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The UN has rallied behind plans to accelerate investment in electricity infrastructure in Africa and Southeast Asia, boosting efforts to tackle one of the biggest bottlenecks holding back the shift to clean energy.

UN boss António Guterres launched the Global Grids Accelerator on the sidelines of the UN Climate Summit in New York on Wednesday. The initiative aims to turn government plans to expand and modernise grids into investment-ready projects and bring together the expertise, finance and support needed to build them.

Guterres said the accelerator will help countries build “the arteries of the energy transition” to expand energy access, strengthen energy security and power growth in developing countries.

The initiative will not create a new financing institution, the UN said, and no additional funding to boost grid upgrades was announced. Instead, it will act as a broker by bringing together UN agencies, development banks, investors and utilities around grid priorities identified by governments.

Renewable energy deployment is happening at record speed but the infrastructure required to move clean electricity from where it is generated to consumers is not keeping pace. As a result, record amounts of green electricity that cannot be absorbed by the grid are being wasted.

In addition, more than 2,500 GW of renewable projects – nearly twice the electricity generation capacity of the US – are currently stuck in queues worldwide, waiting to connect to the grid, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

• Aug 5, 2026 Clean Energy Frontier Southeast Asia’s fragile grids threaten billions in clean energy investment Renewables developers need reliable electricity infrastructure and stable policies to help the region meet climate goals and surging demand for power Read more
• Sep 22, 2026 News COP31 electrification pledge leaves out clean power commitment Campaigners and experts say the goal’s effectiveness in reducing emissions may be limited unless countries agree to meet it using only clean energy Read more
• Sep 21, 2026 News COP31 presidency announces AI pledge as UN climate chief says Big Tech ‘on thin ice’ Turkish minister Murat Kurum said AI companies should be transparent about their energy use and power their data centres with clean energy Read more

Grid bottlenecks

To meet global climate goals and cut emissions from fossil fuels, electricity demand needs to grow orders of magnitude faster in the next decade than it did in the last. The COP31 presidency has called on governments to endorse a pledge to raise electricity’s share of final energy consumption from 23% today to 35% by 2035.

Grids are essential to support this surge in electricity demand as sectors such as transport, heating and cooling electrify.

The lack of adequate infrastructure to transport electricity can have a major negative impact on economic development by delaying new power generation, slowing down efforts to expand access to electricity and hampering industrial growth.

In contrast, strong grids can help countries connect their renewable energy potential to surging power demand, strengthen energy security and support new industries and job creation.

Electricity pylons in Kibuye, Rwanda (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)

Meeting national climate goals requires adding or refurbishing more than 80 million kilometres of grids by 2040 – equivalent to roughly the size of today’s entire global network, according to the IEA. Technologies can also help increase the capacity of existing grid infrastructure. The watchdog estimates that annual grid investments need to increase by around 50% by 2030 to meet growing electricity demand.

The IEA has warned that the mismatch between the time it takes to build new power grids – 5 to 15 years – and the much faster buildout of renewable projects, EV charging infrastructure or data centres, makes upgrading grids an urgent task to prevent slowing down the energy transition.

Matching expertise and finance to projects

At COP29 in 2024, more than 60 countries committed to collectively build more than 25 million kilometres of additional grid infrastructure by 2030.

But a key barrier is turning long-term and often complex plans to overhaul electricity infrastructure into viable projects that can be matched to funding.

The accelerator aims to bring together expertise from across the UN system to support countries navigate this fragmented landscape and access the financing they need.

In Africa, the accelerator will focus on delivering national priorities to expand grid infrastructure and regional interconnections to expand access to reliable and affordable electricity. It will build on existing initiatives such as Mission 300, which aims to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.

In Southeast Asia, the accelerator will support initiatives such as the ASEAN Power Grid, which aims to connect different countries’ electricity networks and enable cross-border power trading to meet growing power demand and boost energy security.

Across the region, inadequate grids are threatening billions of dollars in clean energy investment. The lack of grid capacity is part of the reason about 50% to 60% of renewable energy projects in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were cancelled or stalled between 2021 and 2025.

Alexander De Croo, the administrator of UNDP, said making grids projects investable must be a priority, noting that grids require a big upfront investment but deliver “a stable return over the long-term”.

The post UN backs push to upgrade grids slowing clean power uptake in Africa and SE Asia appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Interior department is blocking 133 National Park Service agreements with outside partners, holding up $25.9 million in funding for parks. These blocked agreements are available to view in a new interactive map from the Center for Western Priorities. Each agreement on the map lists the park or office that requested it, the partner that would have done the work, the dollar amount, and the National Park Service’s own written statement of what disapproval means for that site.

Interior disapproved 140 agreements on August 7 at 61 parks, offices, and programs in all seven National Park Service regions, as the Washington Post reported earlier this month. A handful have since been appealed, and 133 remain disapproved. The work they would have funded includes fire preparedness, hazardous tree removal, archaeological surveys, endangered species recovery, trail crews, and seasonal staffing.

Parks and their partners had already secured the money through congressional appropriations, existing federal programs, and internal funding. Interior’s review was the final step before the agreements could be signed and the money released. Interior told the Washington Post it had disapproved agreements with groups “actively working against the best interests of the American people and the priorities of this administration.” NPS staff reported they received no explanation beyond a note in the records reading “Disapproved by DOI.”

“Every one of these projects had its funding secured, and parks were counting on the work getting done. Blocking these agreements did not save a dollar. It pushed the work down the road and likely made it even more costly in the future,” said Kate Groetzinger, Center for Western Priorities communications director. “At Joshua Tree, for example, national park staff wrote that without approval for their projects, wildfires there will be larger and cost more to fight.”

Interior plans National Park Service overhaul

The Interior department’s reorganization of the National Park Service could begin rolling out in phases before the end of the year, according to internal draft documents viewed by Politico and previously reported on by the Washington Sun. The plan would reorganize parks into “hubs,” with senior officials overseeing construction, visitor services, cultural resources, and science for surrounding “spoke” parks. Leaked documents released by Wes Siler‘s Newsletter earlier this week show it would eliminate the agency’s seven regional directors and roughly 1,100 management positions. The draft documents say the changes will not require layoffs “at least in the short term.”

