New York state is making available $2.1 million in competitive grant money to aid local air quality improvement projects, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced.

Community-based non-profit organizations will qualify for the money to aid disadvantaged communities in New York that have struggled with air pollution.

It was a good New York budget for environmental advocates.

According to Liz Moran, New York public advocate at Earthjustice, the spending plan “exceeded expectations” by attacking greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from buildings.

Officials are expected to put the finishing touches on the 2023-24 state budget this weekend, including finalizing programs to protect the environment and satisfy the state's strict benchmarks to fight climate change.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a tentative budget framework in the Capitol on Thursday night with few details.

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul have reached a tentative deal to end gas hookups in new construction in the coming years as part of a broader effort to shift the state away from fossil fuels and to more renewable forms of energy.

The agreement is meant to cushion the effect the measure will have on consumers, with pre-existing gas stoves unaffected. But at the same time, it's a tangible push toward making a transition to cleaner forms of energy, a change that will have a wide-ranging effect on energy policy in New York.

A listening tour is being launched by Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration for the public to provide input on how to spend $4.2 billion on environmental infrastructure upgrades around New York.

Hochul's office on Monday also announced $425 million in a new round of water infrastructure improvement projects.

In an attempt to further spur clean technologies in New York amid a push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury, state officials on Friday announced a multimillion-dollar program to support new insurance policies and products.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced a $6.5 million plan under the Insurance Innovation for Climate-Technology Solutions program as part of an effort to release grants for risk management and insurance market expansion for businesses that are transitioning to climiate-friendly products.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday touted the millions of dollars being sent to states like New York – including $21 million to make improvements to a bridge just south of Albany. And more cash for New York communities may be on the way.

Money is flowing into New York to improve its infrastructure. And Buttigieg says much of that cash is coming with an eye toward the future.

Lawmakers leading the climate fight are turning up the heat about which climate protection measures should be in the final state budget and which are a priority for the remainder of the legislative session as Democrats start to fracture over how to pay to successfully meet New York's emission reduction goals outlined in state law.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has made it clear her administration won't include a provision in the next budget to alter the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act, or Climate Act, and the timeline used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. But it doesn't mean it won't be a possibility later this session, or that the other more robust measures climate advocates are pushing for won't advance outside the budget, either.

New York was slow to adopt renewable energy under the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

According to Inside Climate News, New York is number 24 out of 50 states when it comes to generating gigawatts of power, having created just 6,895 gigawatt hours of wind and solar in 2022 compared to Texas’ 136,000 gigawatt hours.

In Albany, where lawmaking can move at the speed of smell, the Hochul administration’s retreat on a new climate policy was breathtaking.

On Monday, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harris told Capital Tonight they were backing a bill sponsored by the Legislature’s Energy Committee chairs to, in effect, weaken the state’s climate laws. The purpose? To prevent New Yorkers from paying “potentially extraordinary costs."

Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration will not prioritize a proposal to re-calculate methane emissions as part of the ongoing state budget negotiations following an uproar from environmental and climate advocacy organizations over the plan.

But Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harrris did not rule out further pursuing the idea, warning that "affordability" for consumers needs to be part of the conversations surrounding how to transition New York from carbon-based fuels to more renewable and cleaner forms of energy.

Add climate to the list of issues around which Gov. Kathy Hochul and Legislature leaders are butting heads in budget negotiations.

New York’s climate transition is expected to cost billions of dollars annually, which is one of the reasons the governor included a Cap & Invest program in her executive budget — it’s a pollution credits scheme through which polluters can help pay for the transition’s enormous tab. But until wind, solar and other renewables are more attainable, average New Yorkers will still be on the hook, financially.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Democratic leadership in New York state government wants to begin making natural gas a thing of the past. However, the plans for getting there differ.

Dennis Elsenbeck, head of energy and sustainability at Phillips Lytle, said buildings represent the state's largest single source of carbon emissions at roughly a third with transportation close behind.

