New Clark City, a $2.5 billion project in the Philippines, is designed to be a climate-resilient urban hub with plans for green infrastructure, renewable energy, and flood-resista
Zombie Wells, Part 1: Texas Oil Wells Are Leaking Toxic Waste, and No One Wants to Pay to Clean It
Legacy oil wells in Texas have reanimated, causing environmental concerns and spewing toxic mixtures of crude oil, salty water, and methane from decades-old wells. These unplugged wells, known as "zombie wells," are emitting noxious fumes and climate-warming gases, poisoning groundwater aquifers, and posing environmental hazards. While there is no precise count of leaking wells, estimates suggest there could be around 500,000 plugged wells leaking nationwide. In addition, the nation is grappling with over 120,000 orphaned wells with no responsible owner, and many more undocumented wells are yet to be discovered. Addressing this costly problem requires federal funds, and the Biden administration has allocated $25 million to plug 800 wells in Texas. However, plugging wells is becoming more expensive, and the total number of unplugged wells remains a significant concern for climate change.
President Biden’s new ban on offshore oil and gas drilling excludes the western Gulf of Mexico, the area responsible for 97% of U.S. offshore oil production. The ban protects the
UN Special Rapporteur Elisa Morgera has called for fundamental reforms to the global climate regime, criticizing the current system as ineffective and dominated by misinformation
Rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten to severely damage 13 major oil ports globally, including key facilities in Saudi Arabia, the US, China, and the Netherlands. A
In a landmark decision, the Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of 16 youth plaintiffs in *Held v. Montana*, affirming their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful en
AI-driven weather forecasting models are proving faster, cheaper, and more accurate than traditional numerical methods reliant on expensive supercomputers. These tools leverage ma
Elon Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President-elect Donald Trump. Tasked with cutting $2 trillion in federal spend
Texans are increasingly adopting microgrids as a solution to frequent winter power outages, driven by extreme weather events and grid reliability concerns. Unlike generators, micr
Chicago’s municipal buildings, including airports and water treatment plants, now run entirely on renewable energy, powered by the new Double Black Diamond Solar Farm in Illinois.
In Mexico, extreme heat disproportionately affects young people, with workers aged 18–34 and children under 5 facing the highest heat-related mortality rates. A study analyzing 73
Thermal energy networks, or neighborhood-wide ground-source heat pump systems, are emerging as a revolutionary approach to decarbonizing heating and cooling. These systems use int
Texas’s rapid population growth and infrastructure demands pose challenges for equitable development. With $104 billion allocated in the 2025 United Transportation Program, the Te
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act, requiring fossil fuel companies to pay $75 billion over 25 years for climate damage repair and resilience p
Battery storage for clean energy surged in 2024, with U.S. capacity increasing by 71% to 24 gigawatt-hours. Batteries help reduce reliance on polluting "peaker" plants by storing
Brooklyn homeowners in historically disinvested neighborhoods are benefitting from EnergyFit, a program retrofitting two- and three-family homes with energy-efficient upgrades.