Pollution

"Near the end of his first term, President Donald Trump signed into law a bill that aimed to reduce harmful, planet-warming pollutants emitted by refrigerators and air conditioners.  ... Five years later, the second Trump administration is reversing course, as it moves to loosen a federal rule — based on the 2020 law — that requires grocery stores, air-conditioning companies and others to reduce powerful greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment."

"Trump has pulled billions in funding for hydrogen, a sector that was already on shaky ground. Projects in Ohio are chugging along anyway."

"In line with its plan to continue pesticide approvals despite the government shutdown, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it will register a new weedkiller for use in corn, soybean, wheat, and canola fields."

"World leaders warned Thursday that time is running short for urgent and decisive action to prevent the worst effects of climate change, and blasted the United States for its retreat from those efforts, as they gathered at the edge of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest for the annual United Nations climate summit."

"In recent weeks, automakers and other companies in the vehicle space are pulling back their investments in electric vehicles (EVs), including laying off workers in multiple states."

"All nations of the world had homework this year: submit new-and-improved plans to fight climate change. But the plans they handed in “have barely moved the needle” on reducing Earth’s future warming, a new United Nations report finds."

"In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators."

"The U.S. Department of Energy has announced up to $100 million in federal funding for projects modernizing the nation’s remaining coal plants, nearly half of which were slated to close by 2030."

"Overtourism and heavy maritime traffic across the Mediterranean are contributing to a rise in pollution in Greece's azure waters, say Greek scientists who have deployed thousands of mussels on the seafloor to help detect microplastics."

"Brazil is set to unveil an ambitious international plan that would provide up to $4 billion a year to countries that protect their tropical forests. Proponents see it as a potential game-changer for forest conservation, but some ecologists and economists are raising concerns."