The Trump admin has started to realize batteries are an important general purpose technology. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/c...

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

The question isn't whether fusion will arrive—it's who gets there first, and what that means for the rest of the century. #FusionEnergy #EnergyTransition #Science www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

"In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said. Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

Who will get one tokamak over the line? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

Great @bradplumer.bsky.social @harrystevens.bsky.social piece on China's nuclear ambition. I'm biased but I think a good satellite comparison is worth 1000 words. Incidentally, the score for aluminum smelters built since 1990 would be ~50-60 for China, 0 for the US. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

From NYT Climate, via @harrystevens.bsky.social and @bradplumer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nuclear reactors built or under construction since 2013 US: 2 China: 46

The EPA said it will stop updating a database that companies use to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains. In July, EPA suspended the database's lead scientist because he signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/c...

Based on fossil fuel growth rates from the IEA Coal Mid-Year Update, July Oil Market Report, & Gas Market Report Q3, fossil CO2 emissions would grow around 0.8% in 2025, reaching another record high... We are only half way through the year, but don't build too much expectation for peak emissions.

About a quarter of the world’s oceans are experiencing temperatures that qualify as a marine heat wave. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

wow, this is really good mapping www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

Since the IRA passed, companies have made plans to invest over $843 billion in clean energy projects. But just one-third of that has actually been invested, new data shows. Much of the rest is now at risk. On the new House Republican plan to dismantle the IRA, with @harrystevens.bsky.social

Rebecca Dzombak, Max Bearak & @harrystevens.bsky.social look at the possible long-term consequences from seabed mining. “Part of the challenge in understanding potential effects is that the pace of life is slow on the seafloor. Deep-sea fish can live hundreds of years. Corals can live thousands.”

A trick for fitting world maps on phones: Stack two azimuthal equal-area projections, clipped at 90° longitude, each one rotated 180° from the other. The bottom map covers the top's Antarctica, which reduces the total height and looks nice. As seen in www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/c...

ICYMI: C4ADS Program Director Krista Rasmussen spoke to @harrystevens.bsky.social about #China’s growing control of critical #mineral supply chains — building on our recent Refining Power investigation into ownership of Indonesian nickel refineries. From @nytimes.com 👇 buff.ly/qJuK213

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages A lawsuit by pipeline giant Energy Transfer claimed Greenpeace had played a major, costly role in protests nearly a decade ago. Greenpeace has said a loss could put it out of business. by Karen Zraick www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/c...

🦋 In 20 years, the contiguous U.S. lost 22 percent of its butterflies, according to a groundbreaking new study published today. We got the data, and I made a tool that lets you find out what's happening with butterfly species in your town. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... 1/3

The US won't have an official govt delegation at an upcoming, key UN climate science meeting next week. (Story led by @mccuri.bsky.social ) **Whether this signals a broader federal disengagement from int'l climate research is not yet clear... www.axios.com/2025/02/20/u...

Nikola, the EV startup that once enjoyed a surging stock price, has filed for bankruptcy after struggling to turn its plans for electric and hydrogen trucks into a viable business. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/b...

The Energy Department has begun laying off staff — around 1,000 workers — as part of Trump's purge of the federal workforce www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/u...

The State Department plans to spend $400 million on armored Cybertrucks from Elon Musk’s Tesla www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

NEW: @noaa.gov offices have been asked to search their grants for climate-related keywords, among other executive order-related terms. This could put climate grant-funding in the crosshairs if/once the judicial order holding the funding freeze back is lifted. www.axios.com/2025/02/09/n...

NEW: Trump is freezing money for clean energy — batteries, EVs, renewables, heat pumps, and more. Nearly 80% of manufacturing investments spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act have flowed to Republican congressional districts. w/ Lisa Friedman & @bradplumer.bsky.social 👇 Gift link in reply

this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)

At this rate we'll bend the aerosol cooling curve back up to 0 long before we bend the greenhouse warming curve back down.

Startup company Commonwealth Fusion Systems aims to build its first fusion power plant in Richmond, VA, to begin generating carbon-free electricity in the early 2030s. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/c...

Permitting reform is dead in the 118th Congress, per Josh Siegel at Politico

How the Renewable Energy Boom Is Remaking the American West. 🏜️🔌💡 insideclimatenews.org/news/1512202...

“You have to make sure your numbers are correct before you scare the pants off people.”

“geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project costs continue to decline. This would mean the deployment of as much as 800 gigawatts of geothermal capacity worldwide” www.iea.org/news/technol...

Interesting piece here on "Why so many Americans prefer sprawl to walkable neighborhoods"

Love these maps by @harrystevens.bsky.social for the @washingtonpost.com. Great analysis and the search tool allows you to see walkability for different cities. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Really great piece with a lot of food for thought about proximity and density, nicely covering and adding to our analysis. Thanks Harry!

Do you live in a walkable neighborhood or suburban sprawl? Explore more than 200 metro areas and see how your neighborhood ranks in today's Climate Lab column. Gift link: wapo.st/41lOtkO

Bivariate colour maps, with a UK climate example. Even on the scale of the UK we have different climate zones, from relatively cold & wet, to warm & dry. www.datawim.com/post/creatin... [Thanks: @annalombardi.bsky.social, @oceanterra.org]

Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide since 1980 and is not held in check by vaccines, contrary to posts suggesting the deadly virus may circulate again if vaccines become optional. www.reuters.com/fact-check/s...

#30DayMapChallenge Day 26: Map Projections I chose the Gingery projection for today's challenge as it gave me a chance to reproduce Cram's Air Age U.S. Centric World map. This was all about the detail, from vintage textures to projection labels. All in Plot! observablehq.com/@jwolondon/t...

Another "nuclear power plant" photo that's actually a coal plant. PSA: cooling towers ≠ nuclear plant. Giveaways: large smokestacks, more than 2 cooling towers, large conveyor belts (nuclear fuel is loaded once every 12-18 months not continuously), etc. 🔌💡

The Helix Nebula

Another chart for the day. China was already a major auto exporter a decade ago. It now exports more vehicles ($116 billion in the 12 months through September) than parts ($91 billion) by value. Data source: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Inflation Reduction Act + 27 months My students at Wellesley and I are tracking investments in the US electric vehicle supply chain. Surprise: IRA + 27 months and investments jumped again. We are now tracking: 157 new projects $101 billion in investments 63,718 new jobs announced A short 🧵🔌💡🔌🚗

Don't miss it! Here's the link to enter our annual DC snow prediction contest: 🔗https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/11/18/dc-snow-prediction-contest/

Hello world!

Alkalinity is the key ingredient that turns CO2 into inert minerals. Help us find it!

❄️ The U.S. is getting less snowy, according to 60 years of meteorological records. In today's Climate Lab column, see this winter’s forecast in your county and find out if it gets less snow now than it used to. Gift link: wapo.st/3CjsMaD

From a Washington Post writer on Twitter, the best argument for not canceling your subscription.