Environment

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-15✓ Read

  As Wildfires Intensify, Communities Have a Bigger Role to Play

  As France confronts increasingly destructive wildfires, researchers say its largely top-down approach leaves residents with little role in preparing for them. In parts of the U.S., communities are experimenting with a different approach.By Alissa de Chassey On July 22, Aurélie Filleau and her husband were given 10 minutes to get their children and a few possessions into the car before evacuating their house in Le Porge, a town near Bordeaux, France.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-15✓ Read

  Texas Land Commissioner Treads Carefully as Trump Border Wall Advances on State Property

  Dawn Buckingham has long supported President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. But now the federal government plans to build a wall on cherished state land.By Martha Pskowski Border wall construction in the Big Bend region puts Republican Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham in a bind: back President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda or respond to growing bipartisan opposition to the wall.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-15✓ Read

  Regenerative Growers in Florida Aim to Improve Soil for Health of Food, Environment, Consumers and Workers

  The broad set of practices is becoming more popular at a time when climate change is stressing the state’s land—and the people who work on it.By Sara Pepitone Blueberries, green beans, yellow squash, red onions, purple cabbage, oranges. At markets across Florida, colorful produce signals freshness and nutrition and attracts consumers.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  Isaias Made It To Birmingham. The Consequences Were Deadly

  Devolin “Bobo” Webster was killed by a falling tree as the remnants of Hurricane Isaias swept through Alabama. His death illustrates the dangers tropical systems pose far inland.By Lee Hedgepeth BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—It’s hard to forget Uncle Bobo.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  New York Candidates for Governor Clash Over Energy Policy

  High utility bills, the state’s clean energy transition and data centers’ growing electricity needs emerged as flashpoints during a gubernatorial debate.By Lauren Dalban Incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman clashed over high energy costs in the state’s only gubernatorial debate, offering sharply different visions for how to keep electricity affordable as demand rises.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  How Rewilding Could Help Atoll Islands Keep Pace With Rising Seas

  Healthy ecosystems may give some of the world’s most vulnerable islands a better shot at survival, new research shows.By Bob Berwyn Coral-fringed tropical atolls are among the landforms most threatened by global warming, but many have a potential superpower: Healthy ecosystems may help them keep pace with rising seas.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  Climate Change Is Increasing Simultaneous Exposure to Heat Waves and Wildfire Smoke

  Heat and wildfire smoke are dangerous on their own. A new study says more people are facing both at once.By Katie Surma More than 1 billion people per year were exposed to heat waves and fire pollution at the same time from 2010-2019, a sharp jump from the decade before it, according to a new study that highlights the growing public health crisis caused by global warming.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  New Study Reveals Clues About the Origins of Nepal’s Deadly Flood

  Using seismic data from Nepal and China, researchers identified dozens of small seismic events in the weeks before the August rock-and-ice collapse and ensuing flood.By Alissa de Chassey A new study in the journal Seismica presents the first comprehensive seismic analysis of what happened during the disastrous flood in Nepal on Aug. 26. But exactly what triggered the mountainside to give way remains unclear.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-14✓ Read

  The Fire Retardant in the Seafood Chain

  A chemical additive helped stop fishmeal from catching fire on ships, but it carried a downstream carcinogenic risk to modern food systems.By Ian Urbina This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-13✓ Read

  Momentum for Measuring Water Lost in Wyoming’s Portion of the Colorado River Dries Up

  Wyoming may resume collecting data in the Green River and Little Snake River basins as part of a future Upper Colorado River Basin project.By Jake Bolster Wyoming has shelved a state-funded project to measure water use in the Green River and Little Snake River basins after it could not get enough data to create a basin-wide estimate of water lost during irrigation.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-13✓ Read

  Inside Ohio’s Revolt Against Data Centers

  A colorful crew of activists helped spur moratorium votes in 10 communities next month. Now, they’re aiming for a statewide ban.By Dan Gearino COLUMBUS, Ohio—A four-hour legislative committee hearing in June, punctuated by applause and anger, offered a window into the growing backlash against data centers.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-13✓ Read

  What Happened to Pennsylvania’s Hydrogen Hubs?

