"With US Absent, China Asserts Itself at World’s Biggest Climate Summit"
"On the opening day at COP30, the United Nations’ annual climate summit, the scene was emblematic of a shifting order. With the United States absent, all eyes were on China."

EJToday is a daily weekday digest of top environment/energy news and information of interest to environmental journalists, independently curated by Editor Joseph A. Davis. Sign up below to receive in your inbox. For queries, email EJToday@SEJ.org. For more info, read an EJToday FAQ. Plus, follow EJToday on social media at @EJTodayNews, and flag stories of note by including the @EJTodayNews handle on your posts. And tell us how to make EJToday even better by taking this brief survey.
Want to join the EJToday team? Volunteer time commitments can vary from just an hour a month up to a daily contribution, and would involve helping to curate content of interest. To learn more, reach out to the director of publications, Adam Glenn, at sejournaleditor@sej.org.
Note: Members have additional options to choose from (you'll need your log-in info).
"On the opening day at COP30, the United Nations’ annual climate summit, the scene was emblematic of a shifting order. With the United States absent, all eyes were on China."
"The Trump pick to lead the land management agency has ties to anti-government extremists"
"After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens."
"Despite the Makah Tribe’s success in getting a waiver to carry out their exclusive treaty right for whaling, the permitting process that had dragged on for over 20 years has now been effectively delayed another year and a half – because of bogged-down federal bureaucracy. The Makah Tribe is the only one in the Lower 48 that has an exclusive treaty right to whaling."
"ENTR, a European Union–funded media project, brings together Gen Z journalists to produce social-media-first news."
"Trump’s anti-climate agenda could result in 1.3 million more deaths globally, analysis finds. Most of the people expected to suffer these temperature-related deaths live in poor countries in Africa and South Asia that are least prepared to cope with the increasing heat from climate change."
"New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human costs of the Trump administration’s approach to climate change.
"India is unlikely to submit its climate pledge before the end of the annual United Nations climate summit, raising questions about how the world’s most populous nation can influence others on confronting climate change. Experts say the delay may be a sign of India’s displeasure with a lack of progress toward funding global climate priorities. However, this can also hurt its ability to lead at the climate talks in Brazil."
"President Donald Trump, who has assailed Illinois’ governor and its largest city, denied disaster aid to thousands of Chicago residents even though his administration documented extraordinary damage from two major storms this summer, records obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News show."
"More than a dozen states where data centers are spreading fastest could face electric power emergencies under extreme conditions this winter, the grid’s security monitor warned Tuesday."
"California farms applied an average of 2.5m lb of Pfas “forever chemicals” per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, or a total of about 15m lb, a new review of state records shows."
"The Trump administration is issuing a $1 billion loan to help finance the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant."
"President Donald Trump’s administration moved Wednesday to roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live, reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species Act regulations from the Republican’s first term that were blocked under former Democratic President Joe Biden."
"As the federal government considers fast-tracking Wind West Atlantic Energy, residents hope for economic transformation, while some worry about impacts to seafood industry and marine ecosystems"
"Insurance premiums are rising fast in the parts of the United States most exposed to climate-related disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. New research shows that, as insurance has sharply pushed up the cost of owning a home, the price shock is starting to reverberate through the broader real estate market."
"To many locals, the Los Angeles River — hugged by concrete embankments and heavy vehicle traffic — hardly seems like a river at all. ... But when Doug Rosenberg came upon a shopping cart tipped over in the river's shallow waters back in 2020, he saw the potential to meet nature halfway."