New York leaders in Albany are close to an agreement on a first-in-the-nation ban on gas and fossil fuel hook-ups in new construction. The ban would likely start in 2025 or 2026, though that’s still being debated. The legislation will likely include exemptions for restaurants and back-up generators.

While both proposals are similar, the timeline for the legislature’s version of the “all-electric building act," sponsored by Brian Kavanagh and Emily Gallagher (S562A/ A920A), is somewhat more aggressive than the governor’s. It would prohibit “infrastructure, building systems, or equipment used for the combustion of fossil fuels in new construction statewide no later than December 31, 2023 if the building is less than seven stories and July 1, 2027 if the building is seven stories or more."

Who will pay for the ongoing damage caused by climate change?

The Climate Change Superfund Act may be one answer. The bill is sponsored by New York state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. It was included in the Senate’s one-house budget last week, but not in the Assembly’s.

The specifics differ, but Democratic state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are backing the same goal of ending the use of fossil fuels like natural gas in new residential and commercial construction.

The competing plans, advancing to the same goal on different timetables and sizes of buildings, are being considered as lawmakers and Hochul negotiate a $227 billion state budget this month.

With the release of the New York state Senate and Assembly one-house budget resolutions, Capital Tonight spoke with the Business Council of New York State (BCNYS) about the emerging spending plan due April 1, and the organization’s priorities.

Ken Pokalsky, vice president of BCNYS, said Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget is a mixed bag.

A coalition of green groups and unions is pushing the state to decarbonize its largest groups of buildings by replacing fossil fuels with thermal energy.

Buildings are the largest source of emissions in New York state, contributing over 32% of all pollution in the state.

There are several proposals in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget that could move New York’s 2019 Climate Law from theory into reality, including her “Cap & Invest” plan.

The state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates that New York get 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

After serving on the board of the New York Power Authority since 2015, Anthony Picente, the Republican Oneida County executive, has resigned, citing disagreements with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration. Picente said it is a “matter of good conscience” to resign and cites policies differences on the environment, economy and public safety.

Picente argues that he is in favor of renewable energy but raises concerns about the speed that the policies are being implemented at. In his resignation letter to the governor, Picente writes that these decisions “that will impact people’s lives and livelihoods … need more thought, more discussion and certainly more input from the entire state.”

New York lawmakers are proposing ways of getting companies responsible for pollution and climate change to pay up.

The proposals range from efforts to have oil and gas firms pay the state to offset the cost of climate change to New York. At the same time, lawmakers have proposed making it easier to sue companies deemed responsible for pollution.

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. -- A lot of questions remain about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's to phase out fossil fuel-powered appliances.

Critics expect to get more specifics soon, perhaps when she releases her budget.

King Charles III has asked that annual profits from a $1.2 billion Crown Estate windfarm deal be used for the public good rather than the royal family.

The Crown Estate confirmed Thursday that it had signed lease agreements for six offshore wind projects. Such a windfall would normally lead to a jump in funding for the royals under complex arrangements that support the activities of the monarchy in the U.K.

A bill backed by Rep. Elise Stefanik is meant to fund efforts to combat invasive species in New York and around the country.

The measure, re-introduced this week, has support from Democratic Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii.

The regulatory phase now begins.

That’s the assessment of two of the agency leaders who will be involved in implementing the state’s new climate blueprint.

On Monday, the state’s Climate Action Council approved a scoping plan that will serve as a blueprint for the Empire State to reach its ambitious climate goals.

Ken Pokalsky, vice president at The Business Council of New York State, told Capital Tonight that there are a lot of unknowns when its comes to the cost for businesses and as more businesses learn about the changes needed, there will be some “shock and alarm.”

New York’s climate law requires the state to get 70% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

In order to get there, the state will need to start building large-scale renewables a lot faster than it has been.

During a media briefing on Monday, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) stated that it expects wholesale electricity prices to sharply rise this winter, which is in line with estimates from National Grid and other utilities.