  Backed by the federal government and bipartisan leadership, Pennsylvania’s hydrogen projects were supposed to create jobs and slash emissions. Now, they’re in limbo.By Rebecca McCarthy Three years ago, hydrogen seemed poised for a long-awaited breakthrough. The Biden administration announced $7 billion in federal funding for seven hubs to produce the fuel across the country, and Pennsylvania was set to be a major player in the emerging industry.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-12✓ Read

  Food for Feed

  This week, co-host Jake Bolster takes a deep dive into the global seafood industry with reporter Johnny Sturgeon and the Outlaw Ocean Project.By Jake Bolster, Johnny Sturgeon

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-12✓ Read

  How a Bid to Beat Drought Drove Corpus Christi to the Brink of Disaster

  What started as a novel plan to build a desalination plant supplying plentiful water to the oil and gas industry has landed the Texas city in a financial and political quagmire.By Dylan Baddour, Neena Satija This story is a partnership between Dylan Baddour of Inside Climate News and Neena Satija of The Texas Newsroom.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-12✓ Read

  The Fishfeed Trap

  The livestock industry’s search for more sustainable alternatives to fishmeal has gone nowhere.By Ian Urbina This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-11✓ Read

  The Greek National Park Suffocated by Fish Farming

  Greece’s $900 million aquaculture industry is sacrificing sea life as it slowly strangles one of Europe’s most important marine sanctuaries.By Johnny Sturgeon This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-11✓ Read

  The Race for Lithium Is Becoming a Race for Water

  In the arid American West, expanded mining intensifies battles in vulnerable communities over one of the region’s scarcest resources.By Johanna Hansel, Carla Samon Ros, Wyatt Myskow This investigation was reported in a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Columbia Journalism Investigations.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-11✓ Read

  As Rival Resorts Battle in a Bahamas Court, a Threatened Conch’s Nursery Is Caught in the Middle

  Scientists who study conch say the species’ habitat needs are more important than the needs of either property.By Kate Waxman Queen conch larvae drift for two to three weeks before settling into seagrass, where their first food grows on the thin green blades. This is where they spend most of their first year, buried in the sand.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-10✓ Read

  Greece’s Seafood Problem Starts Elsewhere

  One of Europe’s biggest aquaculture industries is linked to overfishing, pollution, food insecurity and labor abuses.By Johnny Sturgeon, Ian Urbina This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-10✓ Read

  In One Historically Black Florida Community, the Drinking Water Is Brown

  In Whitted, testing has confirmed the water is contaminated with arsenic and PFAS/PFOS. An effort to connect the residents to the local water system has moved slowly.By Amy Green WHITTED, Fla.—When Ann Jones runs her kitchen faucet, the water flows clear only some of the time. Sometimes the water is brown. Fill a pitcher, and the water is the color of iced tea.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-10✓ Read

  Unpacking the Environmental Issues in Susan Collins’ Tough Race in Maine

  The incumbent senator, once endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, is facing strong headwinds due in part to her fealty to the Trump administration.Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with veteran Maine journalist Kevin Miller.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  Northern California Community Wants Stronger Oversight of Dangerous Refineries Nearby

  Residents of a small San Francisco Bay Area town plagued by refinery accidents came to a community meeting to call for stronger enforcement and transparency about risks.By Liza Gross MARTINEZ, Calif.—Scores of people tired of living near accident-prone refineries packed an elementary school auditorium to hear what their government officials were doing to protect them.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  Looking for Oil in Alaska, No Environmental Strings Attached

  A Bureau of Land Management decision will accelerate permitting in the nation’s largest single tract of public land, home to a fragile, rapidly warming wilderness.By Anika Jane Beamer Oil companies will no longer be required to conduct environmental reviews before exploring for fossil fuel reservoirs in the Western Arctic, the largest tract of federally managed public land in the United States.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  Michigan Spill Prompts Federal Probe of Energy Transfer Pipelines’ Safety

  The spill just north of Detroit, similar to a jet fuel leak last year in Pennsylvania, comes as Republicans face political peril in Michigan.By Marianne Lavelle A crude oil pipeline spill last month in the Detroit suburbs has prompted federal authorities to open an investigation into the safety of all 20,000 miles of hazardous liquids pipelines operated by Energy Transfer.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  SEC Issues Warning to Investment Firms That Challenged ExxonMobil

