Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months
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China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024. The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) saw CO2 emissions from transport fuel drop by 5% year-on-year, while there were also declines from cement and steel production. […]
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What Is Coal’s Future In The United States?
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Despite rising electricity demand across America’s grid and hundreds of millions in new federal subsidies, coal-fired power cannot compete economically with cleaner forms of energy and continues to lose market share across the country. For 100 years, coal was the nation’s largest source of electricity, but since the beginning of the 21st century, cheaper and […]
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Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief Supporting New York City’s Building Electrification Law in Second Circuit Appeal
Last week, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National League of Cities (NLC) and the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) in the case Association of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York v. City of New York, No. 25-977 (2d Cir. Apr. 21, 2025). This challenge, brought by […]
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Webinar: Carbon Brief’s first ‘ask us anything’ at COP30
As COP30 began in the Brazilian city of Belém, Carbon Brief hosted the first of three webinars to exclusively answer questions submitted by holders of the Insider Pass. Topics ranged from China’s priorities and the absence of the US through to narratives around geoengineering. Expected key outcomes at COP30 were also discussed, including the Tropical […]
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Your Preview of Negotiations: Nov. 10
The 30th United Nations climate conference (COP30) has begun. The UNFCCC COP30 kicked off yesterday in Belém, Brazil. World leaders began gathering ahead of the conference on Thursday, November 6th, for the two-day world summit of world leaders that accompanies every COP. This year, the meeting took place a few days before COP30 began, rather […]
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Climate vulnerable countries focusing on skills to survive, while the wealthy nations focus on skills to thrive: new report
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Small community houses in riverside location near Belem. As nations gather in Brazil for the international climate change conference, COP30, new analysis of countries’ plans has seemingly identified a clear focus by climate vulnerable countries to upskill the public for climate adaptation and resilience, while developed countries focus on how to maximise economic growth. The […]
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The UK is failing to capitalise on its geothermal energy potential
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Historic mining village in County Durham (image credit: Paul Maguire / Shutterstock.com). The UK has a huge geothermal resource that is virtually invisible in government energy policy, says a new report published today (10 November). The Coal Mines for Heat Decarbonisation report by Durham Energy Institute, University of Durham, lays out the untapped potential for […]
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MIT Energy Initiative launches Data Center Power Forum
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With global power demand from data centers expected to more than double by 2030, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) in September launched an effort that brings together MIT researchers and industry experts to explore innovative solutions for powering the data-driven future. At its annual research conference, MITEI announced the Data Center Power Forum, a targeted research effort for […]
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DeBriefed 7 November 2025: Belém COP begins; UN warns of 1.5C breach; changing roles of climate scientists
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Eve of COP30 MULTILATERAL HOPES A gathering of world leaders kicked off in Belém, Brazil, ahead of the official opening of COP30 next week. The leaders of China, the US and India – the “planet’s three biggest […]
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Appropriated, but Unobligated: Impounding Climate Funds
The Trump administration has undertaken a comprehensive effort to prevent the distribution of mandatory federal funding, including billions for climate programs. Attempts to cancel already-obligated federal funding awards have been among its most notable actions and have been met with a slew of lawsuits by aggrieved grantees, states, and other parties harmed by the cancellations. […]
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Ongoing failure to agree AR7 timeline is ‘unprecedented’ in IPCC history
Governments have, once again, failed to agree on a timeline for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) seventh assessment cycle (AR7), two years into the process. Last week, more than 300 scientists and government officials from around the world met in Lima, Peru for the 63rd session of the IPCC (IPCC-63). According to the […]
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Interactive: Tracking negotiating texts at the COP30 climate summit
The centrepiece of every UN climate summit is for countries to negotiate the wording of a large number of legal agreements – and COP30 in the Brazilian city of Belém is no different. These texts are hashed out behind closed doors in the “blue zone” at the COP, where diplomats from nearly 200 nations haggle over […]
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Charting the future of AI, from safer answers to faster thinking
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Adoption of new tools and technologies occurs when users largely perceive them as reliable, accessible, and an improvement over the available methods and workflows for the cost. Five PhD students from the inaugural class of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab Summer Program are utilizing state-of-the-art resources, alleviating AI pain points, and creating new features and […]
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MIT researchers propose a new model for legible, modular software
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Coding with large language models (LLMs) holds huge promise, but it also exposes some long-standing flaws in software: code that’s messy, hard to change safely, and often opaque about what’s really happening under the hood. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are charting a more “modular” path ahead. Their new approach […]
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Climate Deception Cases Abound: They Aren’t All the Same
Around the world, companies face claims that they have misled or deceived the public regarding the climate impacts of their products. While these cases might all be characterized as “climate deception” cases, there are meaningful distinctions in the plaintiffs’ allegations and claims. This post draws on recent and upcoming developments to highlight some of the […]
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STAFF NEWS: Andrew Kieffer Joins the Sabin Center as Fellow for the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative and Rebecca Lowy Joins as Climate Law Fellow
Andrew Kieffer joined the Sabin Center in September 2025 as a Fellow with the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative, which uses legal research and engagement to support siting utility- and community-scale renewable energy facilities and associated transmission and storage equipment. His work focuses on identifying legal pathways to challenge land-use and siting barriers which impede the […]
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COP30: What does the ‘Baku to Belém roadmap’ mean for climate finance?
The Brazilian COP30 presidency has published a “Baku to Belém roadmap” on how climate finance could be scaled up to “at least $1.3tn” a year by 2035. The idea for the roadmap was a late addition to the outcome of COP29 last year, following disappointment over the formal $300bn-per-year climate-finance goal agreed in Baku. The […]
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Cropped 5 November 2025: Nature finance at COP30; Storms devastate crops; Brazilian deforestation decline
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. Key developments COP30 build-up FOREST FIX: In the run-up to COP30, Brazil announced that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon […]