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State utility helps to bring major new battery project to financial close, in a deal that secures 50 per cent of the battery's output for 15 years.

The post State utility buys $43 million stake in new big battery, locks in November construction start appeared first on Renew Economy.

Our September Common Sense monthly newsletter shares a message about a new version of CELDF's Democracy School debuting in 2027, how much of what has been called a movement during the past two decades is more accurately understood as a collection of moments, and explains why and what we need to do to give ourselves a shot at challenging and collapsing the dominant system for all life, not just people.

The post “Common Sense” Newsletter – September 2026: Community Movement Building with Democracy School & Trainings appeared first on CELDF - Community Rights Pioneers - Protecting Nature and Communities.

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Global fossil-fuel emissions are set to fall by around 0.5% in 2026 amid the fallout from the Hormuz crisis, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

The US-Iran war has severely disrupted trade through the strait of Hormuz, causing a spike in oil and gas prices that continues to ripple around the global economy.

Each month of disruption – and each new flashpoint, such as in Yemen – is increasing the incentive to switch to alternatives.

Those alternatives include coal, with the latest forecasts pointing to a 1.2% rise in coal demand this year – apparently supporting media claims of a “return to coal” in the wake of the crisis.

Yet Carbon Brief’s analysis shows the rise in emissions associated with this increased coal use, much of which is unrelated to Hormuz, is set to be more than offset by declines for oil and gas.

The estimated overall impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels in 2026 is shown in the figure below and amounts to a reduction of around 0.5% from 2025 levels.

(Fossil fuels account for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions.)

The emissions estimates for each fossil fuel are based on the latest forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) for coal, oil and gas, in light of the ongoing global energy crisis.

For example, the agency initially estimated that global coal demand would decline this year. In its 2025 coal report, published in mid-December, it said that declining coal demand in China would outweigh the impact of pro-coal policies under US president Donald Trump.

In contrast, the latest update, published in September 2026, said that global coal demand would rise by 1.2% in 2026, instead of the small decline that had been expected.

The report highlighted the boost to coal demand from higher gas prices in the wake of Hormuz. However, there are limits to this, because few countries can switch from gas to coal at large scale.

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The IEA’s latest report also noted the role of a strong El Niño, which is pushing up the need for cooling and depressing hydropower output in key markets. Other short-term factors are also affecting coal demand this year, including a rising amount of “wasted” wind and solar in China.

For gas, the IEA did not initially update its previous forecast that global gas demand would rise by 2.0% in 2026, which had been published in January of this year.

Its most recent forecast – published in July – already pointed to a 0.6% drop in demand in 2026. Since then, pressure on gas demand from high prices has only grown stronger.

For oil, there has been an even more dramatic shift in forecasts since the start of the year.

In its January 2026 oil market report, the IEA forecast a rise in demand in 2026 of 930,000 barrels per day (bpd). As shown in the figure below, this has been steadily revised downwards over the course of the year, as the Hormuz crisis was first ignited – and then extended.

By September, the IEA was forecasting a 2,500,000bpd drop in oil demand in 2026, equivalent to a reduction of 2.4% from 2025 levels.

(A 15 September research note from Morgan Stanley, not available online, found a “consensus” forecast of a 2,415,000bpd drop in demand in 2026.)

While there are many short-term factors at play in the shifting forecasts for 2026, it is clear that the latest energy crisis will also affect fossil-fuel demand in the next year and beyond.

For example, whereas the IEA initially forecast that oil demand would rebound in 2027 to well above 2025 levels, it is now expecting use of the fuel to be effectively flat for two years.

This puts a question mark over its previous expectation – published in October last year – that global oil demand would not peak until as late as 2030.

“For every month the conflict lasts, the probability of permanent [oil] demand destruction increases,” wrote Sverre Alvik, vice president at consultancy DNV in a late August analysis.

As fuel prices have surged, electric vehicles (EVs) have captured record shares of major car markets, from Australia and China through to Europe, Indonesia and Thailand.

In July, EV sales nearly doubled year-on-year in “new markets”, noted Alvik, pointing to countries outside China, Europe and North America.

The IEA says the 2027 outlooks for coal and gas are interdependent, with coal demand potentially increasing again if gas prices remain elevated – or dropping back if gas prices ease.

