Smoke from wildfires burning across the West has clogged skies in the U.S. and Canada and prompted air quality warnings in several states, the National Weather Service (NWS) said Wednesday.
Included in the newly released outline of Senate Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget resolution are key details on which climate provisions made the cut.
Why it matters: The budget resolution sets the stage for consideration of a Democrats'-only measure to fund some of President Biden's key priorities, including some of the most far-reaching proposals yet enacted in the U.S. to tackle the climate crisis.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told an Axios virtual event this week that he believes Congress needs to pass strong climate and clean energy measures in the reconciliation package if the U.S. wants to be a leader at the UN climate summit in November.
Why it matters via Axios' Ben Geman: The world is nowhere near starting the steep greenhouse gas emissions cuts needed to keep the goals of the Paris climate agreement within reach. The summit is seen as a critical forum to spur more aggressive steps.
Segments of the Amazon rainforest now emit more carbon dioxide than they can absorb because of human-caused disturbances, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The Amazon region hosts the world's largest tropical rainforests and stores vast quantities of CO2, the primary long-lived greenhouse gas. Accelerating rates of deforestation and climate shifts due to human-caused global warming have damaged the region's effectiveness as a climate change buffer.
Italy's government on Tuesday announced it will ban large cruise ships from sailing into Venice after declaring the city's lagoon a national monument.
State of play: Italy's Council of Ministers said the ban, which will take effect on Aug. 1, will help protect the city's "environmental, artistic and cultural heritage."
June was the Earth's fifth-warmest such month on record, according to new data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The big picture: Land surface temperatures were the hottest they've been during the month, dating back 142 years of instrument record-keeping, but ocean temperatures didn't rank quite so highly.
European Union officials Thursday unveiled sweeping and detailed legislative proposals meant to breathe life into the bloc's goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030.
Driving the news: The wide-ranging documents aim to strengthen policies around vehicle emissions, renewable power, emissions trading markets, land use, efficiency, and much more. You can find them here.
The Biden administration has appointed a new head of the National Climate Assessment (NCA), a pivotal, congressionally mandated report on how human-caused global warming is affecting the U.S.
Driving the news: The next NCA will be overseen by Allison Crimmins, an environmental scientist who has spent a decade at the EPA and has expertise in scientific communication.