Quick hits Two decades of travel management decisions on verge of reversal

Grist | Mountain Journal | More Than Just Parks [map]

Two pilots killed in helicopter crash while fighting Yosemite wildfire

New York Times | Wildfire Today | The Guardian | Fox Weather | ABC30

Inside the long and deliberate collapse of America’s public land funding

Outdoor Life

Nevada is suing over Colorado River regulations. There could be impacts for Colorado

Colorado Sun

Scientists link fossil fuel producers to the West’s worsening water shortages

Yale Climate Connections

US judge declines to block transfer of wildlife refuge land to SpaceX

The Guardian | Border Report

Opinion: It’s time to engage

RE:PUBLIC

Poll shows majority of Arizonans are against eliminating national monument lands

KTAR

Quote of the day

The budgets that are being put forward, along with the DOGEing that happened to our public land employees — that is being done to break the agencies. These aren’t normal cuts. These are drastic cuts.”

—Land Tawney, co-chair of American Hunters & Anglers, Outdoor Life

Picture This
@nationalparkservice

It’s fall y’all!

The leaves are changing, temperatures are cooling (not for everyone, we know), and somewhere in the distance, you can already hear the faint, unmistakable strains of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” being defrosted from its annual cryogenic chamber.

Wait. Hold up. Give fall its due! As of today, in fact. It’s the official first day of fall, otherwise known as the autumnal equinox, the yearly occasion when humanity briefly remembers that the Earth is, in fact, tilted.

Fall is a great time to experience our national parks. The trees put on a spectacular display of color, the air gets crisp, and Fat Bear Week kicks off, giving us the rare opportunity to celebrate bears for doing what bears do best: eating an alarming amount of food and preparing for winter.

Not a fan of fall? That’s okay. Just three months until winter.

NPS Photos

Featured photo: Disapproved National Park Service agreements interactive map, Center for Western Priorities

The post New map tracks $25.9 million in NPS projects blocked by Trump administration appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

NC Governor Stein must stop the backroom scheming and lead a moratorium on data centers

NC WARN is calling a flagrant foul against corporate polluters – and state officials – for their use of persistent secrecy and deception in the targeting of communities across North Carolina for noxious data centers and fracked-gas pipelines.

Across the state, data center developers and Duke Energy continue using various tools of secrecy and influence to gain support from local leaders for unwanted projects before the public learns of the plans. Even after basic disclosure, the full extent of negative community impacts remains hidden by those operating in the shadows. 

In a letter sent today, NC WARN repeats our June 25 call for Governor Josh Stein to stop Duke Energy from recruiting data centers and to lead a moratorium on new ones. It’s clear that his silence indicates the odious, backroom deal-making continues – and almost surely includes state officials and tax money. 

NEW POWER PLANTS TOO

We also told Stein today that many communities targeted for data centers will also be saddled with new power plants built next to the energy-hogging data centers, thus forcing them to bear the significant health burdens of fossil fuel power generation.

Stein must immediately stop Duke Energy from continuing to recruit data centers, which the climate-wrecking corporation uses to justify the largest planned fossil fuel expansion in the US, causing power bills and climate pollution to soar for years. The Governor must also demand a statewide moratorium on new data centers – as called for by a state regulator’s expert in June.

Data center developments have faced well-deserved backlash from communities across the state and nation due to their massive power and water usage, air, water and noise pollution, economic burdens on the public and low job production, among the many factors. Nationally, concerns mount about AI’s role enhancing government-corporate surveillance and war-making.

One of the emerging deceptions is that data centers would pay for new power generation built by Duke Energy. Indications are that Duke leaders are scheming to quietly rebate any upfront costs paid by data center owners, thus forcing even more rate hikes onto other monopoly-captive customers.  

North Carolinians are being cheated, and our Governor must demand that it stop.  

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Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes.

The post Flagrant Foul Called Against Polluters and State Officials Pushing Secretive Data Centers, Pipelines – and Power Plants — NC WARN News Release appeared first on NC WARN.

This summer, America’s national debt crossed the $40 trillion mark—a grim milestone that put an exclamation point on the abject failure of DOGE, Elon Musk’s effort to reshape the federal government. This week, Tyler Hassen, the former oil executive who ran DOGE’s operation inside the Interior department, published a memoir of revisionist history titled Inside DOGE in which he tries to rehabilitate his and Musk’s image. But DOGE’s record is permanently written in scars across American landscapes and etched on the headstones of hundreds of thousands of children.

Hassen, who now runs a cleaning supply company that has pivoted to building AI data center infrastructure, concedes in the Wall Street Journal that DOGE never dented the national debt. “Did we achieve it? Of course not,” he writes, before dismissing critics as quibbling over the definition of savings and calling for a permanent DOGE housed in Congress. He cites a $215 billion savings tracker; POLITICO examined $32.7 billion of DOGE’s claimed contract savings and could verify only $1.4 billion.

The memoir does not mention that the National Park Service has lost roughly 4,000 permanent employees since DOGE’s arrival, about 24 percent of its permanent workforce; or that the U.S. Geological Survey fell from 8,400 employees to 6,800. Hassen defends the layoffs on the grounds that firing people is simply how capitalism operates. “It isn’t personal. It isn’t cruel,” he writes. Records obtained by E&E News show Interior spent $156.5 million on administrative leave between Trump’s second inauguration and the end of 2025, paying employees to stay home for months. That figure covers only the Office of the Secretary and excludes every Interior bureau.

Hassen at the White House, New York Post on X.com

Hassen closes his WSJ op-ed by invoking his five-year-old daughter and the debt she stands to inherit. He should sit her down and explain the rest of it: how his buyouts left taxpayers paying employees to sit at home and do nothing instead of protecting our public lands; that the federal government spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in a single year, six times what it spent in 2023; that the debt passed $40 trillion on August 18, which made the number printed on his own book jacket obsolete five weeks before it shipped; and that he admits in print that none of it worked, and then asks for a chance to do it again.

Hassen should also explain the part that never shows up on a savings tracker. Independent modeling found DOGE’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development led to at least 750,000 deaths in the first year alone, most of them children. Yet Hassen complained to the Washington Post that the media treated “every reduction as a moral offense,” as if hundreds of thousands of dead children are an acceptable price to pay for imaginary savings.

Across America’s public lands, thousands of park rangers are gone. Hydrologists who measure what’s left in the Colorado River are gone. Scientists who protect imperiled species are gone. Tyler Hassen got paid for eleven months, then got a book deal, then got a job building data centers. Everyone else got the bill. He calls this moral and patriotic. Millions of Americans would choose a different word.

