With just four months until the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, most countries have yet to submit updated emissions plans, threatening the world’s ability to stay below the 1.5C warming threshold.
Only a small fraction of countries have submitted new national climate plans required under the Paris Agreement, raising concerns that Cop30 in Belém will lack meaningful progress.
Global temperatures have already breached 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, and scientists warn that without rapid emissions cuts by 2030, this overshoot could become permanent.
Political distractions — from war and trade conflicts to rising populism — along with deliberate obstruction by fossil fuel interests are slowing international cooperation.
Key quote:
“Climate is our biggest war. Climate is here for the next 100 years. We need to focus and … not allow those [other] wars to take our attention away from the bigger fight that we need to have.”
— Ana Toni, chief executive of Cop30
Why this matters:
Climate summits like Cop30 are designed to hold governments accountable, but their success depends on political will — and right now, that’s faltering. The 1.5C threshold isn’t just symbolic; passing it risks triggering irreversible changes, from melting glaciers to collapsing ecosystems. Scientists warn the world has just two years left at current emissions rates before this boundary becomes locked in. Yet most nations haven’t updated their short-term targets, and fossil fuel expansion continues, especially in countries like China and the U.S. Meanwhile, poorer nations, facing mounting climate disasters, wait for promised funds that often don’t arrive.
A longtime Saudi Aramco employee’s nomination to help lead a major United Nations climate report has sparked fresh questions about fossil fuel influence inside the world’s top climate science body.
Mustafa Babiker, an economist and 18-year veteran of the Saudi Aramco oil company, was proposed as a coordinating lead author for a chapter of the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report focused on reducing fossil fuel emissions.
Scientists and watchdog groups warn the nomination could harm the IPCC's credibility, citing Babiker’s close ties to the world’s largest oil producer and the growing political pressure on the body from fossil fuel nations.
The United States, under President Trump, has scaled back its involvement in the IPCC, cutting staff and blocking a senior American scientist from participating in key meetings.
Key quote:
The nomination is “one of the most blatant examples of political capture by the oil industry of climate policy that I have ever seen.”
— Tzeporah Berman, founder of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty NGO
Why this matters:
The IPCC plays a central role in shaping global understanding of climate science and guiding policy decisions on reducing emissions. When individuals with deep ties to fossil fuel interests help lead the body’s reports, it raises serious concerns about objectivity and integrity. Oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia have long pushed to downplay or redirect climate science findings that could threaten their economic model. With the U.S. stepping back and fossil fuel exporters gaining influence, the balance of power within the IPCC is shifting.
A new study finds increasing ocean salinity near Antarctica is driving warmer water to the surface, which speeds sea ice melt and hinders winter ice formation.
The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used advanced satellite algorithms and ocean buoy data to detect changes in water salinity over the past decade.
Scientists warn the shift may mark a long-term transition in Antarctic ice behavior, with the feedback loop between melting, warming, and salt levels posing broad climate risks.
Key quote:
“We are entering a new system, a new world.”
— Alessandro Silvano, senior scientist at the University of Southampton
Why this matters:
Sea ice acts as the planet’s reflective shield, bouncing solar radiation back into space and helping to regulate Earth’s temperature. The loss of Antarctic sea ice not only exposes darker ocean water that absorbs more heat but also disrupts global ocean currents and weather systems. Rising salinity near Antarctica hints at a larger, destabilizing feedback loop: Warmer waters melt more ice, which then reinforces ocean mixing and heat absorption. This shift threatens to reshape sea level patterns and intensify extreme weather across the globe. As the climate warms, monitoring Antarctic changes becomes increasingly urgent, but recent U.S. cuts to satellite data programs could leave scientists with fewer tools to track these tipping points.
The Vermont Green Football Club blends sports and sustainability, offering recycled uniforms, vegan food trucks, and compost bins at every game.
The team’s climate-first mission includes donations to environmental groups, low-carbon operations, and partnerships with brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.
Players and fans alike are embracing the team’s ethos, from biking to games to rethinking personal habits — and even free vegan ice cream.
