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Demand for key grid hardware has soared since 2019, due to large load growth, integration of new energy generation resources, and investment to modernize the aging grid. This demand is driving up equipment lead times and prices. In fact, if you need a large power transformer, you may have to wait up to four years. The stakes are high for American businesses and consumers: the grid supply chain crunch is already impacting utility bills, threatening reliability, and stalling critical projects, from power plants and data centers to new housing construction.

While recent investment announcements in domestic grid component manufacturing will help ease shortages in the coming years, these developments on their own are not enough to secure America’s grid supply chain. Policymakers can leverage a range of proven industrial policy tools to boost the capacity, coordination, and competitiveness of US grid component manufacturing. Addressing the gridlock is an opportunity to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing, strengthen US energy security, improve energy affordability, and propel economic growth.

The post Solving the Gridlock: America’s Electric Supply Chain Opportunity appeared first on RMI.

For over a decade, the biomass industry has sold a lie. They’ve been lying to Southern communities and decision-makers. This is especially true of the UK company Drax. They’ve violated […]

The post Communities Across the South Unite Against Drax first appeared on Dogwood Alliance.

Registered nurses at Bay Area Kaiser facilities will hold a rally at Kaiser San Francisco Medical Center on Monday, May 11, to protest Kaiser’s plan to terminate nurses who are DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, recipients waiting for the federal government to renew their work documents.

Every spring and fall, millions of migratory birds cross the American continent along major natural corridors known as flyways. These flyways connect ecosystems, economies, and cultures from the...

Emails obtained by Public Domain and Fieldnotes show the Interior department worked closely with Continental Resources to secure drilling permits in Converse County, Wyoming, despite a court injunction restricting new drilling on public land there. Continental Resources supplied the Bureau of Land Management with a playbook to bypass environmental restrictions meant to protect the county’s groundwater, and the BLM has since rushed to issue over 70 permits to Continental using the loophole.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum received $250,000 in campaign donations from Continental Resources, which is controlled by billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm, when he ran for president in 2023. Burgum has also received around $50,000 in oil royalties from land he leased to Hamm’s company.

“This reminds me of the days of the Bush-Cheney administration’s massive push to drill the West, when it was obvious that the oil industry was calling the shots when it came to public land management,” Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, told Public Domain. “But we never had such direct and obvious proof that oil corporations were giving the orders, and BLM officials at the highest levels were obediently carrying them out.”

CWP says goodbye to executive director

In the latest episode of the Center for Western Priorities’ podcast, The Landscape, we say goodbye to former Executive Director Jennifer Rokala. In a conversation with the entire CWP team, Jen reflects on the highs and lows of leading CWP for 11 years, what she’s most proud of, and what gives her hope for the future of America’s public lands. Listen now wherever you get podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Quick hits How many federal public lands jobs did the Mountain West lose?

KUNC

Congressman seeks probe of $11 million no-bid contract for Park Service fountain revamp

E&E News

Opinion: Pikes Peak region’s outdoors future depends on LWCF funding

Colorado Sun

Navajo Nation residents push back on possible copper mine

KNAU

How controlled burns can help save taxpayers billions

Grist

This fight unfolding in southern Utah could have implications for states trying to take over federal lands

Bloomberg

Shared ground: Coalition forms to promote affordable housing on public lands

Deseret News

Wildfire is an increasing threat to the West’s recreation economy, according to new research

The Conversation

Quote of the day

Proposed budget cuts and growing bureaucratic obstacles are threatening to slow or stop LWCF-funded projects across the country… Whatever your politics, that should concern you. LWCF has never been a partisan program. It was built on a bipartisan foundation and has delivered results under presidents and Congresses of both parties for 60 years.”

—David Leinweber, founder of Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Colorado Sun

Picture This

@Interior

Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge offers a chance to unplug from the stresses of daily life and reconnect with Minnesota’s tallgrass prairie.

Photos by Mike Budd / USFWS

Feature image: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (left) and oil tycoon Harold Hamm (right); Source: Burgum photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia, Hamm photo by david_shankbone via Flickr

The post Interior bypasses court injunction at behest of oil donor appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

On Monday, we partnered with Wells Fargo workers to deliver union gift bags to 200+ bank branches across the country. The gift bags included coffee, candy – and an invitation for workers to learn about the union by talking with unionized bank workers.

The goal? Support more bank workers getting involved in the fight to unionize Wells Fargo.

But, maybe you’re wondering why we, a climate coalition, are spending our time supporting worker power. So I thought I’d use this month’s newsletter to explain our strategy.

Over 150 years of labor organizing has demonstrated that organizing workers can be an incredibly effective strategy, one capable of moving corporations in huge and meaningful ways. We’ve even glimpsed this within the climate movement. 

In 2019, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice organized more than 8,000 Amazon employees around climate demands, and nearly 2,000 employees walked out of work to join a climate strike. In response, the company committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, announced the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund, and ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles.  

Yes, there’s still a heck of a lot of work to be done to make Amazon a responsible social actor, but those were remarkable victories – and they wouldn’t have happened without a critical mass of organized workers.

So, that’s part of the reason we’re supporting workers’ fight for a union. By building with bank workers, we can build the power to win real concessions from Wells Fargo. But it’s about much more than that, too.

We’re living in an age of truly grotesque wealth inequality. America’s richest twelve billionaires are now worth $2.7 trillion, their combined wealth quadrupling since 2020. And while your average school teacher (or bank worker) pays around 25% of their income in taxes, Jeff Bezos pays a true tax rate of 1%.

This level of inequality is poisoning our politics. In 2024, just 300 billionaires and their families were responsible for $3 billion in political spending, making up nearly 20% of all political spending in federal elections. 

This is what oligarchy looks like: a small number of billionaires buying politicians and reaping the rewards. It’s why we got Musk’s DOGE, which literally killed hundreds of thousands of people and stole the data of every living American. It’s why Trump’s budget bill cut taxes for billionaires while spiking healthcare premiums for everyday Americans. 

And it’s, in part, why tackling the climate crisis is so damn hard. Many of MAGAs largest donors are billionaires from the oil and gas industry. In 2024 alone, the fossil fuel industry contributed $445 million to support Trump and his climate denier buddies.

Which brings me back to why a climate group is supporting a labor union struggle like the Wells Fargo Workers United campaign: we can’t tackle the climate crisis without taking on the billionaire class and the wealth inequality poisoning our political system. 

And you know what the single greatest antidote to extreme wealth inequality is? It’s labor unions.

So, yes, we’re supporting the union fight at Wells Fargo because we think it’s a good strategy to win on climate in the long run. 

But more broadly, building a fighting labor movement is perhaps the greatest antidote to the power of the billionaire class that’s undermining our democracy and our ability to tackle the climate crisis. 

So, if you know anyone who works at Wells Fargo, pass it on: they can get in touch with a union organizer here. 

In Solidarity
– Alec Connon, Stop the Money Pipeline coalition director

 

News & Updates from the Coalition

–  Stop the Money Pipeline celebration and online gala: you’re invited!

On Thursday, May 21st, we’re hosting Brighter Futures: An online celebration and fundraising gala for Stop the Money Pipeline! It’s gonna be great!

RSVP here and join us Brighter Futures. Together, we’ll celebrate our progress, build community, and help fund a fighting climate movement.  

– Holding Elon Accountable

On April 14th we launched the Investigate DOGE campaign with our partners at Communications Workers of America and Tesla Takedown. 

DOGE destroyed vital government agencies, left 300,000 dedicated public servants jobless, exposed the personal data of nearly every American, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. But accountability is coming. Sign the petition to call on Congress to investigate Elon Musk and the DOGE Bros, and receive all the updates about the campaign. 

–  Big update from the Insure our Communities New York campaign

Very big update in the Insure our Communities New York campaign: Senate Insurance Committee Chair, Jamal Bailey, has signed on as the new lead sponsor of the Insure our Communities Act.

This is a huge deal. Not only is Senator Bailey the Chair of the Insurance Committee and therefore a critical vote, but he is also widely considered a frontrunner for the Senate Majority Leader position. We’re very excited to build on this progress and work with Senator Bailey’s office to advance this landmark bill. 

– And progress in Connecticut, too!

For 3+ years now, our partner, Connecticut Citizens Action Group (CCAG) has been campaigning for a bill called Insuring Connecticut’s Resiliency. The bill would place a surcharge on  insurance premiums paid by fossil fuel companies, and use the money to pay for climate programs.  On March 13, when the bill was introduced into the Environmental Committee, we joined many others in voicing support of the bill. 

Despite the short legislative session, CCAG and allies secured a huge win: the bill passed out of the Environmental Committee and the Appropriations Committee with an overwhelming majority vote. Next year will hopefully be the year the bill gets pushed over the finish line.

– Now that’s a lotta emails

The Spanish bank, Santander, is the world’s largest funder of fossil fuel expansion in Latin America. So, after Santander ignored European and Latin American campaigners’ requests for a meeting, we organized a coalition of groups to flood their top executives’ email inboxes with messages. So far, 33,000 people have sent more than 530,000 emails. I reached out to their Global Head of Sustainability, Lara de Mesa, to request a meeting yesterday – I’ll let you know what we hear back. 

– No immunity for Big Oil

Big Oil companies have knowingly fueled catastrophic climate damages for decades — but they lied about the danger to protect their profits. Now, as communities are taking action to make polluters pay, Congress has introduced a bill that would give the fossil fuel industry blanket immunity from any laws or lawsuits that could hold them accountable.

Call your Member of Congress here to demand No Immunity for Big Oil.