For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox, or subscribe to our podcast, The Landscape.

The post DOGE memoir skips the part where children died and taxpayers got ripped off appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) today introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act — legislation to stop artificial intelligence (AI) oligarchs from building machines humans cannot control and to pause advanced AI development until we have put in place rigorous federal testing and oversight to ensure AI does not harm humanity.

“When you are racing towards a cliff, you don’t just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes. When the future of humanity is at stake, we cannot let a handful of Big Tech CEOs write their own rules,” Sanders said. “Scientists have been clear: AI is an existential threat to humanity. It must be treated as such. This legislation will permanently ban the development of artificial superintelligence and would put in place an immediate pause on advanced AI development until we have clear safety rules in place — developed by the most knowledgeable scientists in our country. Congress must act now before it is too late.”

“Experts are warning that AI superintelligence, wielded by the wrong humans or by rogue AI, could kill countless numbers of people. But Donald Trump says he wants to encourage it. Something has to change,” Casar said. “Our bill bans the development of artificial superintelligence and pushes for international agreements so that no one, anywhere, builds AI too powerful for humans to control. Furthermore, our bill would immediately halt other dangerous AI capabilities, such as the capacity to develop biochemical weapons, or the capacity for AI to develop new AI instead of humans.”

Over the past few months, we have learned that AI models can circumvent restrictions to hack into computers. We have learned they can create never-before-seen viruses. And we have learned they can automate research to build smarter AI. Even as the AI companies claim they recognize these dangers and want to slow down, they are racing ahead — investing hundreds of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully predict or control. That is unacceptable. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act will protect humanity by:

• Banning Artificial Superintelligence. No person or entity may develop or deploy Artificial Superintelligence — an AI that exceeds human cognitive performance and capabilities across most domains, or has sufficient capabilities to destroy or disempower humanity, including by overthrowing the federal government.
• Pausing Advanced AI development until a new, federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and model review processes to ensure safe and secure development and deployment of AI.
• Establishing a new cabinet-level federal Department of Artificial Intelligence to safeguard the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence, including by enforcing a prohibition on artificial superintelligence. This department will be advised by the most knowledgeable scientists in our country to:
  • Monitor frontier AI systems at all stages of the lifecycle for dangerous capabilities.
  • Supervise the removal of dangerous capabilities like subverting shutdown commands or conducting unauthorized cyberattacks.
  • Supervise the destruction of artificial superintelligence.
• Setting penalties for any person or entity that attempts to violate or circumvent the pauses and prohibitions laid out in this bill. Entities shall be subject to the corporate death penalty, and persons shall be subject to not more than 20 years in prison, which is similar to existing penalties related to unlawfully developing nuclear weapons.
• Working to ban superintelligence around the world by setting the international policy of the United States to pursue international agreements, allied coordination, and policies such as export controls to prevent the development of artificial superintelligence anywhere in the world.

Read the bill text here.

Read a one-page summary here.

Read a section-by-section summary here.

The morning began just before sunrise with competing Great Horned Owls calling back and forth across Oliver Reservoir in the far southwest of the Nebraska panhandle. It was the first chilly fall-like...

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Wes Moore took positive steps to protect Marylanders from the harms of data centers with his executive order (EO) released today. In a press conference announcing the EO, the Governor spelled out five principles guiding the state’s criteria for considering data center projects, barred Maryland employees from entering into nondisclosure agreements with data center developers, and called on the General Assembly to repeal the sales and use tax exemption for data centers. However, the EO fails to establish a statewide moratorium on data center development, something county and municipal leaders have been seeking for months. It also contains no explicit clean energy requirements for data centers even as the global climate unravels. 

With 80 percent of Marylanders – including residents across red and blue regions – now living under some kind of temporary local ban or moratorium on data centers, leaders and activists across the state have been hoping Moore or the General Assembly would establish rigorous state-level guidance and leadership on this critical issue. At the top of that wish list is a multi-year state-level pause on new data center permits to allow true reform policies to be developed and take hold. Moore even told Punchbowl News last week that he would sign a moratorium bill from the General Assembly if it reached his desk in 2027.

Governor Moore’s executive order falls silent on this issue. Instead, his EO establishes the Maryland Data Center Accountability Task Force that must consider whether a data center project meets five principles: ratepayer and grid protections; economic benefits for Marylanders, including local hiring and union jobs; the preservation of community input, including no state preemption of local decisions; language around environmental protections, but no requirements for clean energy; and transparency and accountability, including the establishment of a public dashboard to track proposed projects and the commitments made by data center companies. Several of the outlined principles begin to address on-site pollution, rising energy bills associated with data center infrastructure and demand, and community impacts, but the principles are vague and leave the agencies with little direction and significant discretion. 

Also, with climate change impacts escalating across Maryland and the world, Governor Moore in his executive order, fails to require all new energy required from future data centers come from 100 percent clean power, a top priority of virtually every environmental group in the state. The EO directs the Task Force to look at the State’s climate commitments, but they are just one factor to be considered; the EO does not mandate adherence to the state’s climate goals or require data centers to run on clean energy. 

Brittany Baker, Maryland Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), issued the following statement:

“Governor Moore’s executive order takes several meaningful steps forward and the legislature will have to finish the task. Maryland communities confronting data center development speak in the language of bans and moratoriums. A statewide multi-year pause on data center development is the most logical next step.

“Given the deepening climate crisis, Gov. Moore and the General Assembly must explicitly require all new data centers run on 100% clean energy. Period. Full stop.

“A multi-year statewide pause on new data center approvals is needed until strong, enforceable protections for ratepayers, water, air, land, and the climate are fully in place. With scientists warning that the window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change is rapidly narrowing, Maryland should not lock itself into a new wave of massive energy demand and fossil-fuel infrastructure before those safeguards exist.”

CCAN is supportive of policy proposals to ensure that data centers pay for infrastructure they incentivize the incumbent utility to build, procure their own clean energy resources, ban nondisclosure agreements, eliminate by-right development, and close regulatory loopholes that allow diesel generation to escape compliance with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 

CCAN is now calling on Marylanders to sign the petition for a statewide moratorium on new data center development. In addition, the group will be hosting “People Over Data Centers”- Maryland Action Summit on November 7 in Baltimore alongside Nature Forward. 

#   #   #

Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. 

