New Book Explores the Need for Climate-Compatible Infrastructure Development and the Legal Issues it Raises
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The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached a disappointing conclusion on Saturday. Just a few days earlier, things had looked promising. The COP President—Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago of Brazil—had proposed a draft decision recognizing the need for countries to “overcome their dependence on […]
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Brighton SuDS scheme is a landmark intervention to protect groundwater
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Wild Park Rainscape, photograpped in September 2025 (image credit: BHCC). A project led by Brighton & Hove City Council, based on research from the University of Brighton, aims to protect 90% of the city’s drinking water from toxic road pollution. The focus of the initiative is stormwater runoff, which carries a toxic mix of oil, […]
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Junior Scholars Call for Papers
Columbia Law School’s 14th Annual Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship will allow junior environmental law scholars to present early-stage work and receive constructive feedback from a panel of senior scholars and from each other. It will be held on Zoom on May 21-22, 2026. Eligible applicants are pre-tenure professors, fellows, visiting assistant professors, and […]
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How artificial intelligence can help achieve a clean energy future
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There is growing attention on the links between artificial intelligence and increased energy demands. But while the power-hungry data centers being built to support AI could potentially stress electricity grids, increase customer prices and service interruptions, and generally slow the transition to clean energy, the use of artificial intelligence can also help the energy transition. […]
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Looking Back at U.S. Climate Litigation During the Biden Years—and Some Thoughts on Emerging Trends During the Second Trump Administration
Today the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law published a report analyzing climate change lawsuits filed in United States courts while President Joseph R. Biden was in office. During the Biden administration, the federal government reversed course on the first Trump administration’s climate deregulation and embarked on a “whole-of-government approach to combatting the climate crisis.” […]
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Conference will explore how biogas can expedite journey to net zero
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From policy and regulation to innovation, operations and global markets, this year’s ADBA National Conference in London on 10 December will hold the essential discussions required to advance the UK’s biogas and biomethane sector and accelerate the transition to net zero, according to organizer the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA). Organised under the theme […]
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Volcanic rocks could store decades of captured CO2
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On the Isle of Skye, Waterstein Head comprises large structures of volcanic basalt, rich in silicate minerals that bond readily with CO2 to form stable carbonates. Rocks formed by ancient volcanoes found across the UK could safely store millions of tonnes of CO2 by turning it into stone, according to new research. Scientists have identified […]
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COP 30 emissions data highlights AD’s crucial role in climate policy
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This article contains sponsored content. By Matt Hale, Global Key Account Director, HRS Heat Exchangers Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuels have risen again,1 according to data released during the COP 30 UN climate conference in Brazil. This underscores the ongoing challenges that the world faces in meeting previously agreed reductions […]
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COP30: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Belém
A voluntary plan to curb fossil fuels, a goal to triple adaptation finance and new efforts to “strengthen” climate targets have been launched at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. After all-night negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém, the Brazilian presidency released a final package termed the “global mutirão” – a name meaning “collective […]
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Your Summary of Negotiations: Nov. 22
There’s been a lot of chatter about Roadmaps in Belem. The WWF and Greenpeace have led a call for a roadmap to end deforestation. Currently, 45 countries have indicated support. More than 80 countries have called for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. Additionally, there are four other roadmaps on finance from developed to […]
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Week Two at COP30: What Happens When the World Can’t Agree
I’m writing this from Boston, not Belém. I left COP30 a day before it ended—exhausted, frustrated, and strangely hopeful all at once. Brazil’s presidency pushed hard to close the deal, with President Lula returning to witness what they hoped would be a historic finish. Draft texts circulated rapidly. But negotiators were still debating language that […]
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DeBriefed 21 November 2025: [COP30 DeBriefed] ‘Mutirão’ text latest; ‘Roadmaps’ explained; COP finish times plotted
![DeBriefed 21 November 2025: [COP30 DeBriefed] ‘Mutirão’ text latest; ‘Roadmaps’ explained; COP finish times plotted](https://renewableai.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cop30-overrun5-scaled-XDI5kG.png)
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Key ‘mutirão’ text emerges ‘MUTIRÃO’ 2.0: After many late nights, but little progress – and a dramatic fire at the COP30 venue – the much-awaited second draft of the summit’s key agreement, called the “mutirão” text, finally […]
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To Implement or Not to Implement: New York State’s Climate Law in 2025
It is a basic principle of administrative law that, even after a jurisdiction enacts legislation, full implementation of the law typically depends on regulatory and other actions by executive branch agencies. This is particularly true in the context of environmental and climate change legislation, which are often especially complex and generally demand considerable administrative and […]
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Are biodegradable plastics the answer to microplastics?
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In many cases, industrial composting has been required to break down biopolymers. Biodegradable plastics are emerging as an alternative to conventional plastics to address microplastic pollution. Unlike conventional plastics, biodegradable plastics are designed to break down over a faster timescale under specific conditions, potentially reducing long-term persistence in the environment. Although regulations are driving the […]
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New portable DNA toolkit targets global illegal wildlife trade
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The VeRIF-ID toolkit A new portable, rapid DNA test can be used to identify illegal wildlife products on the spot. Its developers say the groundbreaking new tool promises to revolutionise the fight against the illegal wildlife trade (IWT)—a global black market worth up to $23 billion a year. The portable DNA testing system can identify […]
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Study finds higher levels of antimicrobial resistance in surface water during winter
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The study monitored two livestock-dominated water catchments in southwest Scotland A new study from The James Hutton Institute,* appears to have found that the levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) present in surface water increase during winter. AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria acquire new genes to help defend against medications designed to kill or […]
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Wet wipe island waste autopsy reveals extent of the sewer blockage challenge
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Excavation of ‘wet wipe island’, which has formed along a 250-metre stretch of the river near Hammersmith Bridge (image credit: Thames Water). A waste autopsy has examined 30 kg of the 114 tonnes of rubbish excavated from the banks of the River Thames, an area that had become known as ‘wet wipe island’, finding that […]
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Why Decision Trees Fail (and How to Fix Them)
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Decision tree-based models for predictive machine learning tasks like classification and regression are undoubtedly rich in advantages — such as their ability to capture nonlinear relationships among features and their intuitive interpretability that makes it easy to trace decisions.