– How your pension votes matters

In the world of campaigning against the financial industry, spring is what we call shareholder season. That’s because this is the time of year major companies hold annual meetings to vote on critical issues, including hundreds of climate-related proposals that shape their sustainability practices. One of the best ways we can push them to act is through public pension funds, which invest trillions of our tax dollars and have a significant voice in these shareholder meetings.

Our partners at the Sierra Club have done great work flagging critical climate votes for pension funds – and you can sign their petition to pension managers here. 

– Seattle’s First Peoples’ Climate Fund

In Seattle, STMP Steering Committee member and Mazaksa Talks co-founder Matt Remle, played a key role in winning the First Peoples’ Climate Fund, a new funding source to fund Indigenous-led climate adaptation and mitigation efforts in the region.  

– And to finish: a goofy photo…

Finally, to close out this month’s newsletter, here’s a goofy photo of me and my buddy, Tushar, outside a Wells Fargo branch. Remember, if you know anyone who works at Wells Fargo, let them know: they can get in touch with a union organizer here.

The post May Newsletter: Unions, inequality, and the climate crisis. appeared first on Stop the Money Pipeline.

Click the icon at the bottom right to view the issue full screen. March 2026

The post Down to Earth: March 2026 appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

Don’t be fooled by NorthWestern Energy and the PSC’s spin on the latest rate increase to Montanan’s energy bills. In November 2025, the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) announced it denied $43 million in rate increases to NorthWestern Energy “to the benefit of Montana customers.” So why are Montana customers still paying more? MEIC’s Energy …

The post MEIC’s Nick Fitzmaurice Explains How NorthWestern Energy Keeps Getting Away with Raising Montana Customer’s Rates appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon have warned that stopping the expansion of oil drilling into their territories will be a crucial test for a growing international coalition committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels.

As 60 countries discussed at a landmark conference in Santa Marta, Colombia, pathways to end the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, Indigenous groups said the process risks losing credibility if governments continue opening new oil frontiers in the Amazon.

Their central demand was the establishment of fossil fuel “exclusion zones” across Indigenous territories and biodiverse areas of the rainforest, permanently barring new oil and gas expansion in one of the world’s most critical ecosystems. Indigenous representatives proposed establishing protected “Life Zones”, which they said would provide legal safeguards against governments and companies seeking to expand extraction into their lands.

But Indigenous delegates left the conference frustrated as the final synthesis report drafted by co-chairs Colombia and the Netherlands failed to include the proposal.

In a statement at the end of the conference, Patricia Suárez, from the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), said formally declaring Indigenous territories – especially those inhabited by peoples in voluntary isolation – as exclusion zones for extractive industries was “an urgent measure”.

“If the heart of the conference does not begin there, it risks remaining a set of good intentions that fails to respond to either science or our Indigenous knowledge systems,” she added.

Pushing for a new oil frontier

Campaigners say the pressure on the Amazon is intensifying just as scientists warn the rainforest is nearing irreversible collapse. Around 20% of all newly identified global oil reserves between 2022 and 2024 were discovered in the Amazon basin, fuelling renewed interest from governments and companies seeking to develop the region as the world’s next major oil frontier.

Ecuador has moved ahead with the auction of new oil blocks in the rainforest, while the country’s right-wing president Daniel Noboa has promoted the region as a “new oil-producing horizon” and backed efforts to expand fracking with support from Chinese companies.

• Apr 30, 2026 News Santa Marta summit kick-starts work on key steps for fossil fuel transition The conference offers some 60 nations help to develop roadmaps to shift their economies away from coal, oil and gas, and make international trade green Read more
• Apr 29, 2026 Comment Six nations at Santa Marta could shape fossil fuel futures A small but critical handful of countries attending the conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels remain deeply committed to expanding their output Read more
• May 6, 2026 Investigations How Shell is still benefiting from offloaded Niger Delta oil assets Shell used its exit from onshore operations in Nigeria to boost its climate credentials, but new reporting shows that the firm continues to trade oil from its former business Read more

In Santa Marta, a coalition of seven Indigenous nations from Ecuador issued a declaration condemning the government, which did not participate in the conference.

“While the world talks about energy transition, our government is pushing for more oil in the Amazon,” said Marcelo Mayancha, president of the Shiwiar nation. “Throughout history, we have always defended our land. That is our home. We will forever defend our territory.”

Indigenous groups also warned that Peru – another South American nation absent from the conference – plans to auction new oil blocks in the Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor, a highly sensitive region along the Brazilian border that contains the world’s largest known concentration of Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

COP30 host under scrutiny

Indigenous leaders also criticised Brazil, arguing that despite its international climate leadership, the country is simultaneously advancing major new oil projects in the Amazon region.

Luene Karipuna, delegate from Brazil’s coalition of Amazon peoples (COIAB), said the oil push threatens the stability of the rainforest. Not far from her home, in the northern state of Amapá, state-run oil giant Petrobras is currently exploring for new offshore oil reserves off the mouth of the Amazon river.