Upstate New Yorkers can expect heating bills to rise 30% or more over the next few months. Heating costs are especially volatile this year due to disruptions in the supply of oil and gas from Eastern Europe.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law a two-year moratorium on issuing or renewing air permits for one narrow form of cryptocurrency mining that the state Legislature passed earlier this year.

The new law only applies to what's called behind-the-meter mining that uses carbon-based fuel and proof-of-work validation methods.

Two separate infrastructure announcements in vastly different regions of the state on Thursday are meant to help New York make its broader transition to more renewable and cleaner forms of energy in the coming years.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in Suffolk County on Long Island announced the state had sealed a land transfer with the county to bring the National Offshore Wind Training Center to New York. At the same time, Hochul announced a $9 million competitive program through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to expand jobs in the sector.

The main transit agency that serves New York's Capital Region will receive more than $25 million in federal aid to expand its fleet of electric buses as the state seeks to transition to more renewable and cleaner forms of energy.

The money was announced on Monday at the main garage of the Capital District Transportation Authority, touted by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and President Joe Biden's main infrastructure advisor, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

This week, Gov. Kathy Hochul moved to enact a law meant to phase out gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035. Supporters hope the regulations announced by the governor will hasten the transition as New York seeks to curtail the effects of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Getting it done before the end of the year means we can hit the ground running for the first model year, which is 2026," said Conor Bambrick, the director of climate policy at Environmental Advocates NY.

Regulations are being advanced that will end the sale of gas-powered vehicles in New York by 2035, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced.

If given final approval, New York would join California in the effort to transition to electric vehicles by the middle of the next decade.

Urban areas that face disproportionate heat conditions will be studied by state environmental officials under a measure signed Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The new law will assess the effects of so-called urban heat islands in low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods of New York state.

Environmental organizations, labor groups and Gov. Kathy Hochul are making a concerted push in recent days for the approval of a $4.2 billion bond plan to shore up the state's infrastructure against extreme weather events in the coming years.

Hochul on Wednesday in New York City at a joint event with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy urged voters to back the bond act in a coming referendum this November.

There are now more than 100 communities in the state that have received the "Climate Smart" designation as the state takes broader steps toward mitigating the effects of climate change, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Monday announced.

The communities have all moved in various ways to meet the social, financial and environmental challenges of climate change by pledging to reduce emissions. The designation has been in place for communities since 2014.

The world’s widest glacier is at risk of rapidly retreating in the “near future,” a process that could raise global sea levels to concerning heights, according to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday.

The massive but melting Thwaites glacier rests on Antarctica’s western half, east of the jutting Antarctic Peninsula. The Florida-sized glacier has gotten the nickname the “doomsday glacier” because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts.

Four influential business and labor organizations on Monday in a joint statement signaled where they agree on the direction the state's climate change policies should take as officials develop a plan for transitioning New York's energy to more renewable and cleaner forms of fuel in the coming decades.

The groups — The Independent Power Producers of New York, The Business of New York State, the New York State AFL-CIO, and the New York State Building & Construction Trades Council — in a rare joint statement called for seven principles to guide the prcoess and address "shortcomings" in the current version of a draft plan under consideration by the State's Climate Action Council.

As many as one in six tree species native to the contiguous 48 states is threatened with extinction, according to a first-of-its-kind assessment.

The most common threats to native U.S. trees are invasive insects and diseases, climate change and extreme weather, changes to habitats, and biological resource uses such as logging, the analysis said.

A new study is highlighting the dire risk facing a majority of marine wildlife should global greenhouse gas emissions continue at current levels.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, evaluated the risk for nearly 25,000 marine species and their surrounding ecosystem and the potential impact of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers created a checklist – which they deemed the Climate Risk Index for Biodiversity – to assess which species might be most impacted by warming waters through a variety of factors.

Clean energy incentives in the new spending package signed this week by President Joe Biden will trim America’s emissions of heat-trapping gases by about 1.1 billion tons by 2030, a new Department of Energy analysis shows.