The post Gov. Moore’s Data Center Executive Order Takes Positive Steps But Fails to Embrace Moratorium and Clean Energy Mandate, Leaves Communities Vulnerable appeared first on Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

A United Nations initiative to ensure everyone on earth is protected by a multi-hazard early warning system (MHEWS) “has made real progress” but “too many people are still left exposed,” according to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Since Guterres launched the Early Warning Systems for All goal in 2022, the number of countries reporting that they have an MHEWS has increased from 113 to 136, the UN announced on Wednesday. Around 60 nations are still not covered 15 months ahead of the UN’s 2027 deadline.

“We must close the remaining gaps, reach every country, and ensure that by the end of 2027, every person on earth is protected”, outgoing UN chief Guterres said.

The UN said the largest gaps in coverage are mainly among the world’s least developed countries, small island developing states and fragile and conflict-affected nations. These countries are also among those hardest hit by climate change.

Guterres said that early warning systems “save lives, protect livelihoods and shield communities from disaster”, highlighting the Colombian Red Cross’s response to drought in June as an example.

At an event on the initiative in New York on Monday, Huw Beynon from the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Office said that the systems had helped during floods in Kenya last year and when recent cyclones hit Madagascar.

Jagan Chapagain, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement that “reaching more people with early warnings is a success worth celebrating”.

Simple warnings not enough

The Early Warning Systems for All initiative supports about 160 countries and 31 countries have developed national roadmaps to install early warning systems. But Beynon said that, while most countries have a MHEWS, most also report limited capacity. “So you might have a warning disseminated but it’s not leading to the right action,” he said.

Speaking alongside Beynon, Nepali climate negotiator Manjeet Dhakal gave a recent example of this. He said Nepali authorities had sent text messages to 600,000 people – including him – who were in, or had recently been in, an area where flooding was likely.

Residents walk along a muddy road following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. (Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

The flood, caused by a glacial rock-ice collapse, swept through the valley at huge speed, with a wave at least 30 metres above the river, killing thousands. But the messages did not “articulate the magnitude of this disaster”, he said, adding “these are humans who have to craft that message and that scale of disaster has never [previously] occurred”. The Straits Times has reported that these messages did not say how fast or big the flood would be and were sent too late for many.

When heavy rainfall led to floods in the Spanish city of Valencia in 2024, some text messages with warnings were only sent out after flooding had started and did not give residents clear instructions of how to act, such as moving to higher floors and not driving. Many Valencians drowned in their cars or in the underground garages of their apartment blocks, according to official reports.

Remaining barriers

​Rohini Kohli, the UN Development Programme’s head of climate adaptation policy, told Monday’s New York event that a challenge for MHEWS in developing countries is a lack of foundational data.

This can include equipment to measure physical factors like rainfall, river levels and soil moisture or human factors like where peoples homes or power lines are located. The UN’s Systematic Observations Financing Facility is trying to bridge this “critical gap”, she said.

Another barrier, Kohli said, is that acting on early warnings is often the responsibility of local rather than national authorities and they need the capacity to respond in the right way. “Like most adaptation, local leadership has to be at the centre for design and delivery,” she said.

• Sep 23, 2026 Politics The response to Nepal’s disaster is a test for global climate institutions Nepal’s recent flash flood represents a shared emergency the world over, as more and more communities become victims to a climate crisis they did not create Read more
• Sep 22, 2026 Finance As loss and damage fund stalls, Nepal crowdfunds flood relief While the fund’s board continues to mull its request for $20 million, Nepal has raised nearly $90 million from individuals around the world Read more
• Sep 22, 2026 Energy UN chief urges countries to adopt fossil fuel transition plans with timelines In his last speech to the UN General Assembly, António Guterres for the first time called on every nation to deliver a plan to phase out coal, oil and gas while protecting workers Read more

The IFRC’s Chapagain said that as “warnings alone are not enough”, authorities should “invest in trusted local actors so that communities can turn information into action and become agents of their own resilience, not simply recipients of alerts. Early action is what makes early warnings work.”

Kohli added that a lack of finance was also a problem for developing countries. She cited the UN’s adaptation gap report, which found that developing countries will need well over $300 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to climate change while they are currently receiving less than a tenth of that figure.

In 2022, the World Meteorological Organisation estimated that meeting the early warning systems for all goal would require a total of $1.5 billion.

The post Despite “real progress”, third of countries still lack early warning systems appeared first on Climate Home News.

The return of the natural climate phenomenon is worsening the food crisis in Central America and on the African continent. This event could become the most powerful ever recorded.

The post El Niño starves the peoples of the Global South appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

EPRI’s Jackie Baum says microgrids have to do more than sit idle for emergencies. “The majority of the time, the power is on,” she said, urging utilities to use those resources.

National Nurses United announced its endorsement of Angie Nixon from Florida for the U.S. Senate. If elected, Nixon will join nurses in our fight to take on the billionaire class and deliver for workers, abolish ICE, and guarantee comprehensive health care through Medicare for All.

The commission’s jurisdiction over transmission governance allows it to modify filing-rights allocations and adjust the PJM Interconnection’s nominating committee, writes Harvard Law’s Ari Peskoe.

Today, Groundwork Collaborative and Reset Tech released a new report, “The Hidden Costs of AI for American Households,” which exposes how artificial intelligence (AI) is already increasing costs for every American in nearly every line of the budget – and how that toll will only grow.

AI is already increasing prices for American families, with electronics and electricity bills on the rise due to the AI data center buildout, to groceries and other retail purchases plagued by AI-powered pricing abuses. AI is also making online scams easier to carry out and harder to detect, adding to the estimated $119 billion per year that Americans lose to internet-based scams and cybercrime. The report reveals how corporations are prioritizing profits over affordability. Delta’s CEO bragged that AI will increase his airline’s profitability by as much as 50%. Tech companies are allowing AI to worsen mental health, which already costs our economy an estimated $282 billion a year. And health insurers are using AI to review claims, leading 60% of doctors to be concerned about increasing denials.

As Americans grapple with a raging affordability crisis, the report outlines concrete actions policymakers can take to reduce the cost of AI that stands to pile on, including banning surveillance pricing, prohibiting insurers from using AI to deny health care, implementing Groundwork’s plan to freeze household electricity rates, and adopting stronger liability frameworks that hold AI companies accountable.

Janelle Jones, Senior Fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, and co-author of the report, said:

“As working people face an affordability crisis, higher prices caused by AI are the last thing they need. It’s another attack on household budgets that add up, and which working people certainly shouldn’t be on the hook for.”