  The commission issued a rare “report of investigation” into the largest asset managers and state pension funds, part of a broader campaign to curb investor activism on climate risks.By Nicholas Kusnetz The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued an unusual warning this week to the country’s largest asset managers and a climate-focused investor group over their roles in a 2021 campaign that replaced board directors at ExxonMobil.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  China’s Blue Mirage

  Fish farming in Xinjiang is sold as proof that technology can overcome geography. The reality is a desert seafood boom built on political control and forced labor.By Ian Urbina This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-09✓ Read

  South Baltimore Residents Grapple With Contradictory Incinerator Decisions

  Residents expressed confusion and frustration as regulators shut down one incinerator and considered extending the lifespan of another.By Aman Azhar Around 100 Baltimore residents packed a community hall in the Curtis Bay neighborhood on the evening of Oct. 1. One after another, they implored the Maryland Department of the Environment not to renew the air permit for the city’s largest trash incinerator.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-08✓ Read

  Wildlife Populations Have Plunged Globally, But Some Buck the Trend

  A new report by leading conservation nonprofits found populations of thousands of vertebrate species dropped 73 percent on average from 1970 to 2022.By Kiley Price A new report paints a dark picture of the state of global wildlife—but also highlights flickers of light where some populations are on the upswing.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-08✓ Read

  To Block Solar Energy Projects, One Community Lumped Them in With Junkyards and Adult Bookstores

  A local fight in Indiana shows that even streamlined permitting can’t overcome deep community resistance to solar development.By Dan Gearino In Montgomery County, Indiana, utility-scale solar projects appear on an official list of undesirable land uses that also includes “adult-oriented businesses.”

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-08✓ Read

  Maryland Demands Answers as Fuel Leak Persists From Joint Base Andrews

  Water testing across several locations continues to show diesel-range hydrocarbons flushing into Piscataway Creek even after the base says it halted the leak.By Aman Azhar Maryland environmental regulators say jet fuel continues to seep into Piscataway Creek from Joint Base Andrews more than six months after the spill was reported, despite the base’s assurances that it has isolated the damaged fuel system and stopped the leak.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-08✓ Read

  In Harrisburg, Advocates Rally for Tougher Rules on Fracking

  Concerned about surging energy demand fueled by data centers, environmental groups urge state regulators to increase minimum protective buffer distances around gas wells.By Marie Cusick Environmental groups and citizens are urging Pennsylvania regulators to increase the minimum amount of protective buffer space between gas wells and homes, schools and water sources. The issue has taken on new urgency as the AI data center buildout spurs more demand for natural gas.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  Compounding Climate Impacts Drive Tropical Forest Decline

  Extreme heat, drought and ozone from fire emissions are devastating the Amazon and other rainforests, new research shows.By Bob Berwyn Ozone pollution from fires, along with extreme heat and drought, is further weakening the Amazon rainforest’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, new research shows.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  The American Livestock Industry’s Main Lobbying Group Treated Climate Change as a PR Problem

  New research has revealed more examples of the National Cattlemen’s Association’s efforts to downplay and deny the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.By Georgina Gustin In 1991, Random House published a picture book called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: ABC’s for a Better Planet,” in which the masked cartoon turtles trade in their signature nunchucks for signs bearing environmental slogans.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  Maine’s Next Governor Will Walk a Tightrope Between Energy Affordability and Climate Action

  All three candidates agree on the need for lower energy costs. Only two see a need to lower greenhouse gas emissions.By Delger Erdenesanaa, The Maine Monitor As Mainers prepare to choose a new governor in November, climate and energy issues may not be top of mind for every voter—but they are having big effects on residents’ lives.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  New Documents Add to Evidence in Climate Deception Case Against ExxonMobil

  Court filings by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office include previously undisclosed documents, revealing new details about internal deliberations at the oil giant.By Nicholas Kusnetz

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  Alabama Sets Stricter Data Center Rules. But There’s a Loophole

  The new rules require more public disclosure on data center projects but still allow large projects to be approved without a vote.By Dennis Pillion

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-07✓ Read

  Scientists Urge Consumers to Stop Buying Products Made From Antarctic Krill

  A new global boycott comes as major retailers withdraw krill products from their shelves to protect whales and other marine life.By Teresa Tomassoni

