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Skeptical Science New Research for Week #20 2026
The Perils of Climate Catastrophism: A Call to Situate Crisis and Change, Bickerstaff, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change
Catastrophic imaginaries are inextricably bound to how we think about climate change and also how we respond—individually and collectively—to the urgent challenges of achieving rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This advanced review reflects on, and problematises, the power and persistence of ideas about climate catastrophe. It is argued that this politically and culturally dominant framing of imminent planetary devastation impedes and constrains action on climate change. It is a position that underlines, I suggest, a need to rethink and better situate our narratives of, and relations to, climate crisis and emergency. I pursue this argument in four parts. First, I begin by introducing and theoretically contextualizing “environmental catastrophism”. Second, and following on, I address the ways in which the problem of climate change has become synonymous with imaginaries of apocalyptic catastrophism, tracing dominant tropes and discourses. In the third step I raise interconnected perils of the catastrophic gaze for climate action: the impossibility of solving a problem framed as a predominantly totalising whole-planet challenge; defeatism that displaces action to “total” and/or depoliticising solutions; and public despair around, and alienation from, climate action. Finally, and in response to these challenges, I make the case for a situated view of climate crisis and change—one that offers and embraces imaginaries that are fundamentally partial, located and positioned.
Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes
There is evidence that rainfall extremes have become more intense and frequent over the last few decades, but it is difficult to assess these changes due to the limitations of our short observational records. We use the UNprecedented Simulated Extreme ENsemble (UNSEEN) approach to (1) assess changes in extreme rainfall over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia over the last 40 years and (2) identify locations that have a high chance of breaking rainfall records. We find that extreme rainfall risk has already increased since 1981 during the rainy season in both regions, including a doubling of risk in some months for many major population centers such as Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Bangkok, Hanoi, Maseru, Johannesburg, Lilongwe, and Lusaka. The pattern of increasing risk of extreme rainfall is projected to increase further in the coming 20 years in the CMIP6 ensemble; yet UNSEEN estimates of changes from the last 20 years are already greater than these future projections in the Philippines, northern Mozambique, and northern Madagascar. Finally, we compare the UNSEEN ensemble to historical records to identify places that have “soft records” and are likely to see record-setting events. These places with increasing risks but no recent extremes are labeled as “sitting ducks” in today's climate. We find that much of Mozambique, the Philippines, and Laos would be considered “sitting ducks” for extreme precipitation in at least one month of the year. Disaster risk managers should use these types of large ensembles when estimating the risk of extremes in today's climate, in order to ensure that society is prepared for record breaking events. This approach can also be used for improving engineering design estimates of rainfall return periods and for stress-testing health system and disaster preparedness.
Facilitating permanent carbon storage through risk transfers? Analyzing the insurability of the carbon leakage liability, Spencer et al., Energy Research & Social Science
Geological storage of CO2 is expected to play a role in mitigating climate change, especially for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in hard-to-electrify sectors, and for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) under net-zero targets. One challenge of geological CO2 storage is the risk that CO2 later returns to the atmosphere. Policymakers aim to address this risk by imposing leakage liabilities on storage operators, potentially also mandating insurance cover. However, whether such liabilities are insurable is still open given the undeveloped state of the insurance market for this risk. Here, we adapt the Berliner (1982) framework from insurance economics to this question, to consider actuarial, market, and social factors that might constitute barriers to insurability. Due to the lack of a loss history, we systematically use the upstream oil & gas industry as an analogy. Combining expert workshops and techno-economic estimates, we find two barriers: the possibility of correlated material failures across the industry and gradual leakages, which will likely have to remain uninsured initially (though increased experience will likely improve the situation). We also find three general preconditions for insurability: appropriate care in site selection, robust regulations for information sharing and risk mitigation, and limited coverage periods to exclude CO2 price volatility. Overall, the insurability of CO2 leakage does not appear to be a roadblock for the deployment of CCS and CDR. The future price of CO2 emissions and removals, however, remains an important uncertainty. ‘In-kind’ insurances (based on reserve CO2 units) are a possible way out.
Dust Decline Amplifies High-Cloud Ice-to-Liquid Transition and Buffers the Radiative Feedback Under Warming, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters
The response of the cloud phase to global warming is a critical yet poorly constrained component of Earth's climate sensitivity. While rising temperatures drive a thermodynamic transition from ice to liquid clouds, the role of ice-nucleating particles in modulating this shift remains underexplored. Here, we provide evidence that the declining trend of mineral dust in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) may act as a microphysical amplifier of this transition. Satellite observations of high clouds (
Opposing transient and equilibrium effective radiative forcing from aerosol-cloud interactions, Dagan, Nature Communications
Aerosols influence clouds, and therefore Earth’s radiation budget, through processes that operate across multiple and interacting time scales, making aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) a persistent source of uncertainty in estimates of effective radiative forcing (ERF). Here we examine the time-dependent response of the local, convection-focused ERFACI using an ensemble of high-resolution simulations initialized from different atmospheric states and subjected to an instantaneous aerosol perturbation, together with simulations in which aerosol concentration changes with prescribed periods. We find that the transient ERFACI during the first ~ 2 days is positive, driven by rapid microphysical invigoration, enhanced high-cloud fraction, and increased longwave trapping. In contrast, the equilibrium ERFACI becomes negative as upper-tropospheric warming increases static stability and reduces anvil cloud fraction. As a result, the time-mean forcing depends on the ratio between the environmental adjustment time scale (τadj) and the aerosol-perturbation time scale (τaer). For intermediate regimes, where τaer is only moderately longer than τadj, the system exhibits pronounced hysteresis: ERFACI depends not only on the instantaneous aerosol loading but also on its recent history. These results imply that snapshot-based observational constraints and near-instantaneous-equilibrium convective parameterizations may systematically misestimate ERFACI.
From this week's government/NGO section:Pedal to the Metal 2026. The iron and steel industry’s coal lock-in crisis, Grigsby-Schulte et al., Global Energy Monitor
The authors present the newest annual survey of the current and developing global iron and steel plant fleet. The authors examine the status of the iron and steel sector compared to global decarbonization roadmaps and corporate and country-level net-zero pledges. Included in the survey are asset-level data on 1,293 iron and steel plants in 91 countries and nearly 700 operating and proposed mines worldwide. A closing window for transition With 2030 decarbonization deadlines approaching, the global iron and steel industry is running out of time to shift away from coal-based production methods. Continued investment in coal-based capacity and underinvestment in green hydrogen threaten net-zero targets. Now more than ever, it is crucial to disrupt emissions-intensive blast furnace developments and redirect resources to iron and steelmaking technologies that align with net-zero goals.Trust, Governance, and Climate Disasters in the Indo-Pacific, Sohail Akhtar, Toda Peace Institute
The author argues that climate emergencies generate epistemic stress: situations in which uncertainty and competing narratives disrupt shared understandings of risk and appropriate response. Drawing on recent bushfire events and subsequent reviews of disaster governance in Australia, the author shows how disagreements over climate attribution, institutional readiness, and political accountability can complicate emergency coordination and weaken public trust even where operational capacity remains strong. The author concludes with policy recommendations for Indo-Pacific governments, regional organizations, and international partners aimed at strengthening crisis communication, institutional credibility, and the capacity of democratic systems to manage contested knowledge during climate emergencies. 129 articles in 63 journals by 1077 contributing authorsPhysical science of climate change, effects
Changes in Wind Extremes Shaped the Summertime Weakening of the Eurasian Subtropical Westerly Jet, Li et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 10.1029/2025jd045904
Critical role of low cloud feedback in irreversible sea level rise, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72898-4
Impact of the AMOC Weakening on Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere Warming Over the Extratropical North Pacific, Joshi & Zhang, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122116
Stratospheric cooling and amplification of radiative forcing with rising carbon dioxide, Cohen et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-026-01965-8
The Role of Internal Variability in Springtime Arctic Amplification from 1980 to 2022, Gale et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0421.1
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Arctic amplification-induced intensification of planetary wave modulational instability: A simplified theory of enhanced large-scale waviness, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 10.1002/qj.4740 19 cites.
Observations of climate change, effects
Equatorward shift of marine heatwaves centroids in the Atlantic Ocean, Ji et al., npj Climate and Atmospheric Science Open Access 10.1038/s41612-026-01426-4
State of polar climate (2025), Ding et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2024.08.004
Unprecedented 2025 glacier mass loss in Pamir, Fan et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.04.018
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Human-induced intensified seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-48381-3 36 cites.
Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects
A Climatology of Heat Domes Over North America, Loikith et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100913
Four decades of global surface albedo estimates in the third edition of the CLARA climate data record, Riihelä et al., Earth system science data Open Access 10.5194/essd-16-1007-2024
The DLR CO2-equivalent estimator FlightClim v1.0: an easy-to-use estimation of per flight CO2 and non-CO2 climate effects, Bruder et al., elib (German Aerospace Center) pmh:oai:elib.dlr.de:217602
Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100910
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Exploring the spatial and temporal changes of compound disasters: A case study in Gaoping River, Taiwan, Climate Risk Management, 10.1016/j.crm.2024.100617 4 cites.
Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects
Asymmetric Spring–Summer Responses of Interannual Dry–Wet Transitions in Eastern Asia and North America Under Global Warming, Yang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122510
Joint Risk Assessment of Humid Heatwave-Heavy Precipitation Compound Events in East China During the Late 21st Century, Yu et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70395
Levante and poniente winds in the Strait of Gibraltar: Present and future characterization using regional climate models, Ortega et al., Atmospheric Research 10.1016/j.atmosres.2026.109071
Observed and Projected Future Changes in Climate and Extremes in a Himalayan Watershed Based on CMIP6 Model Outputs, Phuyal et al., Journal of Hydrometeorology 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0175.1
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Projections of temperature and precipitation trends using CMhyd under CMIP6 scenarios: A case study of Iraq's Middle and West, Atmospheric Research, 10.1016/j.atmosres.2024.107470 31 cites.
Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection
Baseline Climate Variables for Earth System Modelling, Juckes et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access pdf 10.5194/gmd-18-2639-2025
Conditional diffusion models for downscaling and bias correction of Earth system model precipitation, Aich et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access pdf 10.5194/gmd-19-1791-2026
Integrating climate model ensembles for reliable regional drought assessment through redundancy control, Abbas et al., Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 10.1002/qj.70211
Modeling snowpack dynamics and surface energy budget in boreal and subarctic peatlands and forests, Nousu et al., cryosphere Open Access 10.5194/tc-18-231-2024
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Systematic and objective evaluation of Earth system models: PCMDI Metrics Package (PMP) version 3, Geoscientific model development, 10.5194/gmd-17-3919-2024 30 cites.
Cryosphere & climate change
A comprehensive database of thawing permafrost locations across Alaska: version 2.0.0, Webb et al., Earth system science data Open Access pdf 10.5194/essd-18-3147-2026
Acceleration of an Antarctic outlet glacier driven by surface meltwater input to the base, Sugiyama et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72724-x
Compound drivers of Antarctic sea ice loss and Southern Ocean destratification, Narayanan et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aeb0166
Decadal re-forecasts of glacier climatic mass balance, Laan et al., Leibniz Universität Hannover Open Access 10.15488/20255
Glacier surge activity over Svalbard from 1992 to 2025 interpreted using heritage satellite radar missions and Sentinel-1, Strozzi et al., cryosphere Open Access 10.5194/tc-20-1679-2026
Glacier velocity as a primary control on areal retreat and surface thinning across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding regions, Guo et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105528
Ice core reveals longest-ever continuous record of Earth’s climate, Castelvecchi, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01523-7
Quantifying Asymmetries in the Societal Impact of Mass Loss From the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets, Bolliger et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2024ef005914
The effect of the present-day imbalance on schematic and climate forced simulations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse, Akker et al., cryosphere Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc-20-1405-2026
Unprecedented 2025 glacier mass loss in Pamir, Fan et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.04.018
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
A Multifaceted Look at Garhwal Himalayan Glaciers: Quantifying Area Change, Retreat, and Mass Balance, and Its Controlling Parameters, Environment Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-024-04917-7 6 cites.
