Nearly a week after deadly tornadoes ripped through western Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) on Friday promised residents, "we will dig out."
The big picture: At least 77 people in Kentucky were killed when tornadoes hit last Friday into Saturday, Beshear said. The storm is the deadliest tornado event in modern state history, the National Weather Service in Louisville confirmed, pointing to official records that began in the 1950s.
A key financial regulator, calling climate change a risk to banks and the financial system, is out with draft guidelines for how large banks should address the topic.
Why it matters: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's guidance "marks the most significant step yet by regulators under President Joe Biden’s administration to push banks to address climate risks," Reuters reports.
The Europe-based vertical farming startup Infarm has reeled in $200 million to fuel its expansion and entry into new markets.
Driving the news: The Series D round includes investment from Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The company plans to enter Middle East markets, in addition to expanding in Asia, the U.S., Japan and Europe.
The evolution of ocean-based industries — the "blue economy" — will include a huge increase in demand for marine areas for wind turbines, a new report finds.
The big picture: The advisory and risk management firm DNV is out with detailed analyses of ocean industries in the coming decades.
Newly released data on global coal demand starkly highlights the chasm between climate pledges and today's trends.
Driving the news: Coal-fired power is at record levels in 2021 and overall worldwide coal demand is set to reach new highs in the coming years, per International Energy Agency analysis.
The risk of large heat waves happening simultaneously in at least two parts of the Northern Hemisphere is growing due to global warming and its effects on atmospheric circulation, a new study finds.
Why it matters: The study, accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate, adds to concerns about food supply disruptions and other major societal impacts, depending on the location of the concurrent extremes.
Super Typhoon Rai has killed at least three people after lashing the central and southern Philippines, officials said Friday, per AP.
Threat level: The storm that's equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane is the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines this year — causing over 300,000 people to evacuate coastal areas as it triggered flooding, communications and power outages and uprooted trees Thursday, AFP notes.
The body of a 13-year-old girl was found in a Kentucky neighborhood razed in last weekend's tornadoes and storms that lashed six U.S. states, raising the death toll in the state to 76 and 90 overall, per AP.
The big picture: Nyssa Brown was one of seven family members to die in the Bowling Green tornado. The National Weather Service has released preliminary findings showing that western Kentucky was hit by an EF-4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale — meaning the damage it caused was "devastating."