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-06✓ Read

  Retailers Warn Europe’s Fishing Industry to Stop Overfishing

  European supermarkets say the industry needs a long-term sustainable solution to keep mackerel and herring stocks healthy.By Johnny Sturgeon Europe’s fish stocks are in such dire straits that even the retailers who rely on them are now telling the fishing industry to slow down.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-06✓ Read

  Water Bills Surged More Than Other Costs in US Homes Over 10 Years, a ‘Striking’ New Report Shows

  The price of water increased faster than inflation, grocery prices and median household income, nonprofit Food & Water Watch found in a new analysis.By Steven Rodas Drinking water costs spiked faster than inflation, grocery prices and median household income, researchers at nonprofit Food & Water Watch outlined in a first-of-its-kind report released Tuesday.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-06✓ Read

  Development Becomes a Flashpoint in a Key New York House Race

  Warehouse and data center development, backed by millions in tax incentives, is reshaping Rockland County, with residents losing trust in local officials and promising change at the ballot box.By Leana Carbonez NY-17: The third in a series on the environmental stakes behind one of the nation’s most fiercely contested congressional races.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-05✓ Read

  Final “Grandmother” Cottonwood Toppled, Protesters Arrested in Arizona

  Armed Border Patrol agents raided a protest camp in Lochiel, in southeast Arizona, making way for contractors to cut down the last standing cottonwood tree Monday morning for a double border wall, after protesters protected it for more than 70 days. Activists in Lochiel said at least 12 people had been arrested as of 8

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-05✓ Read

  Supreme Court Weighs Landmark Climate Deception Case Against Oil Companies

  The justices’ ruling could decide whether more than two dozen similar claims proceed. The cases accuse oil companies of misleading the public about climate change and stymieing efforts to curb emissions.By Nicholas Kusnetz The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments from oil companies on Monday that could help decide the fate of more than two dozen lawsuits accusing the industry of deceiving the public about climate change. The claims seek potentially billions of dollars in damages to help pay the costs imposed by climate-related extreme weather.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-05✓ Read

  New York Is Running Out of Room for Its Trash

  Much of New York City’s waste ends up in sprawling landfills far from the city. Upstate communities say they’ve had enough of being dumped on.By Lauren Dalban New York City is running out of places to dump its trash.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-04✓ Read

  New California Law Aims to Stop ‘Predatory’ Developers from Moving In on Wildfire-Ravaged Community

  As many as 200 to 300 new structures have been permitted in Altadena, but homeowners who survived the Eaton Fire are struggling to rebuild.By Steven Rodas, Nina Dietz ALTADENA, Calif.—Sylvie Andrews walks among the brilliant white poppies, purple California grapes and olive-green thorns surrounding her yard’s blackened pizza oven—one of the only things that survived last year’s devastating Eaton Fire. But her eyes scan the block beyond, ever-aware of changes to her neighborhood.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-04✓ Read

  A Colorado Water Trial Could Decide the Future of an Agricultural Valley

  The San Luis Valley’s proposed plan to reduce groundwater pumping could restore its depleted aquifer, but it comes at a steep cost to farmers and an agricultural economy already under strain.By Emily Payne Water regulators and farmers in Colorado’s San Luis Valley are in a lose-lose situation.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-03✓ Read

  ‘Nature-Based’ Solutions Could Save Insurers and Policyholders Billions

  Wetlands restoration and wildfire prevention can drive down insurers’ costs and skyrocketing premiums, a new study shows.By Emmett Gartner After years trudging through marshes around San Francisco Bay studying conservation practices, coastal ecologist Megan Kelso realized that one of the largest determinants of wetland health may not be an invasive species lurking with her among the sea grasses, but decisions made miles away in the executive suites of insurance companies.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-03✓ Read

  SEC Move Would Make it Harder for Shareholders to Push Companies on Climate Action

  Shareholder proposals aren’t legally binding. But companies can feel pressure to take them seriously.By Dimuthu Attanayake The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to scrap a rule that allows shareholders to formally petition companies, one of the ways that shareholder advocacy groups have pressed for more action on climate and sustainability.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-03✓ Read