At the same time, governments in countries that had planned to rely on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been signalling shifts towards favouring domestic clean energy instead – or continuing to use coal for longer.

The current crisis, therefore, has the potential to not only lower fossil-fuel use and emissions in the short term, but also on a more lasting basis.

Related Analysis: India’s power-sector emissions flat for two years due to clean-energy surge 17.09.2026 Emissions CCC: Heathrow expansion could push flights to ‘80% of UK emissions by 2050’ 16.09.2026 Emissions Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions fall in Q2 2026 due to plummeting oil use 03.09.2026 Emissions Explainer: The CMIP7 emissions scenarios – and how they explore future climate change 01.09.2026 Climate modelling

The post Analysis: Global fossil-fuel emissions set to fall in 2026 amid Hormuz crisis appeared first on Carbon Brief.

States should step in with new long-term planning processes to bolster nuclear, offshore wind and other technologies that face major barriers, according to the Clean Air Task Force.

More clean energy tax credits are hitting the market. Credits tied to electricity production are holding their value, while investment tax credits based on the cost of building face price pressure as buyers weigh uncertainty over new federal rules.

By participating in programs that ease grid congestion, school districts can recoup thousands of dollars from the price of electric school buses.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, Food Tank will host “The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Organic Trade Association, Organic Valley, Once Upon a Farm, Handsome Brook Farms, Stonyfield, and Amy’s Kitchen, and in collaboration with Organic Voices, Lundberg Family Farms, Tradin Organic, and Rodale Institute.

The all-day, invitation-only summit will celebrate the organic movement’s journey while charting its path forward. 

“This event is a timely opportunity to shine a light on the important connection and benefits of organic for positive climate impact,” said Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association. ”We expect attendees to gain inspiration and insight from the expertise of the farmers, scientists, and industry leaders who will be taking the stage—this will be a day to come together for knowledge sharing, problem-solving, and collective action to continue to drive the US$76 billion organic sector forward.” 

Panel discussions will explore science and innovation in organic practices, organic’s current successes and challenges, and how to move collectively with commitment, innovation, and inspiration into the future. 

Much of the conversation will focus on the farm, including farmers’ voices on stage to share their journey and what’s working. 

“’The Roots of Organic: from Soil to Shelf’ summit is an important event that gives people the opportunity to hear directly from farmers and brands of agricultural products just how climate changes are impacting their operations. But the good news is they will also hear how farming organically has shown to help combat climate change and what steps farmers and brands are taking now to be more resilient,” says Tracy Favre, Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Organic Strategies at Handsome Brook Farms. 

“The audience will leave with an understanding that while the sense of urgency is real, we do have the tools and knowledge to make agriculture a force for good in the fight against climate change.”

That farm-level work is also part of a broader effort to build resilience across the organic food system, from individual farms to the supply chain.

“Organic Valley is proving that climate solutions start on organic farms. Together with Food Tank at Climate Week NYC, we’re bringing leaders together to highlight innovative working models, like carbon insetting, that demonstrate climate action on farms and within the supply chain,” says Jessica Luhning, Senior Sustainability Manager at Organic Valley. “As the nation’s largest organic farmer-owned cooperative, we’re proving organic agriculture is a powerful solution for a more resilient food system.”

Throughout the day, speakers will explore how the original principles of organic can continue to evolve alongside a changing climate—and how community plays a role.

“While organic food and agriculture has an institutionalized framework that’s been around for several decades, it also has a movement surrounding it that transcends this framework,” says Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability at Once Upon a Farm. “This summit is an important opportunity to convene around both the movement and the framework, reflecting together to celebrate accomplished impact, while also surfacing gaps and possibilities to inform where it goes next.”

For many, looking ahead also means returning to those principles that have defined the movement from the beginning and considering how they can shape a more resilient food system.

“Organic farming has always been about looking at the whole system, from soil health to financial sustainability for farmers,” says Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs at Stonyfield. “At Stonyfield, we’ve always believed that organic farming can help us overcome the challenges of climate change—both by reducing agriculture’s contribution to GHG emissions and by storing more carbon in the soil. This event is an opportunity to bring that whole conversation together, from what happens in the soil to what ultimately reaches consumers, and to look at what organic has taught us about building a more resilient food system for the future.” 

