Climate Market Intelligence

From Peru to Columbia: Marialexandra Horna Arrieta’s Path to Climate Finance

**Cultivating localized climate finance expertise is essential to mobilizing high-integrity capital toward critical Latin American biomes, directly safeguarding regional biodiversity and ecological resilience.**

Coal pollution grips coastal Bangladesh as safeguards fail

A major thermal power plant, located in coastal Bangladesh, has been operating without regular air-quality testing, allegedly causing suffering among nearby residents.

Gridsight Raises $26 Million to Help Utilities Unlock Grid Capacity with AI

**Optimizing existing distribution infrastructure through grid intelligence prevents the ecological degradation and habitat fragmentation typically caused by physical transmission expansion.**

Buying green can drive China’s climate action

**China's pivot toward green procurement establishes structural demand for high-integrity ecological supply chains, directly reinforcing LULUCF conservation and ecological restoration benchmarks.**

Mars Impact Fund Invests $13 Million in Farming Communities, Scientists, Animal Well-Being

**Mars' $13 million investment directly targets agricultural resilience, improving ecological integrity and soil health across primary supply chain landscapes.**

Data Centers are Helping Fuel a U.S. Battery Boom

Across the U.S., tech companies have courted backlash for using polluting gas generators to power massive new data centers. But energy industry data shows that in addition to building out natural gas, firms are adding huge amounts of battery storage. Read more on E360 →

Court Blocks New York Law Charging Oil Companies $75 Billion to Pay for Climate Change Costs

**The judicial stay on New York's $75 billion Climate Change Superfund Act abruptly stalls critical public capital designated for regional LULUCF resilience and Blue Carbon restoration.**

Goal to Limit Climate Change to 1.5°C Out of Reach: UN Report

The multinational goal to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C, identified as the threshold to […]

Maersk Pilots Wind Sail to Cut Container Ship Fuel and Emissions

Shipping giant A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) announced that it has signed an agreement with […]

Satellite images show scale of raging Borneo wildfires as smoke engulfs orangutan habitat

Forestry minister says many fires deliberately set by individuals or companies clearing land for agriculture and other economic activity

UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for August, 2026: +0.68 deg. C

The Version 6.1 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for August, 2026 was +0.68 deg. C departure from the 1991-2020 mean, up from the July, 2026 value of +0.48 deg. C. It appears the effects of the strengthening major El Nino event are beginning to appear in the global average tropospheric temperature, with an […]

China finishes rebuilding road to Nepal border just one week after devastating flash floods

Reopening road is a major breakthrough allowing ‘large numbers’ of heavy machines to reach site of destroyed Gyirong border crossing

Asean haze controls face tougher climate test as smoke crosses borders

The warning has gained urgency as Indonesian haze again reaches the Philippines, where such episodes have historically been less frequent than in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

UN says humanity has failed in key global warming target but all hope is not lost

UN’s most optimistic scenario has warming peaking at 1.8C around the middle of the century if governments pursue the most ambitious climate goals available

Climate change warnings preceded Nepal disaster, say experts

Decades of glacier retreat, snow loss and permafrost thaw heightened Himalayan risks long before the catastrophe that struck Rasuwa District and communities downstream, say scientists.

Power asymmetries in adaptation

Policy returns

Record-breaking wildfires in Canada

Infrastructure links amplify impacts

Restoring reefs with heat-tolerant corals

Suburban Sprawl Puts Western Homes at Risk from Wildfires

**Expanding wildland-urban interface (WUI) sprawl intensifies wildfire susceptibility, precipitating severe reversals in terrestrial carbon sinks and degrading critical fringe ecosystems.**

Guest post: Why tough methane cuts are crucial for keeping warming ‘well-below’ 2C

**Rapid methane abatement provides critical near-term cooling leverage, preventing irreversible ecological tipping points and stabilizing global climate systems.**

Indonesia urged to integrate 100 GW solar plan into national electricity scheme

**Integrating 100 GW of solar capacity across Indonesia will decisively curb coal-derived emissions, decelerating habitat degradation and preserving critical regional biodiversity.**

Explainer: The CMIP7 emissions scenarios – and how they explore future climate change

**The updated CMIP7 emissions scenarios will fundamentally recalibrate global physical risk modeling and permanence thresholds for natural carbon sinks.**

As Death Toll From Nepal Flood Rises, Officials Call to Tackle Warming

**Accelerated cryospheric degradation and catastrophic glacial flooding in high-altitude watersheds severely destabilize Himalayan ecological corridors and threaten baseline carbon sinks.**

New Zealand Legislates Away Climate Tort, Part II: International Climate Obligations and Access to Justice

This is the second of two posts examining New Zealand’s Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Act 2026. Part I examined the legislation’s intervention in Smith v Fonterra and situated it within an emerging international backlash against corporate climate litigation. This post asks a different question: what does New Zealand’s decision to extinguish climate tort […]

In Africa, a Growing Underground Solar Buildout

Households and businesses are driving a solar boom in Africa, where rooftop arrays and other small systems account for the bulk of new solar installations. But this rapid buildout, which is driving solar additions to record levels, is largely unaccounted for in official statistics, analysts say. Read more on E360 →

August Research Roundup: Select Papers

This month, we covered a long-term analysis suggesting that landfill methane emissions may be far higher than estimated, as well as new research on unexpected trends in U.S. extreme rainfall. Here are additional studies worth noting.