  Our Future Might Be Darker—and That’s a Good Thing

  An author argues that Earth may have hit “peak lighting,” and that communities are making changes to reclaim their starry nights.Interview by Jenni Doering, Living on Earth From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Jenni Doering with author Craig Childs.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  Federal Judge Slams the Brakes on Big Bend Border Wall Construction

  Work must stop, effective immediately, after a federal judge in the Western District of Texas issued a temporary injunction against far-reaching legal waivers.By Martha Pskowski EL PASO—Federal Judge Kathleen Cardone granted a preliminary injunction Friday to halt construction on the border wall in Texas’ expansive Big Bend sector, including the national and state parks.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  Europe’s Extreme Summer Triggered Cascading Climate Shocks

  A summer of record heat, severe drought and compounding impacts tested Europe's infrastructure and resilience.By Bob Berwyn During this past summer of climate extremes, more than half of Europe experienced dangerous levels of heat stress, the combined effect of temperature, humidity, wind and sunshine on the body’s ability to cool itself. In some places, that amounted to a “feels like” temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  Long-Awaited Senate Deal to Speed Permitting Faces Familiar Hurdles

  Amid skepticism from some environmentalists, clean energy advocates see the reforms as crucial for a transition from fossil fuels.By Marianne Lavelle, Dan Gearino The so-called “lame duck” session of Congress after November’s midterm elections could be momentous for clean energy as lawmakers are set to consider a long-sought bipartisan deal to speed permitting of large energy and infrastructure projects.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  21 States Sue EPA to Reinstate Climate Pollution Rules for Power Plants

  Democrat-led states and cities argue that the rollback harms public health and the environment.By Lisa Sorg More than 20 states, including North Carolina, New York, California and Pennsylvania, as well as several cities, are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its repeal of most greenhouse gas emissions standards for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. The agency’s proposal would also thwart future administrations from reinstating the rule.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  New Jersey’s Middlesex County Sues Big Oil Over Escalating Climate Impacts

  The lawsuit comes as the Supreme Court is poised to hear arguments in a similar climate case against oil companies. A ruling in the industry’s favor in that case could kill dozens of pending climate suits nationwide.By Dana Drugmand A New Jersey county has become the latest local government to sue major oil and gas companies, seeking to recover costs from damage caused by worsening flooding and other climate change impacts.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  As Negotiators Struggle to Advance a Plastics Treaty, Iran War Underscores the Urgency

  Blocked Middle East oil shipments upended supply chains and prices for fossil fuel-based plastics, offering yet another reason nations must support a global treaty that shifts to sustainable materials, environmental advocates say.By Liza Gross As nations met this week in Bangkok for informal meetings on a United Nations plastics treaty, more than 70 developing countries supported addressing all causes and drivers of plastic pollution, environmental advocates said.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  California to Vote on Landmark Tribal Petitions for Coastal Protections

  The state is set to decide on a slew of proposed changes to its network of marine protected areas this fall, but how co-management between the state and tribes would proceed is unclear.By Claire Barber

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-02✓ Read

  Chesapeake Bay Restoration Obstructed by Federal Policy Shift, Tribal Withdrawal

  A Trump administration executive order and a breakdown in relations with seven federally recognized tribes has raised questions about the project’s future.By Aman Azhar Two major challenges could complicate efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-01✓ Read

  America’s Largest Producer of Foundry Coke Is Operating Under an Expired Permit. Who Is at Fault?

  County health officials told lawyers for an environmental group they would move forward with the permitting process after a legal filing asked a judge to force the agency’s hand.By Lee Hedgepeth BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—It’s time to act. It’s long past time.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-01✓ Read

  All Hail Electrification. But Let’s Talk About the Hard Part

  The IEA and climate negotiators want to set a target for shifting the economy to run on electricity. Upfront costs are just one of the obstacles.By Dan Gearino If one form of energy becomes the cheapest, most secure and cleanest, you’d probably adjust your economy to use more of it, right?

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-01✓ Read

  ‘Mega-Industrial’ Trawlers Threaten Europe’s Ocean Health

  Europe’s floating factories make up just one percent of the fleet but catch more than half the fish—and they cause the majority of environmental damage.By Johnny Sturgeon For Europe’s fishing industry, it turns out size does matter.