Rishi Bharwani, U.S. Director of Reset Tech, and co-author of the report, said:

“AI could be lowering costs for American families but instead it’s become a hidden tax on households – paid through online scams, surveillance pricing, higher electric bills, denied health claims and rising premiums. Families feel it every day, even if they can’t see it. Lawmakers need to act now to stop greedy corporations from using AI to squeeze consumers.”

BACKGROUND

• AI is fueling a new wave of online scams, and it’s costing consumers billions. AI is making online fraud easier to scale and harder to detect, allowing scammers to clone voices, create deepfakes, and impersonate trusted people. Internet-based scams and cybercrime cost Americans $148 billion in 2025. However, the true financial burden is likely substantially higher because for every reported crime, six go unreported.
• AI is increasing the mental health risks of social media use and adding to families’ health care costs. One study found that adults who use AI daily are 30% more likely to experience at least moderate depression than adults who do not use AI at all, and nearly half of U.S. teenagers say social media is mostly harmful to people their age. Out-of-pocket spending on pediatric behavioral health reached $2.9 billion in 2022, an increase of about 38% over the previous 11 years.
• Health insurance companies are using AI in ways that drive up costs for patients. Insurers use AI to review claims and prior authorizations, and 60% of physicians say they are concerned that AI is increasing denials. When claims are denied or delayed, patients may have to pay out of pocket, appeal the decision, or postpone care.
• AI-driven pricing systems are spreading rapidly across the economy. Companies are deploying AI systems to analyze consumer data and tailor prices to the individual. For example, an investigation of Instacart pricing by Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union found nearly three-quarters of grocery items were offered to shoppers at multiple price points, prices were up to 23% higher for some shoppers on the exact same items, and these practices could translate into a swing of about $1,200 a year for a family of four.
• AI is giving insurers new ways to charge drivers more. Insurers are using increasingly detailed data about how, when, and where people drive to assess risk and set personalized premiums. Companies such as LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk aggregate driving behavior data and sell it to insurers, and LexisNexis products were used in 86% of new U.S. auto insurance policies issued in 2023.
• AI-driven pricing is making travel more expensive by allowing airlines, hotels, and booking platforms to tailor prices based on consumer data and online behavior. Delta’s CEO has said AI could increase the airline’s profitability by as much as 50% as airlines and other travel companies use sophisticated tech and robust customer data profiles to set prices.
• The rapid expansion of AI data centers is pushing more of the cost of the AI buildout onto household electricity bills. Data centers’ share of U.S. electricity use could nearly triple from 4.4% in 2023 to about 12% by 2030, and residential electricity rates could climb 15% to 40% above 2025 levels by 2030.
• Surging demand from AI data centers is making everyday electronics more expensive for consumers. AI data centers and consumer electronics manufacturers rely on many of the same chips and memory and must compete for a limited supply. Since the start of 2026, Apple has raised prices on some of its most popular laptops by $200 to $300 and on every iPhone by at least $100, and Microsoft has increased Xbox console prices by $100 to $150.

This year Earth Overshoot Day —  the date each year when humanity has used more from the planet than it can regenerate in 12 months — fell on July 30, six days later than last year.

That sounds like progress. It isn’t. The date moved because researchers revised their estimate of how much carbon the ocean absorbs, not because we consumed less. Strip out the accounting change and the underlying trend went the other way. By the actual measure, 2026 is the deepest ecological overshoot ever recorded.

I recognize the maneuver, because I run it on myself constantly.

My bedroom overflows with Jellycats. My organizer is bursting with beauty products, many still sealed. My closet holds clothes I have never worn. The Jellycats have mostly migrated under my bed, where they serve as expensive chew toys for my dog. And I have already moved on — I collect NeeDoh squishies now.

Every purchase came with a story about why it wasn’t really a purchase. It was on sale. It was self-care. It was the last one. I was, at every step, a person making a reasonable decision. Only in aggregate does it look like what it is.

Photo: Logan Hana Higase-Chen

The aggregate is the part nobody shows you.

The idea for this piece arrived in the form of an empty shelf. I went to a bookstore looking for a new NeeDoh and found bare pegs. My parents, humoring what I was treating as a genuine crisis, stopped at a Target on their way home. My dad sent me a photo: an entire wall, cleared out.

My first thought was that TikTokers had bought everything. All those people with the restock hauls and the unboxing videos, sweeping shelves bare, leaving nothing for the children the toys are actually made for. They have a shopping problem.

My second thought took longer to arrive. I looked at the pile of Jellycats. I looked at the growing pile of NeeDohs.

I have a shopping problem.

Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok launched as places to talk to your friends. They have become the most efficient sales channels ever built, and the transition happened without anyone announcing it. Scroll for 90 seconds and you will pass a restock video, an unboxing, a haul. The algorithm doesn’t reward the person who explains why she doesn’t need the thing. It rewards volume — the biggest haul, the fastest turnaround, the fullest cart. Brands ship free product to influencers, influencers generate demand, demand generates the next shipment. There is no exit.

The result is that we no longer buy what we need. We buy what is trending, which means we buy something engineered to stop trending. Trend-driven consumption is excessive and obsolescent at once: quick to buy, quick to trash.

The numbers behind “quick to trash” are worse than most people assume. The EPA’s most recent full accounting found that Americans generated 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste in a single year — 4.9 pounds per person per day, or roughly 1,800 pounds each. That figure covers everything in the bin, not just shopping. But shopping is the part we choose, purchase by purchase, and it is the part growing fastest. Apparel consumption alone is projected to rise 63% by 2030, with emissions from textile manufacturing climbing about 60% over the same period. Less than 1% of clothing gets recycled into new clothing.

None of this is a secret. That is what makes it strange. We know, and we buy anyway, because knowing happens in one part of the brain and the checkout button lives in another — one tap away, saved card, no friction, no pause.

So I want to be careful about what I’m actually asking.

The easy ending here is a pledge. I put down my credit card, I empty my cart, I say “not today” to the next micro-trend, and I invite you to join me. I am making that pledge. I mean it.

But I don’t think personal restraint is a serious answer to a system built by people whose full-time job is defeating personal restraint. I am a competitive figure skater. Discipline is, professionally speaking, my entire personality. It took a photograph of an empty Target wall to help me notice what was happening in my own bedroom. If discipline alone were enough, I wouldn’t have the piles.