Brazil participated in the Santa Marta conference and was among the countries that first pushed for discussions on transitioning away from fossil fuels at COP negotiations. Yet the country is also planning one of the largest expansions in oil production in the world, according to last year’s Production Gap report.

Veteran Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre told Climate Home that the country’s participation at the Santa Marta conference contrasted with its oil and gas production targets. “It does not make any sense for Brazil to continue with any new oil exploration,” he said, and noted that science is clear that no new fossil fuels should be developed to avoid crossing dangerous climate tipping points.

He added that the Brazilian government faces pressures from economic sectors, since Petrobras is one of the countries top exporting companies. “They look only at the economic value of exporting fossil fuels. Brazil has to change.”

The COP30 host also promised to draft a voluntary proposal for a global roadmap away from fossil fuels, which is expected to be published before this year’s COP31 summit.

“In Brazil, that advance has caused so many problems because it overlaps with Indigenous territories. Companies tell us there won’t be an impact, but we see an impact,” Karipuna said. “We feel the Brazilian government has auctioned our land without dialogue.”

For Karipuna and other Indigenous leaders, establishing exclusion zones across the Amazon is no longer just a regional demand, but a prerequisite to prevent the collapse of the rainforest.

“That’s the first step for an energy transition that places Indigenous peoples at the centre,” she added.

The post Indigenous groups warn Amazon oil expansion tests fossil fuel phase-out coalition appeared first on Climate Home News.

The company says it remains “the nation’s largest distributed power plant operator,” with about 4.3 GWh of networked storage capacity as of March 31 — a 50% increase year over year. It aims to have 10 GWh of dispatchable capacity by the end of 2028.

Editor’s note: This edition of our ‘Protect This Place’ column is produced in collaboration with the Climate Listening Project, whose short film appears below.

The Place:

We’re in West Marion, North Carolina, in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, pronounced Appa-latch-an, and known locally as the Blue Ridge Mountains — a biodiversity hotspot where communities are still recovering from Hurricane Helene and coming together to build a Resilience Hub.

Why it matters:

This area is home to the greatest diversity of salamanders on Earth, including the giant eastern hellbender. Varying elevations throughout the mountains create unique ecosystems for more tree species than anywhere in North America, and the region serves as an important migration corridor for species from the North and South.

The Appalachian Mountains are known as the oldest mountains in the world, and Marion is famous for its annual Bigfoot Festival. West Marion is a historically Black community, which lost its school after desegregation and community connectivity after the new interstate was built right through the middle.

West Marion community / Photo by Dayna Reggero The threat:

Hurricane Helene was a traumatic event that carried endless rain that widened little streams, creating thundering rivers that pulled down trees and everything else in their path and tore apart communities.

West Marion Inc has already been listening to the communities’ needs for years and were ready to help. Now they’re planning a Resilience Hub. My new film, “Climate Change And…” tells their story, where the hurricane is just one chapter and enduring struggle is not new, yet climate change and hope coexist.

This community is building solutions and taking care of each other and this place that they love. The Resilience Hub is being built in an old school that has been donated back to the community. There are also plans to build a bridge over the interstate, reconnecting the town. A capital campaign is underway, with big plans for the Resilience Hub to be able to help the community in times of climate impacts, as well as serve as a local health center, technology hub, food incubator, and community center.

My place in this place:

I lived in the Appalachian foothills for many years. I began my Climate Listening Project after 2013 became the wettest, rainiest year on record in western North Carolina. My first listening project was called “Asheville Rain,” in which I listened to a scientist who discussed the importance of preserving Appalachian bogs. I saw record after record broken as hurricanes traveled from the coasts to our mountains, dropping so much rain and causing mudslides.

Dayna Reggero / Photo by Zachary Kanzler

I attended my first West Marion Community Forum meeting almost 10 years ago and met inspiring women, including director Paula Swepson. Shortly afterward I was invited to host a climate forum where people from across the community came together to listen and plan for adaptation from floods or fires, connecting solutions around food security, transportation, and community health. We’ve continued to collaborate and share the messages from their book, Shift Happens in Community. Then Hurricane Helene hit the mountains, and I was invited to listen. The women of West Marion Inc. are inspiring to me because of their work to listen and adapt.

Paula Swepson / Photo by Dayna Reggero Who’s protecting it now:

West Marion Inc. is listening in Southern Appalachia with the Old Fort and West Marion Community Forums and planning for the Resilience Hub.

What this place needs:

“The best thing about the forum is that it allows you to dream,” says Paula Swepson, founder and director of West Marion Inc.

See more:

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator:

Protect This Place: Connected Communities on the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Philippines

The post Protect This Place: Southern Appalachia appeared first on The Revelator.

Critical grid work becomes harder for utilities to keep on budget when schedules are repeatedly disrupted by missing or delayed equipment, writes ULE Group President Danielle Pirrone.