Key quote:
“It infuses everyone’s awareness in a way that’s much more joyful, much more connected, much more community oriented. When people experience climate action and environmental focus in that way, they see that joy can be a part of the work.”
— Eli Scheer, Vermont Green fan
Why this matters:
This semi-pro team has quickly become a cult favorite not just for its play, but for its unapologetically bold mission: to use the beautiful game to champion environmental justice. As extreme weather intensifies and air quality declines, Vermont Green offers a playbook for climate action that’s local, joyful, and infectious. It shows how sports — often carbon-heavy enterprises — can flip the script and become platforms for public engagement, behavior change, and community resilience. For fans disillusioned with corporate sports greenwashing, it's climate action in cleats.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to delay and potentially weaken water pollution standards for coal-fired power plants, citing energy grid demands and economic pressures.
The EPA said it will propose delaying compliance deadlines for Biden-era rules designed to limit toxic water pollution from coal plants and may explore broader regulatory rollbacks.
The current rules aim to prevent more than 660 million pounds of pollutants — linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and IQ loss — from reaching U.S. waterways annually.
Trump-appointed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argued the rollback supports electric grid reliability and economic independence, calling coal “beautiful, clean.”
Key quote:
“Zeldin has made it abundantly clear that he is willing to sacrifice just about anything—including our health and our futures—for the profit of the fossil fuel industry.”
— Patrick Drupp, climate policy director, Sierra Club
Why this matters:
Coal-fired power plants discharge toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, and selenium into rivers and lakes — substances known to harm brain development, elevate cancer risk, and disrupt ecosystems. The Biden-era rule was designed to curb this pollution using updated treatment technologies. Loosening or delaying those rules could increase public exposure to contaminants through drinking water and fish, especially in communities already facing environmental health disparities. The decision comes as U.S. energy use climbs amid climate-driven heat waves, but it also raises alarms about prioritizing fossil fuel interests over long-term public health.
More than 270 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees have accused the Trump administration of pushing a political agenda that undermines science and endangers public health.
EPA employees sent a letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin condemning political interference and warning that environmental decisions are being made without regard to science or legal precedent.
The administration is considering eliminating the agency’s research arm and has already shut down its environmental justice offices, prompting over 1,400 staff departures since January.
The union representing EPA workers also filed a Hatch Act complaint over politically charged language in internal newsletters attacking Democratic lawmakers.
Key quote:
“In Trump’s America, it is a brave thing to speak out in this way. We have EPA employees who are signing their full names, their offices, their regions, all of that. These are people who feel that this is so important that they’re willing to risk their careers to make sure that this information gets out to the public.”
— Colette Delawalla, executive director of Stand Up for Science
Why this matters:
The EPA plays a central role in limiting pollution, regulating toxic chemicals, and responding to climate threats. The proposed layoffs and closures threaten not just institutional expertise, but the very infrastructure needed to detect and prevent harm. Public health, especially in lower-income and historically marginalized areas, often depends on EPA enforcement and oversight. When science takes a back seat to politics, regulations tend to weaken, industry faces less scrutiny, and the long-term costs — chronic disease, degraded ecosystems, biodiversity loss — land on the public.
The Vermont Green Football Club blends sports and sustainability, offering recycled uniforms, vegan food trucks, and compost bins at every game.
The team’s climate-first mission includes donations to environmental groups, low-carbon operations, and partnerships with brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.
Players and fans alike are embracing the team’s ethos, from biking to games to rethinking personal habits — and even free vegan ice cream.
Key quote:
“It infuses everyone’s awareness in a way that’s much more joyful, much more connected, much more community oriented. When people experience climate action and environmental focus in that way, they see that joy can be a part of the work.”
— Eli Scheer, Vermont Green fan
Why this matters:
This semi-pro team has quickly become a cult favorite not just for its play, but for its unapologetically bold mission: to use the beautiful game to champion environmental justice. As extreme weather intensifies and air quality declines, Vermont Green offers a playbook for climate action that’s local, joyful, and infectious. It shows how sports — often carbon-heavy enterprises — can flip the script and become platforms for public engagement, behavior change, and community resilience. For fans disillusioned with corporate sports greenwashing, it's climate action in cleats.
