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Simon Jessop
The Microsoft data center campus currently under construction in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2026
Microsoft in record deal for soil carbon credits as data centers surge
The company has agreed with Indigo Carbon to buy a record 2.85 million soil carbon credits linked to regenerative agriculture in the United States.
Tech firms including Microsoft were among those represented on a provisional U.N. list of attendees of the official COP30 summit.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2025
U.S. companies hold the line at climate talks despite Trump
With threats to factories, supply chains and the bottom line, company executives said they didn't think now was a good time to opt out of the climate conversation.
A flooded road in London on Nov. 7. Private companies are filling the void as the U.S. government slashes science spending amid rising demand for data on extreme weather and other climate change-related risks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 24, 2025
U.S. government pullback from climate science fuels boom for private data firms
The private data boom is also raising questions around accuracy and access for those unable to pay.
Signage during the COP30 Leaders Summit at Parque da Cidade, the main venue for the COP30 summit, in Belem, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 6
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 18, 2025
Clamor for change builds inside the world's COP30 climate negotiations
More than 30 years of talks on global action to tackle climate change have led to progress, including renewable energy expansion and scaled-up climate funds, but not enough.
People shelter from the sun as they visit the Brandenburg Gate during a heat wave in Berlin in July. An October report in The Lancet scientific journal estimates the yearly number of deaths from heat-related causes worsened by climate change at nearly 550,000.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 14, 2025
Deadly heat worldwide prompts $300 million for climate health research at COP30
U.N. agencies in August estimated about half the world¡¯s population, or more than 3.3 billion people, are already struggling with the rising heat.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a press conference to members of the international media, ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), Val de Caes Naval Base, Belem, Brazil, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 5, 2025
Brazil's Lula promises 'COP of Truth' as U.N. warns of dangerously high emissions
Despite three decades of global negotiations, countries will not prevent warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius ¡ª the main goal of the Paris Agreement brokered a decade ago.
Abandoning quarterly reporting would see the U.S. market join a global shift away from the practice and could help investors pushing boards to do more on issues such as climate change that are set to increasingly impact corporate value.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 17, 2025
Climate-conscious investors back Trump's call to end quarterly reports
Trump's call to end quarterly reporting has received support from an unlikely source: international investors pushing business to do more on longer-term sustainability issues.
While leaders, researchers and activists at the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, took steps to tackle overfishing and pollution threatening delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them, getting countries to agree to better governance has been challenging.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 17, 2025
Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding
The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date.
A plastic bottle lies on the sand at Maccarese beach in Italy in 2018.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 10, 2025
Development banks to invest €3 billion in ocean plastics fight
Plastic waste entering the water could triple to up to 37 million metric tons per year by 2040, from around 11 million tons in 2021, the U.N. estimates.
The United Nations General Assembly Building in New York in 2015. An internal U.N. document shows the U.S. is opposing draft reforms of the world's financial system intended to help developing countries.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025
U.N. document shows U.S. seeks to weaken global development finance efforts
It opposes draft reforms of the world's financial system intended to help developing countries, including around taxation, credit ratings and fossil fuel subsidies.
A demonstrator holds a banner with the image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Tijuana, Mexico, on Dec. 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / ANALYSIS
Jan 11, 2025
Politics, not climate, to drive sustainable finance trends in 2025
The return of Donald Trump as U.S. president heralds more regional divergence on everything from fund flows to legal cases and market regulations.
People walk near the entrance of the venue of the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 20, 2024
Development banks seek private money for climate change fight
Development banks committed to increasing?their lending to poorer countries to $120 billion a year by 2030.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev speaks at the Opening Ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024
COP29 host Azerbaijan hits out at West in defense of using oil and gas
Some observers of the COP29 negotiations said the president of Azerbaijan's remarks did not bode well for a strong result from the two-week summit.
Some major world economies want to finalize a plan ahead of this year's U.N. climate summit to halt new private sector funding for coal projects.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 8, 2024
Major world economies seek to halt new private sector coal financing
The biggest pushback on the OECD proposal to halt new private sector funding for coal projects has come from Japan, sources said.
The decisions by JPMorgan and State Street to quit a global investor coalition will collectively remove trillions of dollars from efforts to coordinate Wall Street action on climate change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2024
JPMorgan and State Street quit climate group as BlackRock steps back
Financial firms have faced growing pressure from Republican politicians over their membership in such groups.
An oil pump outside Saint-Fiacre, near Paris, in 2019
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2023
Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress
A pledge by 50 of the biggest oil and gas companies at the U.N. climate talks in Dubai commits to reaching near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
A man holding a child crosses a damaged bridge after Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, China, on Aug. 7.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 12, 2023
Storm assault on Chinese ports a wake-up call for climate risks
Typhoon Doksuri delivered Beijing's worst flooding in more than 50 years, shuttering factories, collapsing homes and displacing tens of thousands.
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies, in Niederaussem, Germany.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2023
Just 4% of top firms meet U.N. climate target guidelines, study says
The pace of change among governments and corporations is set to form a central part of the COP28 climate talks starting later this month.
Pump jacks in an oil field in Midland, Texas. Big Oil is responsible for the bulk of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and pressure for action is building.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2023
Exxon Mobil's megadeal to test climate-aware shareholders
Negotiations between Exxon and Pioneer are advanced but have not yet led to an agreement over the acquisition.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 21, 2023
Heat insurance offers climate change lifeline to poor workers
This form of disaster assistance is on the rise across the developing world, as vulnerable communities are hammered by worsening drought, storms and heat waves.

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.

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