Data centers are of “no value to our residential customer — actually, any customer,” said Eversource Energy CEO Joe Nolan. “It's only going to drive up the price of energy.”

1. Background and Context

Secure land tenure, agroecology, and ecological restoration are deeply interconnected pillars of sustainable development in Africa. Evidence from AFSA’s work across the continent demonstrates that when communities, particularly smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples, have recognized and protected rights to land, they are more likely to invest in long-term practices that regenerate soils, conserve biodiversity, and build resilience to climate shocks.

Agroecology provides a proven framework for such practices by combining traditional knowledge with ecological principles to restore degraded landscapes while advancing food sovereignty. Ecological restoration, in turn, thrives where tenure security empowers communities to steward their territories.

It is against this backdrop that AFSA is commissioning this consultancy to develop a campaign strategy that bridges grassroots struggles with continental and global policy spaces, while amplifying community voices and driving systemic change.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is inviting consultants to submit a technical and financial proposal for a consultancy to design and develop a comprehensive campaign strategy for the Protect Our Land, Restore Our Soil Campaign, which AFSA plans to roll out in mid-2026 over a three-year period.

AFSA is seeking an experienced consultant (or team) with a strong background in land governance, agroecology, food sovereignty, ecological restoration, food system advocacy, and movement-building in Africa, and we believe your expertise aligns well with the scope and ambition of this assignment.

2. Objective of the Assignment

Develop and design a campaign strategy to build a continental campaign and movement that places secure land tenure and ecological restoration at the centre of Africa’s transformation.

3. Scope of Work

The consultancy will entail the following components:

a) Background Paper Development

• Synthesize evidence on the interconnections between secure land tenure, agroecology, food sovereignty, and ecological restoration.
• Review AFSA documentation, relevant continental and national policy frameworks, and community testimonies.

b) Campaign Strategy Design

• Develop a robust campaign strategy aimed at:
  • Shifting public and political narratives
  • Mobilizing diverse constituencies
  • Influencing policy processes
  • Building sustained public pressure for land governance reforms.
• The strategy should prioritize:
  • Protection of communal land rights
  • Prevention of land grabbing
  • Promotion of agroecology as a pathway to healthy soils, climate resilience, and food sovereignty.

4. Expected Deliverables

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Inception Report
   • Detailed work plan, methodology, and stakeholder engagement approach.
2. Background Paper
   • A comprehensive, well-referenced paper linking land tenure security, food sovereignty, and ecological soil restoration as the foundation of the campaign.
3. Campaign Strategy Package, including:
   • Strategic framework and advocacy roadmap of the campaign
   • Three-year implementation plan
   • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework
   • Branding and communications toolkit.
4. Validation and Final Outputs
   • Validation meeting and report
   • Final (approved and launched) campaign strategy
   • Translated background paper and campaign strategy (English French).

5. Proposed Methodology

The consultancy is expected to apply a mixed-method approach, integrating doctrinal analysis and participatory techniques, including:

• Desk Review of scholarly literature, policy documents, and AFSA materials (Agenda 2063, AU Land Governance Strategy, Malabo Commitments, etc.);
• Participatory Research and human-centred design approaches through virtual FGDs with farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous communities;
• Key Informant Interviews with policymakers, CSOs, traditional leaders, land and agronomy professionals, AFSA Land working group, regional bodies, and funders;
• Stakeholder Consultations and Co-creation Workshops;
• Iterative Drafting and Validation with the AFSA Secretariat and steering committee.

 8. Submission Requirements

Kindly submit here your brief details here (https://forms.gle/gboWrxyGe7zrSE8cA) within 5 days (or not later than May 13). Please don’t attach CVs, technical proposals, financial proposal at this stage. We’ll invite selected candidates to submit these 1 week after the closing date.

Please feel free to reach out to me via admin@afsafrica.org if you require any clarification.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and potentially working together to advance land justice, agroecology, and ecological restoration across Africa.

Today’s jobs report shows the labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, while the number of jobs added across February and March was revised down by 16,000. Since the start of 2026, job gains have averaged just 76,000 per month. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%, near its highest level in four years. Though topline job growth figures may appear steady, this report revealed average wages grew by just 0.2% last month, which next week’s inflation print will almost certainly confirm are behind rising prices.

Groundwork’s Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy Elizabeth Pancotti released the following statement:

“While the president touts this lukewarm headline jobs report, Americans can look at their own paychecks to take the temperature of the labor market. Price hikes fueled by Trump’s senseless war and misguided tariffs are forcing Americans to stretch already-thin budgets to the brink. Working families are being crushed under the weight of Trump’s misguided economic agenda as wages slip behind the skyrocketing price of gas, groceries, and everyday goods.”

A new study identifies thousands of flowering plants belonging to rare and ancient lineages that are in urgent need of protection. 

