including into high-emissions energy infrastructure and manufacturing, for example.

On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to roll back the endangerment finding, which underpins the US's ability to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The rollback, the result of more than 15 years of work from right-wing special interest groups, represents the most aggressive move against climate regulation in the US to date-and will introduce a lengthy fight that's almost certain to wind up in front of the Supreme Court.