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• Inside Climate News2026-10-01✓ Read

  Regulators Release a Plan to Help Repair the Contaminated Roanoke River

  Federal and state regulators in North Carolina propose a fix to repair damage caused by more than 50 years of toxic pollution from a pulp mill.By Lisa Sorg PLYMOUTH, N.C.—Fall had just arrived when a nor’easter began stewing in the Atlantic Ocean, its gale-force winds carrying the pungent smell of chlorine westward, away from downtown. Against the backdrop of dingy stratus clouds, the Domtar pulp mill loomed.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-30✓ Read

  EU Weighs Delaying Methane Rules as Energy Prices Rise

  Concerned climate policy experts and investor groups warn against weakening the landmark regulation.By Phil McKenna Amid political pressure and rising energy prices, the European Commission is considering pausing a part of its landmark methane regulation, which is set to take effect in January.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-30✓ Read

  Watch: Climate Week Panel on China’s Global Development Push

  Speakers explore how China’s massive overseas development push is reshaping climate, energy, and extractive investment worldwide.As governments and global funds pour billions into oil, gas, renewable energy, digital infrastructure and mining, the future of cross-border investment is becoming a defining issue for environmental protection and climate action.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-30✓ Read

  Meta Announces Large Solar Purchase Agreement in Texas, But It’s Powering Some Data Centers With Gas

  The new solar project is less than half the size of a gas plant planned for Meta’s El Paso data center.By Lauren Nutall Apex Clean Energy and Meta have entered into a power purchase agreement that allows the technology company to financially benefit from energy generated from a solar project in Gonzales County, Texas.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-30✓ Read

  Mass Heat Wave Deaths in Europe Show Climate Extremes Are Outpacing Adaptation Efforts

  As preparedness lags, many regions around the world could be overwhelmed by rising temperatures, climate experts warn.By Bob Berwyn A series of deadly heat waves from May to August overwhelmed Germany’s healthcare and emergency response systems and led to an estimated 16,000 heat-related deaths during the summer, the most heat mortalities ever recorded in the highly developed country.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-30✓ Read

  Study of Groundwater Near Fracking Sites Finds Low Radium Levels, but Raises Concerns About Increased Salinity

  Researchers highlighted the challenges of studying this issue in western Pennsylvania, which has a long history of industrial pollution.By Jon Hurdle Testing in a limited number of shallow aquifers near fracking sites in southwestern Pennsylvania found low levels of radium overall, but there aren’t yet enough samples to draw firm conclusions about the region as a whole, according to a new report from researchers at Penn State University.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-29✓ Read

  Environmentalists Sue Federal Agencies Over Nation’s First Fast-Tracked Critical Minerals Mine

  Federal regulators approved South32’s Hermosa mine despite identifying adverse impacts to multiple endangered or threatened species, the suit notes.By Wyatt Myskow

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-29✓ Read

  Long After Wildfire Smoke Is Gone, Heavy Metals Could Still Be Harming Survivors’ Lungs

  A new study from University of Hawai‘i researchers links metals found in the ash of the 2023 Maui wildfires with impaired lung function.By Keerti Gopal After three years helping Maui wildfire survivors track their health progress, Dr. Martina L. Kamaka is used to seeing high levels of heavy metals in their bodies.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-29✓ Read

  Incoming El Niño Is so Extreme It Doesn’t Have a Scientific Name

  As a record breaking El Niño continues to grow in the Eastern Pacific, climate scientist Daniel Swain explains what may be in store for the next year as we brace for an El Niño “so far above anything we've previously seen, it doesn't even fit on the same axis.”By Nina Dietz Daniel Swain has made a name for himself studying the extremes of a warming planet. Fires, floods, droughts, heat, storms: if it’s a record breaker, Swain has probably studied it.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-29✓ Read

  Drones Are Already on the Front Lines of Wildfire Response. Robots and AI Could Be Next

  Federal agencies use drones to map fires, find hotspots and ignite burns, and researchers are testing robots on rough terrain and artificial intelligence in fire and smoke behavior forecasts.By Mosabber Hossain

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-29✓ Read

  Alito’s Recusal From Climate Case: Too Little, Too Late?