Read more on E360 →

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. 
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week ‘Leeway’ for fossil fuels

METHANE EXEMPTION: The European Commission is considering making changes to its flagship methane emissions regulation to give fossil-fuel companies “leeway to avoid penalties…in what would be a major win for the oil and gas sector”, reported Politico. According to new draft government guidelines seen by the outlet, “national authorities would be able to grant exemptions to companies on energy security grounds”. A separate Politico story said the move comes after the Trump administration “has intensified pressure on the regulation”.

GAS EXPANSION: The Guardian reported that the Norwegian government has been “heavily criticised for approving plans to reopen three North Sea gasfields nearly three decades after they were closed”, with the justification of helping to “fill the gap in energy supplies created by the Middle East war”. Oslo has also given its approval for oil and gas companies to explore 70 new locations in the North Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, the newspaper added.

RENEWABLES INVESTMENT: The Financial Times reported that investors are “piling into clean-power funds at the fastest pace in five years as the Iran war accelerates a global push for energy security and alternatives to oil and gas, boosting a slew of stocks linked to the transition away from fossil fuels”. It added that more than £3bn has been invested in global funds linked to renewable energy in April, bringing their total net asset value up to $43bn.

Around the world

• SHIPPING TALKS: Nations are “back on track” to adopt a framework for curbing global shipping emissions, following the latest International Maritime Organization’s meeting in London, according to a Carbon Brief Q&A.
• SUPER El NIÑO: Global sea temperatures were the second highest on record for the month of April, “stoking concerns among scientists that an El Niño warming cycle is brewing that would intensify extreme weather”, reported the Financial Times.
• ROUND-THE-CLOCK: An International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report found that “solar and wind power paired with battery storage systems are already delivering reliable, round-the-clock electricity at a lower cost than fossil fuel-dominated energy systems in a growing number of regions”, said BusinessGreen.
• KENYA FLOODS: At least 18 people have died in floods and landslides driven by heavy rain in Kenya, reported Al Jazeera.

0.15C

The average amount by which trees lower summer temperatures in cities globally, according to research in Nature Communications.

Latest climate research

• Airborne microplastics and nanoplastics have the potential to contribute to warming by absorbing sunlight | Nature Climate Change
• A mega tsunami in Alaska in 2025 was “preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change” | Science
• “Net-zero global power systems meeting universal electricity needs for decent living standards are technically feasible” | Nature Energy

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

The UK has avoided the need for gas imports worth £1.7bn since the start of the Iran war, as a result of record electricity generation from wind and solar, according to Carbon Brief analysis. The chart above shows that wind and solar have generated a record 21 terawatt hours (TWh) on the island of Great Britain since the end of February 2026, when the US and Israel first attacked Iran. The record wind and solar output avoided the need to import 41TWh of gas – roughly 34 tankers of liquified natural gas (LNG). Importing those 34 tankers of LNG would have cost around £1.7bn, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Spotlight Tipping troubles

New research published this week shows how even small increases in global temperature, when combined with deforestation, could push the Amazon rainforest past a “tipping point”.

Crossing this threshold would trigger the gradual transition of vast swathes of the lush rainforest into dry savannah.

On the sidelines of the European Geosciences Uniongeneral assemblyin Vienna, Carbon Brief speaks to lead author Prof Nico Wunderlingfrom Goethe University Frankfurt and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Carbon Brief: Why does the Amazon rainforest have a tipping point?

Prof Nico Wunderling: All tipping elements have important feedback mechanisms that once a threshold – the tipping point – is crossed, kick in and a change in the system is self-amplified. For the Amazon rainforest, this important feedback mechanism is the atmospheric moisture recycling – meaning that the rainforest generates much of its own rainfall.

For eastern parts of the rainforest, moisture mostly comes from the Atlantic. The rainfall it receives then evaporates and is transported towards the west. And, just to give you a sense of how large this feedback can be, for parts of the rainforest, more than 50% of its rainfall is generated by the forest itself.

Prof Nico Wunderling. Credit: Supplied

CB: How do global warming and deforestation both play a role in a potential tipping point?

NW: Both global warming and deforestation undermine this atmospheric moisture recycling. The direct way is deforestation – we cut down the forest, we lose major parts of the evapotranspiration, so you have less rainfall for the downwind forest. Also, global warming impacts the rainforest – it increases the number and intensity of droughts, which decreases the overall available rainfall and, therefore, can decrease the stability of the rainforest, which also leads to an undermining of the atmospheric moisture recycling.

Around 17% of the Amazon rainforest has already been lost. The critical threshold in our study is in the order of 22-28% of deforestation.

CB: Would such a transition be Amazon-wide? Or would it happen in pockets or regions?

NW: That actually depends on the other pressures that we expose the rainforest to. What we found is that, under climate change only [with no deforestation], the threshold kicks in at around 3.7-4C of warming. If that is crossed, then we find that around one-third of the Amazon rainforest is at risk of transitioning to a degraded ecosystem.

