As U. N. talks get underway, China is emerging as a key leader in international climate efforts. It is empowering the global energy transition, and along with India and Brazil, is becoming the driving force in climate diplomacy and filling a vacuum left by the world’s rich nations.
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A rash of data centers planned for western Pennsylvania has residents and environmentalists on edge. The sprawling complexes will be powered by plants that burn fracked natural gas, whose production has caused air and water pollution in the region and has known health risks.
Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power the growing number of A. I. data centers in the U. S. Jigar Shah, a former Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can help balance the grid, lower electricity bills, and support renewable energy.
Subscribers // by Nathan Sperber
With hundreds of satellites launched each year and tens of thousands more planned, scientists are increasingly concerned about an emerging problem: emissions from the fuels burned in launches and from the pollutants released when satellites and rocket stages flame out on reentry.
Researchers are finding a disturbing uptick in the trade of African hornbills and their body parts in West African voodoo markets and globally on the internet. Conservationists want international protections for these birds, which play a key role in Africa’s forest ecosystems.
Brazil is set to unveil an ambitious international plan that would provide up to $4 billion a year to countries that protect their tropical forests. Proponents see it as a potential game-changer for forest conservation, but some ecologists and economists are raising concerns.