Why it matters: The EPA estimates that 9.2 million lead pipelines bring water to people across the U.S. The pipes can corrode over time when water has high acidity or low mineral content. Exposure to the extremely toxic heavy metal can have dangerous health effects.
As Latin American leaders head to the COP28 climate summit, a new study warns that some politicians and their followers have been using recent extreme weather events to spread misinformation about climate change, a new report finds.
Why it matters: More than 1 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean were internally displaced in 2021 because of disasters worsened by climate change, and a failure to address the issue through policies will lead to more displacement, according to a different study released last week.
COP28 climate summit head Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber notched a win on the first official day of talks in Dubai, with the adoption of an agreement to set up a "loss and damage" fund to help developing nations.
Why it matters: The fund has been highly contentious for decades, once thought of as the third rail of international climate talks. It would use voluntary contributions from mainly wealthier countries and direct those funds to developing nations to help them withstand climate impacts.
COP28 talks in Dubai spotlight a tricky question: whether ubiquitous calls for greater "ambition" can drive faster on-the-ground action to slash emissions.
Driving the news: The summit's "global stocktake" will set up the next national, non-binding pledges covering 2025-2035.
Much of the country's electric vehicle (EV) use is concentrated in the "four corners" of California, the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast and the Southeast, according to data shared with Axios.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed wolverines on its threatened species list on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The designation was issued as a result of human-driven climate change, which has seen a decline in the amount of mountain snow where wolverines create dens and live.
Each COP summit tends to inch the world forward toward a lower carbon future.
Why it matters: Yet after 27 of these meetings, one thing is abundantly clear: Global emissions, as well as the resulting uptick in worldwide average temperatures, are dramatically outpacing outcomes from the COP process.
At COP26 in Glasgow, countries unveiled side deals that in some ways stole the thunder from the actual agreement that was passed.
Why it matters: Each accord was limited on the enforcement front, and took voluntary environmental commitments to the extreme. The two most prominent ones concern reducing methane emissions and dramatically reducing deforestation.
The COP28 climate summit begins Thursday in Dubai and takes place against a kaleidoscope of competing interests in the worlds of energy, climate change and greenhouse gas emissions management.
Why it matters: The summit is a critical test of whether the global community is willing to slash planet-warming emissions enough to meet Paris Agreement targets.
Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration's $3.4 million auction of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming on Tuesday as world leaders prepare to meet in Dubai for the COP28 climate summit.
The big picture: The 37 parcels of land covering some 35,000 acres was the first of 63 drilling parcels the Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planned to sell across 44,000 acres in six Western states over the next two weeks.
Hawai'i's attorney general has announced subpoenas for three Maui agencies this week as part of an investigation into the catastrophic wildfires that reaped through the island in August.
The big picture: The move comes as the island reels from the deadliest wildfires in the U.S. in over a century, which killed at least 97 people, destroyed thousands of acres and caused more than $5.5 billion in damage.
Pope Francis won't attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week as planned due to ill health, the Vatican announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Francis would have been the first pontiff to attend a formal UN "conference of the parties" and his planned speech and meetings would have lent weight to the talks, per Axios' Ben Geman.