Then, if deforestation is also included [at 22-28%], this threshold comes down to well within the Paris Agreement limits – 1.5-1.9C of global warming. At the same time, the area at risk of transition increases from around one-third to around two-thirds to three-quarters. 

CB: In your paper, you say that crossing a tipping point is “not inevitable” – can you elaborate?

NW: In a way, for the Amazon rainforest, we’re in a better situation than with other tipping elements, because we have multiple options for improving our situation. One is we can stop global warming – we can stop emitting and curb emissions before we reach the 2C target. That’s important for the Amazon rainforest. But crucial for the Amazon rainforest is that deforestation levels are halted below 22-28%. 

And, indeed, current trends across the Amazon rainforest show that efforts to decrease deforestation are in place and they seem to work. If these trends continue, then I’m mildly optimistic that we will not reach 22-28%. But, if you would have asked me the same question five years ago, I might have said that, well, by mid-century, these values could be reached.

Watch, read, listen

AFRICA RENEWABLES: A CNBC Africa TV report examined the continent’s “renewables rise” and the “shift from climate policy to energy security”.

‘CLIMATE MONSTER’: New York Times writer David Wallace-Wells has a long read on the approach of “perhaps the most fearsome El Niño since before scientists even began modeling them”.

SANTA MARTA SUMMIT: For the Conversation, two political researchers lay out “four dynamics to watch” to determine whether the first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia “becomes more than rhetoric”.

Coming up

• 8-9 May: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit, Cebu, Philippines
• 10-14 May: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III second lead author meeting for the seventh assessment report, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• 11-12 May: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ministerial council meeting, Paris
• 11-15 May: 21st session of the UN forum on forests, New York
• 12 May: Bahamas election

Pick of the jobs

• Carbon Brief, journalism internship | Salary: £14.80 per hour (London Living Wage). Location: London/hybrid
• Secure Energy Project, campaign director | Salary: $50,000. Location: Brazil (remote)
• Commonwealth Secretariat, adviser on climate change | Salary: £80,672. Location: London
• Politico, deputy editor, Congress (energy and environmental policy) | Salary: Unknown. Location: Arlington, Virginia

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

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For several years, the UK car industry has been claiming that demand is not high enough to meet the government’s targets for sales of “zero emissions vehicles” (ZEVs).

To date, however, the car industry has actually beaten the targets under the government’s “ZEV mandate”.

This pattern of claiming demand is not high enough is being repeated in a regular cycle, following the publication of monthly statistics on new UK car sales by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Each month, this messaging is amplified by large sections of the media, which have published dozens of articles stating – incorrectly – that car companies are missing their ZEV targets.

Meanwhile, the car industry is lobbying for an “urgent review” of the targets, on the basis that “natural demand is still well below the level demanded by the [ZEV] mandate”.

UK car market has ‘over-complied’ with its targets

In 2021, the UK’s then Conservative government developed the idea of a “ZEV mandate” as a way to drive sales of electric vehicles (EVs).

The idea, inspired by a similar scheme in California, is to set a rising target for the share of new car and van sales that must be “zero-emissions vehicles” (ZEVs) each year.

For cars, these targets started at 22% of sales 2024, increasing gradually each year to 80% by 2030.

Towards the end of the first year of the scheme, in November 2024, the SMMT warned that the industry was “likely to fall short”, with EVs making up “just…18.7%” of sales. It said:

“The industry looks likely to fall short of the 22% EV market share demanded, potentially creating a £1.8bn bill for compliance.”

(If manufacturers fall short of their target, they can still avoid having to pay a “bill for compliance” by trading “credits” with other firms, or “borrowing” allowances from future years.)

But, contrary to the industry messaging on the headline 22% goal, the car market actually “over-complied” in 2024, according to official figures published in early 2026.

As such, all carmakers in the UK avoided fines for failing to meet their ZEV-mandate targets.

This was despite only 19.8% of new sales being EVs in 2024 – a final tally that was notably more than one percentage point higher than the industry estimate from November of that year.

The industry was able to “over-comply” with the ZEV mandate because the regime has a series of “flexibilities”, which have been created and added to after lobbying by carmakers.

These “flexibilities” allow individual firms to reduce their targets for ZEV sales by selling combustion-engine cars with lower emissions, such as hybrids or plug-in EVs.

When these “flexibilities” are considered, the car market met the equivalent of a 24.5% target, according to the government, with the surplus of 2.5% being “banked” for use in future years. This is shown in the figure below.

The required (left) and achieved (right) share of ZEVs in total UK car sales in 2024, %. “Flexibilities” include the sale of lower-emission petrol cars. Source: Department for Transport.

In May 2026, the SMMT again told Carbon Brief that EV sales in 2024 had been below the headline target.

When asked by Carbon Brief to confirm that – per the official figures – the UK car market had, nevertheless, “over-complied” with the ZEV mandate in 2024, it did not respond.

