August and September passed without a single Atlantic hurricane, thanks in part to a powerful El Niño. Forecasters are now raising the prospect that the season could conclude with zero Atlantic hurricanes.

As president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro not only weakened regulations and gutted agencies charged with protecting the Amazon, he also encouraged the clearing of forest. An analysis of his tweets and those of his ministers finds a link between their rhetoric and the acres of forest lost. 

The Kanoya Osaki Solar Hills solar plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, was built on a former golf course. Kyocera

As the Arctic warms and tundra thaws, minerals long trapped in frozen soil are leaching into rivers, turning them orange and acidic. A study from northern Alaska found “rusting” waters to be more metallic and acidic than drainage from metal mines.

Soaring energy costs are driving a solar rush in developing countries, but as households unplug from the grid, those who remain face higher electricity bills. If governments fail to manage the buildout, the growth of solar could destabilize power systems and deepen economic inequality.

Some parts of the globe are not just heating up, but heating up faster than they were just a few decades ago. A new analysis reveals where warming has gained pace.

In the first half of this year, salmon farmers on the Australian island of Tasmania detonated nearly 1,800 underwater explosives to scare away fur seals intent on nabbing fish, government figures show. 

India, a country of nearly 1.5 billion people, has long relied on coal to power its growing economy. But over the last two years, it has seen a remarkable shift: The rapid buildout of renewable energy has halted the growth of coal. 

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. In response, scientists are preparing to transfer vast troves of that data to repositories in Germany.

Sara Meléndez, an Indigenous environmental defender in Peru, whose brother was killed after opposing coca cultivation on community land. Leslie Searles / Global Witness

Human rights lawyer Julian Aguon explores how warming threatens not only the survival of small island nations but also the traditions of their Indigenous peoples. He is citing these injuries in legal actions, including in a major victory at the International Court of Justice last year.

Iceland is one of just three countries, along with Norway and Japan, that still allows commercial whaling in its waters, but that may be about to change. The Icelandic government will put forward a bill in February that could ban the practice.

As the planet heats up, tundras are thawing, wetlands are fermenting, and forests are succumbing to larger and more frequent wildfires. The breakdown of these natural systems is unleashing huge volumes of emissions, further intensifying warming from the burning of fossil fuels. According to new research, such feedback loops could amplify human-driven warming by 20 to 30 percent.

Stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, a massive bloom of sargassum seaweed is swamping beaches and killing coastal wildlife. But scientists have discovered the floating algae also shelters a vast array of ocean creatures, and some are now calling for its protection. 

New clean power more than met the growth in demand across China last year, leading to a small decline in coal output, according to think tank Ember. Analysts identified eight provinces where coal generation is now seeing declines, including industrial centers such as Hunan and Shandong, and it named another nine provinces where the growth of coal generation has slowed substantially.

An aerial photo of a penguin colony on an island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Penguin guano leaves a clear mark on the landscape. Thomas Sayre-McCord / WHOI / MIT

Fueled by climate change and a strengthening El Niño, record-setting marine heat waves are gripping oceans worldwide and playing havoc with sea life. Mounting evidence from recent events suggests the damage could be severe and long-lasting, both onshore and off.

Across the U.S., tech companies have courted backlash for using polluting gas generators to power massive new data centers. But energy industry data shows that in addition to building out natural gas, firms are adding huge amounts of battery storage.

Security camera footage of a massive flood hitting Gyirong Port at the border of China and Nepal on August 26. Wikipedia

Households and businesses are driving a solar boom in Africa, where rooftop arrays and other small systems account for the bulk of new solar installations. But this rapid buildout, which is driving solar additions to record levels, is largely unaccounted for in official statistics, analysts say.

In 2024, the Biden administration enacted wide-ranging regulations to protect communities near petrochemical plants from air toxics. The Trump administration has since granted exemptions to scores of polluting facilities and is working to rewrite the long-awaited rule.

A study from Scotland found that living near an accessible urban woodland significantly lowered the likelihood of being prescribed antidepressants.

On a vast network of rivers flowing through the jungles of Papua New Guinea, researchers have rediscovered the spinach pipefish, a relative of the seahorse, which had not been recorded in more than 40 years. The fish has long been sought after by conservationists, who feared it had gone extinct.

On the arid African savanna, grasses are growing faster than they were a generation ago, boosted by rising levels of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. That is the finding of a new study that warns that faster growth could fuel larger wildfires and alter the distribution of wildlife.

A scheme to slash car pollution in London was a boon to children, whose lungs grew faster after the program was launched, researchers found.

A vast system of Atlantic currents appears to be weakening, and scientists say its collapse could lead to dramatic cooling in northern Europe. A new study suggests an additional risk: a surge in warming across the rest of the globe.

China is leading the world on renewable energy, last year installing more wind and solar capacity than every other country put together. But its buildout has unfolded at such a ferocious pace that China is now generating much more electricity than its power grid can handle, meaning that huge amounts of clean power are going unused.

A little more than one year ago, Australia rolled out a program to heavily subsidize home batteries, part of a larger effort to make use of the huge volumes of solar energy that were going to waste. On Friday, officials announced that more than 500,000 batteries had been installed under the plan, helping to slash wholesale power prices roughly in half.

An ongoing drought in Europe has sapped French rivers. Officials say that 43 percent of small waterways in France have been partially or completely dried up.

As Brazil cracks down on the illegal clearing of forests, farmers and ranchers are moving into Bolivia, driving a new wave of deforestation in a country where land is cheap and enforcement lax. 

Oceans globally recorded their hottest July ever last month, according to a new analysis. Western Europe saw intense ocean heat waves as it continued faced soaring temperatures and drought.

For 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has defined "harm" as not just injury to individuals but to the habitat on which they depend. By narrowing that definition, the Trump administration is leaving...

In March, the world passed a major energy milestone, adding its third terawatt of solar power. Increasingly, poorer countries are leading the shift to solar, analysts say.

Temperatures forecasted between August and October of this year. Red areas are projected to be far warmer than normal. World Meteorological Organization

A landmark study of the towering ash trees that grow in the mountains of Victoria, Australia, which was launched in the 1980s, boosted arguments for clearcutting the iconic trees. But when scientists returned to the site years later, they came to a much different conclusion.

Since the colonial era, India has regarded its native scrublands and savannas as little more than degraded forest. Now, amid a growing recognition of rangelands globally, officials are working to map the nation's ailing grasslands, with a view to restoring these vital ecosystems. 

Together, wind and solar generated 44 percent of Germany’s electricity, while fossil fuels generated roughly 43 percent, according to data from the Energy Institute, a think tank based in London. The figures represent a major milestone for the German “Energiewende,” or “energy turnaround,” a national push to ramp up renewable energy and phase out gas, coal, and nuclear power. 

In a summer of record heat waves, France and Spain are now facing wildfires that have forced the evacuations of more than 300,000 people. Scientists say that a sharp swing from wet to dry weather, a signature of climate change, helped fuel the blazes.

Warming has brought extreme rainfall to the parched Sahel, which is seeing aquifers refill as monsoons grow stronger. But heavier downpours alone cannot explain the water revival, say hydrologists, who believe efforts to harvest rain, along with tree-planting projects, may be paying dividends.