Sea level & climate change
Critical role of low cloud feedback in irreversible sea level rise, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72898-4
Quantifying the Sea Level and Estuary Contributions to Changing High Water Levels in Four Major Australian Estuaries, Palmer et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef006175
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Storm surges and extreme sea levels: Review, establishment of model intercomparison and coordination of surge climate projection efforts (SurgeMIP)., Weather and Climate Extremes, 10.1016/j.wace.2024.100689 39 cites.
Paleoclimate & paleogeochemistry
Impact of the temperature-cloud phase relationship on the simulated Arctic warming during the Last Interglacial, Arima et al., Climate of the past Open Access 10.5194/cp-22-891-2026
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Changes in monsoon precipitation in East Asia under a 2°C interglacial warming, Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.adm7694 26 cites.
Biology & climate change, related geochemistry
Autonomous Float Data Reveal Decoupled Trends in Chlorophyll and Stratification in the Indian Ocean, Ishaque et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc023417
Biogeochemistry of climate driven shifts in Southern Ocean primary producers, Fisher et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-22-975-2025
Climate-driven degradation of marine foraging habitats for Adélie penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula, Liu et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105518
Climate-induced range shifts support local plant diversity but don’t reduce extinction risk, Wang et al., Science 10.1126/science.aea1676
Current and Future Potential Distribution of the Invasive Thrips Echinothrips americanus (Terebrantia: Thripidae) Under Global Climate Change, QingLing et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access 10.1002/ece3.73636
Deforestation-induced drying lowers Amazon climate threshold, Wunderling et al., Nature Open Access 10.1038/s41586-026-10456-0
Evaluating the protection status and exposure to warming of Caribbean reefs with high functional potential, Melo?Merino et al., Conservation Biology Open Access 10.1111/cobi.70302
Flash drought-driven forest gross primary productivity declines in China amplified by extreme heat, Sun et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105515
Forest tree fecundity declines as climate shifts, Foest et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02638-5
Future Drought Will Lead to a Decrease in Vegetation Resilience in China, Jiang et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007070
Increasing Mortality of Rare Tree Species Amplifies Extinction Risk in Tropical Forests Under Climate Change, He et al., Global Ecology and Biogeography 10.1111/geb.70235
Loss of competitive strength in European conifer species under climate change, Grünig et al., bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) Open Access 10.64898/2026.02.13.705703
Reorganization of Subtropical Phytoplankton Communities in the Warming Ocean, Xin et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 10.1029/2025jc022734
Scientists’ warning on the global destruction of rock outcrop ecosystems, Paula et al., Conservation Biology Open Access 10.1111/cobi.70316
Ten Strategies to Promote Climate Resilience and Sustainability of Global Forests, Wang et al., Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Open Access 10.1002/wcc.70064
Variations in the temperature response of photosynthesis among nine common tree species planted in Singapore, Teo et al., Frontiers in Forests and Global Change Open Access 10.3389/ffgc.2026.1738900
Vegetation responses to air dryness amplify future land surface warming, Green et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-73063-7
Vulnerability and Adaptations to Climate Change in EU Protected Areas: A Natura 2000 Managers’ perspective, Zavattoni et al., bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) Open Access pdf 10.64898/2025.12.19.695111
Warming-driven shifts in floral traits generate flower–pollinator size mismatch and decrease reproductive output, Dong et al., Ecology 10.1002/ecy.70368
Water-Regulated Carbon Cost–Benefit Drives Divergent Effective Rooting Depth Across the Greening Loess Plateau, Su et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122356
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Rapid climate change increases diversity and homogenizes composition of coastal fish at high latitudes, Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.17273 14 cites.
GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry
A Comprehensive Global Aquatic N2O Emission Database (GANED): Unravelling N2O Emission Patterns from Different Water Bodies, Nazir et al., Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) Open Access 10.5281/zenodo.18442133
Carbon sequestration service in the Atlantic Ocean: an assessment from coastal to ocean ecosystems, Zunino et al., Earth-Science Reviews 10.1016/j.earscirev.2026.105536
Evolution and drivers of CO2 and carbon intensity in Malaysia, Su et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115364
Global methane emissions rebounded in 2024 despite a deceleration in atmospheric growth, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72764-3
Integrated climate effects on nitrogen cycles in global grasslands, Zheng et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aec5940
Microbial Controls on Carbon Pump Partitioning in the Subtropical North Atlantic: Stoichiometry and Nutrient Limitation Across a Basin-Scale Transect, Marx et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc023638
Sentinel-5p Reveals Unexplained Large Wildfire Carbon Emissions in the Amazon in 2024, Laat et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl115123
Stronger Southern Ocean Anthropogenic Carbon Uptake in Eddying Ocean Simulations, Patara et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0198.1
The increasing impact of vegetation productivity on global wetland methane emissions, Wang et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105523
White Is a New Shade of Blue Carbon: A Case Study of a Traditional Salt Production Pond That is a Net Carbon Sink, Alexandre et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences Open Access 10.1029/2025jg009016
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Global nitrous oxide emissions from livestock manure during 1890–2020: An IPCC tier 2 inventory, Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.17303 19 cites.
CO2 capture, sequestration science & engineering
Facilitating permanent carbon storage through risk transfers? Analyzing the insurability of the carbon leakage liability, Spencer et al., Energy Research & Social Science Open Access 10.1016/j.erss.2026.104746
On the Efficiency and Durability of Purposefully Sinking Seaweed Biomass as a Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Strategy, Sten et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007628
Short-term action is key for gigaton-scale Direct Air Capture by 2050, Zurbriggen et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72691-3
The state of macroalgae carbon dioxide removal: insights from a methodology development team, III et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1761760
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Modeling direct air carbon capture and storage in a 1.5 °C climate future using historical analogs, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2215679121 37 cites.
Decarbonization
Carbon-neutral Powertrains – Research into Non-fossil Energy Sources and Life Cycle Analyses, Tutsch, MTZ worldwide 10.1007/s38313-026-2194-y
EV-ready building codes and electric vehicle adoption, Lou & Niemeier, Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72664-6
Offshore wind farms reshape ocean stratification and productivity differently in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, Maar et al., npj Ocean Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44183-026-00202-4
Potential and challenges for CDR in the European pulp and paper sector, Jordal et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1834276
Sustainable EV adoption with clustering and predictive modelling for optimal charging infrastructure in the West Midlands and North East UK, Cavus et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-43106-6
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
The roll-to-roll revolution to tackle the industrial leap for perovskite solar cells, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-48518-4 70 cites.
Geoengineering climate
A Climate Intervention Dynamical Emulator (CIDER) for scenario space exploration, Farley et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access 10.5194/gmd-19-1809-2026
Assessing the impact of solar climate intervention on future U.S. weather using a convection-permitting WRF model, Sun et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access 10.5194/gmd-19-2239-2026
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Opinion: A research roadmap for exploring atmospheric methane removal via iron salt aerosol, Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024 9 cites.
Aerosols
Dust Decline Amplifies High-Cloud Ice-to-Liquid Transition and Buffers the Radiative Feedback Under Warming, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl121917
Effects of climate change on desert dust, Middleton & Goudie, Earth-Science Reviews 10.1016/j.earscirev.2026.105540
Nitric Oxide Radiative Relaxation Time: Damping Timescales of Lower Thermospheric Thermal Perturbations, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl117874
Opposing transient and equilibrium effective radiative forcing from aerosol-cloud interactions, Dagan, Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72896-6
Strong global radiative effects from wildfire dark brown carbon, Xu et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-026-01972-9
Climate change communications & cognition
A technocognitive approach to detecting fallacies in climate misinformation, Zanartu et al., Scientific Reports Open Access 10.1038/s41598-024-76139-w
Climate Creativity for Action: Conceptual Development and the Catalytic Effect of Hope., Spence & Burge, Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103075
Scientists as activists: An ethnography of the ‘critical moments’ in scientists’ transition to climate activism, Finnerty, PLOS Climate Open Access 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000828
The Perils of Climate Catastrophism: A Call to Situate Crisis and Change, Bickerstaff, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Open Access 10.1002/wcc.70062
The psychology of real-world collective climate action: A mixed-methods approach, Brouër et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103072
When Climate Anxiety Motivates Versus Paralyzes: A Conceptual Replication of the Inverted U-Shaped Relationship between Climate Anxiety and Pro-Environmental Behavior, Dijk et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103069
When Trust Is Good and Worrying Is Even Better. Trust in Science and Climate Change Specific Worries Are Linked to Policy Support and Pro-Environmental Behaviours., Nitschke et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103042
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Setting the agenda for climate assemblies. Trade-offs and guiding principles, Climate Policy, 10.1080/14693062.2024.2349824 15 cites.
Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change
Climate and ecological constraints of cultivating bioenergy crops for climate mitigation in tropical regions, Navarro et al., PNAS Nexus Open Access 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag123
Climate vulnerability and adaptation pathways among smallholder sheep farmers in the Drakensberg Grasslands of South Africa, Slayi et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1785998
Decarbonizing desert greenhouse crop production with direct air capture–based CO2 enrichment, Lopez-Reyes et al., npj Sustainable Agriculture Open Access 10.1038/s44264-026-00149-6
Engineering resilient food systems in a warming world, Woodrow, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01250-z
Financial accounting of carbon forestry with data from Florida, Kärenlampi, Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1738771
Interdependent adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among rice farmers in northwest Bangladesh, Islam et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-51096-8
Renewable energy installation as a catalyst for sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural growth in Kenya, Masibayi et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115371
Scientists breed low-emission rice to fight climate change, You, Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02614-z
Thermal limits of estuarine amphipods and their implications for aquaculture production, Rodrigues et al., Marine Environmental Research Open Access 10.1016/j.marenvres.2026.108109
Warming winters and cultivar resilience in sweet cherry: agroclimatic requirements and future suitability under Mediterranean-continental conditions, Santolaria et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Open Access 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111138
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Organic food has lower environmental impacts per area unit and similar climate impacts per mass unit compared to conventional, Communications Earth & Environment, 10.1038/s43247-024-01415-6 27 cites.
Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change
Assessing the Role of Tropical Cyclones on Drought Characteristics in the Hurricane Region of the Americas Between 1983 and 2024, Herrera et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2025jd045998
Climate Change Amplifies Rainfall Sensitivity to Deforestation in the Southern Amazon, Zhang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl119000
Dealing with water extremes: An exploration of conditions for transformative adaptation, Pahl?Wostl, Global Environmental Change Open Access 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2026.103163
Dynamics and risk assessment of water conservation in a high-mountain river basin under climate change, Chai et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105527
From opinion to action: Impact of social networks and information policy on private adaptation to floods, Wagenblast et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104393
Global irrigation reservoirs are at a higher risk of water shortages, Shah et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access 10.1038/s43247-026-03571-3
Global Vegetation Greening Is Exacerbating Soil Dryness, Qu et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70901
Joint Risk Assessment of Humid Heatwave-Heavy Precipitation Compound Events in East China During the Late 21st Century, Yu et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70395
Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100910
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
California’s 2023 snow deluge: Contextualizing an extreme snow year against future climate change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2320600121 18 cites.
Climate change economics
Fixing carbon credits requires a new financing model, Probst & Egli, PNAS Nexus Open Access 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag117
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Tackling debt, biodiversity loss, and climate change, Science, 10.1126/science.ado7418 10 cites.
