Since 2016, presidents and their administrations have increasingly drawn lawsuits arguing that they are overstepping their authority. In these ultra vires claims, litigants contend that presidential actions—including, for example, executive orders, proclamations, or memoranda, as well actions by executive agencies done at the President’s behest—exceed the scope of the authority granted to the President by […]

On Friday, June 27, the Supreme Court’s term closed and the Court handed down its final opinions, including in a case called Trump v. CASA. The CASA plaintiffs challenged President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, but the Court’s decision – which made no substantive holdings about citizenship or immigration status – has far broader […]

Research on climate change in urban areas is skewed towards large, well-established cities in the global north, according to analysis of more than 50,000 studies. The research, published in Nature Cities, uses keyword searching and machine-learning methods to produce a database of studies on climate change and cities published over 1990-2022. The authors find that […]

Jonathan Brearley became chief executive of the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem in 2020.  Since then, he has seen the organisation through the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis.  In January, it was announced that Brearley will continue in the role until 2030, the target date for the […]

While federal policy can have a significant impact on renewable energy development, local policy—and local sentiment—can be just as consequential. Between 2018-2023, at least 30% of utility-scale wind and solar projects were cancelled during the siting process, largely because of community opposition, local ordinances, and zoning. For the last five years, the Sabin Center has […]

The amount of foreign aid the UK spends on climate action reached a record high of around £3bn last year, according to government figures obtained by Carbon Brief. However, Carbon Brief analysis shows that more than £500m of this sum comes from controversial changes in the way the UK calculates its climate aid for developing […]

Photo by Steve Matthews on Unsplash Earlier this month, on June 2, 2025, Atlanta’s City Council unanimously passed a state-of-the-art ordinance to require cool roofs throughout the whole city, immediately propelling Atlanta to the forefront of local climate adaptation measures. The new requirements will help make Atlanta cooler, improve its air quality, and lower residents’ […]

Climate negotiators have wrapped up another two weeks of technical talks in the German city of Bonn, seeking to make breakthroughs on critical issues before COP30 in Brazil. Once again, the UN negotiations were marked by protracted “agenda fights” and calls for developed countries to provide more funding for climate action in developing countries. This […]

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Heat dome hits North America 100F: Temperatures in New York City reached 100F (38C) for the first time since 2013, as a heat dome “crushed” the eastern side of the US, reported the Associated Press. Baltimore, Philadelphia […]

In U.S. coastal and offshore waters, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, tens of thousands of oil and gas wells pose a growing environmental and financial liability. Of these, more than 7,300 offshore wells remain idled and await decommissioning, which could cost as much as $70 billion. Without cleanup, these wells risk becoming environmental hazards […]