SCIENCE
- Methane (CH4) is the second most important human-driven greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, but its variability and long-term increase are not well understood, partly because of large uncertainties in how it is removed from the atmosphere. One important removal pathway is CH4 oxidation in the stratosphere, which also produces water vapor and reactive chemicals that affect climate and ozone. Until now, estimates of the stratospheric CH4 loss have relied only on models. Using satellite observations, we provide an observationally based estimate, showing that models systematically underestimate this loss. Incorporating our result into the global methane budget greatly reduces existing imbalances, helping reconcile top-down and bottom-up estimates and improving confidence in methane-climate assessments.
- A science journalist explains here the paradox that reducing air pollution also cuts the hydroxyl radicals that eliminate methane in the atmosphere. The answer is not more pollution but less methane.
- One of Earth’s most dangerous glaciers has claimed a victim: a suite of instruments that became trapped deep within the ice. A
team of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the
Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) was working to place instruments
beneath Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier to understand how the ice was
melting from below. Partway through the descent, the team encountered failure as the instruments got lodged in the ice, ending the research
project before it even began. Also known as the Doomsday Glacier, Thwaites could add up to 25 inches (65 centimeters) to global sea level rise if it were to completely collapse. That’s enough to flood low-lying cities and displace millions of people. - Using nearly a quarter million Landsat satellite images spanning 36
years, NASA scientists have confirmed for the first time that Earth’s boreal
forest—the planet’s largest forested biome—is shifting northward,
revealing unprecedented changes in this critical ecosystem that stores
more than a third of the world’s carbon and helps regulate our global
climate. The boreal forest extends over Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Russia. An interesting 5 minute video of the changes is available here.
GREENING
- California regulators seek public input on a proposed rule that would require dairies and livestock operators to reduce methane emissions. (Inside Climate News) [350 Humboldt and Climate Action California are preparing formal comments. If you want to join in send an email to [email protected]]
- The Dutch startup Ore Energy has deployed its iron-air storage technology successfully on the grid for a technical pilot of its system that can store for 100 hours of power. The pilot, the first of its kind in Europe, demonstrated that the company’s technology can store and discharge energy for up to four days.
- A huge new aluminum smelting factory just decided to build in Oklahoma rather than the site of an old smelter in Kentucky. The reason? Kentucky has a dirty grid andOklahoma has lots of carbon-free energy.
- A new tool that assesses wildfire risk for every building in the United States aims to advance the field through total transparency. The nonprofit research group CarbonPlan launched the free, user-friendly app called Open Climate Risk on Tuesday. It allows anyone to enter an address and view a wildfire risk score, on a scale of zero to 10, along with an explanation of how it was calculated. The underlying methodology, data, and code are all public. It’s the first fully open platform of its kind, according to CarbonPlan.
- US President Donald Trump’s war on EVs is already sputtering out. The steady drumbeat of new charging stations is one sign of his inevitable defeat. In addition, almost three dozen EV models
went up in sales last year compared to 2024, despite the loss of the
$7,500 federal tax credit in September. Some of the nation’s leading
utilities have also gone rogue, continuing to offer financial support
for their customers to join the EV revolution. Exelon’s ComEd branch is in the news of late because it has just
announced another $70 million round of funds to support EV uptake in its
territory in Illinois. The initial round totaled more than $160 million
in EV funding. ComEd credits the program with stimulating the
installation of more than 10,000 new EV chargers across Illinois. - China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell by 1% in the final
quarter of 2025, likely securing a decline of 0.3% for the full year as a
whole. This extends a “flat or falling” trend in China’s CO2 emissions that began in March 2024 and has now lasted for nearly two years. The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that, in 2025, emissions from
fossil fuels increased by an estimated 0.1%, but this was more than
offset by a 7% decline in CO2 from cement. However, this result is well short of the overall decline of 18% target set for that period by the 14th five-year plan. - The US Energy Information Administration anticipates newly added solar power generation will largely meet rising U.S. power demand in 2026 and 2027. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE DESPOLIATION
- The Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding, which determines that greenhouse gases threaten public health and which serves as the legal basis for federal regulation of planet-warming pollution. The 2009 “endangerment finding” concluded that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare, calling for cuts to emissions from power plants and vehicle tailpipes. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told the newspaper the move “amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States.”
- According to an assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the ongoing loss of nature poses a systemic risk to the global economy. Its findings echo much of what we already know: governments subsidize activities driving nature’s destruction by $2.4tn each year. In 2023, an estimated $7.3tn of public and private finance flowed into business activities that are harmful to nature, while just $220bn goes to activities that conserve biodiversity.
DARK AGE CLIMATE POITICS
- The world’s biggest EV manufacturer, Chinese company BYD, has sued the U.S. government over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, arguing they exceed presidential authority and asking for a refund for levies paid since last spring. (Reuters, Proactive)
- Colorado joins Arizona, New Mexico, and 13 other states suing the Trump administration over its “energy emergency” executive order, saying it is unnecessary and favors fossil fuels over wind and solar. (KUNC)
- On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation reopening a giant marine preserve in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing. First established at the end of the Obama administration, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument lies 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, encompassing what The New York Times described as “an area the size of Connecticut that is home to dolphins, endangered whales, sea turtles, and ancient deep-sea corals.”
- For the first time, the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) commissioned a chapter on climate science for the manual they put out for judges, the Reference on Scientific Evidence (4th Edition).
This week, a month after it was published, they pulled the chapter out
after being pressured by 27 Republican Attorneys General. You can
nonetheless read it here.
Take Action!
The organization we work with on statewide issues, Climate Action California, has an elections committee. They have money to give to candidates and will also be organizing to elect climate champions:
You can join the Climate Action California Elections Team.
- Ready to start recruiting as we have our Questionnaire for Endorsement ready to send out to incumbents!
- Join the 2026 Elections team by filling out this form!
- Kick Off – Monday, February 23rd, 6:30pm
Getting climate champions elected is the most significant action we can take this year.