The first official federal calculations, shared with The Associated Press before its release Thursday, say that between the bill just signed and last year’s infrastructure spending law, the U.S. by the end of the decade will be producing about 1.26 billion tons (1.15 billion metric tons) less carbon pollution than it would have without the laws. That saving is equivalent to about the annual greenhouse gas emissions of every home in the United States.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes as they face climate change-related disasters, the agency announced Thursday.

FEMA will include the 574 federally recognized tribal nations in discussions about possible future dangers from climate change, and has earmarked $50 million in grants for tribes pursuing ways to ease burdens related to extreme weather. Tribal governments will be offered more training on how to navigate applying for FEMA funds. The new plan calls for tribal liaisons to give a yearly report to FEMA leaders on how prepared tribes are.

A plan to borrow $4.2 billion to help gird New York's waterways and other infrastructure against the worsening effects of climate change has picked up more support from labor.

The New York State AFL-CIO this weekk officially endorsed the bond act, being put to voters this November.

Cities, states and tribes across the country will soon have cleaner fleets of buses thanks to a series of grants funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced the recipients of $1.66 billion that can be used for new low-emission and no-emission bus fleets, as well as to train transit workers on maintaining and operating the coming technology.

New York's pension fund will review more than two dozen oil and gas companies to assess their transition to low-carbon operations, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office on Friday announced.

The review all together will comprise 28 publicly traded firms.

In a recent campaign ad, Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky’s Senate minority leader who is running for a U.S. House seat, vows to “take real action on climate change” if elected.

But despite constant reminders about the worsening impacts of climate change, the Kentucky Democrat appears to be a rarity in this year’s congressional midterm elections.

Coca-Cola is changing how it packages some of its popular beverages in order to better “support a circular economy for plastic packaging,” the company wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

One of those changes will impact Sprite's iconic green bottle, which will be discontinued after nearly six decades on the market. Starting August 1, the bubbly beverage will be served in clear plastic bottles to boost its chances of being recycled into other containers after their initial use.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday signed into law three bills aimed to advance the state's clean energy industry.

The Advanced Building Codes, Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards Act of 2022 will amend the state's regulatory and policy environment to support energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction strategies in buildings.

Eight top officials of Democratic county committees from the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of upstate New York on Tuesday urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to put a pause on proof-of-work cryptomining in the state.

The county chairs, in a letter to Hochul, called on the governor to sign a bill that would lead to a two-year moratorium for the process, which has come under crticisim from environmental organizations in New York.

Despite passing in the New York state Senate, the clock ran out before the state Assembly could move the Build Public Renewables Act through the chamber.

State Sen. Kevin Parker, a Democrat from Brooklyn and chair of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, told Capital Tonight that the legislation is part of an “all-of-the-above approach” and added “we need to have the market, but we also need to allow utilities and the New York Power Authority involved in this idea of creating sustainable generation for our state.”

The Climate Action Council, which is tasked with laying the framework for the state to meet its climate goals established in 2019’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, has extended the public comment period for its draft scoping plan until July 1. With 27% of the state’s total emissions coming from transportation sources, the way you get around the Empire State will be changing.

Roger Caiazza, of the Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York blog, told Capital Tonight that due to state law, by 2035, all new cars sold in the state will need to be zero emission vehicles. The Climate Action Council’s draft scoping plan forecasts the price of zero emission vehicles to fall by 2028. Caiazza argues that a demand for rare earth minerals which are needed to create batteries for cars will keep the price of these cars higher than the draft scoping plan’s estimates and despite tax rebates, the cost could still be prohibitive for some New Yorkers.

The New York legislative session was a mixed bag for the environmental community.

While nothing was resolved regarding how the state will pay for its transition to clean energy, there was movement to protect the environment from behind-the-meter proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining.

President Joe Biden on Monday announced a number of executive actions aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing of clean energy technology, including invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate production of solar panels in the United States.

The president also issued a two-year exemption on tariffs on solar panel imports made in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which White House officials called a bridge measure amid the push for increased domestic production.

When someone makes a mess, they're expected to clean it up.

