More than 70 percent of Earth’s terrestrial plant species rely on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which — in addition to transporting nutrients and storing carbon — also help stabilize the soil and protect plants from environmental stress. These networks sequester 85% of all terrestrial carbon. A new study maps the extent of the fungi worldwide, tracking differences in density by region and land use. The total length of the networks is “about a billion times the Earth to the Sun.”
GREENING
Newly released data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) shows that at the close of last year, solar energy additions were the single largest form of new energy capacity installations for the 28th straight month, starting in September of 2023. In fact, in spite of a broad rollback of Biden-era clean energy incentives since Trump resumed office in January of last year, renewables represented a whopping 88 percent of energy additions in 2025, with utility-scale solar alone counting for 72.6 percent of U.S. electricity additions.
Denmark is out with its new climate policy, and they have decided that they will go to 110% emissions reductions by 2050 (funding work elsewhere to make up for past emissions). They’re also introducing a tax on private jets and cruise ships.
In 2023, Laura Lander and Grazia Todeschini, engineers at King’s College London, explained why size matters. SUV batteries can be twice the size of those used in smaller electric cars, they note, and use up to 75% more raw materials. Batteries are very carbon-intensive to produce, and the emissions from battery manufacturing for SUVs can be 70% higher than smaller EVs.
Bidirectional Energy launches a 120-home pilot program to test and establish guidelines for two-way chargers that allow customers to send power from their EVs to the grid or their houses. (Canary Media)
Open Access Technology International (OATI) is a Minneapolis-based firm whose software is used by nearly every North American transmission grid operator to manage the flow of electrons. Now, it envisions developing new features for that software. Huge amounts of data, parsed by artificial intelligence, would be used to more accurately calculate how much power can run along power lines — providing both real-time estimates and forecasts days and weeks into the future. That intel would be automatically shared among neighboring grid operators, allowing them to make better decisions about how to run their networks. If all goes to plan, OATI says the facelift could accomplish a 10% to 20% increase in capacity across participating systems by 2030. OATI unveiled its scheme in a May proposal for an undisclosed amount of money from the Department of Energy.
Qcells has officially begun commercial production of silicon solar cells at its factory in Cartersville, Georgia, the company said Tuesday. That factory is the largest of its kind in the country — and a long-awaited boost to the U.S. solar supply chain. In a few months, Qcells will be able to manufacture 3.3 gigawatts at its cell factory, which would more than double the current operational U.S. solar-cell capacity. Just in time since a number of Chinese factories, facing fierce price competition, are closing down.
Poland is infamously addicted to coal. Now Poland’s Council of Ministers has adopted a plan that envisages the country generating up to 53% of its electricity from renewables in 2030 and nearly 69% in 2040, according to Renewables Now.
New data from the International Energy Agency on percent EVs were of all car sales: Norway is 97%, China is 50%, United Kingdom is 35%, 27 countries in EU is 27%, US is 10% and worldwide it is 25%. The peak sales of internal combustion engine cars was in 2017. Unless the rate in the US perks up we won’t have 90% of the cars on the road being electric until 2060. Global EV Outlook 2025 and Our World in Data.
This week the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warned that the water footprint of datacentres could reach 2.5 trillion gallons by 2030 – enough to service the annual domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion residents of sub-Saharan Africa. China is tackling the challenge by building a data center submerged under the sea (for cooling) and powered by offshore wind. It also reduces power use by 25%.
Close to home: Sonoma Clean Power begins installing smart thermostats in 1,000 income-qualified households as part of an effort to expand its multi-resource virtual power plant in northern California. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE DESP0LIATION
Data on Global Forest Watch reveals that 34% of tree cover losses worldwide from 2001-2025 were likely the result of permanent land use change, meaning trees won’t grow back naturally. This percentage nearly doubles in tropical primary rainforests, to 60%. Change to agriculture, logging and wildfire comprise most of the permanent losses.
New research argues that it is not just the rich’s heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts. Through their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets, from oil producers to property developments, the super-rich are responsible for an outsized slice of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions in total.
Tipping point: Canada’s forests are shifting from a carbon sink to a carbon source, due to “wildfires disturbances.” | Global Change Biology
Climate and health experts signed an open letter to FIFA last month asking the organization to update its heat guidelines — and urging it to break ties with fossil fuel sponsors, as promoting the causes of climate change “presents a conflict of interest with the protection of player welfare.” More than 60 current and former players echoed the call in their own letter. FIFA has no plans to deal with wildfire smoke.
DARK AGE CLIMATE POLITICS
Aramco, the state-owned Saudi Arabian oil and gas company, is the world’s largest corporate climate polluter, estimated to be responsible for over 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1965. It is also a top sponsor of the 2026 World Cup and has a four-year global partnership agreement with FIFA, “which means the fossil fuel giant’s logo is likely to be visible on the field, online and on TV during this year’s World Cup and the Women’s World Cup in 2027,” the L.A. Times reported.
California’s Supreme Court decides not to hear an appeal challenging the state’s decision to slash compensation for rooftop solar, effectively ending the legal battle over the net-metering policy. (PV Magazine)
A tracker from researchers at Brown University estimates that Americans have paid an extra $56 billion for gasoline and diesel since the Iran war began.
In a new study, the Corporate Energy Buyers Association, a business group that promotes emissions-free power sources, found that if no additional wind and solar energy were added to the grid, it would add $11.6 billion in annual electricity and natural gas costs to electricity bills for U.S. households.
The Department of Energy has reversed its terminations of 11 grants to clean energy projects in states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. The move comes months after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the cancellations violated the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee. Under the terms of an agreement between the litigants and the federal government filed on Thursday, the Energy Department will vacate the terminations.
Donald Trump’s “immigration crackdown is largely targeting people from the countries most vulnerable to displacement from climate-driven disasters”, according to Guardian analysis.
Take Action!
Ally Brightline says: California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has signaled that litigation is coming over the federal deal that paid offshore wind developers to abandon California communities and invest in fossil fuels instead. New York has already filed suit against the Trump administration for the same type of deal.
Decisive action from California leaders to pursue all legal avenues is exactly what we are asking for. Now, we need your help to show AG Bonta and Governor Newsom that Californians are watching.
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