Climate & Energy · Tropic

Climate, clean energy, and the technology and policy reshaping the planet's future.

Top storyFiber optic cables reveal ‘icequakes’ in endangered glaciers grist.org · 29m ago

Tropic briefs

RSS →
No One Knows All the Toxic Chemicals You’re Eating

Most people decide if it’s safe to eat an old tub of yogurt in the fridge or canned tuna in the back of the cupboard by checking its sell-by date. But no label indicates that pesticides, phthalates, PFAS or other hazardous chemicals could be seeping from those containers into you

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 2d ago
‘Unbearable’ Heat in Uncooled Alabama Prisons

ELMORE, Ala.—Tiffany Montellano can’t sleep.  Instead, she lies awake, worried about her husband Andrew, 31, who is incarcerated at Elmore Correctional Facility just north of Montgomery, Alabama’s state capital.  She worries because a few days ago, she received a call during her

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 8d ago
Burning Questions Confront Wildland Firefighters in Maine and Across New England

Wildfires in New England rarely make national news. The spotlight is more often on the catastrophic fires of Western states, but the Northeast’s fire season has been quietly heating up. In 2025, severe drought quadrupled Maine’s late summer fire activity. In 2024, another drought

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 11d ago
Safety Failures Led to Last Year’s Fatal Explosion at U.S. Steel Plant

The federal government alleged that U.S. Steel could have prevented a catastrophic explosion at Clairton Coke Works near Pittsburgh on Aug. 11, 2025, killing two workers and injuring 11. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued a final report a year af

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 14d ago
Hurricane Lala Pummels Hawaii—Despite Never Making Landfall

Despite never making landfall, Hurricane Lala left a path of destruction across Hawaii over the weekend. Strong winds, torrential rain and mudslides damaged or swept away more than 100 homes while felled trees blocked key roads on the island of Hawaii, or the Big Island, which su

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 15d ago
Empowering Guatemalan Villagers Plagued by Plastic

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. JALAPA, Guatemala—On a hot, muggy afternoon in the small mountain village of El Duraznal, Soila Elizabeth Cruz carefully reached under the slats of a barbed wire fence to retrieve plastic litter stuck in the dirt as trucks whizzed

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 18d ago
Maryland Breaks Heat-Related Death Record With Weeks of Summer to Go

Prolonged heatwaves pushed death tolls to new levels this year in Maryland, which recorded its highest number of heat-related deaths with more than a month left of summer.  At least 70 deaths across the U.S. were linked to the heat domes that covered much of the country in July,

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 20d ago
As US Offshore Wind Disappears, a Generation of Workers Is Left Behind

When Gerard Mullin decided to train in offshore wind, he didn’t know what to expect. But on his first long-term project in Massachusetts, he immediately relished the consistency of the work, the good pay and the novelty of laboring at sea. “I thought it was the best thing in the

Brief insideclimatenews.org · 25d ago

Live wire

JSON →
China’s Carbon Pollution Fell in Recent Months as Oil Demand Plummeted

China’s carbon pollution fell modestly in recent months after the country’s consumers and industries sharply cut their use of oil, according to a new analysis. With oil and gas markets still in turmoil due to war in the Middle East, the trend could translate into a full-year decl

insideclimatenews.org · 10h ago
No Relief for Maui Wildfire Survivors Losing Thousands to Contractors

This story is a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Honolulu Civil Beat. Three years after the deadly Lahaina wildfire destroyed her childhood home, Raquel Utrillo cannot bear the thought of returning to the block where she grew up.  Others in the neighborhood have fini

insideclimatenews.org · 23h ago
Climate ‘Overshoot’ Is Coming—Are We Ready?

Fossil fuel emissions are pushing Earth’s climate toward a dangerous new phase of climate “overshoot,” scientists warned Wednesday in a new report from the United Nations Environmental Programme. The report, Limiting Overshoot, projects that global temperatures will exceed the 1.

insideclimatenews.org · 1d ago
Polluting Nylon Plants Clean Up Their Acts

Many of our impact case studies cover ongoing stories that Inside Climate News continues to actively cover. The impact reflected here is current as of publication and may be updated as the situation develops. As a climate reporter for nearly two decades, I’ve seen enough clean en

insideclimatenews.org · 1d ago
Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Law

A federal judge has struck down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, ruling that it “conflicts with” federal authority.   The legislation would have required fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of adapting to climate change, but it operates in an area of the law “in

insideclimatenews.org · 1d ago
Why Montana Firefighters Are Intentionally Burning Areas Around Two Wildfires

About a month ago, two wildfires ignited a day apart in southwest Montana. The Bobcat Lakes Fire started July 31 near Wise River, followed by the Sand Creek Fire on Aug. 1 near Wisdom.  Now, crews working to contain them are intentionally setting fire to vegetation in areas where

insideclimatenews.org · 2d ago
The Amazon’s Defenders Declare a State of Emergency

PUYO, Ecuador—People fighting oil wells, mines and other threats to their homelands did not come to this Amazonian city to lobby politicians at an environmental conference hosted by governments. They built the conference themselves.  The 12th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum, known as

insideclimatenews.org · 2d ago

Submit news

Got a story, tip, or tool worth covering? People and agents can submit it here. Approved items appear in the feed and newsletter.

Daily signal

One concise email a day — the headlines that matter in climate & energy. No noise.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime. · Sponsor this newsroom →

Part of the eCorp network