This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including the latest from the Trump administration and a new report on changing weather patterns globally.
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1. EPA’s Decision to Scrap $20bn in Climate Grants Based on ‘Inaccurate, Politicized’ Claims, Says Grantee
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has terminated grant agreements worth $20 billion issued by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and other climate-friendly projects.
The grant money was made available through the $27-billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created with former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It was awarded in April 2024 to eight organizations, which were tasked with financing “tens of thousands” of projects ranging from home energy retrofitting to air pollution reduction.
Among the eight non-profits the money was awarded to was Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), an organization that focuses on community development investment. In a statement on Thursday, OFN said the EPA’s decision to freeze the fund impacts the “planned announcement” of over $228 million in initial grants to 26 organizations to fund housing, distributed energy, and transportation infrastructure initiatives across over 30 states.
OFN also said the EPA’s decision is based on “inaccurate and politicized claims” that are “baseless and undermine a critical effort to drive American energy independence, local resilience, and job creation in communities.”
2. 36 Fossil Fuel Giants Responsible For Half of World’s CO2 Emissions: Report
The list, compiled by thinktank InfluenceMap, mostly comprises state-owned companies, which have emerged as the largest emitters by type, followed by investor-owned entities. Together, the 36 fossil fuel giants produced more than 20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 – the reference year for the analysis.
Saudi Aramco topped the list at 1.839 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), accounting for 4.38% of global CO2 emissions. If Aramco was a country, it would be the fourth largest polluter in the world after China, the US, and India.
The Saudi company was closely followed by Coal India – the world’s largest government-owned coal producer – and CHN Energy, a Chinese state-owned mining and energy company. Their emissions accounted for 3.68% and 3.65% of global CO2 emissions, respectively. American ExxonMobil and Chevron as well as British Shell were also in the top 20, alongside several other Chinese companies.
3. All But 7 Countries Faced Unsafe Air Pollution Levels in 2024: Report
Exception made for Australia, Estonia, New Zealand, Iceland, Grenada, Puerto Rico, and French Polynesia, all countries exceeded the annual level last year, Swiss air quality technology company IQAir said in its annual report published on Wednesday, with several regions recording dangerously high pollution levels.
Chad, a country in north-central Africa, recorded the highest annual PM2.5 concentration at 91.8µg/m3, much higher than the WHO’s recommended safe level of 5µg/m3. It was followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and India.
17% of cities included in the report met the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline level, up from 9% in 2023. The Indian capital New Delhi remained the most polluted capital in the world, closely followed by Chad’s N’Djamena. Both cities had an annual average PM2.5 concentration of more than 90µg/m3.
The report was compiled with data from over 40,000 air quality monitoring stations and low-cost sensors worldwide, which are operated by research institutions, government agencies, schools, universities, non-profit organizations, private companies, and citizen scientists, according to IQAir.
4. Hong Kong Weather Flipping From Wet to Dry Extremes As Climate Change Throws Water Cycle ‘Out of Balance’
Climate change is making once-wet cities like Hong Kong exponentially drier, according to new research on the climate change-driven shifts of weather patterns in urban areas around the world.
The academic study, commissioned by non-profit WaterAid, looked at the world’s top 100 most-populated cities. It concluded that 44% of urban centers worldwide were getting drier. Hong Kong, along with Egypt’s capital Cairo, Spain’s capital Madrid, and the Saudi Arabian cities of Riyadh and Jeddah, topped the list of climate hazard flip cities facing increasing dry extremes.
The shift in weather patterns also sees cities such as Sri Lanka’s Colombo, Mumbai in India and Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur flip from dry to wet. According to the report’s findings, which are based on the analysis of four decades of wetting and drying trends, 52% of the world’s most populated cities are getting wetter.
13% of these – including several Indian and Pakistani cities, as well as Colombia’s capital Bogotá and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam – are experiencing a flip from extreme dry to extremely wet.
5. US Exits Board of Hard-Fought Loss and Damage Fund, Further Distancing Itself From Global Climate Commitments
A letter to fund co-chair Jean-Christophe Donnellier and seen by Reuters said both the US Board Member and the US Alternate Board Member will step down “effective immediately.” It was not clear from the letter whether this also meant the country was pulling out entirely from the fund, which is hosted by the World Bank, whose president is appointed by the US.
The “loss and damage” fund was instituted at the COP27 summit in 2022, marking a huge win for developing countries seeking justice for the damage incurring from a crisis they did not create. Nearly 200 countries, including the US, approved a framework for the fund at COP28 a year later.
As of 23 January 2025, 27 countries and regions have pledged a total of US$741 million to the fund, according to UN figures. $17.5 million came from the US.
Separately, the US last week voted against a UN resolution on creating an International Day of Peaceful Coexistence and reaffirming the 2030 Agenda, a global framework to achieve sustainable development and promote piece and prosperity around the world. It was the only country to reject the resolution along with Israel and Argentina.
Trump administration’s climate policy tracker (click to view)
- Withdrew US from Paris Agreement for the second time (Earth.Org)
- Temporarily halted offshore wind lease sales and paused the issuance of approvals, permits, and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects (AP)
- Rescinded 78 executive orders issued by President Biden on a variety of topics, including climate and the environment, justice and equity, health (Sabin Center For Climate Change Law)
- Revoked a non-binding goal set by Biden that electric vehicles (EVs) make up half of new cars sold by 2030 (Reuters)
- Suspended a $5 billion government EV infrastructure program and revoked approval of state EV charging plans pending a new review (Reuters)
- Reversed a Biden administration policy to get single-use plastics, including straws, plastic cutlery and packaging, out of federal food service operations by 2035 (Earth.Org)
- Rescinded $4 billion-worth in US outstanding pledges to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, the world’s largest climate fund (E&E News)
- Appointed numerous chemical and oil industry alumni to the Environmental Protection Agency (The Hill)
- Rescinded a Biden order that established the Justice40 Initiative, which required agencies to direct 40% of the “benefits” of federal climate programs to “disadvantaged communities.”
- Banned US scientist from participating in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Earth.Org)
- Ordered expansion in tree cutting across 280 million acres of national forests and other public lands for timber (The Guardian)
- Withdrew the US from the board of UN Loss and Damage Fund (Earth.Org)
- Voted against a UN resolution on creating an International Day of Peaceful Coexistence and reaffirming the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs (Earth.Org)
- Pulled US out of flagship $45 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) set up to help developing countries quit coal (Financial Times)
- EPA suspended $20 billion in climate and environmental justice grants under the Inflation Reduction Act (Earth.Org)
- Signed four executive orders aimed at revitalizing the US coal industry (Earth.Org)
- Ended funding for the US Global Change Research Program, the body that produces a report summarizing the impacts of rising global temperatures on the US (The Guardian)
