Mexico’s wheat fields help feed the world. They’re also releasing a dangerous greenhouse gas.
Farmers in the Yaqui Valley are driven to over-fertilize their crops, resulting in an explosion of nitrous oxide emissions with deadly and invisible consequences.
By Josh Partlow and Chris MooneyDecember 22, 2021A refinery rained oil on thousands of St. Croix homes. Now it could reopen.
The Limetree Bay refinery, which showered oil and fumes on St. Croix residents earlier this year, appears to be on the verge of reopening. A federal judge approved the plant's sale in a bankruptcy hearing Tuesday.
By Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears and Salwan GeorgesDecember 21, 2021New Biden rule reducing climate emissions from cars and SUVs reverses major Trump rollback
The joint Environmental Protection Agency-Transportation Department regulation finalized Monday marks the president’s single biggest step to fight global warming. But Congress has stymied his most ambitious climate plans.
By Dino Grandoni and Faiz Siddiqui and Anna PhillipsDecember 20, 2021Manchin’s opposition to Build Back Better bill undercuts Biden’s climate agenda
The decision by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to oppose the Build Back Better bill threatens to undercut President Biden's climate agenda, by jeopardizing funding for electric vehicles and renewable energy projects that are key to cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
By Anna PhillipsDecember 19, 2021Is nuclear energy green? France and Germany lead opposing camps.
The French government wants to build new reactors. The German government wants to shut them down.
By Rick NoackDecember 18, 2021
America's biggest city is ditching fossil fuels in new buildings
The Big Apple is rounding out a banner year for building electrification.
By Maxine Joselow and Alexandra EllerbeckDecember 16, 2021Air pollution still disproportionately harms communities of color, study says
But Biden's environmental justice plan aims to address that.
By Maxine Joselow and Alexandra EllerbeckDecember 15, 2021COP26, global emissions gaps, and extreme weather disasters: These are the top climate change stories of 2021.
As 2022 approaches, here's where we are on climate change so far.
By Alexandra Ellerbeck and Maxine JoselowDecember 14, 2021
2021 brought a wave of extreme weather disasters. Scientists say worse lies ahead.
Studies presented at the world’s largest climate science conference offered an unsettling message: Climate change is fundamentally altering what kind of weather is possible.
By Sarah Kaplan and Brady DennisDecember 17, 2021The record-breaking tornadoes that swept the United States, by the numbers
Tornadoes ripped through parts of the South and Midwest, leaving behind loss and destruction on a scale difficult to fathom. Here are the key numbers to know.
By Washington Post StaffDecember 17, 2021In Amsterdam, a community of floating homes shows the world how to live alongside nature
Marjan de Blok has no engineering, architecture or hydrological training — but she’s spearheaded a movement for urban dwellers grappling with the accelerating impacts of climate change.
By Shira RubinDecember 17, 2021After decades, some of America’s most toxic sites will finally get cleaned up
The revival of a long-lapsed tax on chemical makers in the bipartisan infrastructure law means cities like Newark will get money to restore toxic Superfund sites.
By Dino GrandoniDecember 17, 2021At least 5 dead after tornadoes, storms blast through Great Plains and Midwest
The National Weather Service confirmed that at least 21 tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
By Bryan Pietsch and Jason Samenow and Annabelle Timsit and Timothy BellaDecember 17, 2021Manchin rejects offshore drilling ban amid broader standoff over Biden agenda
Democratic plans to restrict new oil and gas development offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, raise red flags for Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a crucial swing vote.
By Jeff Stein and Anna PhillipsDecember 16, 2021Biden administration details push to finally rid the nation of millions of lead pipes
The Biden administration details a push to finally rid the nation of millions of lead water pipes.
By Dino GrandoniDecember 16, 2021Tracking Biden’s environmental actions
President Biden is unwinding Donald Trump’s environmental legacy, while forging his own. The Washington Post is chronicling every step.
By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis and John MuyskensDecember 16, 2021The race to defuse Congo’s carbon bomb
Industrialists, conservationists and the government are fighting over the future of Congo's peatlands, which hold as much carbon as the whole world emits in three years.
By Max Bearak and Chris Mooney and John MuyskensDecember 16, 2021Trump’s quest for more powerful shower heads is over
The Energy Department has reversed Trump-era rule increasing how much water can flow through shower heads, and restored efficiency standards established under the Obama administration instead.
By Anna PhillipsDecember 15, 2021Chinese officials axed for cutting down thousands of trees after Xi Jinping signals disapproval
Experts say the mass disciplinary action, which comes as China tries to position itself as a climate leader, was "unprecedented."
By Amy ChengDecember 15, 2021Amazon’s use of plastic soared in 2020, environmental group says
Amazon’s retail business in 2020 generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste, a 29 percent increase from the year before, according to estimates by environmental group Oceana.
By Steven MufsonDecember 15, 2021In Chicago, a test case for Biden’s EPA
How the fight in Chicago over a proposed scrap metal facility became a test case for the Biden administration’s approach to environmental justice.
By Maggie Penman and Alexis Diao and Reena Flores and Jordan-Marie Smith and Linah Mohammad and Rennie Svirnovskiy and Ariel Plotnick and Emma Talkoff and Savannah Robinson and Sean CarterDecember 14, 2021Climate change has destabilized the Earth’s poles, putting the rest of the planet in peril
New research shows how rising temperatures have irreversibly altered both the Arctic and Antarctic. Ripple effects will be felt around the globe.
By Sarah KaplanDecember 14, 2021Russia blocks U.N. move to treat climate change as a global security threat
Despite Moscow's veto in the U.N. Security Council, experts say the case for linking climate change to security issues is likely to grow stronger.
By Rachel PannettDecember 14, 2021