Where the movement goes next—a central theme of the summit—will consider that balance between honoring organic’s roots and growing its reach.

“At Amy’s, we’ve spent nearly four decades proving that organic food can grow and reach millions of families without losing sight of the values it was built on,” says Paul Schiefer, CEO of Amy’s Kitchen. “But for organic to have the impact we know it can, the entire movement has to keep pushing forward. I hope this summit challenges all of us to think bigger about how we make organic more accessible and impactful, while protecting the standards and principles that have made it meaningful in the first place.”

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances. An afternoon session will kick off with lunch at 1:30pm, and the evening programming will run from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, including networking opportunities. 

Speakers include Benjamin Bartley, Director of Responsible Procurement, UNFI; Alexis Bramley, Director of Strategic Projects, Organic Trade Association; Will Brinkerhoff, Soil Scientist, Chef, and Science Communicator; Marcia Brown, Food and Agriculture Reporter, POLITICO; Amy Bruch, Sixth-Generation Organic Farmer and President, Cyclone Farms; Taylor Clayton, Director of Global Impact and Responsible Sourcing, Adams Group; Beatriz Daim, Sustainability Specialist, Tradin Organic; Kathleen Davis, Producer, WNYC Studios’ Science Friday; Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO, Organic Trade Association; Abianne Falla, Founder, CatSpring Yaupon; Tracy Favre, Vice President of Sustainability, Live Operations, Handsome Brook Farms; Christopher Gergen, CEO, Regenerative Organic Alliance; David Gonthier, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky; Alison Grantham, President, Grow Well Consulting; Stephanie Grotta, Vice President of Responsible Sourcing & Sustainable Capabilities, Target; Chef Johanna Hellrigl, Chef-Owner, Ama Restaurant, Washington DC; Steven Jennings, Health Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement Lead, Ahold Delhaize USA; Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability, Once Upon a Farm; Annie Leeson, Co-Founder, AgriCarbon; Brandon Lombardi, Chief Legal Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, Sprouts Farmers Market; Jessica Luhning, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Organic Valley; Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs, Stonyfield; Chef Joshua McFadden, James Beard Award-Winning Chef and Author; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Kousha Navidar, Host, WNYC and Co-host, Climate One; Shawna Nelson, CEO, Organic Valley; Chef Priyanka Naik, Chef, Author, TV Personality & Food Network Champion; Leah Penniman, Farmer, Author, and Food Justice Activist, Soul Fire Farms; Sandy Pfaff, Vice President of Media Relations, Organic Trade Association; Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability, Compass Group USA; Maria Rodale, Board Co-Chair, Rodale Institute; Paul Schiefer, CEO, Amy’s Kitchen; Amber Sciligo, Senior Director, The Organic Center; Suzanne Sengelmann, Chief Executive Officer, Lundberg Family Farms; Erin Silva, Professor of Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Katrina Staves, Executive Director, Organic Voices; Sarela Herrada, Co-Founder, SIMPLi; Annie Watson, Organic Dairy Farmer, Sheepscot Valley Farm and Stonyfield Producer; Jake Wedeberg, Organic Dairy Farmer, Compost Expert, and Participant in Carbon Insetting; Stefanie Wilbur, Farmer and Owner, Lazy Dog Farm; Nijia Zhou, Climate, Nature, and Supply Chain Standards Lead, Amazon Worldwide Grocery; and Duron Chavis, Urban Farmer and Food Justice Advocate, Founder and Director, Happily Natural Day and Founder, Sankofa Community Orchard.

“The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” will feature a special musical performances by Celia Hottenstein, Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, who will be joined by Ryan Fielding Garrett, a New York City-based composer, music director, orchestrator, and musician whose Broadway credits include Kinky Boots, Wicked, Back to the Future, The Notebook, and Mean Girls; Travis Taber, Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway, who will also be joined by Garrett; Jayke Workman, Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently starring as Mary Sunshine in Chicago on Broadway, who will be joined by Cullen Curth, New York City-based pianist, music director, and conductor who recently made his Broadway conducting debut with Just in Time; Singer-Songwriter Amber Rubarth; and Singer-Songwriter Taylor Hurd.