Fossil fuel companies that have emitted significant greenhouse gases leading to the climate crisis would be required to pay a combined $30 billion to the state for environmental upgrades under new legislation introduced Thursday.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) requires New York state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050. In order to do that, New Yorkers are going to have to make some changes. Those changes are currently being hammered out in the draft scoping plan issued by the Climate Action Council.

Buildings are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the state; the draft plan is optimistic that decarbonizing the state’s building stock will deliver both job growth and economic opportunity.

A top labor organization leader in New York on Tuesday was selected by Gov. Kathy Hochul to serve on the state's panel addressing climate change issues.

Longtime New York AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento was appointed to the Climate Action Council, which is in charge of developing policies and recommendations for the overall effort of transitioning the state to cleaner and more renewable forms of fuel and energy.

As online shopping has grown, so have the so-called last-mile warehouses that store the products consumers need so quickly — and the trucks and vans necessary for those deliveries.

All of the exhaust belched out by these facilities is a threat to public health that disproportionately impacts low-income communities of color, say environmental and health advocates. New legislation in Albany may offer a breath of relief.

New York voters this fall will consider a $4.2 billion bond act meant to shore up the state's infrastructure to curtail the worst effects of climate change.

And environmental organizations, business groups and labor unions are planning a major push to get the issue on voters' minds this year.

The predominant utility provider in upstate New York in the coming decades is planning a transition that will entirely eliminate its use of fossil fuels from its energy production by 2050.

The move by National Grid will be a challenge to enact, but also coincides with the broader effort under New York state law to phase out the use of carbon-based fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy in the coming decade.

For more than a century, the hulking state Capitol building in Albany has hosted the seat of government in New York.

And on Monday, state lawmakers proposed legislation that is meant to modernize the Capitol as well as the adjacent state office complex by requiring it to one day be run on renewable energies.

New York’s ambitious carbon reduction law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, also known as the CLCPA, doesn’t say much about nuclear power. But it does require New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030, and no less than 85% by 2050, from 1990 levels.

The question one climate scientist is asking is this: “Why not employ nuclear power” to help meet those goals?

Voters in New York are set to consider a larger bond act to shore up water and sewer systems in order to harden them against increasingly extreme weather events.

The proposed Environmental Bond Act, which had the initial price tag of $3 billion when proposed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has now increased to a $4.2 billion proposal.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced it would delay a decision for a second time on whether to approve a critical air pollution permit renewal for a controversial cryptocurrency mining operation on the shores of Seneca Lake.

Greenidge Generation has been criticized for using enormous amounts of energy to mine for cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

Climate change, along with the growing problems it’s creating around the globe, is being fueled by greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere. But what if those gases could be erased?

Emerging technologies that essentially vacuum carbon dioxide out of the air are being heralded by some as a game-changing weapon in the fight against climate change. But the industry still has a long way to go, and it has its share of detractors.

A proposed solar farm in Colonie is causing some concern amongst neighbors and environmental advocates.

Over the last 16 years, Deb Kazmierczak has spent most mornings sitting on her front porch with a cup of coffee.

Prominent environmental, transit and good-government organizations on Friday urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject a proposed gas tax suspension in the state budget, arguing it would run counter to the state's efforts to combat climate change and deprive road improvement projects of funding.

Lawmakers and Hochul are negotiating a potential suspension of the tax that would run from May 1 to the end of the year as the per-gallon price of gasoline remains above $4 in many parts of New York.

To get a handle on plastic packaging, there is a movement to get companies to take responsibility for all the waste they produce. It’s called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR.

According to the group Beyond Plastics, strong and transparent EPR can be used to solve the growing problem of packaging waste and plastic pollution, but only if states get the details right and hold companies accountable.

Buildings are the number one emitters of carbon in New York state. Those emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas for heating and cooling.

Convincing New Yorkers to support a ban on natural gas connections to newly constructed homes and buildings was going to be a heavy lift even before Russia invaded Ukraine. With the subsequent increase in gas prices and utility costs on the rise, it may seem even more daunting.

