Helping K-12 schools navigate the complex world of AI
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With the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence, teachers and school leaders are looking for answers to complicated questions about successfully integrating technology into lessons, while also ensuring students actually learn what they’re trying to teach. Justin Reich, an associate professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program, hopes a new guidebook published by the MIT Teaching Systems […]
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3 Questions: How AI is helping us monitor and support vulnerable ecosystems
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A recent study from Oregon State University estimated that more than 3,500 animal species are at risk of extinction because of factors including habitat alterations, natural resources being overexploited, and climate change. To better understand these changes and protect vulnerable wildlife, conservationists like MIT PhD student and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researcher Justin […]
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Q&A: COP30 could – finally – agree how to track the ‘global goal on adaptation’
Nearly a decade on from the Paris Agreement, there is still not an agreed way to measure progress towards its “global goal on adaptation” (GGA). Yet climate impacts are increasingly being felt around the world, with the weather becoming more extreme and the risk to vulnerable populations growing. At COP30, which takes place next month, […]
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From microplastics to megastructures: Earthshot prize finalists reviewed
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Bogotá’s bold clean air policies have cut air pollution by 24% since 2018. Finalists in this year’s Earthshot Awards include a breakthrough microplastics filter and “the world’s first fully upcycled skyscraper”. The final 15 were announced in October, all exhibiting seemingly landmark technological or other innovations with relevance to nature, air, oceans, waste and climate […]
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A faster problem-solving tool that guarantees feasibility
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Managing a power grid is like trying to solve an enormous puzzle. Grid operators must ensure the proper amount of power is flowing to the right areas at the exact time when it is needed, and they must do this in a way that minimizes costs without overloading physical infrastructure. Even more, they must solve […]
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DeBriefed 31 October 2025: Hurricane Melissa strikes Jamaica; Climate plans overshoot 1.5C; Protest crackdowns
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Hurricane Melissa ‘TOTAL DEVASTATION’: Hurricane Melissa has killed at least 49 people after sweeping through the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and Bermuda, reported Independent. Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness said the storm left “total devastation”, […]
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Four Solar For All Lawsuits: Two Distinct Forums and Legal Theories
In 2022, the United States Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), appropriating an unprecedented amount of money for climate spending programs. One of the IRA’s flagship investments was the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a $27 billion program comprised of the National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF), the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), and Solar […]
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Q&A: The UK government’s ‘carbon budget delivery plan’ for 2035
The UK government has set out a long-awaited plan explaining how it will cut emissions in the 2030s, on its legally bound path to net-zero by the middle of the century. Under the Climate Change Act, the government must lay out “carbon budgets” that set limits on the UK’s emissions over five-year periods. In 2021, […]
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China Briefing 30 October 2025: 15th ‘five-year plan’ priorities; 2035 wind goal; ‘Vehicle-to-grid’ tech
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing. China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here. Key developments China’s next ‘five-year plan’ NEW PLAN: The Chinese Communist party held its fourth plenum meeting, reported the Guardian, which described it as a “key meeting in […]
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Court of Federal Claims: Jurisdiction, Remedies, and Unsuitability to Adjudicate the GGRF Lawsuit
Amid the Trump administration’s cancellation of billions in federal funding for climate action, the Sabin Center has covered the numerous cases that have been brought in federal district courts to challenge federal grant cancellations. Among those cases is Climate United Fund v. Citibank, a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) unlawful termination of $20 […]
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ExxonMobil Chemical fined £176,000 for six days of flaring
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Flaring at an industrial site. ExxonMobil Chemical was fined £176,000 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on 28 October after pleading guilty to breaching its environmental permit during six days of continuous flaring at its Cowdenbeath site in April 2019. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said the conviction followed an extensive investigation involving specialist regulatory, technical, […]
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Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin visits BrewDog’s anaerobic digestion plant
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Gillian Martin MSP (front) with (left to right: Brewdog Ellon AD Plant Manager Gary MacConnell, ADBA External Affairs Lead Cameron Ball and ADBA Technical Support Manager Andrew Brown) Ellon plant showcases Scotland’s leadership in green energy and circular economy innovation, says trade assocation ADBA On 22 October, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, […]
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Smart heat pumps could help cut bills and take pressure off the grid, says new study
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New UK research suggests that heat pumps could play a much bigger role in stabilising the nation’s electricity supply by providing demand flexibility; helping households stay comfortable while reducing carbon emissions and costs. The study, led by researchers from the Energy and Climate Change Division at the University of Southampton in collaboration with Good Energy […]
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UK produces its first home-sourced lithium hydroxide, in Cornwall
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The process is hosted at the Trelavour demonstration plant near St Austell Mineral development company Cornish Lithium announced on 24 October that it has started production of refined lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) using lithium extracted from granite in Cornwall, in what’s being claimed as a first for the UK. The group has produced the demonstration-scale […]
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The Complete Guide to Model Context Protocol
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Language models can generate text and reason impressively, yet they remain isolated by default.
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Q&A: The role of soil health in food security and tackling climate change
Feeding the 8.2 billion people who inhabit the planet depends on healthy soils. Yet, soil health has been declining over the years, with more than one-third of the world’s agricultural land now described by scientists as “degraded”. Furthermore, the world’s soils have lost 133bn tonnes of carbon since the advent of agriculture around 12,000 years […]
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Q&A: How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system
China’s surging electric vehicles (EVs) ownership – now exceeding 25.5m – is opening the door to a new technology that can help to enhance the flexibility of electricity supply. EVs connected via “vehicle-to-grid” (V2G) technology can function as “batteries on wheels” that charge and discharge according to the needs of the wider electricity system. The […]
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UN report: Five charts which explain the ‘gap’ in finance for climate adaptation
Developing countries are receiving just a fraction of the international finance they need to prepare citizens and adapt infrastructure for escalating climate impacts. That is according to the latest adaptation gap report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which calculates that developing nations will need more than $310bn annually between now and 2035 to prepare […]