Climate change mitigation public policy research
Carbon markets rule change would harm mitigation and Indigenous peoples, Williamson et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02629-6
Climate governance overlooks the ocean: a structural limitation exposed at COP30, García-Soto, npj Ocean Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44183-026-00206-0
Evaluative governance for climate action in Australia, Kotarba-Morley et al., Nature Sustainability 10.1038/s41893-026-01814-x
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Are consumers ready to adopt electric vehicles? Analyzing the barriers and motivators associated with electric vehicle adoption in India: Policy implications for various stakeholders, Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114173 34 cites.
Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research
American cities in a time of global environmental change: the case of the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, Zaitchik et al., Environmental Research Infrastructure and Sustainability Open Access 10.1088/2634-4505/ae636e
Assessing vulnerability and risk of coastal settlements in The Gambia to windstorms: integrating socioeconomic and environmental dimensions, Dibba, Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1741665
Climate resilience in Indian smart cities: Linking dry–hot extremes and urban vulnerability for sustainability, Sahu et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2026.102922
Digital climate education for rural resilience: validation and effectiveness of an e-learning module for farmers in flood- and cyclone-prone regions of India, Gorai et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1756972
From opinion to action: Impact of social networks and information policy on private adaptation to floods, Wagenblast et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104393
From the Mediterranean to the Arctic: the climate change approaches of Mersin and Tromsø municipalities, Da??d?r, Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration 10.1007/s41207-026-01155-3
The climate justice implementation gap: are urban health and planning workforces trained for equitable climate adaptation?, Acuña-Rodríguez et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1827634
The importance of recognizing opportunities in climate change impacts, Carter, Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02626-9
Trees halve urban heat island effect globally but unequal benefits only modestly mitigate climate-change warming, McDonald et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-71825-x
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Linking the interplay of resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation to long-term changes in metropolitan spaces for climate-related disaster risk management, Climate Risk Management, 10.1016/j.crm.2024.100618 26 cites.
Climate change impacts on human health
Modelling the impact of climate on cholera: a case study of Kolkata, Shackleton et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-51415-z
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Indian Ocean temperature anomalies predict long-term global dengue trends, Science, 10.1126/science.adj4427 43 cites.
Climate change & geopolitics
Caribbean small island developing states and the climate change advisory opinions: engagement and potential use, Berry et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science Open Access 10.3389/fenvs.2026.1782320
An analytical assessment of greenhouse gas impacts on HF propagation using the Appleton-Beynon approach, Zossi et al., Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 10.1016/j.jastp.2026.106825
Evidence of hydrological regime shifts associated with a major decades-long drought in West Africa, Peugeot et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72648-6
Scientists as activists: An ethnography of the ‘critical moments’ in scientists’ transition to climate activism, Finnerty, PLOS Climate Open Access 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000828
Socioeconomic Disparities in Climate Change-Induced Compound Energy Droughts in China, Wang et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007598
World-leading climate centre takes Trump administration to court, Witze, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01501-z
Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives
The future of plant extinction, McChesney et al., Phytochemistry 10.1016/j.phytochem.2007.04.032
The Paradox of Climate Justice, Isenhour, Local Environment 10.1080/13549839.2012.729570
Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Just urban transitions: Toward a research agenda, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change, 10.1002/wcc.640 165 cites.
24/7 renewables: The economics of firm solar and wind, Dardour et al., International Renewable Energy Agency
The authors' analysis shows that the cost of firm renewable electricity has declined rapidly across all major technologies and markets. In high-quality solar and wind resource regions, co-located hybrid systems can already deliver round-the-clock electricity at costs competitive with - and in many cases below - those of new fossil-fuel generation. China currently defines the global cost floor, while costs in Brazil, India, South Africa, Australia, and the Gulf region are declining rapidly towards fossil-fuel cost parity. The authors identify key drivers of firm renewable costs – technology performance, resource quality and system configuration – and examine the policy levers that are proving decisive in translating cost competitiveness into deployment at scale. They conclude that the technologies are maturing, the costs are falling and the commercial demand is growing. The pace at which firm renewable electricity is deployed will be among the most consequential determinants of the global energy transition in the decade ahead. For two decades, the PJM region managed its electricity system in an era of relative stability. The Reliability Pricing Model, PJM’s capacity market, was built for that environment: a system with predictable, gradually changing load; a coal-to-gas fuel transition that could be managed over a years-long horizon; and a generation development timeline that aligned with the market’s three-year forward horizon. The PJM region is now navigating a convergence of three structural forces that have pushed the system into disequilibrium: an unprecedented surge in demand driven by the rapid expansion of large-load data centers and broader economy-wide electrification; the accelerated retirement of dispatchable generation due to environmental policy and economics; and significant supply chain and permitting frictions that have extended the time required to bring new resources online. The PJM Board of Managers directed PJM staff to undertake a holistic review of the capacity market design and investment incentives. The Board recognized that the market’s current price volatility – while economically rational – is placing unsustainable stress on the governmental compact that allows the market to function, and that the foundational assumptions of the Reliability Pricing Model design must be reexamined in a resource-constrained world. This white paper is PJM’s response to that directive.Homegrown Energy: A policy blueprint for energy affordability, Eberhard et al., Rewiring America
A coordinated set of policies can make whole-home electrification, rooftop solar, and battery storage affordable for 96 percent of eligible U.S. households, delivering $26,000 in average lifetime savings per home, or $1.5 trillion nationwide. Home electrification alone is affordable for roughly 40 percent of U.S. households. By reshaping incentives and economics to capture the value of household energy infrastructure, policymakers can shift affordability from 1 in 10 eligible households to more than 9 in 10. The authors identify six market-based policies that lower costs, bring in new capital, and ensure households are paid for the value they provide; reduce soft costs; require large new energy users to invest in distributed resources; enable inclusive utility investment; modernize rate design; redirecting gas infrastructure investment; and scale virtual power plants.Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient, Affordable Grid of the Future, Lightbody et al., Pew Charitable Trusts
Distributed energy resources (DERs)—energy generation and storage technologies including rooftop solar, battery storage, smart appliances, and “managed” electric vehicle charging, which involves controlling when EVs are charged to account for demand on the grid—offer a low-cost, readily available, scalable solution to increased demand. To help address this demand, the authors identified three core DER policy goals and specific recommendations that can help decision-makers, including state elected officials and public utility regulators, begin the work of bringing DERs to scale nationwide; integrate DERs as core grid resources into utility planning, investment, and procurement decisions; reduce administrative, technical, and regulatory barriers to allow DERs to be permitted and granted grid access faster and at lower cost; and strengthen community resilience by using DER solutions to improve grid reliability.Watts Wasting Texas Water. How coal and gas power plants guzzle billions of gallons every year and how we can transition to a more secure water future, Lindsay Stafford Mader, Sierra Club
Texas is facing drought, water shortages, and declining river and stream flows in all reaches of the state. Amid these ongoing water crises, it is important to understand just how much water coal and gas power plants use every year, whereas renewable energy and battery storage barely use any. To determine the enormity of water resources dedicated to Texas power plants, the author analyzed water consumption numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration as well as state water rights data.Water Use Requirements for Data Centers in Texas, COMPASS Research Affiliates Program at the University of Texas at Austin
The authors address the urgent and growing need to understand and quantify the water footprint of data centers, alongside their escalating energy demands. Water has now emerged as a primary constraint in data center planning, particularly in regions vulnerable to drought, water stress, or infrastructure limitations. The adoption of water-intensive cooling systems, such as evaporative and hybrid technologies, while advantageous for energy efficiency, raises concerns over freshwater use and long-term sustainability. The authors position water not as a secondary input, but as a core engineering, environmental, and policy issue in the future of digital infrastructure.Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa, Muttitt et al., Oil Change International and Power Shift Africa
As global energy markets are rocked by conflict and geopolitical instability, the authors found that oil and gas production has failed to deliver economic development in Africa’s producing countries and is instead deepening vulnerability, inequality, and dependence. The authors use data from 13 producing countries in Africa and find that decades of extraction have failed to reduce poverty or drive economic growth, and instead are lining the pockets of an elite few.A New Phase for the U.S. Battery Industry. Policy Considerations to Sustain Momentum, Bridge Gaps, and Avoid Pitfalls, Ray Cai and Jane Nakano, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Drawing on extensive desk research and stakeholder interviews, the authors use their report to inform policy debates through evidence-based analysis of the complex dynamics that are shaping the industry at today’s critical inflection point. The authors focus on three central strategic questions: where are the most critical supply chain vulnerabilities, what should be the approach to international linkages, and how can innovation be aligned with industrialization?Offshore Wind: Status and Issues for the 119th Congress, Clark et al., Congressional Research Service
The U.S. offshore wind industry has faced economic challenges in recent years that have led to the postponement or cancellation of some projects. Projects also have faced lawsuits from coastal homeowners and preservationists, the fishing industry, tribes, and those concerned about potential impacts to marine wildlife. Recent federal policies toward U.S. offshore wind have shifted from those in place during the Biden Administration. President Trump has halted OCS wind leasing and permitting and directed other actions to reverse prior federal support for offshore wind. Also, in P.L. 119-21, the FY2025 budget reconciliation law, Congress limited offshore wind tax credits and rescinded unobligated balances for federally funded activities related to interregional and offshore wind electricity transmission. Congress continues to consider issues related to offshore wind leasing, permitting, transmission, tax credits, and related matters through oversight and legislation.Hydrogen Energy: Technologies Offer Potential Benefits but Face Challenges to Widespread Use, Fletcher et al., Government Accountability Office
Hydrogen energy technologies offer long-duration energy storage, increased transportation efficiencies, quiet operation, reduced air polluting emissions, and potentially broad availability. For example, hydrogen fuel cell power generation technologies could provide quiet, clean backup power to data centers and other large-scale operations during power outages. These generation technologies could increase overall electricity grid security by providing long-duration energy storage. Currently, hydrogen fuel cells provide about 0.03 percent of utility-scale electricity generation.Trust, Governance, and Climate Disasters in the Indo-Pacific, Sohail Akhtar, Toda Peace Institute
The author argues that climate emergencies generate epistemic stress: situations in which uncertainty and competing narratives disrupt shared understandings of risk and appropriate response. Drawing on recent bushfire events and subsequent reviews of disaster governance in Australia, the author shows how disagreements over climate attribution, institutional readiness, and political accountability can complicate emergency coordination and weaken public trust even where operational capacity remains strong. The author concludes with policy recommendations for Indo-Pacific governments, regional organizations, and international partners aimed at strengthening crisis communication, institutional credibility, and the capacity of democratic systems to manage contested knowledge during climate emergencies.Taiwan’s Climate Adaptation Leadership in the Caribbean: Technology, Capacity, and Strategic Cooperation, Hernandez-Roy et al., Center for Strategic and International Studies
Climate change represents an existential threat for Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where exposure to extreme climate events intersects with structural economic vulnerabilities, limited fiscal capacity, and high economic dependence on climate-sensitive sectors. As Caribbean states seek technical expertise in climate adaptation strategies such as water resilience, disaster preparedness, and agricultural security, Taiwan—itself an island—could be a natural partner with which to collaborate on innovative and impactful projects.Pedal to the Metal 2026. The iron and steel industry’s coal lock-in crisis, Grigsby-Schulte et al., Global Energy Monitor
The authors present the newest annual survey of the current and developing global iron and steel plant fleet. The authors examine the status of the iron and steel sector compared to global decarbonization roadmaps and corporate and country-level net-zero pledges. Included in the survey are asset-level data on 1,293 iron and steel plants in 91 countries and nearly 700 operating and proposed mines worldwide. A closing window for transition With 2030 decarbonization deadlines approaching, the global iron and steel industry is running out of time to shift away from coal-based production methods. Continued investment in coal-based capacity and underinvestment in green hydrogen threaten net-zero targets. Now more than ever, it is crucial to disrupt emissions-intensive blast furnace developments and redirect resources to iron and steelmaking technologies that align with net-zero goals About New ResearchClick here for the why and how of Skeptical Science New Research.
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Grid-Scale Virtual Power Plants are Here. Have Utilities Noticed?
As electricity demand in the United States continues to grow — from data centers, electric vehicles, and other large loads — utilities are struggling to keep up. Instead of building more traditional power plants, utilities can meet that demand in a cleaner and cheaper way by also turning to virtual power plants (VPPs).
VPPs are aggregations of distributed energy resources such as batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats, and other connected devices that can provide utility-scale and utility-grade services. Designing VPP Programs to meet utilities’ needs, however, requires planning. Just as traditional grid resources are weighed in utilities’ plans, VPPs should also be considered, modeled, and included in the utility planning process.
Today, existing and proposed VPPs are approaching and exceeding the scale of traditional power plants. In 2024, the average combustion gas turbine in the United States was 180 megawatts (MW). Meanwhile, several VPP programs across the country have met or exceeded this capacity:
- In Massachusetts, National Grid launched ConnectedSolutions in 2016, which has grown to 227 MW and includes residential thermostats, residential batteries, and commercial and industrial demand response. Beyond Massachusetts, ConnectedSolutions’ region-wide, open-access VPP shaved 375 MW of demand from the New England grid during a multi-day heat wave in June 2024.
- In California, the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) and Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) programs were launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively, to shore up near-term reliability quickly in response to rolling blackouts. The ELRP reached nearly 800 MW as of 2023 and DSGS has reached 1,145 MW as of October 2025 with a majority of the program’s capacity — 768 MW — stemming from the market-aware storage pilot program.
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In Texas, NRG and Renew Home announced a partnership to develop a 1 gigawatt (GW) VPP by 2035 driven by smart thermostat usage; as of 2025 NRG has reached 150 MW. Meanwhile, CPS Energy started its VPP pilot over 10 years ago, which has grown to over 250 MW in size as of 2024 with 175,000 customers.
Recent policy and momentum in other states will drive further development of VPPs at this scale. In the past year, the Virginia legislature directed Dominion Energy to develop a VPP pilot program for 450 MW, New Jersey’s governor issued an executive order for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to develop a VPP program within six months, and the Colorado legislature directed Xcel Energy to create its first virtual power plant program, which has developed into a 125 MW proposal that was recently approved by state regulators.
Meanwhile, utilities have also directly taken actions to scale VPPs. For example, Xcel Energy in Minnesota plans to procure up to 200 MW of distributed storage, and Georgia Power recently agreed to procure up to 100 MW of new distributed solar and storage.
At these scales, VPPs can provide significant support to utilities in matching supply with demand and maintaining the reliability of the grid. Fortunately, many existing VPPs have already proven their value in both standard and emergency conditions.
During Winter Storm Elliot in 2022, providers across the region provided support by leveraging customer-sited distributed energy resources. CPower, for example, reported providing 50 GWh of energy. And during the 2025 summer heat dome that swept across the eastern United States, numerous VPP aggregators helped manage customer demand across the region to maintain a reliable grid.
For example, on June 24th — one of the region’s highest demand days — Sunrun leveraged more than 340 MW of customer-sited batteries to support the evening net peak, and EnergyHub shed 900 MW of peak load and shifted 3.5 GWh of energy to non-peak periods. And over the course of the, Uplight managed 350 MW of flexible load, all of which supported grid operators in keeping the lights on amid record heat.
Additionally, a test event on July 29 of California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) Demand Side Grid Support program provided more than 500 MW of demand relief during the afternoon in which net load — demand minus renewables — is highest. The chart below shows the impact of the CAISO VPP test. By simultaneously discharging behind-the-meter energy storage from across the state, VPPs flattened net peak demand between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Exhibit 1
CAISO event day system net load, with and without VPP dispatch
Similar applications of VPPs are starting to emerge on the distribution system, enabling cost savings and making these resources even more attractive to customers and utilities. For example, as part of its 2024 Grid Modernization plan, National Grid found that at least two of its feeder expansion projects could feasibly and cost-effectively be deferred for five years each by leveraging virtual power plant programs, creating near-term savings for customers while benefitting the grid. And Pacific Gas & Electric recently incorporated two battery projects onto its grid that are able to support local distribution overloads, avoid feeder and transformer upgrades, and can participate in the wholesale energy market and support the larger electrical grid.
Despite the growth in VPPs, utility plans aren’t keeping up
To ensure power delivered to customers is both affordable and reliable, many utilities develop regular long-term plans for their electricity generation and distribution systems —called integrated resource plans (IRPs) and distribution system plans (DSPs), respectively. Utilities that develop these plans do so to ensure that they can deliver power to customers under a range of future scenarios at lowest cost to customers. In these plans, the costs and benefits of various investment options are weighed against each other in order to select the least-cost options to meet all of the utilities’ energy needs while maintaining a reliable grid.
VPPs have increasingly been appearing in state-level regulatory filings, including IRPs, DSPs, and other regulatory dockets (Exhibit 2), reflecting an uptick in utility adoption and increasing interest in these technologies from utilities, regulators, and additional stakeholders. As of 2023, there were already more than 500 VPP programs in operation, serving 30 to 60 GW of peak demand.
Exhibit 2
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However, despite the increasing prevalence of VPPs in utility plans and regulatory filings, these mentions do not indicate that utilities are fully accounting for the value that VPPs are providing to their systems (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 3
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RMI reviewed a nationally representative sample of IRPs and DSPs and found that utilities do not account for VPPs in the same way in their respective plans, if they account for them at all (Exhibit 4).
Exhibit 4
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We found that there are significant benefits that VPPs can provide to utilities and customers, but two shortfalls in planning often prevent the expansion of VPPs in resource plans.
First, VPPs are often not evaluated as a selectable resource for expansion, unlike other utility generating options. Traditional assets used in bulk system and distribution system modeling include associated capital and operating costs, reliability contributions, assumed operating profiles, and other relevant inputs, including operating limitations, reasonable build rates and times, location-specific cost-benefit analyses when appropriate, and others.
By including detailed representations of traditional resource options, models can select the resources best suited and lowest cost to meet future energy and infrastructure needs. However, VPPs often do not get the same modeling treatment, and instead are given fixed rates of expansion that do not account for the economic expansion of VPPs on the grid.
Additionally, VPPs can have restrictive parameters based on current VPP programs or existing grid needs that don’t evolve over time or reflect actual grid performance. This can prevent VPPs from being viewed as long-term perennial assets that can support grid needs into the future. As such, the ability of VPPs to expand and offset new generation in models is limited compared to their real-world potential.
A second shortfall we see in planning is the exclusion of the many benefits and value streams that VPPs provide. VPPs provide benefits to both the bulk power system and distribution system and can include benefits beyond reducing demand during peak periods.
However, many of the benefits that VPPs provide are lacking in cost-benefit analyses and in operating parameters used in modeling, which can under-estimate their economic value and usefulness, especially when comparing them to other generating assets. For example, when VPPs aren’t being modeled as options to support grid stability or mitigate distribution system upgrades, utilities may be led to build redundant generating assets or substations to meet these needs at customers’ expense. Without capturing the full value-stream of VPPs, their ability to economically offset new generation and investment options is stymied and can lead to inefficient grid expansion.
Despite inconsistencies, many utilities are working to address the VPP modeling gap.
To ensure that utility plans enable VPPs to deliver on their potential and reduce costs, they must be meaningfully included in utility plans, with detailed capacity values, reliability attributes, cost assumptions, and benefit streams. In other words, they need to be evaluated on an even playing field against conventional resources.
In distribution plans, VPPs should be considered to avoid or defer distribution system upgrades or otherwise reduce system costs by providing locational services. While utility plans as a whole may not be modeling VPPs in a consistent way that shows their full effect on the grid, we have seen some best practices emerge in utility plans that address typical VPP modeling shortfalls that are worth highlighting.
Best practices: Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric (PGE) does robust modeling of the components that comprise a VPP — distributed energy resources, flexible load, and batteries — to inform both its distribution planning and integrated resource planning. In integrated resource planning, PGE takes a novel approach to integrating its VPP components to ensure that the VPPs that are cost-effective today are properly accounted for, and VPPs that may be more cost-effective in the future — especially compared to other supply-side options — have the chance to be selected to serve future energy and reliability needs.
Through robust technical and locationally granular modeling in the distribution plan, the utility finds the VPP assets that provide benefits that exceed costs today and leverages them to modify and offset its future demand. Afterwards, the utility treats the remaining VPP assets — those that can realistically be deployed but may provide more value in the future — as options that can be selected to meet future demand alongside other supply-side assets.
Importantly, the utility develops an Effective Load Carrying Capacity (ELCC) — a metric used to value a resource’s contribution to the grid during periods of grid stress — for distributed resources, along with operating characteristics and costs of the VPP resources.
By approaching its modeling this way, PGE can identify the opportunities to expand VPP resources that currently provide more benefits to customers than costs, while continuing to evaluate whether additional expansion of or modification to VPP programs could provide customer benefits in the future
Best practices: Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (GMP) in Vermont has also been a leader in quantifying emerging value streams on both the bulk power and distribution systems, which has led to expanding VPP programs.
In its planning, GMP accounted for numerous value streams of VPPs. As a result. it proposed expanding its distributed solar and flexible load programs — including on EV charging and commercial and industrial load management — to capture new regional benefits and defer spending on new transmission and generating capacity.
The benefits that GMP highlights for VPPs, which factor into its expansion plan, include lowering capacity and transmission peaks, which reduce RTO demand charges and transmission expansion costs; providing frequency regulation to the region; resilience benefits during extreme weather events; deferred distribution system upgrades; reduced load; and improved stability on local distribution systems.
Planners and decision makers can support VPP growth through modeling improvements
As virtual power plants continue to become grid assets that rival the scale and characteristics of traditional power plants and grid infrastructure, utilities need to weigh them on equal footing with their conventional counterparts. To do this, utilities and regulators can consider the following modeling improvements:
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Develop resource attributes of VPPs so that they can be evaluated like traditional investment options. The characteristics of virtual power plants and the costs and benefits of VPP programs must be part of the utility planning process so that utilities are able to evaluate VPPs against other traditional investment options. Regulators and utilities can work to ensure that key characteristics of VPPs — namely reliability contributions, costs and benefits, and operational profiles — are properly incorporated into planning.
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Allow opportunities for growth of VPPs in models. Once VPPs are able to be compared to traditional investment options, utility models need to be allowed to select VPPs as a feasible future resource option when they are cost-effective rather than solely treating them as a pre-determined resource or adjustment to load forecast. As early as 2007, the Public Utilities Commission of Oregon required electric and gas utilities in their resource planning to “evaluate demand response resources, including voluntary rate programs, on par with other options for meeting energy, capacity, and transmission needs (for electric utilities) or gas supply and transportation needs (for natural gas utilities).
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Evaluate VPP benefits on both distribution and bulk power systems. VPPs have the benefit of being able to provide benefits across the grid, while traditional investment options often benefit either the bulk power system or the distribution system. Utilities need to account for the integrated costs and benefits of VPPs in planning through integrated system planning that looks at both the larger bulk power system and the distribution system together. In the absence of integrated system planning, proxy values or estimates can be incorporated into existing plans to ensure that full benefit streams are being accounted for.
Utility plans today are underestimating the potential of VPPs as a cost-effective grid resource, creating a risk that utilities will overbuild their grid to meet needs that VPPs are already filling. Until VPPs are properly modeled in utility plans, they may not reach their full potential across the country.
The post Grid-Scale Virtual Power Plants are Here. Have Utilities Noticed? appeared first on RMI.