There is a lot on the line for environmentalists in the New York state budget.

They are looking to fund the state’s ambitious transition to green energy and they want to do it in a way that ensures racial and social equity.

A coalition of environmental organizations and labor unions is making a final push in the coming weeks to gain the approval of a clean fuel standard in the state budget with the goal of reducing carbon emissions in New York state.

The measure is meant to reduce emissions by addressing the carbon intensity of motor fuels with the blending of low-carbon alternatives. A version of the proposal, which has been backed by state Sen. Kevin Parker and Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner in the state Legislature, was included in the state Senate's budget proposal this week.

Lawmakers in the state Senate want a ban on fossil fuels in new building construction to go into effect three years earlier than proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The provision in the Democratic-led state Senate's proposed budget is part of a broader effort to transition the state to more renewable forms of energy in the coming decades, legislation that is expected to drive major changes in transportation, construction and consumer products.

In 2010, businessman Harry Wilson came within five points of beating New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli — the closest a Republican has come to winning statewide office since for Gov. George Pataki’s last re-election in 2002.

Wilson is running again — this time for governor in the hopes of ending the Grand Old Party’s two-decade long drought. First, he’ll need to secure the nomination through a primary in June.

The projects to strengthen New York's infrastructure from the worst effects of climate change while also building out projects for renewable energies like wind will be done with labor union jobs, Gov. Kathy Hochul Friday said.

Hochul was in Florida Friday morning for the New York Building Trades annual winter conference, pledging to prioritize jobs for labor in projects like the construction of wind turbines in the Albany area for construction off the shore of Long Island.

Protesters seeking more official action to combat climate change call the issue a long-term emergency facing New York.

That includes Joanna Oldman Smith, who traveled to Albany from Brooklyn to stage a sit-in at the state Capitol. She was among a dozen protesters blocking the entance to the building in order to bring attention to the issue which she said lacks urgency from the state's leaders.

As climate change continues to spur more natural disasters, a new study found that Black Americans are likely to bear the brunt of the risks associated with floods over the next several decades.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, found that the United States faces a 26.4% increase in costs from severe floods by 2050, up from around $32 billion to more than $43 billion over the next several decades.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint, putting it on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050.

“As the single largest land owner, energy consumer, and employer in the Nation, the Federal Government can catalyze private sector investment and expand the economy and American industry by transforming how we build, buy, and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings, and other operations to be clean and sustainable,” the order reads.

Michael Regan, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Thursday encouraged local governments to focus their portion of the $50 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure law to improve water infrastructure and ensure Americans have access to clean drinking water in historically disadvantaged communities.

Maine climate change activists say they’re feeling both disappointment and hope for the future after the mixed results of last week’s United Nations summit in Scotland.

World leaders who gathered in Glasgow for the “COP26” conference agreed to offer plans next year to scale up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in a last-ditch effort to keep global warming under the 1.5 degrees Celsius they agreed to in the Paris Climate Accords.

Tens of thousands of pounds of pandemic-related materials like plastic masks, gloves and face shields have been discarded into the ocean since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a report published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As cases of COVID-19 began to rise in 2020, so too did the need for personal protection equipment (PPE), much of which was made from single-use plastics.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several of her fellow Democratic lawmakers traveled to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, with one purpose: To show that "America is back" on the world stage to help combat the climate crisis.

Fresh off of a momentous week in Washington, D.C., following the passage of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, nearly two dozen members oft he Democratic delegation traveled to Scotland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

A climate report released by the Biden administration last month offers a stark warning about the effects climate change could have on migration and security around the world.

The report said that migration caused by climate change could exacerbate existing geopolitical tensions, displace millions of people and deepen political instability in parts of the world.

Millions of Americans’ drinking water contains potentially-dangerous chemicals, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found in their newly-updated tap water database, including substances like arsenic, lead and a group known as “forever chemicals,” all of which are associated with serious health conditions, most commonly cancer.