New Zealand Legislates Away Climate Tort, Part I: Smith v Fonterra and the Global Backlash Against Climate Litigation

This is the second of three consecutive posts on corporate climate accountability. Yesterday’s post examined the Paris Judicial Court’s June 2026 ruling in Notre Affaire à Tous et al. v. TotalEnergies SE. On August 18, 2026, New Zealand’s Parliament enacted the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Act 2026 (the Liability Act), passing 67 votes to […]

A Hard-Won Rule to Cut Chemical Plant Pollution Is Being Unraveled

In 2024, the Biden administration enacted wide-ranging regulations to protect communities near petrochemical plants from air toxics. The Trump administration has since granted exemptions to scores of polluting facilities and is working to rewrite the long-awaited rule. Read more on E360 →

Alex de Sherbinin Named Director of New Earth Institute Hub

**The appointment of Alex de Sherbinin to lead the Columbia Climate School's Earth Institute Hub will accelerate the integration of geospatial modeling and Earth observation systems essential for high-integrity LULUCF and Blue Carbon MRV.**

Climate change exposes 580 million children to 20 extra ‘heat-stress days’ every year

**Accelerating extreme heat anomalies amplify physical climate risks, destabilizing terrestrial biomes and undermining the permanence of Nature-Based carbon sinks.**

Recognizing Scope 3, Reserving the Remedy: The Paris Court’s TotalEnergies Judgment

**Judicial recognition of Scope 3 emissions establishes a direct legal nexus between corporate downstream fossil combustion and accelerated global ecosystem degradation.**

Sabin Center Releases Summary Report for the Second Conference on Attribution Science and Climate Law

The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Climate School have published the summary report for the Second Conference on Attribution Science and Climate Law, held at Columbia University on June 10–11, 2026. This event brought together physical scientists, legal scholars, public health researchers, economists, and policy experts to discuss key developments in climate change […]

Capturing the Future of Climate Change Mitigation: IEAGHG CCS Summer School 2026

**Accelerating engineered carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment provides critical permanent sequestration capacity to curb atmospheric heat-trapping, shielding vulnerable biomes from severe climate-induced thermal stress.**

Harlem Week Climate Change Conference Centers Community Voices

**Urban environmental justice initiatives increasingly steer localized nature-based interventions and urban LULUCF enhancements to mitigate ecological disparities.**

A Polar Climate Ambassador Visits an Arctic Museum in Maine

**Arctic socio-ecological systems face acute disruption from rapid cryosphere thaw, threatening indigenous subsistence and permafrost carbon reservoirs.**

Factcheck: 10 flaws in the Conservative report on ‘cheap power’

**Grid decarbonization delays undermine national emissions reduction pathways, threatening terrestrial and marine ecological resilience through sustained reliance on fossil infrastructure.**

Record Low Lake Mead: “Millennium Drought” or Inevitable Result of Demand Exceeding Supply?

**Depleting water levels at Lake Mead destabilize regional hydrology and threaten surrounding desert carbon sinks and aquatic ecosystems.**

UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for July, 2026: +0.48 deg. C

**Persistent atmospheric warming trends (+0.48°C anomaly) exacerbate ecological stress, directly threatening the permanence of nature-based carbon sequestration.**

UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for June, 2026: +0.46 deg. C

**The persistent +0.16°C per decade global warming trend directly threatens the permanence and stability of LULUCF and Blue Carbon sequestration sinks.**

UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for May, 2026: +0.53 deg. C

**Rising global lower tropospheric temperatures threaten the ecological permanence of nature-based carbon sinks.**

Solid-state battery hits 381 Wh/kg as mass production begins at Taiwan factory

ProLogium Technology has started mass production of its Gen 3.5 Lithium Ceramic Battery in Taiwan,...

Hydrogen-hybrid ship cuts fuel use 24% over 8,500 nautical miles, saving $500K annually

Newlight has completed an 8,500-nautical-mile commercial voyage using its hydrogen-hybrid system aboard a Lomar Shipping...

US Bank buys first carbon removal credits from biochar developer

A US Bank committed to purchasing its first carbon removal credits from a landfill-based biochar storage project in Minnesota, executives told Carbon Pulse.

Climate standard-setters show governance gaps -report

An independent review of five leading climate and sustainability standard-setters found strong governance foundations but persistent gaps that could weigh on trust as their influence grows.

New marine battery uses immersion cooling for 2x energy density and fire safety

Taiwanese battery maker XING Mobility has unveiled a marine battery system that uses liquid cooling...

China emissions plateau extends past two years as Hormuz crisis drives Q2 drop

China's CO2 emissions plateau has now lasted for more than two years, reinforced by a 1% decline in the second quarter of 2026 driven by lower oil consumption amid the Strait of Hormuz crisis, according to new analysis.

Heathrow airport expansion incompatible with UK’s climate goals -report

A third runway at London's Heathrow airport would be fundamentally incompatible with the UK's ability to meet its legally binding climate targets, a new academic study has found.