  The justice’s participation in the Boulder case already may have been pivotal, and his continued stock holdings—including in fossil fuels—keep an ethics cloud over the Supreme Court.By Marianne Lavelle Justice Samuel Alito decided Monday to sit out one of the most consequential climate change cases to reach the Supreme Court, but legal experts expected continuing ramifications due to his ownership of individual corporate stocks, including in the fossil fuel industry.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-28✓ Read

  Trump Slashes Fuel-Economy Standards in Blow to Climate, Health, EV Market

  One observer called the move a "disaster for people’s health, the planet, and even U.S. automakers.”By Dennis Pillion The Trump administration Monday finalized the rollback of a major fuel economy standard for cars and trucks, a move critics say will cause more climate-warming pollution, human health problems and higher fuel costs for consumers.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-28✓ Read

  How to Protect Yourself From Disaster Scams

  Contracting fraud and misconduct are rampant after storms and fires. Experts share tips for the increasing number of Hawaiʻi communities in recovery.By Erin Nolan, Keerti Gopal This story is a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Honolulu Civil Beat.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-28✓ Read

  Planet China

  From electric vehicle exports to massive overseas infrastructure projects, China is having a big—and contradictory—environmental impact worldwide.By Kiley Price, Dan Gearino, Nicholas Kusnetz

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-28✓ Read

  Revealing the Invisible Injustice of Extreme Heat

  Thermal imaging shows how people experience scorching heat varies depending on their circumstance.Story by Bob Berwyn, photos by Michele Lapini The extreme heat scientists have warned about for decades came to Europe again this summer, killing at least 30,000 people like a silent, invisible plague. It came for poor people, the very young and very old, and those suffering from debilitating conditions.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-27✓ Read

  The Trump Administration’s Critical Minerals Agenda Comes for America’s ‘Forgotten Wildlife Corridor’

  Under the banner of “Dig, Baby, Dig,” the Trump administration is supercharging an already powerful mining industry. What will happen to vulnerable plants and animals?By Wyatt Myskow, Carla Samon Ros, Johanna Hansel This investigation was reported in a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Columbia Journalism Investigations.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-27✓ Read

  A Century of Sand Debt Comes Due in Malibu

  A new study finds the world’s great surf breaks are vulnerable to climate change. In Malibu, the problem is more specific: a coast with few defenses, with a record El Niño winter closing in.By Kate Waxman On a clean summer swell, the wave at Malibu’s Surfrider Beach arrives from the south, wraps around a cobblestone point and unspools toward the pier in a long, shimmering wave that can carry a surfer for hundreds of feet. It breaks slowly, forgivingly, over rounded stones that were delivered by Malibu Creek across millennia.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-26✓ Read

  New Colorado Neighborhood Could Offer Glimpse into the Future of Home Energy Use

  The partners behind a project in suburban Denver think they’ve found a way to accelerate the adoption of residential geothermal heating and cooling.By Phil McKenna KEN CARYL, Colo.—A new residential development south of Denver is the testing ground for an unusual partnership that could transform home heating and cooling across the country.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-26✓ Read

  ‘Crown Jewel’ of Everglades Restoration Is Too Small, Report Says

  A sprawling reservoir at the heart of the $27 billion effort to restore Florida’s Everglades is unprecedented in size, but a new report suggests much more reservoir space is needed.By Amy Green A sprawling reservoir under construction south of Lake Okeechobee that Gov. Ron DeSantis has characterized as the “crown jewel” of Everglades restoration will not be enough to save Florida’s treasured and troubled river of grass, according to a new report.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-26✓ Read

  The Specter of ‘Forever Chemicals’ Looms Over Pennsylvania’s Rural Communities

  The sewage sludge some farmers have applied to their fields for decades is contaminated with PFAS—with serious consequences for drinking water.By Ben Seal

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-26✓ Read

  After a Deadly Flood, What Does Climate Justice for Nepal Look Like?

