Explainer: Why gas plays a minimal role in China’s climate strategy
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Ten years ago, switching from burning coal to gas was a key element of China’s policy to reduce severe air pollution. However, while gas is seen in some countries as a “bridging” fuel to move away from coal use, rapid electrification, uncompetitiveness and supply concerns have suppressed its share in China’s energy mix. As such, […]
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Guest post: 10 key climate science ‘insights’ from 2025
Every year, understanding of climate science grows stronger. With each new research project and published paper, scientists learn more about how the Earth system responds to continuing greenhouse gas emissions. But with many thousands of new studies on climate change being published every year, it can be hard to keep up with the latest developments. […]
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Clean Air Coalition warns the Scottish Government must get tougher on wood burning
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To mark Clean Air Night (22 January), Healthy Air Scotland, a coalition of public health, transport and environmental charities is calling on the Scottish Government to address the public health impacts caused by domestic burning. The call from Healthy Air Scotland comes as the coalition launches its manifesto ahead of the Scottish election in May. […]
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New Sabin Center Report and Online Resource: Navigating State Law in Local Climate Action
Local governments are leaders in the fight against climate change: they reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy resources, and otherwise advance climate mitigation and adaptation goals. But even as many local governments have already demonstrated their capability to tackle the climate crisis, state governments can hinder those efforts by preempting local laws. Today, […]
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Adopting low-cost ‘healthy’ diets could cut food emissions by one-third
Choosing the “least expensive” healthy food options could cut dietary emissions by one-third, according to a new study. In addition to the lower emissions, diets composed of low-cost, healthy foods would cost roughly one-third as much as a diet of the most-consumed foods in every country. The study, published in Nature Food, compares prices and […]
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Why it’s critical to move beyond overly aggregated machine-learning metrics
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MIT researchers have identified significant examples of machine-learning model failure when those models are applied to data other than what they were trained on, raising questions about the need to test whenever a model is deployed in a new setting. “We demonstrate that even when you train models on large amounts of data, and choose […]
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Science Still Under Attack: Announcing the Revamp of the Silencing Science Tracker
Since its launch on January 20, 2018, the Silencing Science Tracker has been documenting government efforts to restrict and prevent scientific research, education, and the publication and use of scientific information. We are proud to announce the launch of an improved version of the Tracker—a tool more critical than ever as the second Trump administration […]
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PM2.5 from tyre and brake wear can be remedied by a simple switch to new brake pads
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Image credit: Shutterstock AI Levels of PM2.5 from tyre and brake wear can be cut significantly by a simple switch to (often inexpensive) brake pads and new braking technology, according to a report published by consultancy firm Ricardo in December, for the UK Department of Transport (DfT). With electric vehicles (EVs) being heavier than internal […]
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“You can’t control what you can’t measure”: Keeping track of IAQ
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A ceiling air-conditioning vent. Public health initiatives around air pollution have closely tracked the availability of technologies for monitoring. Instrumentation firm ACOEM UK is supporting emerging initiatives in relation to wood-burning stoves and the emergence of indoor air quality as a serious priority of occupational health. And the company is also beefing up its UK-based […]
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Nature groups say nuclear review exaggerates the cost of preventing harm to nature
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Hinkley Point nuclear power station construction in Somerset in 2022. The government’s review of nuclear delivery, published in November, is based on misleading advice, says new research published by The Wildlife Trusts, a federation of UK wildlife charities. Faulty evidence underpins the Prime Minister’s appraisal of “pointless gold-plating, unnecessary red-tape, well-intentioned, but fundamentally misguided environmental […]
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Water Discovery Challenge returns to bring more fresh thinking innovators into the water sector
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The Water Innovation Fund is opening its doors to innovators from outside the water sector to enter bold solutions to the urgent challenges facing the industry in England and Wales, as it announces the return of the £7.5m Water Discovery Challenge. Following the success of the first Water Discovery Challenge in 2023, Ofwat’s Water Innovation […]
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End trade-off between recycling targets and toxic exposure, Zero Waste Europe urges EU
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Recyclers are typically not required to know what chemicals are in the waste they process. A new policy briefing by waste advocacy group Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) argues for tougher chemical policy measures to be included in the European Commission’s upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) to avoid a future public health crisis. The briefing, Building […]
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Biodegradable plastics research wins $500k Hill Prize for real-world impact
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Wooley (pictured) and Stone have developed a way to convert plant-derived sugars and natural phenolic compounds into high-performance alternatives to bisphenol A (BPA). A major science prize has been awarded to the developers of chemistry to replace toxic, petroleum-derived plastics with safe, degradable alternatives made from agricultural waste The 2026 Hill Prize in Physical Sciences […]
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Significant progress being made on renewables installations but gaps persist, says McKinsey analysis
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Solar is still the principal success story of the energy transition, say the authors. Despite continued low-carbon technology investment and progress, shortfalls in project realization ahead of 2030 threaten to impact interim goals set by countries and companies in the path to reaching net zero by 2050, according to analysis from consulting firm McKinsey & […]
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Analysis: UK newspaper editorial opposition to climate action overtakes support for first time
Nearly 100 UK newspaper editorials opposed climate action in 2025, a record figure that reveals the scale of the backlash against net-zero in the right-leaning press. Carbon Brief has analysed editorials – articles considered the newspaper’s formal “voice” – since 2011 and this is the first year opposition to climate action has exceeded support. Criticism […]
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Brazil’s biodiversity pledge: Six key takeaways for nature and climate change
The world’s most biodiverse nation, Brazil, has belatedly published its UN plan for halting and reversing nature decline by the end of this decade. Brazil is home to 10-15% of all known species on Earth, 64% of the Amazon rainforest and it supplies 10% of global food demand, according to official estimates. It was among […]
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DeBriefed 16 January 2026: Three years of record heat; China and India coal milestone; Beijing’s 2026 climate outlook
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Hottest hat-trick STATE OF THE CLIMATE: Scientists have announced that 2025 was either the second or third hottest year on record, with close margins between last year and 2023, reported the Associated Press. The newswire noted that […]
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Rare earth magnet recycling centre launched in West Midlands
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Electronic waste for recycling. A facility for separating and recycling rare earth magnets has been launched at the University of Birmingham, which was opened on 15 January by Chris McDonald MP, Minister for Industry in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade. The new facility uses an […]