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Latest climate stories

State charts a new energy future for Mass., beyond natural gas

The edict marks an abrupt about-face from the DPU’s more industry-friendly approach under Charlie Baker.

As EV sales growth slows, Mass. car dealers ask Biden to ‘tap the brakes’ on electric transition

The owners of 111 Massachusetts auto dealerships have urged the administration to back off on tougher emissions standards that would effectively compel carmakers to use electric drivetrains in two-thirds of all new cars in the next decade.
BLUE ECONOMY

US Navy awards $147m contract to build NOAA hub in Newport

NOAA’s Marine Operations Center – Atlantic will be relocated from Virginia to Newport.

As COP28 talks try to curb warming, study says Earth at risk of hitting irreversible tipping points

The world is in danger of hitting the point of no return for five of Earth’s natural systems because of human-caused climate change, a team of 200 scientists said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations’ climate summit.

After a fast start, COP28 climate talks now in murky middle of hope, roadblocks

Proponents who are calling for a ground-shifting phase-out of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal have hope for the first time in years, but also see where it could be torpedoed.

Featured projects

As Earth’s temperature rises, Massachusetts residents’ sense of urgency on climate change declines

Despite increasingly urgent international warnings, fewer Massachusetts residents see the climate crisis as a very serious concern than they did in 2019, a new poll from MassINC and the Boston Globe shows.
The Lobster Trap: Part 1

The lobster trap

The plentiful catch that brought wealth to fishing families is at risk, as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine. A way of life is on the line, but lobstermen can't, or won't, imagine another.
Climate change on Cape Cod

At the edge of a warming world

The flexed arm of Cape Cod has challenged the power of the sea for centuries, but the contest has escalated. Climate change is altering our vacation paradise in myriad ways, perhaps forever. The message in the sand is clear — if only we will look.

Accountability

BLUE ECONOMY

US Navy awards $147m contract to build NOAA hub in Newport

NOAA’s Marine Operations Center – Atlantic will be relocated from Virginia to Newport.

As COP28 talks try to curb warming, study says Earth at risk of hitting irreversible tipping points

The world is in danger of hitting the point of no return for five of Earth’s natural systems because of human-caused climate change, a team of 200 scientists said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations’ climate summit.

Massive clock projection at MIT uses local twist to track climate crisis

During COP28, the MIT Climate Clock Team will project a countdown to the projected date and time that Earth will have warmed 1.5 degrees Celsius — a limit on global temperature increase that the planet is projected to hit in May 2024.

What is COP28 and why is it important?

World leaders are due to gather for annual climate change talks in Dubai this week. On the agenda: the phase-down of fossil fuels, a global goal to help the world adapt to extreme weather events, standards for trading carbon emissions, and a new fund to pay for the damage wreaked by global warming.

Climate Science

BLUE ECONOMY
US Navy awards $147m contract to build NOAA hub in Newport
NOAA’s Marine Operations Center – Atlantic will be relocated from Virginia to Newport.

Can trees save the climate? Experts say ‘smart’ forestry is one place to start.

Climate scientist Saleemul Huq, who emphasized helping poor nations adapt to warming, dies at 71

Politics and Policy

As EV sales growth slows, Mass. car dealers ask Biden to ‘tap the brakes’ on electric transition

The owners of 111 Massachusetts auto dealerships have urged the administration to back off on tougher emissions standards that would effectively compel carmakers to use electric drivetrains in two-thirds of all new cars in the next decade.
BLUE ECONOMY

US Navy awards $147m contract to build NOAA hub in Newport

NOAA’s Marine Operations Center – Atlantic will be relocated from Virginia to Newport.

Harris heads to Dubai to tackle delicate tasks of talking climate and Israel-Hamas war

Vice President Kamala Harris will try to demonstrate environmental leadership despite President Biden‘s absence from an annual summit on climate change and she’ll work to nudge forward fragile efforts to shape the next phase of the Israel-Hamas war.

Cities must replace harmful lead pipes within 10 years under new Biden administration plan

It is the strongest overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades and will cost billions of dollars. Pulling it off will require overcoming enormous practical and financial obstacles.

An interactive look into climate change

How Massachusetts feels about climate change in 12 graphics

The percentage of Massachusetts residents who believe climate change is as a very serious concern has decreased since 2019. That’s just one finding from a new poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group for the Boston Globe.

Maps: These parts of Boston, Revere, and Quincy are vulnerable to rising sea levels

One measure of a warming planet and human-caused climate change is rising sea levels, which Massachusetts’ coastal towns are increasingly grappling with.

Boston’s ‘heat islands’ turn lower-income neighborhoods from hot to insufferable

In a recent city report, officials noted that temperatures in leafier neighborhoods are often significantly lower than in more densely populated areas.

Into the Red: How the Globe will cover climate change

To report on the most pressing issue of our time, the Globe’s climate team is expanding and rethinking its coverage.

The Globe's climate team wants to hear from you

Share your thoughts and questions about the impact of climate change in your community.

How-Tos

FOOD & DINING NEWSLETTER

Coffee has a serious carbon footprint. One R.I. brand is trying to do things differently.

INNOVATOR Q&A

In Pawtucket, a refill station for beauty and cleaning products helps the planet

No Mow May: What to know about the campaign to help your garden become a pollinator’s paradise

More Climate stories

Massive clock projection at MIT uses local twist to track climate crisis

During COP28, the MIT Climate Clock Team will project a countdown to the projected date and time that Earth will have warmed 1.5 degrees Celsius — a limit on global temperature increase that the planet is projected to hit in May 2024.

To phase out or phase down fossil fuels? That is the question at COP28 climate talks.

After days of shaving off the edges of key warming issues, climate negotiators Tuesday are zeroing in on the tough job of dealing with the main cause of what’s overheating the planet: fossil fuels.

Global warming could cost poor countries trillions. They’ve urged the COP28 climate summit to help.

The UN climate summit put its attention Monday on how developing countries could possibly pay trillions of dollars that experts say they will need to cope with global warming.

The climate summit embraces AI, with reservations

The hope for AI breakthroughs in the fight against rising global temperatures flows from the technology’s ability to process vast quantities of information.

US joins in other nations in swearing off coal power to clean the climate

The United States is now committed to the idea of phasing out coal power plants, joining 56 other nations in kicking the coal habit.

Biden rule aims to reduce methane emissions, targeting US oil and gas industry for global warming

Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, the main component in natural gas and far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.

‘There’s no way to sugarcoat it.’ The state’s first climate report card is out, and the grades are mixed.

There is a long, potholed road ahead to get to the state’s near-term targets for the years 2025 and 2030.

Top world leaders talk of climate crisis at UN summit. They say they must act on fossil fuels and war.

International climate talks turned to a power game on Friday as world leaders took turns bemoaning the pain of an overheating planet, but two of the most powerful men — President Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping — were glaringly absent.

Opinion

IDEAS | JENNIFER NASH

A flock of birds gripped my hand — and pulled me back into the fight against climate change

After devoting my career to the environment, I began to hide from bad news about it. I had to learn to feel all over again.
Leila Philip

Let beavers get busy fighting fires — and climate change

Carroll Muffett

The world can’t recycle its way out of the plastics crisis

Michael E. Mann and Wanjira Mathai

UN IPCC report can lead governments to the climate action door, but they must walk through

Ko Barrett

Humans are responsible for climate change and humans have the capacity to solve it