Interesting Ideas

Australia had been pushing to host climate conference next year with south Pacific nations, which are increasingly threatened by rising seas and climate-fuelled disasters

Papua New Guinea has voiced frustration after Australia ditched a bid to co-host next year’s UN climate talks with its Pacific island neighbours.

“We are all not happy. And disappointed it’s ended up like this,” foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko told Agence France-Presse after Australia ceded hosting rights to Turkey.

She was sure that there would be warnings if there was any danger. But then the floods came. This is Toñi García’s story

Location Valencia, Spain

Disaster Floods, 2024

Toñi García lives in Valencia. On 29 October 2024, devastating storms hit the Iberian peninsula, bringing the heaviest rain so far this century. The national alert system sounded at around 8.30pm local time; by then, however, flood waters had already broken through the city. Scientists say the explosive downpours were linked to climate change.

Last summer I did something very ambitious. I DIY-installed a ductless heat pump system almost completely solo. And it wasn’t just one simple ductless system, it was five indoor ductless heat pumps (3 of them on a second floor) and two outdoor units. I’d never done anything like it before, ... [continued]

The post DIY-ing Our Ductless Heat Pump Install Was Hard, But We Saved $7,000 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A debut and a win: Kia’s first fully electric van, the PV5, claims the industry’s most prestigious LCV award Unanimously chosen by 26 leading commercial vehicle journalists worldwide Asia’s first electric van and the first Korean model to win the International Van of the Year Recognized for its technological innovation, ... [continued]

The post Kia’s PV5 Wins the “2026 International Van of the Year” appeared first on CleanTechnica.

St Dominic, Tamar Valley, Cornwall: The frost is yet to arrive and we’re awash with autumn colour as the mild weather continues

Yellow leaves, remaining on the lime tree, brightenthis dull November morning, and appear almost luminous against lichens on the leafless eucryphia. Frost has yet to blemish the early white camellia, and squirrels ignore the strawberry-like fruit of dogwoods in favour of abundant berries and nuts. Just one of the heavily laden hollies has been stripped of berries, probably eaten by a passing gang of wandering fieldfares. Blue flowers clothe aromatic rosemary and the ivy-woven undergrowth shelters violet plants – food for fritillary caterpillars.

Before 8am, the sound of a quad bike (with headlight gleaming through the mist) sounds from opposite as the south Devon beef cattle are escorted into a fresh enclosure of greened-up grass, still growing in the mild weather. Outside this gardened enclave, the landmark clump of beech has been blown bare of its leaves and mast, and the Dupath farm’s Aberdeen Angus bullocks graze in a nearby pasture.

Fallout from increased emissions linked to president’s ‘America First’ policies expected to most affect those in poor, hot countries

This article is co-published with ProPublica, a non-profit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.

New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human cost of the Trump administration’s approach to climate.

The energy solutions provider Ameresco recently announced a collaboration with The Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to expand EV charging infrastructure at various county facilities. Fleet electrification can help organizations reduce their environmental footprints and lower operating costs. Electric vehicles can be excellent for fleets because ... [continued]

The post 82 New EV Charging Ports Coming To Part Of Maryland appeared first on CleanTechnica.

It’s a climate-vulnerable nation, while also being the world’s sixth-largest greenhouse-gas emitter. Global investment in climate action is vital

In two days, BYD Philippines will be launching another dealership in the Philippines, bringing it to a total 41 dealers in just two years. The company has sold some 10,000 new energy vehicles in the past two years, and before the end of the year it is on track to ... [continued]

The post BYD Gets About Twenty Patents a Day, Adding up to 50,000 Technologies Already Authorized appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Brazil’s president welcomes world leaders while navigating divided government, promising action on deforestation and emissions

• How could the Tropical Forest Forever Facility tackle deforestation?

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has welcomed world leaders to Belém for the first climate summit in the Amazon, where conservationists hope he can be a champion for the rainforest and its people.

But with a divided administration, a hostile Congress and 20th-century developmentalist instincts, this global figurehead of the centre left has a balancing act to perform in advocating protection of nature and a reduction of emissions.

