Trump administration sues Hawaii, 3 other states to block climate lawsuits, laws
Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez filed a lawsuit against oil companies today. Read more
Climate Change
Supreme Court rejects youth climate suit despite Hawaii’s progress
The justices denied a request by the youth activists to hear their appeal of a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directing a federal judge in Oregon to dismiss the case after holding they lacked legal standing to sue. Read more
Pentagon axes 91 climate studies Hegseth spurns as ‘crap’
Military and intelligence officials have over the past decade identified potential security threats from climate change that include natural disasters in densely populated coastal areas and damage to American military bases worldwide. Read more
World’s largest iceberg runs aground
While a “Titanic II” scenario isn’t very likely, and the area’s penguins seem to be mostly safe, the berg may be a symptom of unwelcome change to the Antarctic and the planet. Read more
Farmers sue USDA over deletion of climate data from websites
That included websites containing data sets, interactive tools and funding information that farmers and researchers relied on for planning and adaptation projects, according to the lawsuit. Read more
EPA chief seeks to claw back $20 billion in climate funding
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a message posted on X that he will ask the Inspector General, Congress, and Justice Department to work with the agency to end the contracts agreed upon with eight regional organizations that were named financial agents, and to rescind grant money awarded under the Biden EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Read more
Trump cuts environmental justice programs at EPA, DOJ
Environmental groups said the cuts put minorities and lower-income families living near polluting facilities at risk, by weakening their regulatory and legal protections. Read more
First climate fee bills pass initial hearing, with concerns
Gov. Josh Green’s bills to fund Hawaii’s climate change response by increasing the state’s hotel room tax and dedicating all of the interest from the $1.5 billion rainy day fund were unanimously passed out of a House committee Tuesday, but with concerns that they need “a lot of work.” Read more
Trump to withdraw from Paris climate agreement
The decision would place the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the 2015 pact, in which governments agreed to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Read more
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Supreme Court rejects bid by oil companies to toss Honolulu’s climate suit
The justices turned away an appeal by the oil companies of a decision by Hawaii’s top court allowing the suit, which alleged violations of state law, to proceed. Read more
‘We’re in a new era’: How climate change is supercharging disasters
With temperatures rising around the world and the oceans unusually warm, scientists are warning that the planet has entered a dangerous new era of chaotic floods, storms and fires made worse by human-caused climate change. Read more
Winds, heat and drought fueled Los Angeles fires, scientists say
Erupting well outside of the traditional wildfire season, the California blazes were spreading quickly today. For California, scientists now consider fire to be a yearlong risk. Read more
Gov. Green’s budget keeps ‘rainy day fund’ at $1.5 billion
Green previously told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the state needs $100 million to $200 million annually to adapt to climate change and better protect the islands from another fire like the fatal one in 2023 that decimated Lahaina, which continues to recover. Read more
Bear attacks surge in Japan as aging hunters face challenges
A record 219 people were victims of bear attacks, six of them fatal, in the 12 months through March 2024, while more than 9,000 black and brown bears were trapped and culled over that period, according to Japan’s environment ministry. Read more
Global climate talks forge deal on money after bitter fight
Speakers from one developing country after another, from Bolivia to Nigeria to Fiji, assailed the document in furious statements. Read more
Letter: Carbon cashback among our climate-change tools
Hawaii has committed to achieve net-negative emissions by 2045, and we’re not alone, as Gov. Josh Green is one of 24 governors in the U.S. Climate Alliance. Read more
Biden visits Amazon rainforest en route to G20 summit in Rio
Biden flew from Lima, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil, the largest city in the Amazon, to meet with local leaders working to preserve the rainforest. He was to head afterward to Rio de Janeiro for a summit of the Group of 20 major economies that will address issues including poverty, global governance and climate change. Read more
Hawaii awarded $59M for hydrogen station
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the state of Hawaii $59.2 million for the deployment of zero-emission equipment and other climate adaptation projects at its ports. Read more
Schatz: Hawaii to receive $9.1M in for forest restoration
Some of the work DOFAW expects to carry out with the funding includes the planting of 80,000 native trees and the removal of invasive weeds from 1,200 acres. Read more
Global coral bleaching event expands, now largest on record
A staggering 77% of the world’s coral reef areas – from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Indian oceans – have so far been subjected to bleaching-level heat stress, according to satellite data, as climate change fuels record and near-record ocean temperatures across the world. Read more
World leaders call for investment in clean energy
Speaking at a Global Renewables Summit, Kenyan President William Ruto made the case for investing in renewables in Africa as part of the global pledge made at last year’s COP28 summit to triple clean energy capacity by 2030. Read more
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