Car industry continues to lobby for weaker rules

In a January 2026 release on car sales for the previous year, the SMMT said the “gap between demand [for EVs] and ambition [in the ZEV mandate] is increasing rather than diminishing”.

At the time, Carbon Brief asked the SMMT if it recognised independent estimates from thinktanks and NGOs, showing that – on the contrary – the car industry had also met its ZEV-mandate targets for 2025.

In response, the SMMT sent Carbon Brief a quote from SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes saying that “no one will know” if the industry complied with the 2025 target until official figures come out in 2027.

While this is technically true, the official figures for 2024 showed that the thinktanks and NGOs behind the independent estimates for 2025 had been accurate with their previous forecasts of compliance.

The car industry continues to repeat similar messaging.

The SMMT stated in May 2026 that there is a “persistent gap of around six percentage points against the mandate target” of 33% in 2026 and 38% in 2027. Chief executive Mike Hawes said in the statement that “natural demand is still well below the level demanded by the mandate”.

The gap that the SMMT is referring to is between the headline ZEV targets and the expected level of EV sales, which the body says will reach 27% of all new cars this year and 33% in 2027.

The car industry continues to use these figures to call for a review of the ZEV mandate.

In its latest news release, it says the UK “needs an urgent review” and quotes Hawes saying this should be used to “align policy with market realities”.

These comments are reflected in media coverage, with the Independent, for example, running a misleading headline that says the car market is “still missing government EV targets”. The article adds:

“[T]he industry is still warning that EV demand is not growing quickly enough to meet government targets.”

What neither the SMMT press release nor much of the media coverage mentions is the existing “flexibilities” under the ZEV mandate, which were already expanded last year.

This means the headline 33% goal for 2026 can be met, even if EVs only make up around 25% of sales, according to an estimate of the “real” target published by thinktank New Automotive.

Again, the SMMT expects EVs to make up around 27% of sales this year, which would be comfortably ahead of the “real” target once flexibilities are taken into account.

The government has already pledged to review the ZEV mandate, with the results due to be published in “early 2027”.

In April, car sales platform Autotrader announced that new EVs are now cheaper to buy than petrol cars on average, “for the first time”. EVs were already significantly cheaper to own.

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In response, Evergy has increased its planned gas-fired generation in Missouri to 4.7 GW. Separately, it slashed its long-term renewable energy plans more than 90%.

The Nutrient Density Initiative (NDI) and Edacious are leading the Regen Nutrition Project to explore how food production practices influence the nutritional quality of foods.

NDI teamed up with Edacious, a company that provides food testing and analysis, to launch the Regen Nutrition Project in 2024. The project invites NDI’s 50-plus members—including food companies and farmers committed to producing regeneratively—to test samples of their products at Edacious’ food lab.

Edacious’ food analysis technology compares the nutrient content of regeneratively-produced foods with conventional crops to help companies demonstrate the benefits of regenerative practices.

The data “will be critical for demonstrating that eco-friendly practices that build healthy soil and work in synergy with natural systems ultimately produce foods with higher nutrient density,” Mary Purdy, Managing Director of NDI tells Food Tank.

This is particularly important at a time when producers are facing skepticism that labels reflect real differences, Eric Smith, Founder and CEO of Edacious, says. “For producers, nutrition data is becoming a way to validate practices they already believe in—and to communicate that value credibly in the marketplace,” he tells Food Tank.

Edacious and the NDI also developed a Nutrient Density Data Explorer to visualize the nutrient data collected. It breaks down the nutrient content of the samples sent in by NDI members and compares them alongside conventional retail samples.

“We want it to be useful to farmers, researchers, brands, and policymakers alike: a tool that highlights how much variability actually exists in foods, where regenerative systems may be showing early signals of improved nutrient density, and where more research is needed,” Smith says.

Results from the Data Explorer show that regeneratively-produced samples have lower fat content, a better balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3, more protein, and no heavy metals, compared to conventional samples. The project has collected data on proteins in their pilot, and they are looking forward to expanding to grains and produce next.

According to a study in the journal Foods, commercial produce such as apples, oranges, tomatoes, and potatoes have lost up to 25 to 50 percent of their nutrient density in the last 50 to 70 years. And research from the Institute of Environmental Sciences reveals that the climate crisis further threatens nutritional quality.

“As concern about health continues to rise, this evidence becomes a powerful lever for changing purchasing decisions, not only at the consumer level, but also among those with significant purchasing power, including institutions, food service and food is medicine, providers, and retailers,” Purdy tells Food Tank.

Smith makes clear that the goal of the project isn’t to create “perfect foods.” It’s “to shift the conversation toward transparency, context, and continuous improvement, so that nutrition becomes a measurable, valued outcome of how we grow and produce food.”

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Photo courtesy of Meizhi Lang, Unsplash

The post Regen Nutrition Project Measures Real Food Nutrient Density appeared first on Food Tank.