This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Organic Agriculture Charts Its Future at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

At least 124 people were murdered last year for defending their forests, farms, or waterways from destruction or degradation, according to a stark new report. Its authors say that deep cuts to foreign aid by wealthy nations have weakened human rights groups that support environmental defenders. 

Read more on E360 →

Just as humans head indoors for warmth in the winter and shade in the summer, tree-dwelling animals use the arboreal equivalent of caves for refuge from temperature extremes.

At a time when climate change is supercharging heatwaves, holes and crevices in trees offer potentially life-saving cool spots for bats, birds and other creatures around the world, according to new research. When peak temperatures cross into heatwave territory, these holes are often more than 4°C cooler than the outside, according to a review of dozens of studies recently published in Forest Ecology and Management.

“Everywhere we looked, trees were great for buffering outside air temperature extremes,” said Joy O’Keefe the paper’s senior author and a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

There are growing reasons for animals to try to escape the heat. In recent years, scientists have documented mass die-offs of various species in the midst of heatwaves. In 2014, a heatwave led to the deaths of some 46,000 flying foxes on a single day in eastern Australia. Four years later, another scorcher claimed 23,000 gray-headed flying foxes in the Australian city of Cairns, a third of the species’ population on the continent.

For years, O’Keefe has studied roosts for bats, chiefly in the eastern United States. The work revealed that natural resting spots often provided more protection from extreme temperatures than artificial ones, such as bat boxes. Did those findings apply elsewhere and for other kinds of animals?

To find out, the team combed through the scientific literature. They found 36 studies from five continents that contained data necessary to compiling a more complete picture, including measurements of maximum temperatures both inside and outside the crevices being studied.

Their analysis revealed that these natural shelters consistently provided a buffer against both high and low temperatures. Daily maximum temperatures were around 2.7°C cooler in the refuges than outside. On hotter days, when temperatures climbed above 30°C, that cooling difference grew to 4.1°C. These abodes also offered protection against cold. Compared to the lowest temperatures outside, the resting places were 2.8°C warmer. On days when the mercury dropped below 10°C, the difference was slightly greater at 3.1°C.

 

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The beneficiaries weren’t confined to bats. Among the various studies were places occupied by birds, insects, bats and other mammals such as squirrels.

The new findings offer yet another reason for keeping trees standing, especially ancient ones that tend to be more riddled with gaps and gashes where critters can find shelter.

“Forest managers should focus on protecting and regenerating natural habitats for animals, especially in areas where you get heat waves that can result in mass mortality events,” said co-author Reed Crawford postdoctoral researcher at UIUC.

It’s also clear that today’s artificial replacements for these trees, such as boxes, don’t offer the same benefits. If people are going to use them, the results suggest a need to rethink their design to better mimic the thermal performance that nature offers.

“We know bat boxes almost always exceed outside air temperature, and then they don’t retain that heat at night,” said Crawford. “If people are compelled to use artificial roosts in their conservation plans, we need to improve their design to better replicate what’s happening in nature and try to keep those animals safe.”

Cotten, et. al. “A global review of the capacity of tree cavities to buffer temperature extremes.” Forest Ecology and Management. Aug. 25, 2026.

Image: ©Getty for UnSplash+

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Headline News:

• “Congress Must Reject Attack On Clean Air Protections For Port Communities” • Congress is considering Congressional Review Act resolutions that would roll back state clean air protections, including standards that cut toxic diesel pollution from ships and commercial harbor craft that. They will be voted on in the House this week. [CleanTechnica]

Tugboat at San Francisco (Bruce Warrington, Unsplash)

• “How can Europe decarbonize without sacrificing economic development?” • Europe wants to clean up its heavy industries without sacrificing jobs or economic growth. A study suggests that may be possible, but it will require compromises. For example, most steel, ammonia, and methanol would have to be produced using green hydrogen. [Euronews]
• “What Are The Top Threats Posed By AI And Should You Be Worried?” • The most powerful AI industry executives warn of a grave threat the technology poses. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned of “serious risks.” Sam Altman of OpenAI said AI could go “very badly.” Elon Musk said AI could prove more dangerous than nuclear weapons. [ABC News]
• “Enter The Hoax Buster: Trump Dismisses AI Concerns As Europe And China Fret” • US President Donald Trump has dismissed AI extinction fears as a “hoax.” In a barrage of six posts on Truth Social, he cast himself as the only safeguard the world needs. Meanwhile, Europe and China both call for guardrails on the fast-moving technology. [Euronews]
• “Loosened EPA Power Plant Regulations Could Negatively Impact Wisconsin Public Health” • The EPA removing its rules regulating emissions for coal and gas power plants. That could hurt people, but it won’t ultimately buck the economic trend toward cleaner fuels, according to Steph Tai, University of Wisconsin Law School professor. [WPR]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