The environmental monitoring nonprofit released the newest version of its database on Wednesday in an effort to call attention to “widespread contamination” of drinking water and the need for federal regulators to do more to clear chemicals from people’s taps.

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a sweeping new plan to reduce methane emissions in the U.S., pledging to work alongside E.U. members and others nations to reduce by 30% overall methane emissions by the year 2030.

But President Biden’s announcement – coupled with his recently unveiled Build Back Better framework, which proposes roughly $555 billion for clean energy and climate change initiatives – have drawn consternation from some oil and gas leaders in the U.S., who have so far resisted calls to shift the industry away from its reliance on such emissions.

As President Joe Biden wraps up a whirlwind appearance at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, his administration unveiled a sweeping plan on Tuesday to reduce methane emissions, pledging to work with the European Union and other nations to reduce overall methane emissions worldwide by 30% by 2030.

Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, contributes significantly to global warming.

In an effort to motivate corporations around the world to prioritize clean energy when purchasing materials and establishing their supply chains, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the formation of a new group of private companies called the First Movers Coalition.

The group, which includes more than 25 major companies so far, is meant to set the standard in industries like steel, aviation, trucking, shipping, concrete and more, which together count for about 30% of the world’s carbon emissions.

With President Joe Biden abroad making the case for urgent action to combat the climate crisis at the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Vice President Kamala Harris took a trip to New York on Monday to announce key climate initiatives at home.

Harris, who was joined by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, traveled to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they announced two new Department of Energy initiatives aimed at combatting the climate crisis and creating jobs:

Trees are not only beautiful, they also provide shade and create homes for our animal friends. They may also help combat climate change.

As city planners continue to look for ways to beautify cities, many are overseeing new park developments that will in part help lower the temperatures of urban areas.

President Joe Biden heads to a vital U.N. climate summit at a time when a majority of Americans regard the deteriorating climate as a problem of high importance to them, an increase from just a few years ago.

About 6 out of 10 Americans also believe that the pace of global warming is speeding up, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

Google is launching a host of new updates to a number of its services as part of a global effort to help consumers make environmentally-friendly choices both at home and on the road, the company announced Wednesday.

“Today, climate change is more than a threat,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, said in a recorded statement. “It is a real and present danger. From wildfires to flooding to more frequent and severe storms, climate change is the most profound risk we face, one that affects our health, our economies and our future together on this planet.”

All Britain’s electricity will come from renewable sources by 2035, the governing Conservatives announced Monday, saying the move would help end the country’s reliance on imported fuel.

As part of Climate Week 2021, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced 11 new certified Climate Smart Communities which are working to support local efforts to meet challenges brought about by climate change. Three communities already in the program have also been recertified and Erie County has advanced to silver-level certification.

To reach certification, Hochul says that communities must establish an active climate change task force made up of residents and municipal representatives.

Irvine is moving forward in a statewide competition for $1-million worth of funding to help the city achieve its ambitious goal to have a zero-carbon economy by 2030.

The competition, the Cool City Challenge, was started by the Empowerment Institute, an international consulting and training organization specializing in empowering cities to meet their carbon reduction goals. As part of this initiative, three California cities will receive $1 million each to roll out their climate programs. The three recipients of the grants will also share the Carbon Neutral City Prize, which includes $25 million in funding.

In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners.

The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than it previously thought and it is setting a higher bar for policymakers and the public in its first update to its air quality guidelines in 15 years.

The United Nations health agency released its revised Air Quality Guidelines as climate change is a leading topic at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Tuesday that China will no longer fund power plants fired by coal, which generates several of the pollutants covered by the guidelines.

McDonald's announced that it will make major changes to its iconic Happy Meal toys, with an aim to "drastically" reduce its use of plastics as part of the company's push toward sustainability and reducing their environmental impact.

"Starting now, and phased in across the globe by the end of 2025, our ambition is that every toy sold in a Happy Meal will be sustainable, made from more renewable, recycled, or certified materials like bio-based and plant-derived materials and certified fiber," McDonald's wrote in a statement posted to its website.