Cropped 11 February 2026: Aftershocks of US withdrawals | Biodiversity and business risks | Deep-sea mining tensions
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We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight. This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here. This is the last edition of Cropped for 2025. The newsletter will return on 14 January 2026. Key developments […]
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IPBES chair Dr David Obura: Trump’s US exit from global nature panel ‘harms everybody’
The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the US from the intergovernmental science panel for nature “harms everybody, including them”, according to its chair. Dr David Obura is a leading coral reef ecologist from Kenya and chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the world’s authority on the science of nature […]
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Q&A: New UK onshore wind and solar is ‘50% cheaper’ than new gas
The UK government has secured a record 7.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar, onshore wind and tidal power in its latest auction for new renewable capacity. It is the second and final part of the seventh auction round for “contracts for difference” (CfDs), known as AR7a. In the first part, held in January 2026, the government […]
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Using synthetic biology and AI to address global antimicrobial resistance threat
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James J. Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT and faculty co-lead of the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health, is embarking on a multidisciplinary research project that applies synthetic biology and generative artificial intelligence to the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The research project is […]
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Climate change made ‘fire weather’ in Chile and Argentina three times more likely
The hot, dry and windy weather preceding the wildfires that tore through Chile and Argentina last month was made around three times more likely due to human-caused climate change. This is according to a rapid attribution study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) service. Devastating wildfires hit multiple parts of South America throughout January. The fires […]
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Research plots pathway to sustainable solar scale-up
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Even as the government announces contracts for new solar farms as part of its Clean Power 2030 plan, the question persists: can the renewable energy sector scale up production sustainably? New research from Northumbria University, published in Nature Communications, appears to show that it can – and will save billions of tonnes of carbon emissions […]
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New EU rules aim to stop the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes
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Clothing enters the residual waste stream (in Germany, in this case) The European Commission has adopted new measures under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) to prevent the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear. The rules will cut waste and environmental impact while levelling the playing field between brands and retailers already […]
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Latvian firm secures €930K and contracts with ESA and NATO to generate electricity on the Moon
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Latvian startup Deep Space Energy has raised €350K in pre-seed funding from investors, in addition to €580K in public contracts and grants from the European Space Agency (ESA), NATO DIANA, and the Latvian government. The funding will support a further move towards commercialisation of the group’s novel radioisotopic generator The pre-seed funding round was led […]
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How to Hire Dedicated Development Teams: A Step-by-Step Guide for Eco-Focused Founders
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When your product has a green heartbeat, whether it’s a carbon-tracking app or an AI-enabled waste-sorting platform, every delay in shipping code feels like a delay in helping the planet. That’s why more climate-tech founders, project managers, and sustainability-driven executives look beyond in-house recruitment and partner with focused, fully staffed engineering units. You’ve probably heard […]
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AI algorithm enables tracking of vital white matter pathways
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The signals that drive many of the brain and body’s most essential functions — consciousness, sleep, breathing, heart rate, and motion — course through bundles of “white matter” fibers in the brainstem, but imaging systems so far have been unable to finely resolve these crucial neural cables. That has left researchers and doctors with little […]
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Sabin Center Submits Amicus Brief to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
On Monday, February 9, 2026, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus curiae brief to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) in the matter of the Request for an Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States with Respect to the Climate Change Crisis. The brief explains how climate science can help inform […]
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Group launches carbon footprint reports to help the lighting industry manage CO2 emissions
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Sustainable lighting expert Recolight has announced new CO2 emission reports to help lighting producers, and their customers to monitor and reduce the carbon footprint associated with their waste lamp and luminaire collections. This initiative provides detailed assessments of the carbon emissions associated with every lighting waste collection managed by the group. To deliver these reports, […]
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One third of all new cars registered in January were electric or hybrid
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Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) accounted for nearly one-third of all new car registrations in January 2026, an independent transport research organisation has reported, marking what seems a significant milestone in consumer acceptance. According to data published by New AutoMotive, an independent transport research organisation focused on accelerating the shift […]
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3 Questions: Using AI to help Olympic skaters land a quint
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Olympic figure skating looks effortless. Athletes sail across the ice, then soar into the air, spinning like a top, before landing on a single blade just 4-5 millimeters wide. To help figure skaters land quadruple axels, Salchows, Lutzes, and maybe even the elusive quintuple without looking the least bit stressed, Jerry Lu MFin ’24 developed […]
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G7 ‘falling behind’ China as world’s wind and solar plans reach new high in 2025
The G7 major economies “f[e]ll notably behind China and the rest of the world” in 2025 as the amount of wind and solar power being developed reached a new high, according to Global Energy Monitor (GEM). A new report from the analysts says that the amount of wind and large-scale solar capacity being built or […]
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Congressional ‘Grid Reliability’ Bill Is Like Duct Tape On A Cracked Dam
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The post Congressional ‘Grid Reliability’ Bill Is Like Duct Tape On A Cracked Dam appeared first on Energy Innovation.
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IPBES: Four key takeaways on how nature loss threatens the global economy
The “undervaluing” of nature by businesses is fuelling its decline and putting the global economy at risk, according to a major new report. An assessment from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) outlines more than 100 actions for measuring and reducing impacts on nature across business, government, financial institutions and civil […]
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Anti-nature rhetoric damaging voter confidence in Labour, says poll
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Image credit: FotoField / Shutterstock.com A new poll published on 4 February appears to reveal that Labour’s rhetoric on nature is damaging the confidence of voters across both the right and left. (Words: The Wildlife Trusts) According to the poll, carried out by Savanta,1 nearly a third of Reform voters (28%) and Green voters (28%) […]