Persisten los riesgos para defensores del territorio indígenas en Bolivia
Amenazas a defensores del territorio indígenas en Bolivia han llamado la atención de las Naciones Unidas. Los defensores denuncian la contaminación del agua y del suelo provocada por varias minas de la zona y documentada por el gobierno estatal.
Líderes de Seque Jahuira han logrado organizarse, manifestarse e incluso conseguir la aprobación de una ley para denunciar los efectos de la minería en la zona. Han sido objeto de amenazas y hostilidad, lo que les ha llevado a temer por la seguridad de sus familias.
Por desgracia, no son los únicos que viven esta situación. Los pueblos indígenas y líderes de comunidades afectadas por la minería suelen sufrir intimidación y violencia, a pesar de que los pueblos indígenas tienen el derecho a rechazar la minería o a establecer condiciones para un proyecto.
Las protestas dan lugar a una legislación contra la contaminación mineraEl 1 de septiembre de 2025, el pueblo de Seque Jahuira, en Bolivia, junto con otras comunidades de la región, organizaron una protesta masiva contra la presencia de múltiples operaciones mineras en su territorio. Los manifestantes marcharon hasta la alcaldía y tomaron el edificio.
Llevaban consigo documentos de la oficina del gobernador de La Paz, la capital del país. Los documentos indicaban que, en 2023, al menos nueve empresas operando en la región, tanto de forma legal como ilegal, eran responsables por el vertido de residuos mineros tóxicos y el drenaje ácido de minas, afectando a la salud del agua y del suelo en una zona que depende principalmente de la agricultura y la ganadería para su sustento.
Tras las protestas, la Defensoría del Pueblo también sacó un comunicado afirmando que, «Tras múltiples gestiones y seguimientos a las denuncias de contaminación del agua con cianuro… no obtuvieron respuestas efectivas de las instancias competentes». A pesar de la existencia de documentación y conocimiento del problema por parte del gobierno, Seque Jahuira y las comunidades vecinas seguían sufriendo los efectos de la contaminación minera para su salud y el medio ambiente.
Esa tarde, el alcalde del municipio de Viacha, donde se encuentran estas comunidades, firmó la ley municipal 042/2025. Esta ley declaró al municipio un territorio libre de la contaminación minera con el fin de proteger el derecho a un medio ambiente limpio y saludable. La ley permite inspecciones y sanciones para cualquier operación minera que no cumpliera con la normativa, y compromete al gobierno local a «la mitigación de todo tipo de contaminación debiendo iniciarse las acciones jurisdiccionales para la reparación y resarcimiento de daños ocasionados a las comunidades afectadas».
Los líderes indígenas de Seque Jahuira, organizaciones aliadas como el colectivo nacional de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, Qhana Pukara Kurmi, y otras comunidades de Viacha celebraron este importante logro, ya que se ordenó a más de 15 empresas mineras a suspender sus operaciones en el municipio.
Los líderes se enfrentan a amenazas y hostilidadSin embargo, al día siguiente Qhana Pukara Kurmi y algunos líderes comunitarios comenzaron a recibir llamadas anónimas amenazándolos por su participación en las protestas y su apoyo a la aplicación de la nueva ley. A raíz de las amenazas, Qhana Pukara Kurmi retiró los señalamientos de su oficina en La Paz y se vieron obligados a abandonar las instalaciones durante unas semanas hasta que se sentían seguros para volver a trabajar allí.
La semana después de que Qhana Pukara Kurmi abandonara su oficina, dos líderes indígenas se vieron obligados a salir de Viacha con sus familias, lo que también supuso que uno de ellos tuviera que cerrar su tienda de materiales de construcción. Mientras las amenazas continuaban, los miembros de Qhana Pukara Kurmi y los líderes de Viacha fueron objeto de una campaña de desprestigio en la cual se difundieron vídeos y mensajes en redes sociales que intentaban socavar su labor y cuestionaban su independencia, acusándolos de ser financiados por organizaciones y actores internacionales.
Más adelante ese mes, miembros de Qhana Pukara Kurmi se reunieron con la Defensoría del Pueblo para hablar sobre las continuas amenazas y el ambiente hostil que enfrentaban. Unos días después, la Defensoría del Pueblo confirmó que solo seis empresas mineras contaban con licencias ambientales vigentes, y que 21 de las 23 empresas operando en Viacha lo hacían de forma ilegal, sin los permisos necesarios.
Aunque algunos organismos gubernamentales, como la Defensoría del Pueblo, se han pronunciado sobre la situación en Viacha, los líderes indígenas siguen preocupados por las amenazas que reciben ellos y sus familias por sus denuncias de los impactos de la minería en su territorio.
La ONU y organismos gubernamentales expresan su preocupaciónEn octubre de 2025, los Relatores Especiales de la ONU sobre los defensores de los derechos humanos, sobre la libertad de reunión pacífica y asociación, y sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas enviaron una carta conjunta al Gobierno boliviano exigiendo una respuesta a los hechos dirigidos contra los defensores del territorio indígenas y toda la información disponible sobre las medidas implementadas para garantizar su protección. La carta denunciaba el incendio provocado en la casa de un líder, ataques violentos, el ataque del hijo de un líder, intimidación y amenazas.
El Gobierno boliviano envió un acuse de recibido y solicitó más tiempo para responder. Hasta la fecha de publicación, no ha habido ninguna otra respuesta por parte del Gobierno.
Mientras tanto, la situación en Seque Jahuira y Viacha se ha agravado desde la protesta, ya que las empresas siguen operando sin atender las preocupaciones de las comunidades respecto al impacto ambiental de sus actividades.
Ya es hora de que el Gobierno boliviano adopte medidas para remediar la contaminación ambiental y del agua en Viacha, regule mejor a las empresas mineras que operan en Viacha y garantice la seguridad de los líderes indígenas que defienden el derecho a la salud y la seguridad de sus comunidades y territorios.
The post Persisten los riesgos para defensores del territorio indígenas en Bolivia appeared first on Earthworks.
The US and the Greentech Revolution
By Jeremy Brecher,
Senior Strategic Advisor, LNS Co-Founder
The previous two Strike! commentaries described how Greentech technologies that protect and improve the environment are revolutionizing energy production and consumption worldwide. The Greentech revolution has also been under way in the US, but it has been severely retarded by the power of the fossil fuel industry and its allies and the policies they promulgated.
Plant Bowen, coal-fired power station in Bartow County, Georgia, 2012. Photo credit: Sam Nash, Wikipedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
What we today call renewable energy was once America’s only energy. From the start of European settlement of America to the late 19th century, firewood and waterpower were the predominant sources of energy. The work of animals, workers, and slaves likewise embodied “renewable energy.” Coal surpassed wood around 1885. Petroleum surpassed coal in 1950. Natural gas surpassed coal in 1958. Fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas—dominated US energy for more than a century and a half, accounting for nearly 83% of total U.S. energy consumption in 2023. Renewable and nuclear energy supplied most of the remaining 17%.
Fossil fuels radically increased the amount of energy available for all purposes. Fossil fuel energy became entwined with every aspect of American life, from homes to transportation to manufacturing to agriculture. Indeed, it was largely the basis for the “American way of life.” Fossil fuels also largely shaped America’s relations with the rest of the world, as the US exported massive quantities of coal, oil, and gas, dominated much of the world’s fossil fuel markets, and fought wars in fossil fuel-rich regions of the world that led to further control of global fossil fuel resources. Fossil fuel industries, and businesses, workers, and communities dependent on them, became a powerful force in shaping American politics, society, and daily life.
In the second half of the 20th century, new forms of renewable energy began to emerge in the margins. The earliest roots of the “Greentech revolution” in the US could be traced to the
first practical silicon photovoltaic cells in the 1950s; the first rechargeable lithium-metal batteries in the 1970s; and the world’s first wind farm around the same time. Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House in 1979. But the power of the fossil fuel industry and its allies blocked attempts to develop fossil free alternatives. The 2001 Cheney report projected that renewable energy other than waterpower would account for less than 3% percent of total electricity generation by 2020. (The actual proportion by 2020 was six times higher.) On the consumption side, energy conservation was largely the realm of hobbyists; gas guzzlers remained the order of the day.
Doubling Down on Fossil FuelsAn automobile dealership in Orland, California which closed after General Motors cut ties with it and several hundred other dealers as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring efforts in 2009. Photo credit: John Martinez Pavliga from Berkeley, USA – Contemporary American Auto Dealer, Wikipedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Starting with the 1970s energy crisis, the US spent billions of dollars to promote domestic fossil fuel energy supply chains, mostly for natural gas. In 1976 it established the Gas Research Institute (GRI), a public–private partnership with an annual budget of $200 million. The GRI followed a “whole supply chain” approach. It funded research on enhanced oil recovery, gas transportation, household appliances, and building systems. It also directly funded “drilling experiments, the development of household appliances, and marketing campaigns.”
It was not only the government that invested in fossil rather than renewable energy. While Chinese industrial policy was focusing on electric vehicle production, US auto companies expanded their investments in high-emission trucks and SUVs. They opposed higher standards for fuel economy and carbon emissions. Until 1996 the Big Three did not produce a single commercial electric vehicle – allowing Tesla to corner the market for EVs.
In 2008, rising gas prices and the Great Recession devasted the Big Three’s carefully cultivated market for gas guzzlers. GM and Chrysler went into bankruptcy, and an $81 billion bailout left the US government as the majority owner of GM and the UAW and Fiat as the principal owners of Chrysler.
Under the Obama administration’s rescue plan, the auto companies were supposed to “green” their products. But in fact they continued to oppose climate protection policies and to promote high-pollution, low-mileage trucks and SUVs. Indeed, as recently as July 2023 the auto industry’s largest lobbying organization came out against the Biden administration’s proposed rule to ensure that two-thirds of new passenger cars sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032.
Biden’s Industrial PolicyU.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks about the Green New Deal in February 2019. Photo credit: Senate Democrats, Wikipedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Late in 2018 the youth climate Sunrise Movement occupied the office of likely Democratic House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi; newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined them to propose a resolution for a Green New Deal. It called for “a new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal.” The Green New Deal would produce jobs and strengthen America’s economy by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. It would generate 100% of the nation’s electricity from clean, renewable sources within the next 10 years; upgrade the nation’s energy grid, buildings, and transportation infrastructure; increase energy efficiency; invest in green technology research and development; and provide training for jobs in the new green economy. A poll shortly after found that 40% of registered voters “strongly support” and 41% “somewhat support” the concepts behind a Green New Deal.
Faced with the overwhelming support for the Green New Deal, the presidential campaign of Joe Biden proposed a “Build Back Better” program that initially incorporated much of the program of the Green New Deal. It explicitly eschewed the principles of neoliberalism and advocated instead the long-disparaged idea of “industrial policy” – essentially, government selection of economic sectors to encourage with subsidies and technical support. While its programs were touted as means of climate protection, when it was implemented some of the sectors most heavily subsidized, such as carbon capture, hydrogen production, and nuclear energy, are questionable to say the least as means to protect the climate.
Biden’s three major economic bills, the American Rescue, Bipartisan Infrastructure, and Inflation Reduction Acts, proposed to provide trillions of dollars over a decade to incentivize domestic production in targeted industries, notably the auto industry. Rather than restructuring the industry like the Obama program, these plans were largely limited to providing subsidies to auto companies to expand EV production. They were justified in part as stimulus to the creation of a “green” economy that would reduce GHG pollution, but in large part as a means of containing the challenge of Chinese Greentech advances.
US auto companies were happy to accept these federal subsidies, but they were also happy to evade their carbon-reduction purposes. Auto companies gave surface compliance to federal pressure to reduce carbon pollution, but in reality they continued to promote highly profitable but high-carbon SUVs and light trucks and drag their feet on shifting to EVs. The Biden administration policies stimulated an expansion of EV and battery production in the US. But the new plants and infrastructure were not primarily created by US companies but were rather the product of joint ventures with foreign (mostly Asian) companies with far superior technology.
