Interesting Ideas

Washington, D.C. — Today, Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency dismantled a bedrock environmental and public health standard that protects Americans from mercury and other dangerous toxic air pollutants, such as arsenic, lead, and chromium. Rolling back the new and more protective Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will allow coal- and oil-fired power ... [continued]

The post Donald Trump Tears Down Another Key Public Health Safeguard appeared first on CleanTechnica.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior announced today it would revoke two public land orders to open more than two million acres of public lands in Alaska to drilling and mining. In an announcement late Friday afternoon, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order rescinding two land withdrawals north of ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club Statement on Trump Administration Opening Millions of Acres of Protected Public Lands to Mining appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A fair and effective tool for Europe’s energy transition Fossil fuels still account for around 70% of the EU’s energy consumption, leaving it heavily dependent on imports and exposed to price shocks. In 2024 alone, the EU spent more than €375 billion on fossil fuel imports, while fossil fuel companies made €180 billion ... [continued]

The post Taxing Fossil Fuel Profits appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better health

As a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.

“It’s not that we have this feeling that nothing can be done. But it’s difficult,” Mazur said.

Tesla has not been known as the king of reliability. To the contrary, it has been known to score badly in a variety of reliability studies in the US and Germany. It has gotten better over the years, though. And a new auto reliability study in France actually finds it ... [continued]

The post Tesla Tops Reliability Study in France appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In this week’s newsletter: The south-east of the country is suffering through the worst heatwave since 2019’s ‘black summer’, while the government continues to back fossil fuel projects

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Australians are no strangers to blistering weather – being a “sunburnt country” of “droughts and flooding rains” is baked into our national identity. But since the 2019-20 bushfires, which burned through an area almost the size of the UK, and killed or displaced 3 billion animals, the arrival of warmer weather each year is accompanied by dread. This summer has brought punishing extremes of heat and fire that are brutal even by Australian standards.

More, after this week’s most important reads.

‘A different set of rules’: thermal drone footage shows Musk’s AI power plant flouting clean air regulations

The death of Heather Preen: how an eight-year-old lost her life amid sewage crisis

Trump lashes out at California governor’s green energy deal with UK

‘Landmark’ greenwashing case against Australian gas giant Santos dismissed by federal court

‘What’s more important, the electricity or food?’: extreme heat is driving up power bills in central Australia

What the Albanese government did on the environment amid the Liberals’ turmoil: threatened species, a new coal project and carbon leakage

It’s been the case since the early days of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, but what’s good to see is this has not changed as more of the “mass market” has begun adopting EVs — electric car owners love their EVs and would buy an EV again. This is not surprising ... [continued]

The post JD Power: EV Owners Are Ridiculously Satisfied With Their Cars appeared first on CleanTechnica.

LOS ANGELES — Environmental and public health advocates are calling on California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman to investigate an AI-powered campaign that allegedly submitted public comments attributed to residents without their consent to oppose Southern California clean air standards. The extent of the AI ... [continued]

The post Advocates Call on California Attorney General, LA District Attorney to Investigate AI Astroturf Campaign appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4m

A new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.

The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convicted at Birmingham crown court.

Wood is primary heating in 2% of homes but contributes to producing 21% of country’s wintertime particle pollution

Air pollution from home wood burning is estimated to lead to 8,600 premature deaths in the US each year, according to research.

Just 2% of US homes use wood for primary heating. Another 8% burn wood for pleasure, aesthetics or supplementary heating, but combined they produce 21% of the country’s wintertime particle pollution.

C M Taylor’s book, which will raise funds for charity, follows teenagers whose favourite swim spot is contaminated

A water company discharges sewage into a river with impunity and the government fails to stop them. The story may sound familiar, but this one is different: there’s a satisfying comeuppance all round.

The ongoing saga of sewage being pumped into the Thames has inspired a new YA (young adult) novel, Floaters – and when its limited first edition is published later this month, 50% of all profits will go to the conservation and campaign charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).

Proving heavy vehicles can electrify fast across Europe By Max Molliere, Principal Data Analyst, E-Mobility, T&E Six out of ten new EU city buses were zero-emission (ZE) in 2025, as battery-electric and fuel cell powertrains made up 56% and 4% of new sales respectively. This was unimaginable back in 2019 ... [continued]

The post Past the Inflection Point: Electric Now Clearly Dominates the City Bus Market appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The space solar field is emerging from science fiction to fact, regardless of US energy policy favoring fossil fuels.

The post Space Solar Power Will Inevitably Trump Trump’s War On Solar Power appeared first on CleanTechnica.

European truckmakers pledge a zero-emission future, yet green finance remains marginal in funding the sector’s transition. The European truck industry faces growing competitive pressure. Chinese manufacturers are scaling up electric truck production rapidly and expanding in the global market. European truckmakers commit to battery-electric vehicles, but production expands too slowly to win ... [continued]

The post Locked Out of Green Finance: What’s Holding Truckmakers Back? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Langstone, Hampshire: It’s the time of year when dog foxes shadow receptive females – who only have the briefest of windows to mate

Walking the coastal path, I stopped to scan the flooded horse paddock for the kingfisher reported there in recent days. Three grey herons loitered along the fence line, hunchbacked and watchful. Where shallow pools had formed, teals dabbled and drifted in loose rafts, while a dozen little egrets fed on the margins, using their yellow feet to stir up the mud and flush out small invertebrates before snapping them up with their rapier-like bills.

The hoped-for flash of iridescent blue failed to materialise, but a russet streak caught my eye on the far edge of the field – a female fox, lean and alert. As I watched, I realised she was being followed by another – a thickset, wolfish dog fox with a grizzled coat. The vixen slowed, turned, dropped her forelegs to the ground and raised her rump, holding the pose briefly before springing away.

Government plans legislation giving landowners and tenants rights to cull deer to protect crops and property

It will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.

Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, plans to bring forward new legislation to give landowners and tenants legal rights to shoot deer to protect crops and property.

Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communities

The fertile high valley near La Chimba trembles with sounds. The rhythms of brass bands and cumbia music clash like weather fronts, each playing its own beats in the Andean rain. A rainbow spans the slopes and white plastic greenhouses, protecting the region’s treasure: roses bred for beauty, shipped abroad, blooming far from home.

Amid the drizzle, Patricia Catucuamba and her husband, Milton Navas, share a jug of chicha, a maize brew vital to their harvest celebrations. Since 2000, they have worked as dairy farmers, but sustaining a milk business requires expanses of land beyond the reach of most smallholders.

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Winter storm dumps more than 40cm of snow on the capital, while in France, Storm Pedro follows hot of heels of Storm Nils

While the days are growing longer and meteorological spring is just a couple of weeks away, Romania remains firmly in the grip of winter.

A powerful storm brought blizzards and heavy snowfall across much of the south-east of the country, with the capital, Bucharest, receiving 40cm of snow – far exceeding the February average of 11cm.

Using local content criteria in the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) as a lever for public support is the only option on the table to build up a resilient and local battery industry across Europe. 1. The urgency & feasibility of Union content criteria for batteries Access to batteries, their components, ... [continued]

The post How Can IAA Bring Local Cleantech Manufacturing? appeared first on CleanTechnica.