Climate summit in Brazil needs to find way to stop global heating accelerating amid stark divisions

“It broke my heart.” Surangel Whipps, president of the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, was sitting in the front row of the UN’s general assembly in New York when Donald Trump made a long and rambling speech, his first to the UN since his re-election, on 23 September.

Whipps was prepared for fury and bombast from the US president, but what followed was shocking. Trump’s rant on the climate crisis – a “green scam”, “the greatest con job ever perpetrated”, “predictions made by stupid people” – was an unprecedented attack on science and global action from a major world leader.

Scientists discover thousands of sea creatures have made their homes amid the detritus of abandoned second world war munitions off the coast of Germany

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands of munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

The US startup Hyroad Energy is among the automotive stakeholders supporting activity in the global hydrogen fuel electric vehicle market.

The post Persistence On Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Surfaces In Japan, Germany, US appeared first on CleanTechnica.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans have approved resolutions intended to undermine the protection of millions of acres of public lands in Alaska and overturning guardrails on coal leasing in Wyoming. In a series of votes Wednesday, House Republicans invoked the Congressional Review Act to disapprove land management plans related to ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club Statement on House Votes to Overturn Public Lands Protections appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The proposed rules would undermine extremely popular law; public has 30-days to submit comments. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is proposing to fundamentally weaken implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in ways that could bring imminent harm to imperiled species. If finalized, the rules would bias listing decisions with ... [continued]

The post Trump Administration Proposes Fundamentally Weakening Endangered Species Act with Harmful, New Rules appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Ending use of coal, oil and gas is essential in tackling climate crisis – but even talking about it is controversial

CleanTechnica is all for renewables and electrification. We exist to remind humans of the Earth and to rid it of smoke belchers, offensive energy generation, and climate deniers. Idealistic as we are, we are also grounded in the truth that this will never happen quickly enough, and will happen mostly ... [continued]

The post Op-Ed: “Wild East” Gamble — Why VinFast is Burning Cash to Reach the Stars appeared first on CleanTechnica.

When I started to write for CleanTechnica, I was on my own journey of decarbonization. Literally. I gave up my Nissan Cefiro, with its 6-cylinder VQ2 engine. I divorced my Nissan Terrano with its 2.7-liter diesel powerplant. There wasn’t a proper electric vehicle in 2017 when I started this journey, ... [continued]

The post Op-Ed: I’m Watching From The Philippines, & Your Venti Latte Math Doesn’t Add Up appeared first on CleanTechnica.

UN secretary-general António Guterres earlier used speech at Belem summit to urge countries to find compromises in final hours of negotiations

Inside the halls of Cop30 you see people from all around the world, and it can be easy to forget that there are many people who remain unrepresented.

On Thursday morning, Magne Tony was standing with compatriots from French Guiana outside the entrance to the conference centre, trying to push pieces of paper into the hands of arriving delegates and observers headed: “Our Amazon is dying”.

The main problem is that France are in 9,000 kilometres from Amazonia, from South America, and they’re taking decisions. [But] they don’t really know what is the problem really. They’re taking the decisions from their own mind and the problem is that they’re far from reality.

That’s why we decided to alert the people in the world about [our] problems: water coming up, getting enough to eat, more heat – in some parts of French Guiana, people don’t have water.

These crises, a consequence of Western capitalist madness, primarily affect the most vulnerable: women and communities dependent on forests and rivers. But they also concern all of humanity: French Guiana is part of the Amazon, a regulator of the global climate and essential to planetary balance.

We remind you that French Guiana is the last colony in South America without self-determination. We will not be able to protect our environment or guarantee our food and energy self-sufficiency, essential for our collective survival, as long as decisions are made in Paris without consulting the affected communities or taking into account local specificities.

West Virginians Will Foot the Bill for Short-Sighted Projects with Big Health Consequences CHARLESTON, West Virginia — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has committed to loaning West Virginia’s utility companies $1.44 billion to fund projects to refurbish six of the state’s coal-fired power plants, extending their lives by up ... [continued]

The post US DOE to Loan West Virginia Utilities $1.44B to Extend Life of 6 High-Cost Coal Plants appeared first on CleanTechnica.