The Greentech Cold WarUS-owned factories still import the bulk of their solar cells from Chinese-owned factories in Southeast Asia. Photo credit: American Public Power Association on Unsplash
Many of these Greentech investments and joint ventures were in fact Chinese. Indeed, according to a 2025 database, the US had more than $14 billion in Chinese pledged overseas green manufacturing investment, the fourth highest country in the world. Many of China’s leading solar manufacturers set up assembly factories in the United States. In 2024, for example, Illuminate USA – a joint venture between China’s LONGi and Invenergy, the largest private renewables developer in the United States – began assembling panels at its 5GW factory in Ohio. On one count, Chinese-owned factories would have 20GW of capacity in 2025 – enough to meet about half of annual US demand. Battery manufacturing also attracted sizeable Chinese investments. For example, a joint venture called Amplify Cell Technologies featuring EVE Energy, China’s third-largest battery maker, broke ground on a US$2–3 billion factory for electric truck batteries in Mississippi.
The Biden administration tried to halt the “threats” of Chinese advances in solar and EV technology. In May 2024, it announced tariffs specifically targeting green products, including lithium-ion batteries, critical minerals, and solar cells. It quadrupled duties on electric vehicles to 100%. It also released a “Foreign Entity of Concern” ruling preventing vehicle manufacturers from getting IRA tax credits if any company in their battery supply chain has 25 percent or more of its equity, voting rights, or board seats owned by a Chinese government-linked company.
This was no simple trade war between two countries, however. As an article on “The Great Green Wall” in Phenomenal World put it, “the business model of the entire industry is shifting.” Firms are “no longer competing for dominance on the level of vehicle technology,” but for “the entire ecosystem.” As a result of globalization, these “ecosystems” are normally transnational. So rather than classic economic nationalist protection of national industries, this “trade war” became an attempt by both sides to control fragmented global economic networks. As “The Great Green Wall” put it,
“Biden’s intention is to stave off the Chinese and stimulate a domestic and friendshored buildout of the EV supply chain, stretching from mines to the factory floor. Side deals with friendly governments have been made; Canada and Australia have both been deemed eligible for Defense Production Act support for their battery metals. After their howls of outrage, Europeans, Japanese, and Koreans received a leased vehicle exemption meaning that the “made in America” rules don’t apply to them, and their firms’ vehicles could still qualify for subsidies if they were leased rather than bought.”
After the exemption was finalized in December 2022, EV imports from Korea, Japan, and Germany surged.
US EV and battery production have been based on acquiring non-US technology through joint ventures, most of them in the US South. Foreign direct investment included Hyundai and Rivian in Georgia, Toyota in North Carolina, Tesla in Texas, BMW in South Carolina, and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama. Indeed, US automakers were even licensing superior EV technology from Chinese firms like BYD and CATL.
“Ford (in Michigan) and Tesla (in Nevada) are partnering with CATL to make batteries. CATL says that it has structured its licensing deal with Ford so that it is compliant with “foreign entity of concern” rules. For its part, Tesla already uses BYD cells in Germany; Ford and GM use BYD batteries.”
Just as the impact of climate change was becoming devastating and ubiquitous, climate policy was being turned into a weapon of geopolitical struggle. This was made clear in an interview with John Podesta, senior adviser to Joe Biden on international climate policy. Podesta praised the huge expansion of US oil and gas production: “The US is now the number one producer of oil and gas in the world, the number one exporter of natural gas, and that’s a good thing.” He thereupon added, “The science is clear, we’ve got to transition away and begin to replace those resources with both zero carbon electricity and renewable resources.” If George Orwell came back to earth, he might say, “Fossil fuels are climate protection.”
Podesta also illustrated the way production of “green goods” was being redefined as an issue of national security. The US had recently slapped a 100% tariff on electric vehicles and other “green” products from China. After accusing China of deliberately overproducing green goods, Podesta said:
“The economic security of the US and [its commitments to cut emissions] rely on the need to have an economy that is not overly dependent on a single source of supply, for critical minerals, for batteries, for other upstream green technologies. We need to diversify that supply. We’re witnessing a renaissance of manufacturing in the US in the green technology space and will resist unfair trade practices that are going to undermine that investment.”
Above all, the Biden administration eschewed anything that would reduce the overall production and consumption of fossil fuels. Despite lip service to climate protection, they regarded it as a “good thing” that the US was “the number one producer of oil and gas in the world” and “the number one exporter of natural gas.”
The Greentech Revolution Infiltrates AmericaPresident Biden Signs Executive Actions, January 2021. Photo credit: The White House, Public Domain
Biden’s industrial policies had contradictory effects on the rise of Greentech in the US. On the one hand, the IRA and other economic legislation significantly increased production of fossil free energy, EVs, and other GHG-reducing technologies. But the Biden administration oversaw a historic growth in fossil fuel extraction and strove to protect the US and its supply chains from foreign and especially Chinese Greentech.
Nonetheless, by the end of the Biden years the global Greentech Revolution was well on its way to transforming US energy production and consumption, threatening to leave fossil fuel industries as “stranded assets.” In early 2025, just as the Trump administration was coming into office, the US hit a new record low for fossil fuels in the electricity mix as solar and wind reached a record high. In March 2025, for the first time ever, fossil fuels accounted for less than half of electricity generated in the US. The impact on climate-destroying GHG emissions was clear: Since coal generation peaked in 2007, there had been a 68% fall in coal emissions and a 32% reduction in total power sector emissions.
In the one year between March 2024 and March 2025, US solar power increased a “staggering” 37%. Wind power increased by 12%. Over that year fossil fuel generation fell by 2.5%.
The impending transformation was clear in consumption as well as production. In 2024, electrified vehicles made up 20% of all new car sales, with fully electric vehicles comprising 9%. Heat pumps rose to 57% of new space heating installations.
The Greentech Revolution opened the possibility for a “Greentech New Deal.” It made climate-protecting production and consumption far cheaper than continued fossil fuel use. It made possible the rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and thereby the significant slowing down of climate change. It opened the way to good green jobs for all. And it undermined the wealth and power of fossil fuel companies and countries, shifting the balance of power worldwide toward democratic governance.
Enter Donald Trump.
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Risks Remain for Indigenous Land Defenders in Bolivia
Threats to Indigenous land defenders in Bolivia have drawn attention from the United Nations. The land defenders are speaking out against water and soil contamination, documented by the state government, from multiple mines in the area.
Leaders from Seque Jahuira have successfully organized, protested, and even passed legislation to address the effects of mining in the area. They have encountered threats and hostility causing leaders to fear for their families’ safety.
Unfortunately, they are not alone in their experience. Indigenous People and leaders from communities affected by mines often experience intimidation and violence, even though Indigenous Peoples have a right to say no to mining or to set conditions for a project.
Protest leads to legislation addressing mining pollutionOn September 1st, 2025, the town of Seque Jahuira in Bolivia, together with other communities in the region, held a mass protest against the presence of multiple mining operations on their territory. Protestors marched to the mayor’s office and took the local municipal building.
With them, they carried documentation emitted by the office of the Governor of La Paz, the country’s capital. The documents stated that, in 2023, at least nine companies operating in the region legally and illegally were responsible for dumping toxic mine waste and generating acid mine drainage, affecting the health of waterways and soil in an area that relies predominantly on agriculture and raising livestock for their livelihood.
After the protests, the National Ombudsman Office also put out a statement claiming that, “Despite multiple attempts to follow up on complaints of cyanide contamination in the water, they did not receive a response from the responsible agencies.” Despite the existence of government documentation and knowledge of the problem, residents of Seque Jahuira and neighboring towns were still living with the effects of mine contamination on their health and the environment.
By that afternoon, the mayor for the municipality of Viacha, where these communities are located, had signed municipal law 042/2025. This law declared the municipality a territory free of pollution from mining in order to uphold the right to a clean and healthy environment. The law allowed for inspections and sanctions for any mining operation not in compliance, and committed the local government to “mitigate all types of contamination and to take judicial actions for remediation and compensation for any harms caused to impacted communities.”
Indigenous leaders in Seque Jahuira, allied organizations like the national Indigenous Peoples’ rights collective, Qhana Pukara Kurmi, and communities across Viacha celebrated this important step as more than 15 mining companies were ordered to suspend their operations in the municipality.
Leaders encounter threats and hostilityBut the next day, Qhana Pukara Kurmi and prominent community leaders began receiving anonymous calls threatening them for their involvement in the protests and support for the implementation of the new law. Due to the threats, Qhana Pukara Kurmi took down the signage at their office in La Paz and were forced to abandon the office for a few weeks until they felt they could safely return to work there.
The week following Qhana Pukara Kurmi’s departure from their office, two Indigenous leaders were forced to leave Viacha with their families, a move that also meant one of them had to close his construction supply store. As the threats continued, members of Qhana Pukara Kurmi and the leaders from Viacha were targets of a smear campaign, where videos and messages on social media tried to undermine their work and questioned their independence by accusing them of being funded by international organizations and actors.
Later that month, members of Qhana Pukara Kurmi met with the Ombudsman’s Office to talk about the ongoing threats and hostile environment they were facing. A few days later, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed that only six mining companies had active environmental licenses, and that 21 companies of the 23 operating in Viacha were operating illegally without the needed permits.
While some government agencies, such as the National Ombudsman’s Office have spoken up about the situation in Viacha, Indigenous leaders still worry about threats to them and their families for their role in speaking out about the impacts of mining in their territory.
The UN and government agencies express concernIn October 2025, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, and of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sent a joint letter to the Bolivian Government asking them to respond to the events targeting Indigenous land defenders and to provide any information available on measures taken to ensure their protection. The letter cited allegations of arson at a leader’s house, violent attacks, the beating of a leader’s son, intimidation, and threats.
The Bolivian Government replied, stating that they had received the letter and needed more time to respond. Up to the date of publication, there has been no further response from the Government.
Meanwhile, the situation in Seque Jahuira and Viacha has only intensified since the protest as companies continue operating without addressing communities’ concerns about the environmental impacts of their operations.
It is past time for the Bolivian Government to implement measures to remediate the environmental and water contamination in Viacha, to better regulate the mining companies operating in Viacha, and to guarantee the safety of Indigenous leaders defending the right to health and safety of their communities and territories.
The post Risks Remain for Indigenous Land Defenders in Bolivia appeared first on Earthworks.
In Kenya, Better Information Helps Farmers Manage Risk
Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are working with Kenya’s farmers to help them respond to risks and make the right decision for their livelihoods and communities.
Jordan Chamberlin, an agricultural economist and a principal scientist at CIMMYT, works with his colleagues to understand the constraints farmers face and how they allocate their resources. All of this helps the team target “the bottlenecks for unleashing the potential farmers have,” he tells Food Tank.
In Kenya, producers are working in rainfed systems, which are “inherently risky,” Chamberlin explains. He notes that many solutions being developed for farming systems aim to harness big data and analytics to provide better predictions and site-specific advice that will help producers thrive. But these tools don’t account for everything.
CIMMYT’s researchers acknowledge that each suggestion provided by these new and emerging tools demand investment from farmers upfront. But recommendations to adopt a new technology or follow a set of practices to grow their crops doesn’t offer the full picture. Farmers may not understand the potential or the risks associated with that approach, making them reluctant to make a change. Knowledge can empower them to make more informed choices.
“We’re trying to ask: How do we think about the information that we present to farmers to clarify what the value proposition is if we’re trying to encourage technology change on smallholder farms that don’t have a lot of resources?” Chamberlin says.