What actually helps is friction, and friction can be designed. Platforms could stop merging the feed and the storefront. They could stop optimizing for haul content. Disclosure rules for gifted product could have teeth. Right now every design decision runs one direction, and we call the outcome a personal failing.

In the meantime there are smaller counterweights. De-influencers, who post about what not to buy. Project Pan, which asks you to finish a product before replacing it. “Underconsumption core,” which is just the ordinary thrift my grandmother wouldn’t have thought worth a hashtag.

Earth Overshoot Day exists to make an abstraction legible: Here’s the day the budget ran out. My version is less rigorous. It’s a pile of stuffed animals under a bed, being slowly destroyed by a dog.

Both are ways of finally seeing the total.

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

Dangerous Drinking: Is Bottled Water Really Safer Than Tap Water?

The post The Calendar Says We’re Doing Better With the Environment. My Bedroom Says Differently. appeared first on The Revelator.

A 1.8-GW, $20 billion data center planned by PowerHouse Hillwood was underpinned by a $1 letter of credit — “less than the price of a cup of coffee” — that drew skepticism from FERC Commissioner David LaCerte.

Dharam R Uprety is head of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The climate crisis didn’t just knock at our doorstep. It has smashed through homes, demolished critical roads, and caused untold grief for millions of Nepali people. It has now been nearly a month since a wall of ice, rock, and water tore through the Bhote Koshi river system. The death toll has risen to nearly 1,500 people with 5,800 more still missing. 

Nepal needs sustained assistance from the international community. 

We are staring at a reconstruction bill of at least $5 billion, as we laid out in our letter to the co-chairs of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage on September 1. This constitutes a tenth of our entire economy, and we cannot afford to be saddled with greater loans. We asked the Board to treat the Bhote Koshi disaster as the special case that it is: sudden, unprecedented and exceptional. 

The Loss and Damage fund currently holds $820 million in pledges, yet not a single dollar has yet been disbursed for the nearly $3 billion in requests. Its next scheduled meeting is not until December, in Manila. Nepal cannot wait that long, and neither can the next country this happens to. 

As loss and damage fund stalls, Nepal crowdfunds flood relief

The tragedy must also serve as a wake up call for immediate climate action. A new study from the World Weather Attribution has found that global warming was a likely contributing factor for the avalanche. 

Bandaid solutions are no longer enough; the world needs to transition away from fossil fuels and accelerate investment in clean sources of energy.

Disproportionate impact

The Nepal government has set an ambitious target to replace petrol/diesel vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs) by 2031. The country also already gets most of its electricity from clean sources, with plans for further expansion within the next decade. Our forest cover has grown to 46 percent. 

Nepal contributes less than 0.1 percent of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Major polluters need to step up their efforts, so that countries like mine stop bearing a disproportionate impact.

Global emissions are still rising, while countries such as the US, the UK, Australia and several others have drastically reduced the foreign aid that they provide to the rest of the world. And at the same time, they are continuing to increase their fossil fuel production. That is not only unjust, it is also unsustainable for a planet that is already showing us how little room for error remains. 

What happened in Bhote Koshi is not unique to the Hindu Kush Himalaya. In May 2025, a nearly identical disaster buried the Swiss village of Blatten, when a rock and ice avalanche tore off the Birch Glacier above it. A study published this month found the avalanche needed almost no friction to travel as far and as fast as it did, a sign of just how destabilised that mountainside had become.

In the Arctic, researchers reported this week that thawing permafrost on the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen turned an ordinary magnitude 6.5 earthquake into the island’s first major glacier rock avalanche in 40 years, the kind of tremor that would once have caused only minor disruption.

From the Alps to the Arctic to the Himalaya, the same warming is loosening the ice and rock that used to hold these mountains together. The next Bhote Koshi could strike anywhere that grip is failing.

Growing focus on mountains in UN climate process

This is not the first time we have tried to get the world’s attention on the mountain ecosystem. At COP30 in Belem last November, Nepal led the push to put mountains on the global climate agenda for the first time, through our Sagarmatha to Belém initiative.

That effort got mountain ecosystems written into the COP30 cover decision and the Global Goal on Adaptation, marking the strongest visibility mountain issues have ever received at the UN climate process. We also secured the first Annual Dialogue on Mountains and Climate Change, which was held at the UN climate talks in June this year at Bonn.

We used COP30 as a platform to warn that retreating glaciers and destabilised mountain systems were not a distant risk. Ten months later, that warning became the Bhote Koshi disaster.

The UN General Assembly and upcoming UN climate talks in Antalya will be two fora for world leaders to show solidarity and more importantly, show how they intend to walk the talk. 

Nepal flood destruction shows “limits to adaptation”, scientists say

In the near-term, the Loss and Damage board has been requested to hold an emergency meeting to consider Nepal’s difficult situation. Several nations have generously stepped up to offer physical relief and direct aid. This is greatly welcome. Our needs, unfortunately, far exceed that.

Every impacted village needs a chance to rebuild, children need to see their schools back in operation, and the roads that are the lifeline of communities require urgent reconstruction. Some things may have been lost permanently, but through investment in monitoring and early warning systems, the government of Nepal can try to ensure a future event does not unfold yet another unimaginable tragedy. 

This was not just someone else’s disaster that affected the people of Dhading, Rasuwa, and Nuwakot. It is a shared emergency, across Nepal and the world over as more and more communities become victims to a crisis they did not create. This is why, even as we cope with relief and rescue efforts, we are taking the time to present data and share our needs around this climate injustice. 

The post The response to Nepal’s disaster is a test for global climate institutions appeared first on Climate Home News.

Susana Malcorra is president and founder of GWL Voices and former foreign minister of Argentina. Mary Robinson is a GWL Voices member, former UN human rights commissioner and former Irish president.

Earth has just had the hottest August since records began. Wildfires tore through Europe, North America and Asia, killing dozens, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes, and burning more than a million acres of land.

In Nepal, flash floods triggered by a glacial lake outburst killed more than a thousand people and left thousands missing – a disaster Nepal’s foreign minister said reflected the disproportionate share of climate consequences borne by countries like his. Just recently, the UN Environment Programme confirmed what scientists have long warned: the world is now on track to breach 1.5C of warming, likely within the next few years.

As the climate crisis intensifies, one question is central: who is at the helm?

GWL Voices’ report, published this summer, shows that women are very much on deck in climate and environmental governance, but they are not steering the ship.