  “A country responsible for less than 0.02 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions is paying an even higher price for a crisis it did not create.”Interview by Paloma Beltran, Living on Earth From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Paloma Beltran with Tanuja Pandey, a climate justice activist in Nepal.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-25✓ Read

  Climate Crisis Is No Longer a ‘Distant Warning,’ UN Leader Says

  The General Assembly pledged to help countries threatened by sea-level rise, but many challenges remain.By Dan Gearino This week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York featured pleas for urgent action on climate change, with heads of state and Secretary-General António Guterres warning that the window for action is narrowing.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-25✓ Read

  Indian Point Energy Center’s Uncertain Future

  As Indian Point Energy Center undergoes decommissioning in New York’s 17th Congressional District, complaints over the process are mounting against the backdrop of an increasingly pro-nuclear federal agenda.By Leana Carbonez NY-17: Second in a series on the environmental stakes of one of the nation’s most fiercely contested congressional races.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-25✓ Read

  Why Germany Is Building an Ark for U.S. Climate Data

  As researchers around the world begin work on the next U.N. climate assessment, fears are growing that the Trump administration could meddle with critical U.S. climate data.By Christian Schwägerl, Yale Environment 360 This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-24✓ Read

  Texas Electric Utility Only Considered Gas to Power $10 Billion Meta Data Center

  Administrative judges recommend approval of the gas power plant if the utility assures ratepayers won't pay the cost.By Martha Pskowski EL PASO—While Texas officials have hit pause on data center permitting, one project is still moving ahead: Meta’s $10 billion, 1-gigawatt data center in northeast El Paso.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-24✓ Read

  AI’s Meet-Cute With Climate Denial

  Just in time for Climate Week NYC, President Trump calls concerns over global warming and artificial intelligence a “hoax.”By Dan Gearino Earlier this week, President Donald Trump responded to rising public concerns about artificial intelligence with a post on Truth Social.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-24✓ Read

  Corpus Christi Could Owe Texas $235M for Failed Desalination Plant

  City leaders hope to revive the twice-rejected project to avoid returning money loaned by the state.By Dylan Baddour Heading into election season, leaders in Corpus Christi face a puzzling question: what to do with $235 million from the state of Texas for a seawater desalination plant that was never built.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-24✓ Read

  Foreign Fishing Fleets Are Robbing West African Countries of Key Nutrients

  Foreign-owned bottom trawlers are emptying African waters and taking the continent’s biologically valuable nutrients with them.By Johnny Sturgeon Seafood isn’t just a key source of protein and calories; it’s also where millions around the world get essential vitamins and minerals needed to build tissue, fight infections and grow. Yet, as modern mechanized fishing fleets plunder global waters, populations in low-income countries are losing out.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-23✓ Read

  Court Nixes Michigan’s Novel Antitrust Case Targeting Big Oil

  The state alleged that oil companies colluded to delay the energy transition, driving up prices for consumers. The court was not convinced this conspiracy directly caused overcharges for energy.By Dana Drugmand

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-23✓ Read

  Super El Niño to Cause 451,000 Heat Deaths

  Climate scientists are calling the hotter temperatures resulting from El Niño a “postcard from the future.”By Arcelia Martin More than 451,000 people are projected to die across the globe in the next six months from the additional heat brought by a super El Niño, according to estimates from climate scientists released Wednesday.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-23✓ Read

  Asphalt Company Alleges Operative Who Posed as a Project Opponent Committed Fraud

  Maymead is suing a consultant who infiltrated a neighborhood group opposing a new asphalt plant in North Carolina.By Lisa Sorg Maymead, a company that plans to build a controversial asphalt plant south of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is suing a consulting firm and one of its former employees, alleging they committed fraud, civil conspiracy and deceptive trade practices in spearheading opposition to the project.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-23✓ Read

  Chemicals Linked to Breast Cancer Are ‘Ubiquitous,’ Study Shows

  Hundreds of potential breast carcinogens taint everyday consumer products, food, drinking water, medicines, building materials and pesticides, scientists reported.By Liza Gross The more scientists look for chemicals that can increase breast cancer risk, the more they find.

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• Inside Climate News2026-09-23✓ Read

  In Rural Pennsylvania, Doctors Confront the Hidden Health Impacts of Environmental Disasters

  Researchers are learning more about the long-term public health effects of living through extreme weather, especially in more isolated communities.By Marie Cusick In February 2023, George Garrow jumped in his car and hurried to help people impacted by a freight train that had derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

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