Author: cne4h

As climate financial efforts develop in ambitions and scope, there is an increasing awareness of the key role that cities and sub-government must play in achieving national climate goals. The Urban Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) and the SDSN Global Urban Sustainable Development Goals Finance Committee convened a meeting during the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. to explore how rural platforms, as a core tool for expanding climate financing, can effectively integrate urban priorities. The event also marks a joint paper issued by the CCFLA and SDSN Global Commission, developed under the advice of the Asian Infrastructure…

As cities expand rapidly (70% of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050 – the climate threat is intensified, the way we design and fund urban climate solutions will determine whether they promote resilience or deepen existing social and economic divisions. Women face unique vulnerabilities in cities, shaped by social roles, access to resources and decision-making capabilities. They are the biggest impacts of climate shocks, but will still be largely excluded from the decision-making processes and financial systems that shape urban responses. This exclusion is not only a kind of oversight. This is a structural…

The first 100 days of the second Trump administration (actually 113 days) have seen the fantasy of almost complete abandonment that the country's government can change the weather and “save the planet” by curbing the use of hydrocarbon fuels and weakening people. [emphasis, links added] The Biden administration's “climate” and energy policy, which reached thousands of pages in regulations, billions of dollars in grants and subsidies for uneconomic energy projects, has been quickly reversed. In the past few weeks, examples include: These are just examples. And more. Of course, that will cost trillions of dollars, but that's almost all their…

Samantha Harvey's 2024 novel Orbital won the first ever climate novel award. The award of £10,000 ($13,240) was organized by a storytelling organization called “Climate Spring” honors the British author's novel that solved the problem. “Many of us already think that responding to climate is important,” the organizer wrote on the prize website. “But we don't always know how we should respond. The novel can help us imagine what change will look like.” Situated on the International Space Station, the winning novel explores the day of six human life in space as they speed up the fragile blue planet below.…

These days, there are stories of extreme weather everywhere you look. However, crucial details are often overlooked: from the consequences of this weather, we are safer than ever. [emphasis, links added] There was a time when extreme weather events caused huge deaths in the United States that were frustrating However, in the past 85 years, only three such events have occupied more than 1,000 lives: Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria and the 1980 heat wave. There is a reason for this. The most important factor in determining the destructiveness of a natural disaster is not its intensity, but its degree of…

Despite the Trump administration’s attempt to establish U.S. energy dominance, Louisiana, a major energy country, is still dominated by another force: trial lawyers. [emphasis, links added] In an April verdict, a jury in Louisiana's 25th Judicial District ruled that Chevron had to pay $745 million in damages to the plaquemines parish government for environmental damage related to oil and gas activities Texaco received in 2001 by Chevron. The plaquemines case is the first case of litigation flooding, threatening to flood the industry in states where the national energy agenda is crucial. Louisiana's liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry has flourished since…

British gas boss says the UK's transfer to zero grid will not lower household electricity prices. [emphasis, links added] Chris O'Shea, CEO of British gas company Centrica, wrote on LinkedIn that the shift to renewable energy “will not lower UK electricity prices at current levels”. He added, “They may provide price stability and avoid future price peaks based on the international gas market, but they will definitely not lower prices.” Mr. O'Shea's conclusions are based on analysis, comparing the costs of renewable energy to natural gas, which shows that the cheapest renewable energy costs approximately the same as gas, while…

Xiye Bastida was only 15 years old when she spoke at the first international UN gathering in 2018. That same year, Ottomie-Mexican climate activist received the UN Spirit Award for his youth leadership and tenacity. She then worked with Greta Thunberg in 2019 to lead the climate strike, which had a lasting ripple effect around the world. Six years later, at the age of 23, her organization regained the initiative in a world where climate catastrophes and creative adaptation are part of the new normal, in which the next generation of activism and advocacy. The action actively supports frontline youth…

Transcript: In January, devastating wildfires destroyed more than 10,000 homes in Los Angeles. Firefighters strive to fight fires – In some areas, fire hydrants are dry. Rumors and error messages rotate online. Then, President-elect Trump claimed that he was stationed in Northern California. But Peter Gleick, co-founder of the nonprofit Pacific Institute, said the Los Angeles area doesn’t need more water. Gleick: “There is a lot of water in the reservoirs in Southern California. The reservoirs are actually relatively full at this time of year.” But the fires are so big and powerful that the city's water pipes, storage tanks…

Africannews (AN) worked with the Associated Press to recently published an article claiming the recent drought in Nigeria was caused by climate change. This is unlikely to be the whole story. [emphasis, links added] Although there is little data in the region, human activities are as likely to lead to desertification as drought cycles. Article “Nigerian farmers are interfering with water sources as climate change interferes with the fight against climate change,” said Climate change, the cause of recent drought in Nigeria, leading to crop decline. During the dry season, surface water becomes scarce, so some farmers are forced to…