In agriculture, however, the return on investment can take years to see and in the face of inconsistent rainfall patterns, pests, and price uncertainty, it’s not always easy to predict. That’s why Chamberlin’s modeling is trying to “better characterize that kind of variability.”
Once researchers have the information, the next step is to share it with farmers who are often coming from different educational backgrounds.
“Some of the work that we’ve done indicates that farmers respond better to information about the variability of financial returns,” Chamberlain tells Food Tank. And they’ve seen that presenting this clearly can help producers “overcome some of the inertia in the face of all this uncertainty.”
Listen to or watch the full conversation with Jordan Chamberlin on Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg to hear more about how we can better mitigate risks for farmers, what CIMMYT is doing to help producers improve soil health, and the effects of funding shocks and conflict that are rippling through communities.
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 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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Q1 saw net loss of 5,900 renewable energy manufacturing jobs: EDF report
The Environmental Defense Fund cited $1.4 billion in canceled renewable energy investments stemming from federal policy shifts around renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy efficiency and tailpipe emissions.
Not Just Voluntary Credits: Three CDR Demand Trends to Support and Scale
Recent discourse about CDR demand emphasizes uncertainty and scarcity. These concerns are real, but so are the demand signals already taking shape. If we support these signals now, they can create multiple paths forward for scaled CDR demand.
This brief spotlights three important demand trends already gaining traction: (1) credit purchasing, (2) demand for differentiated products, and (3) demand for products and services for which CDR is a by-product or co-product. For each trend, we share case studies that illustrate existing successes and how demand can be further scaled.
The post Not Just Voluntary Credits: Three CDR Demand Trends to Support and Scale appeared first on RMI.
Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert Honored with Audubon’s Rachel Carson Award
Security beyond CIP: When ‘low impact’ doesn’t mean low risk
Today’s power grid was built to handle an outage at a major facility. But there is a growing risk from many smaller resources failing at once, writes Anirban Ghosh at Black & Veatch.
Fair Food Program’s transformative health impact featured in the news
The landmark health study linking the Fair Food Program to healthier farmworker mothers and children continues to make waves across the nation!
A few weeks ago, we shared new insights from the study’s lead author on how the FFP’s comprehensive human rights enforcement may not only improve infant birth weights — a key indicator of long-term health and life outcomes — but also reduce rates of gestational diabetes and hypertension. Those findings alone are cause for celebration.
But this week, we want to share two new articles that place the study within the broader story of the Fair Food Program and the remarkable evolution from its humble beginnings in the small agricultural town of Immokalee, Florida, to becoming the new paradigm for human rights enforcement in global supply chains. That meteoric growth would not have been possible without the steadfast partnership of allies across the country — including faith communities like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), whose members have marched alongside farmworkers for decades and whose news service is now helping shine a national spotlight on the Fair Food Program’s historic gains for workers and their families.
The first article comes courtesy of the Naples Daily News, while the second is from the news service of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Collier County labor program led to healthier babies, study findsWhat began as a fight against exploitation in Immokalee’s farm fields may now be improving the health of the next generation.
A new study links the Fair Food Program — a farmworker-led effort created by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to enforce labor protections in agriculture — to a roughly 10% reduction in low-birth-weight babies among farmworker mothers from Latin America.
The research analyzed more than a decade of U.S. birth records from 2006 to 2018 to evaluate how improvements in agricultural working conditions influence long-term health.
Dr. Joaquin Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that findings point to measurable health effects beyond the workplace.
“Low-weight births isn’t just a number on a chart that we think about, but it’s actually really, really important,” he said in an interview with The News-Press & Naples Daily News. “It predicts that child’s cognitive development over the long term of that child, implications on long-term health and long-term earnings and competitiveness in the market.”
What is driving the improvement in birth outcomes?The study points to higher wages and changes in working conditions as benefiting birth outcomes.
Counties that adopted the Fair Food Program saw a 24% increase in agricultural worker pay, researchers found. Coupled with protections against wage theft, that increase often moves a family of two above the poverty line during pregnancy. Researchers said this financial stability helps expectant mothers have better access to nutrition and medical care.
“It’s the individuals whose wages have been depressed for so long that now all of a sudden are getting a livable or closer to a livable wage,” Rubalcaba said. “It helps alleviate some of these trade-offs that we do when considering economics of the household: Do I buy fresh foods and vegetables? Or, do I have enough money now to go get seen for prenatal care? Do I buy food or do I buy medication?”
The Fair Food Program also mandates farms to follow strict labor standards, including rest breaks in high heat, access to water and electrolytes and zero-tolerance policies for sexual harassment and abuse. Those are all factors that researchers say can affect stress levels during pregnancy.
Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, a retired New York State Supreme Court justice and current executive director of the Fair Food Standards Council, said those conditions can directly affect maternal health.
“The increased compensation, the respectful workplace where women don’t have to leave their dignity at the farm gate in order to earn the money that their families need — I think that’s huge in terms of having a more beneficial result for their babies and their health generally,” she said…
Born in Naples’ backyardThe program grew out of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which was founded in 1993 to fight wage theft, abuse and forced labor in Southwest Florida’s agricultural industry.
At the time, federal prosecutors described Immokalee as “ground zero for modern-day slavery” due to multiple labor trafficking cases.
The Fair Food Program launched in 2011 and established a system of worker protections backed by legally binding agreements with major buyers that require them to source from farms that meet a code of conduct.
“The Fair Food Program is a human rights transformation that was born in Naples’ own backyard. It’s now the leading paradigm of human rights enforcement in global supply chains,” Safer Espinoza said.
“That’s something that Naples residents can really be proud of, especially the ones that have supported the Fair Food Program and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers over decades.”
Could this model influence public health beyond agriculture? Migrant Justice celebrates the signing of Ben & Jerry’s to participate in Milk with Dignity protecting dairy workersThe study raises questions about whether workplace standards can shape health outcomes on a broader scale.
Rubalcaba said the research was designed to move beyond correlation and examine cause and effect.
“It provided an opportunity to identify how changes in wages and working conditions for low-wage workers impacted health outcomes. As an economist, methodologically, what we were thinking about is, we want to make these causal claims, not just associations.”
Rubalcaba suggests the program’s model could apply to other low-wage industries where workers face similar economic and environmental pressures.
How far has the program expanded?What started on a farm in Collier County has expanded into a global effort.
The Fair Food Program now operates across 22 states and has efforts in countries including Chile and South Africa. Its model has also inspired similar programs in the garment industry in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as dairy farms in Vermont.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recognized the Fair Food Program as a “gold standard” for worker protections, offering financial incentives to growers who join.
Around the same time the Naples Daily News was casting a light on the FFP’s multi-generational impact, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s news service was also heralding the program transformative power. Below are some key excerpts from their own coverage, which you can read in full by clicking here.
Giving babies a better chance at life by improving farmworker conditions Study finds positive results for program with Presbyterian tiesLOUISVILLE — A program that has been protecting the rights of migrant farmworkers for more than a decade has a new reason to be proud: Researchers have found that it’s good for infants and their hard-working mothers.
A study in the journal Demography centers on the Fair Food Program(FFP), which was started about 15 years ago by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a longtime partner of the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
Farms that participate in the Fair Food Program agree to uphold ethical labor standards to ensure that migrant workers receive health and safety protections and fair wages. There’s a code of conduct aimed at eliminating abusive practices that workers would otherwise be vulnerable to…
Farmworkers in GA receive an on-the-clock, worker-to-worker education sessionPHP National Hunger Associate Andrew Kang Bartlett was pleased to hear of the results.
“As longtime supporters of the CIW, we are thrilled to see the Fair Food Program create tangible benefits for the children of farmworkers!” Kang Bartlett said. “This groundbreaking study is a powerful affirmation that dignity at work is inseparable from health and life itself. The research makes clear that protecting those who harvest our food is essential to nurturing the next generation and building a truly just food system.”
Safer Espinoza, a retired New York State Supreme Court justice, welcomed the results as well.
“We were very pleasantly surprised that the research yielded such concrete, measurable results. But when you think about it, the difference in the environment that’s been created is so dramatic that it makes perfect sense this would be one of the outcomes,” she said.
“The kinds of conditions that lead to healthy pregnancies are much more present for female workers on Fair Food Program farms than outside the program,” she added. “For starters, as the researchers found, their income is better, so they’re not subject to wage theft. They receive the Fair Food Program premium, so they’re able to feed themselves and their growing families better. And then everyone knows that working in less dangerous conditions, free of sexual harassment, free of verbal harassment, free of threat of violence and general worry about retaliation if you enforce or attempt to enforce your rights under the law — all of that makes for so much less stress and healthier pregnancies all around…” read more
While the PC(USA) article begins with the proposition that the Fair Food Program “has a new reason to be proud,” the truth is that the entire Fair Food Nation has reason to celebrate the extraordinary findings of the UNC and Indiana University public health research teams. Tens of thousands of farmworkers who fought to win the right to serve as frontline monitors of their own rights over the past 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of consumers — students, people of faith, labor and community allies, and more — who joined farmworkers from Immokalee in marches, fasts, and boycotts in communities across the country. Together, they helped make real a new kind of food system: Fair Food.
Together they — or perhaps better said, together we — built a movement capable of taking on one of the most powerful industries in the world and achieving changes once thought impossible: helping to end generations of modern-day slavery, sexual harassment and assault, dangerous working conditions, wage theft, and discrimination in the fields. The remarkable findings of this groundbreaking public health study are just the latest evidence of the profound impact that struggle has had on workers’ lives and on their families and their communities.
So wherever you are today, take a moment to recognize what you have been part of: an unprecedented movement for justice led by workers who had endured exploitation and abuse for generations, but who stood up and fought for their rights, their dignity, and their futures. And by winning not only new rights, but the power to help monitor and enforce those rights in the fields, farmworkers and their allies have measurably improved the lives of workers and their children alike in ways no one could have imagined back in 2001 when the boycott was launched and the cry first went up in Immokalee, “Taco Bell makes farmworkers poor!”
Check back soon for more news from the Campaign for Fair Food and the expansion of the Fair Food Program.
Burgum struggles to defend Trump’s vanity projects, energy agenda
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared in front of the House Natural Resources Committee yesterday to defend President Donald Trump’s 2027 Interior department budget request. Today’s hearing follows Burgum’s appearances in front of a House Appropriations subcommittee, a Senate appropriations subcommittee, and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month.
At the hearing:
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Burgum refused to acknowledge that the American people are facing high energy prices due to Trump’s actions in the Middle East and his vendetta against renewable energy, falling back on his tired talking point that “the sun doesn’t shine” at night.
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Burgum struggled to defend Interior department spending on Trump’s vanity projects in Washington, D.C., like painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue and constructing a White House ballroom.
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Burgum pleaded ignorance when asked about the creation of Trump’s Freedom 250 group and corruption at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He also struggled to answer questions from Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Adelita Grijalva about massive proposed cuts to Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs.
“By refusing to take responsibility for his part in rising energy prices, Burgum is forsaking the American people in favor of fossil fuel executives,” Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement. “And in defending Trump’s vanity projects, Burgum is selling out national parks across the country to stroke President Trump’s ego.”
Quick hits Trump officials, billionaires, and the quiet reshaping of America’s public lands Burgum grilled over Trump vanity projects, proposed budget cuts, how batteries workThe New Republic | SFGATE | The Hill | Heatmap | Mother Jones | E&E News
Drones enter Montana corner-crossing debate BLM cancels bison grazing leases for American Prairie Forest Service is not reorganizing, it is ‘dismantling,’ says union Climate change starts a new clock on Colorado’s river runoff, study says Opinion: Grand Staircase-Escalante faces a new kind of threat in Congress Editorial: Tax on foreigners shortchanges parks Quote of the dayWe know public pressure works; it is up to us to apply it. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the anti-parks and anti-public lands caucus. The same can be said for those of us who want nothing more than to protect them.”