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Of all climate COP Presidents since the annual conferences began over thirty years ago, three-quarters have been men. This matters because COP Presidents are among the most visible and influential roles in global climate governance. The climate COPs, however, are not the worst offenders. Another of the UN’s three environmental “sister conventions,” the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), has had a woman preside over its COP only three out of 17 times since 1997.

Structural inequality cascades down

Women’s underrepresentation is not a harmless coincidence. It’s a pattern that cascades down to other critical roles, including country delegates, heads of delegations, national focal points, and COP bureau members.

It is a structural inequality that limits the diversity of perspectives, priorities and decisions brought to bear on the environmental emergencies we face, and it is unfolding against a backdrop UN Women itself describes as one of “escalating conflicts, attacks on women’s rights, and environmental degradation.”

GWL Voices’ Spotlight on Women in Global Climate and Environmental Leadership shows that progress beyond the COPs is slow and sparse. While the Green Climate Fund has approached gender parity in its top leadership role over time, the IPCC, which is the body charged with compiling and communicating climate science to the world, has never appointed a woman to its top position of Chair in nearly four decades.

Gender focal points mainly women

Parity in environmental governance at the multilateral level remains extremely rare. There is, however, one role where women are, for once, not under- but substantially over-represented: when the task at hand is gender equality itself. Ninety percent of countries’ gender focal points under the biodiversity and climate conventions are women.

Relegating women to so-called “women’s issues” within climate and environmental governance is a particularly stark example of horizontal segregation, a pattern that repeats well beyond the multilateral level.

According to the Women in Politics Map 2026, prepared by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the largest share of women cabinet ministers worldwide sit in Women and Gender Equality ministries (90%) and family and children affairs (73%), while they remain sidelined in strategic areas including economic affairs (18%), foreign affairs (29%) and energy (12%).

‘Hectic’ in high heels? Women still face gender hurdles at UN climate talks

The danger of this segregation is that women’s rights come to be seen as women’s responsibility alone, which does nothing to advance equality, since the problem affects us all and requires everyone’s active engagement to solve.

Conversations about gender and climate too often focus on women’s vulnerability to climate impacts. That angle reflects a real problem, but it hides a second one: access to decision-making. Women are not simply “victims” of the climate and nature crisis, they are among its most experienced responders, its most consistent advocates, and, when given the chance, its most effective leaders.

Studies show women leaders’ impact

What if women had an equal seat at the decision-making table? Would environmental governance be more effective? The evidence says it would. Research by Norgaard and York (2005), Mavisakalyan and Tarverdi (2018), and Fredriksson and Wang (2011) finds that women leaders are more likely to support environmental protection, ratify environmental treaties, and adopt stricter climate policies.

Following last year’s COP30 – where the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted a landmark, nine-year plan to mainstream gender equality across climate governance and implementation – GWL Voices called for the same principles: gender parity across all climate bodies, Indigenous women’s voices embedded in policy design, gender-responsive climate finance with transparent tracking, and real accountability for women-led initiatives. Its 2026 report is the evidence for why implementation of the Belém Gender Action Plan cannot wait any longer.

Why women’s leadership is central to unlocking the global phaseout of fossil fuels

As the world convenes for Climate Week NYC, weeks before the UN chooses its next Secretary-General, and less than two months before COP31, we raise our voices for this message to reach those who hold power.

Let’s start seeing the climate crisis as a governance crisis, one with an outrageous blindspot for women’s leadership, ingenuity and readiness to decide. We invite every government, institution or boardroom, and every person to read the spotlight report in full, identify the pattern in the ranks of their own organisations, and use whatever power they hold to break it.

Because when it comes to the climate crisis, women’s hands are already on deck; it’s time we let them steer.

The post Women are on deck – it’s time they steered appeared first on Climate Home News.

Across New York City, food system inclusivity is foundational to building healthier neighborhoods and a flourishing city life. And that’s not unique to the Big Apple: Food policy is central to urban well-being in any and every city—and both public and private institutions have a role to play.

“You can’t talk about food and climate and health without talking about culture and community and connection,” Siddhartha Sanchez, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, said during a Climate Week NYC Summit, “People-Focused. Climate-Friendly. Food-Forward New York City.” The event was co-hosted by Food Tank in partnership with Support + Feed, Strong Roots, and the NYC Mayor’s Office. 

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“Food connects us. And it’s what makes this city so amazing,” says Helen Arteaga, New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “Food not only nourishes our bodies but also nourishes our minds, (and) more importantly, makes us share our stories.”

In terms of civic institutions that can drive change, schools are among the most powerful—both as sites for food system education and as incubators for innovative solutions that can be scaled up once they’re proven successful. 

“We hope that the healthy eating habits that they’re learning early on carry into adulthood,” says Brittany Saffold, Director of Partnerships, Communication, and Retention with New York City Public Schools. “How do we take something that’s happening at one school and put it citywide?”

At the Climate Week Summit, for example, students from Francis Lewis Culinary High School prepared climate-friendly recipes for attendees to try and gave an overview of the process of creating meals for events.

“We don’t just learn about cooking; we learn about food preparation and safety—and all these experiences grow all of us as people,” one student says. 

And getting the next generation of chefs and urban food system leaders engaged requires creativity.

“Gen Z wants delicious food that’s also good for the planet and on the right mission,” says Emma Curtis, Managing Director of Strong Roots. “Brands have got to do a good job at making it exciting.”

Artists can also drive important, exciting change. During the Summit at Climate Week, attendees were able to view a special pop-up exhibition of a project by illustrator Kevin Nakagawa to spotlight food memories in residential facilities for New Yorkers with disabilities, alongside Open Doors. You can view a video on the project here.

“When you listen to community, you not only hear the direct impact policies have on community but the lived reality of someone that’s failed by the system,” Sanchez said. “Folks have endless ideas, and the job of the government is to listen.”

Or, take Maggie Baird as an example. She’s the Founder and President of Support + Feed and the mother of artists Billie Eilish and Finneas. 

“When we book a tour, we tell arenas upfront what our requirements are, and some of those are at least three plant-based mains,” she said. “I feel like my life is so much better for being a plant-based eater … I think we need to share that joy and help people understand it’s not about what you take away; it’s what you add in.”

Even though they’re often disregarded, institutions like prisons are connected to the food system, too and have significant procurement power.