By Yvette Ahenkorah, 2026 Africa Zero Waste Academy Participant

I came to the GAIA Africa Zero Waste Academy ready to learn. I expected new knowledge, new ideas and a deeper understanding of what zero waste could look like in our communities. What I did not fully expect was to leave the six-day in-person experience carrying a greater sense of responsibility, not only towards the waste we generate, but towards the people whose lives and livelihoods are deeply connected to it.

Yvette during a presentation at the Africa Zero Waste Academy 2026, in Ghana.

There is something about knowledge that changes you when you can no longer separate what you have learnt from what you see around you.

Suddenly, waste is not just the overflowing bin, the plastic on the street or what disappears after collection. You begin to ask where it goes. Who collects it? Who sorts through what we throw away? Who recovers the materials that still have value? Who bears the health and environmental consequences of the systems we have created?

And somewhere within those questions, the people behind our waste systems become impossible to overlook: Waste workers. Who are part of what keeps our communities and cities functioning, yet their contribution can easily disappear from the larger conversation about waste. 

For me, the Academy reinforced that we cannot speak meaningfully about a zero waste future without speaking about the people already doing much of the work of recovery, collection, sorting and recycling.

That realisation made zero waste feel less like an environmental concept I was studying and more like a movement I wanted to contribute to.

Because what would a zero waste transition mean if the people already holding parts of our waste systems together are left behind?

Movement building, then, has to be about more than changing where materials go. It must also be about people, dignity, recognition, livelihoods and justice.

Over those six days, learning alongside people committed to changing our relationship with waste reminded me that movements do not always begin with something big. Sometimes they begin with a conversation. With questioning a system we have accepted for too long. With recognising the value in something we once called waste. With listening to those whose livelihoods give them an understanding of these materials that many of us may never have considered.

And perhaps most importantly, movement begins when knowledge moves beyond us.

I have carried that thought with me since the Academy, particularly into my work at AERC-Ghana. As I engage with community-based approaches such as composting and continue exploring circular solutions, I find myself returning to a question that has become increasingly important to me:

How do we turn what we know into action that communities and the people working within our waste systems can experience, own, and sustain?

Yvette & other participants during a session at the Africa Zero Waste Academy 2026, in Ghana.

I am learning that building the zero waste movement is not about arriving in communities with all the answers. It is about listening. It is about recognising existing knowledge and labour. 

It is about creating space for communities and waste workers to help shape the solutions that affect them. And it is about ensuring that our pursuit of cleaner communities does not erase the people whose work has helped keep those communities clean.

This is where the experience became deeply personal for me. I may have walked into the Academy seeking knowledge about zero waste, but I walked away thinking more deeply about people. About whose voices are heard when solutions are designed. About whose labour we notice. About the kind of transition we are building, and whether dignity and justice sit at the centre of it.

Six days cannot solve our waste crisis.

Six days cannot address every challenge waste workers face.

But six days can change the questions someone begins to ask.

For me, the question is no longer simply, “How do we achieve zero waste?”

It is also, “How do we build a zero-waste movement where no resource and no person is treated as disposable?”

Perhaps that is where knowledge becomes movement. And where movement becomes action.

Writer’s Bio

Yvette is a youth development and sustainability professional from Ghana passionate about climate action, waste management, and community empowerment. She currently works with Alliance for Empowering Rural Communities, where she supports initiatives focused on inclusion, youth engagement, and equal access for underserved communities. Her interests include urban resilience, circular economy solutions, and empowering young people through environmental sustainability and advocacy.

The post Africa Zero Waste Academy: Where Knowledge Becomes Movement first appeared on GAIA.

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