—Ryan Gellert, Patagonia, Salt Lake Tribune
Picture This @vallescalderaHow many of our followers have caught this view of Valles Caldera from Pajarito Mountain?
Pajarito Mountain, Cerro Grande, Rabbit Mountain, and other nearby peaks form the caldera rim, offering outstanding views into and across this 14-mile-wide, circular depression in the Earth.
Featured image: Doug Burgum at the House Natural Resources Committee on May 13, 2026
The post Burgum struggles to defend Trump’s vanity projects, energy agenda appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
Tom Toro’s Environmental Cartoons: Process Videos
Saving the planet is serious business — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun along the way.
Twice a month cartoonist Tom Toro contributes single-panel environmental cartoons to The Revelator’s weekly newsletter. These exclusive cartoons use Toro’s uniquely odd way of looking at the world to skewer some of the issues threatening life on Earth — from climate change to pollution to the extinction crisis.
You can sign up to get these cartoons (and the rest of our newsletter) here:
Subscribe to our newsletterBut the published cartoon is just part of the story. After the finished cartoons are released into the wild, Toro also shares process videos detailing how he created them. The videos, posted to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube (and perhaps some other social networks that haven’t descended into chaos), offer unique insight into how each cartoon is composed.
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“I make these process videos as a way to invite people into my studio and to enjoy the creative process,” Toro says. “But I also make them to celebrate the art of cartooning at its most fundamental, and fun, level.”
Sometimes making the videos even provides Toro with a few other opportunities to be creative. Or just to make silly voices.
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One great aspect of these videos is seeing the art build — from initial sketch to hand-drawn black-and-white line art, and then through the addition of incredibly detailed, painted gray tones.
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It’s all a welcome reminder of the power and effectiveness of physical art — and cartooning — in our digital age.
“Over the years I’ve made concessions to technology in my artistic process, sketching on digital tablets and making edits in Photoshop,” says Toro. “But I always draw my final cartoons with pen and paper. Nothing beats the tactile feel of creating something by hand. The way the ink soaks into the vellum; the momentary sheen before it dries, as if the lines are winking at me; the unpredictable bloom of watercolor across a wet patch. It’s incredibly fun. I feel as if I’m in conversation with the cartoon, as if we’re co-conspirators trying to figure things out on the fly.”
Sometimes the videos show things change as Toro layers on the details.
“Whenever mistakes happen — and they happen all the time — there’s no quick fix, no Control-Z undo,” he says. “I need to find a way to cope with the accidental mark, the sloppy daub, the errant splash. Or maybe I don’t try to correct it? Maybe I let it guide me in a new, unexpected direction? Maybe the mistake isn’t a mistake at all, but a discovery? One that I never would have stumbled upon in the digital realm.”
Watch more of Tom Toro’s process videos below — and seriously, sign up for the newsletter, which links to our latest articles and commentaries each week. We put a lot of heart (and humor) into every issue, and it always contains exclusives only available to subscribers.
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The post Tom Toro’s Environmental Cartoons: Process Videos appeared first on The Revelator.
California commission to make final decision on community solar rules
State regulators will vote on whether to finalize a proposed decision by an administrative judge rejecting changes to the Community Renewable Energy Program sought by solar advocates.
Brazil: MPA Begins Fourth National Meeting in Brasília
The event marks three decades of the movement’s constant struggle to protect nature and uphold the dignity of rural communities.
The post Brazil: MPA Begins Fourth National Meeting in Brasília appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.
Protect REAP, a federal program rural Kentucky can’t afford to lose
This op-ed ran in several Kentucky papers in May 2026.
Over the past several decades, rural Kentucky has faced significant changes. In Eastern Kentucky, a shrinking tax base, population loss, and the decline of long-standing industries has made resilience an ever-changing challenge. Through it all, our communities have adapted and searched for new ways to build a stronger, more diverse economy.
Increasingly, a new crisis has emerged: the soaring cost of keeping the lights on. For small businesses and farms that are essential to our local economy, electric rates for commercial facilities have more than doubled over the last 20 years. When you layer in historic inflation, the math becomes overwhelming. Overhead costs eat away at already thin margins, forcing owners to choose between a new hire, a new piece of equipment, or simply paying the utility bill.
At Mountain Association, we have been supporting small businesses since 1976 and saw this energy crisis coming early. In 2008, as costs began their steep climb, we launched an energy savings program. Through this work we continually see one of the biggest challenges facing businesses is upfront capital.
That’s where the Rural Energy for America Program—REAP, for short—comes in. REAP is a federal program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or energy efficiency improvements. For a rural small business owner, that means a grant can cover up to 25 percent of the cost of solar more efficient HVAC system, LED lighting, or better insulation. These are the kinds of upgrades that pay for themselves in a short time, reducing overhead and improving the bottom line. But for many, the upfront cost is simply out of reach.
At Mountain Association, we have been packaging REAP grants for our clients since 2009. To date, our team has secured more than 60 REAP grants for small businesses and farms across Eastern Kentucky, totaling over $2.5 million for our clients. These energy savings projects keep rural businesses open and competitive. As a bonus, many of the projects are completed by local contractors, allowing those federal investments to go even further in supporting Eastern Kentucky’s economy. Without support from programs like REAP, some of the businesses and farms we work with simply won’t make it as costs continue to rise.
Mike Long is the general manager of Long’s Pic Pac in Pineville, a town of about 1,630 people in Southeastern Kentucky. His father started the business in 1964 with a $3,500 loan. Today, Mike is fighting to keep it the grocery store of choice for a community where the median household income is just $27,159. Grocery stores typically run on a razor-thin 2.2% profit margin. One bad year or one season of sky-high demand charges and a rural store can vanish.
For Long’s Pic Pac, a REAP grant funded 40% of a project to install solar panels on the store’s roof and a 60-kW battery. The battery can store excess solar energy and vastly reduce the punishing “demand charges” that make up more than half of the grocery’s monthly power bill. The result is an estimated cost savings of at least $15,000 per year—money that can go to staffing the deli, offsetting delivery costs, or simply keeping prices stable for families in Pineville. Long expects to pay back the entire cost of the project in just four years.
The need for this program has never been more urgent. With each devastating flood or winter storm, utility companies are forced to make expensive repairs to aging infrastructure. Businesses and ratepayers pay for those repairs through higher rates. As the frequency and intensity of these storms increase, utilities will continue passing those recovery costs back to us. For a business like Long’s Pic Pac living on a 2.2% margin, this compounding cycle of damage, recovery, and rate hikes is a threat to its existence.
REAP is a proven, efficient tool that uses modest federal investment to unlock private capital and lower operating costs. But it only works if it is funded and protected. It isn’t just an energy policy. It is the difference between closing the doors and keeping the lights on.
Josh Bills is the Senior Energy Analyst at the Mountain Association. He can be reached at josh@mtassociation.org.
The post Protect REAP, a federal program rural Kentucky can’t afford to lose appeared first on Mountain Association.
UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security
The British government has notified the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) that it will cut the contribution it pledged for 2024-2027 in half, a GCF spokesperson told Climate Home News.
The reduction, which is part of a wider UK shift from development aid to military spending, will restrict the GCF’s ability to fund projects that help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to climate change.
Harjeet Singh, director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, called the UK’s decision “moral bankruptcy”, noting that Britain has a historical responsibility for climate change “as a nation built on fossil-fuelled industrialisation”.
Liane Schalatek, who observes GCF board meetings for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, said the UK’s move was “an unfortunate signal”, especially as it comes just before the GCF launches its next fundraising round.
She noted that the UK has been the biggest contributor to the GCF, and “with the UK halving – where doubling would be needed – this will give permission to others to do the same”.
There are fears that other countries could follow suit as governments in Europe trim their aid budgets, while the US has refused to deliver any further money under climate change-sceptic President Donald Trump and has also given up its seat on the GCF board.
The GCF was established in 2010, and has since funded over $15 billion of climate projects across the developing world. Its financing comes mainly from developed countries pledging money in regular replenishment rounds.
During the last GCF replenishment round in 2023, the UK’s previous Conservative government promised £1.622 billion ($2.18 billion) for the 2024-27 period, with then development minister Andrew Mitchell saying the pledge “underlines our sustained commitment to tackling climate change”.
But, as of March 2026, the UK had only handed over £655 million ($885 million) of that pledge, which is its third to the fund, and has now informed the GCF it will only deliver £815 million ($1.1 billion). The GCF’s total funding for the 2024-2027 period is $10.149 billion.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office declined to comment.
Approved projects unaffectedA GCF spokesperson told Climate Home News that all current projects under implementation have guaranteed funding while the GCF is assessing what the cuts mean for the projects that are being prepared and are expected to come before the GCF board in 2026 and 2027.
“Our focus will continue to be delivering the greatest impact with the investments we make, working with the largest network of partners in the financial architecture and mobilizing the greatest amount of resources to fulfill GCF’s critical and unique mandate,” the spokesperson said.
Scientists warn El Niño could intensify climate extremes in 2026
In a separate email to GCF board members, seen by Climate Home News, the GCF’s executive director Mafalda Duarte warned that the cuts are “expected to have a material impact” on the fund’s work over the next two years.
Duarte said the cuts were part of the UK wider decision to reduce international development spending “and invest more in addressing growing security threats”.
Development to militaryAnnouncing this decision in March, UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper said the cuts were a “hugely difficult decision” and “not ideological”, but necessary “to deliver the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War”. The US has been pressuring countries in the NATO alliance to boost military budgets as conflict surges around the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East.
Cooper reiterated Labour’s commitment to restore overseas development spending to 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) “when fiscal circumstances allow”, but did not provide a timeline when pressed by an opposition member of parliament. UK aid was reduced from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI by the previous Conservative government in 2021, and is now set to fall further to 0.3%.
While the UK government has claimed it is only cutting international climate finance by around 13% compared to the previous government’s level of spending, analysis by Carbon Brief suggests that the real figure is close to 50% once inflation and accounting changes are considered.
The leadership of the UK is currently in doubt with several ministers from the ruling Labour Party calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, with a challenge to his leadership of the party and country expected after poor local election results for Labour.
The post UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security appeared first on Climate Home News.
Canada’s charging network depends on investor confidence in EV adoption
Webinar: From Santa Marta to Bonn – where next for the fossil fuel transition?
The Santa Marta summit moved beyond the blockages in the UN climate process, building a coalition of around 60 countries that want to tackle a shift away from fossil fuels. The host countries said the outcomes would feed into the voluntary roadmap on the energy transition being put together by COP30 hosts Brazil, which is due to be presented before COP31.
June’s mid-year climate talks in Bonn, followed by London Climate Action Week, will be key moments to reflect on the progress so far and work out ways to bring the strands closer together. How might that happen while fossil fuels remain the elephant in the UNFCCC room and there’s no formal place for a roadmap on the agenda?
Tune in to hear our expert reporters discussing this and other key topics set to headline at the Bonn session, both in the negotiations and on the sidelines! Questions and comments will be welcome from participants and used to inform our future coverage.
SPEAKERS:
- Host: Megan Rowling, editor at Climate Home News
- Guest #1: Sebastian Rodriguez, reporter for Climate Home News
- Guest #2: Joe Lo, news editor at Climate Home News
- Guest #3: Tais Gadea Lara, freelance climate journalist
DAY: Wednesday 27 May
TIME: 3pm UK time | 4pm Central Europe (CEST) | 10am US Eastern (EDT)
Note: This event is exclusively for free essential users and paid subscribers of Climate Home News. If you’re not yet signed up, you can join us by clicking the “Subscribe Now” button.The post Webinar: From Santa Marta to Bonn – where next for the fossil fuel transition? appeared first on Climate Home News.
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