“We do everything we can with the resources that we have,” says Norman Priester, Executive Director of the Nutrition Service Division at the NYC Department of Correction. “Sourcing locally is always our priority when possible. … It provides the healthiest options.”

This is city life: Complex, but an environment where real change is possible with cross-disciplinary partnerships and engaged consumers.

“Be curious about your food environment,” says Ora Kemp, Senior Policy Advisor at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “It’s all unique to the land that you’re on.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

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.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post NYC Is Leading The Charge Toward People-Focused Urban Food Policy appeared first on Food Tank.

Indigenous lands from Canada to Ecuador to Nepal are increasingly being hit by catastrophic storms, fires, and floods. Worse, these climate disasters often come one after the other as overlapping crises rather than isolated incidents. Still, despite the ongoing destruction, Indigenous peoples continue to prove that they have the knowledge and skills to respond, if only global powers will let them. 

Even amid growing recognition by scientists and policymakers of the power of Indigenous expertise to respond to climate change, the key role that Indigenous governance plays in those knowledge systems has not received as much respect.

That’s according to a new report from Land Is Life that highlights the global success of Indigenous climate adaptation and resilience amid escalating crises. The report also says supporting Indigenous governance through legal recognition, financing, and partnerships — none of which are occurring on a large scale — is the best way to reduce climate disaster risk worldwide. 

“We show that it’s not that they are only the most impacted, but they are already implementing effective solutions,” said Luisa Castañeda Quintana, the executive director of Land Is Life, a global nonprofit dedicated to Indigenous self-determination. “When it comes to adaptation, we don’t really need to create new structures or systems. We just need to see what is working.”

The report adds to an expansive body of research showing that Indigenous self-determination, land stewardship, and cultural knowledge and practices are proven climate solutions. The report, released today, offers dozens of examples. In Kenya, Indigenous Endorois and Tugen women cultivated drought-resistant varieties of sorghum, millet, and other key foods that provided some of the region’s only harvests in years with severe drought. In Brazil, Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon — the nation’s largest regional Indigenous network — helps organize fire management and response. It also provides training and mobilizes response teams. 

The report is based on detailed case studies and more than 200 survey responses from 46 countries spanning six ecosystems: forests, mountains, drylands, freshwater systems, grasslands, and coastal. Castañeda Quintana said a broad global study was essential to show climate change and environmental disasters are not limited by national or even ecological boundaries, and responses to them must transcend borders. It also is essential to recognize that disasters do not arrive one at a time. More than 80 percent of survey respondents said that they face two or more at once, and over 90 percent reported rising frequency. 

For example, in 2019, the Kichwa People of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon faced devastating floods along the Bobonaza River, destroying crops and homes. Daniel Santi, who is the president of the community, which numbers roughly 1,600 and inhabits more than 500 square miles, said that his people were able to respond effectively because of their strong governance structures that were already in place. In other words, self-determination and governance allowed them to decide how best to prepare for, and respond to, a crisis. “This organization makes it possible to confront any problem and any threat,” Santi said. 

The report argues that the combination of Indigenous governance and knowledge is what makes these adaptation strategies so effective. Knowledge rooted in the land can be put into action immediately. Sarayaku elders, for example, noticed rain and lightning patterns at the river’s headwaters that signaled possible flooding and were then able to warn the community. Sarayaku structure includes clear decision-making processes, mechanisms to address the most urgent needs like housing for families with destroyed homes, and dedicated representatives to communicate status updates and needs with external authorities. According to Santi, these responses are guided by minga, a Kichwa term for solidarity and collective responsibility. 

But many countries do not legally recognize Indigenous peoples or their governments, refuse to use Indigenous languages for emergency alerts, and continue to criminalize Indigenous culture. Those conditions can weaken the impact of Indigenous knowledge and governance. 

Read Next As climate change threatens their lands, Indigenous nations demand more power at the UN Dionne Phillips

Santi believes Indigenous peoples have a lot to teach the world about adapting and responding to climate change, but communities like his need support as it continues to accelerate. He is calling for greater legal protections for Indigenous land and authority, as well as resources and partnerships that embrace Indigenous knowledge and decision-making.

In Peru’s Ausangate Regional Conservation Area, Quechua communities joined a conservation organization to document environmental indicators, improve community monitoring, and pursue other efforts that combined Indigenous knowledge with Western research. According to the report, this is an example of how productive partnerships increase resilience. 

The report also found other shortcomings in many of the world’s mitigation and adaptation strategies. They include climate initiatives that focus on short-term benefits, rejecting Indigenous self-governance and imposing external authority on communities, and drawing on or celebrating Indigenous knowledge without supporting the people who provide it. 

Despite growing evidence that shows Indigenous land stewardship is effective and that providing Indigenous communities with direct financing helps with global climate adaptation, funding and legal security remain insufficient. “It’s always the lack of resources and the lack of access to funding that makes it so difficult for us to work, especially when climate change makes us the most vulnerable,” said Anisha Buda, who is from the Kaike Magar community and is a program officer at the national Indigenous Women Forum in Nepal. 

Rather than outlining a specific template for Indigenous governance, the report urges governments, philanthropists, and policymakers to foster the conditions that allow Indigenous communities to thrive. Flexible and direct funding is one of those key conditions. Land Is Life released the report during New York Climate Week specifically to call out the need for more direct financing for Indigenous communities. Despite billions of dollars pledged around the world, barely any of that money is earmarked for Indigenous peoples. And even when it is, Indigenous leaders say that they still don’t receive it. 

“It’s also so frustrating, right?” said Buda. “Because there are so many projects that are supposed to be for Indigenous peoples, but they are implemented by non-Indigenous organizations and non-Indigenous peoples.” 

With the U.S. and European countries pulling back billions of dollars from climate commitments in recent years and wars in Iran and Ukraine stretching global resources, Indigenous leaders worry they will be left even further behind. 

“We are in a moment where resources are scarce,” said Gisela Hurtado, the report’s author. “Where can we put the little money that we have? Where can we put it to make it much more effective? And for me, for the report, the idea is put it into what already is working.”

As the climate continues to change and the world experiences escalating impacts, Hurtado says the Indigenous responses outlined in the report offer a way forward. “What they are seeing in the territories, we’re going to see it also in the future,” Hurtado said. “They are the ones that are much more connected with the Earth to know what is going to happen in the future.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As climate disasters multiply, Indigenous governance offers a way forward on Sep 23, 2026.