The Red Sea Could be a Climate Refuge for Coral Reefs

When Lina Challita dives along Egypt’s coast, she doesn’t just see a colorful array of corals and fish. She sees hope. Against the grim backdrop of climate models that project most coral reefs dying by the end of this century in overheating oceans, the northern end of the Red Sea may end up being one […]

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Q&A: Robert Bullard Led a ‘Huge’ Delegation from Texas to COP27 Climate Talks in Egypt

Robert Bullard has watched the concept of environmental justice grow from an obscure notion in Houston in the 1970s into a high-profile global movement aimed at abetting pollution and climate change.  Bullard, a former dean and professor at Texas Southern University, has authored 18 books on environmental justice, and has attended 18 United Nations climate […]

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At COP27, an 11th-Hour Deal Comes Together as the US Reverses Course on ‘Loss and Damage’

SHARM El-SHEIKH, Egypt—A new COP27 agreement that establishes a funding mechanism to compensate developing countries for losses and damages caused by global warming may be the biggest breakthrough in global climate policy since the 2015 Paris Agreement.  The deal was reached as two weeks of nail-biting negotiations here went into overtime with little to show […]

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At COP27, the US Said It Will Lead Efforts to Halt Deforestation. But at Home, the Biden Administration Is Considering Massive Old Growth Logging Projects

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt—The U.S. Center at the COP27 climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh hosted a panel Monday focused on ending global deforestation by 2030, but the reality on the ground in the nation’s forests looks quite different. Just hours before the discussion, conservation groups released a report showing that federal agencies are considering multiple logging […]

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Frustration Simmers Around the Edges of COP27, and May Boil Over Far From the Summit

Even at their remote resort, walled off from climate protesters by an authoritarian government, the 40,000 delegates gathered at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, can’t ignore the rising tide of criticism surrounding their annual meetings. Annual global greenhouse gas emissions have nearly doubled, from about 20 gigatons to nearly 40 gigatons per […]

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Parties at COP27 Add Loss and Damage to the Agenda, But Won’t Discuss Which Countries Are Responsible or Who Should Pay

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt—The United Nations climate summit officially opened on Sunday with the addition of negotiations over funding to compensate nations for “loss and damage” funding as an official agenda item. Inclusion of the controversial topic—which poorer countries that are enduring the greatest harms from climate change see as critical to fairness in addressing global […]

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The US May Have Scored a Climate Victory in Congress, but It Will Be in the Hot Seat With Other Major Emitters at UN Climate Talks

For the first time in 27 years of United Nations-led negotiations on climate change, the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas polluter will come to the table next month with a national law in place for reducing its outsize emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. President Joe Biden’s success in gaining passage of the Inflation […]

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