Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe

Heat records are falling across Europe and North America right now. This week's Talking Climate connects what's happening to what you can do about it. ⚽ Good news: Voices inside football are speaking up about climate: not just asking for recycling bins, but pushing back on fossil fuel sponsorships and building tool-kits in six languages to help clubs turn climate action into something r...

For the first time on record, solar generated more electricity than coal across the entire U.S. - despite active federal policy pushing the other direction. ☀️ Good news: The UK shut off its last coal plant in 2024. China now installs more wind and solar annually than the rest of the world combined. And last month, the U.S. crossed a milestone that seemed impossible five years ago: solar beat out...

🔋 Good news: The world installed 112 gigawatts of new grid battery storage in 2025, a tenfold increase from just four years ago, and Australia is quietly out front: one in every 25 homes now has a residential battery. 🌊 Not-so-good news: Islands in India's Hooghly estuary have already been lost to rising seas and erosion and their residents are now climate refugees. As one journalist put it...

Can we actually fix climate change? And if so -- how? This week, I handed Talking Climate over to climate scientist and Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley . His message is simple: yes, we can. 🥗 Good News: From cutting food waste to protecting forests to improving how we farm, many of the solutions already exist. They just have to be scaled. ‼️ Not-So-Good News: Political leadersh...

What do a giant new marine sanctuary, the loss of climate journalism, and plug-in solar panels for apartment balconies have in common? They all show how much the future depends on the choices we make today.  🐠 Good News: Papua New Guinea just created the largest marine protected area in its history, safeguarding a stretch of ocean nearly the size of the UK in one of the most biodiverse marine reg...

The world is no longer headed for the most catastrophic futures climate scenarios once warned about: but not because the science was wrong. It’s because people listened, and acted.  That is genuinely good news; but there's also this:  📈 Not-so-good news - The new climate scenarios cover a narrower future, illustrating how human choices over the last 20 year have closed doors. While highest w...

One of the biggest challenges in climate action is imagining what a better future could actually look like: especially when solutions are so often framed as sacrifices that require loss, instead of opportunities to benefit from. This week's good news and what-to-do takes those on directly—  🏡 Good news: A new net-zero community in Ontario combines climate-friendly homes with walkable streets...

What does it actually look like to move beyond fossil fuels — not someday, but now?  🌍 Good news: In Colombia, 57 countries gathered last week for the first-ever global conference dedicated to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Together, they're creating practical roadmaps for reducing fossil fuel use. 🌊 Not-so-good news: A new study warns that much of coastal Louisiana may eventually be...

This week, I’m delighted to welcome fellow climate Katharine, Katharine Wilkinson, as guest editor of Talking Climate. 🌍 Good news: The lawyers who contributed to the landmark International Court of Justice climate ruling reminds us how every one of us has unique gifts to bring to climate action. ⚠️ Not-so-good news: Young people are carrying an enormous emotional burden as climate impacts intens...

Climate change is already reshaping our energy systems, our health, and even the basic medicines we rely on. But progress continues, and we can help. ⚡ Good news: Global investment in clean energy hit a record $2.3 trillion last year, outpacing fossil fuel investment for the second year in a row. 🦠 Not-so-good news: New research suggests that warming temperatures and drought may be fueling antib...

⛪️ Good news: In the U.K., over 100 church leaders are calling out climate misinformation, making the moral case for why it causes real harm and delays action. 🐍 Not so good news: Climate change is shifting where species live—and in the case of venomous snakes, a new global study finds rising temperatures could increase the likelihood of dangerous encounters for millions. 🌱 What you can do: In...

What if one of the most powerful climate solutions isn’t technology—but conversation? 💇‍♀️ Good news: Hairdressers may be some of the most effective climate communicators we’ve been overlooking. A U.K. study shows that when salons spark climate conversations, nearly 73% of clients say they’d adopt more eco-friendly habits. ⚠️ Not so good news: War doesn’t only devastate lives - it also drives mas...

🌱 Good news: Cities like London, Paris, and Barcelona are redesigning streets for people instead of cars. This cuts pollution while improving health, local economies, and quality of life. 🌡️ Not so good news: Rising nighttime temperatures are disrupting sleep worldwide, with cascading effects on health, learning, and productivity—especially for the most vulnerable. 🏡 What you can do: Simple step...

🌎 Good news: One of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on Earth, the Great Bear Sea, is Canada’s first - and the world's second largest - marine protected area network, co-governed by 17 First Nations. ⚠️ Not-so-good news: A new The Nature Conservancy Science study finds that 35% of the world already lives in areas where extreme heat limits safe outdoor activity for part of the year. 🌱 W...

Hope isn’t something we wait for: it's something we create. This week's Talking Climate news illustrates why it matters so much, and how innovation and courage can help! 💧 Good news: A solar-powered system can pull drinking water directly from the air—up to 1,000 liters of clean water a day, even in dry areas where billions of people already face water scarcity.  🧠 Not-so-good news: Cl...

🌫️ Good news: London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone cut pollution in half and brought the city into legal air quality compliance 184 years earlier than forecast, proving that climate policy is health policy. ❄️ Not so good news: While average snowfall is declining in many places, a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture: which can mean heavier snow and more dangerous winter extremes where temps stay be...

Most weeks, bad climate news feels like a deluge. But even in the midst of the storm, there's always good news too. Hang on to your seats, here we go! ✅ Good news: New Carbon Brief analysis finds China’s emissions have flattened and may even be starting to decline. Combined with their previous analysis showing China's clean energy exports cut global emissions 1% in 2024, and you can see...

What do the Winter Olympics, Bad Bunny, and “Grey’s Anatomy” have in common? This week I’m delighted to welcome climate columnist Sammy Roth as guest editor of Talking Climate. He's spent over a decade writing on climate, culture, and clean energy, and his stories always inspire and surprise!  🌟 Good news: Climate storytelling is finally breaking into mainstream culture, thanks to Winter Oly...

🏂 Good news: Winter athletes are becoming powerful climate advocates because they’re seeing the changes firsthand. From Olympians to fans, groups like Protect Our Winters are pushing sports organizations and policymakers to cut emissions and protect the winters their sports depend on. ⛷️ Not-so-good news: Climate change is rapidly whittling down locations where Winter Olympics can reliably be hel...

🐘 Good News: What if wildlife isn’t just impacted by climate change, but part of the solution? From forest elephants and sea otters to whales, penguins, and beavers, animals help store carbon, cool the planet, and keep ecosystems functioning. Protecting biodiversity isn’t separate from climate action: it’s central to it. 🐧 Not-So-Good News: Climate change is exacerbating the biodiversity crisis:...

This week’s Talking Climate is a mega-edition, a deep dive into the hot and contentious topic of AI and climate. 💚 Good news: AI and machine learning are already helping scientists process vast amounts of data, improve climate and energy modeling, protect wildlife, detect wildfires, and more. It can even accelerate the low-carbon transition, if used wisely. 😡 Not-so-good news: Today’s AI systems...

The clean energy transition is moving faster than many people realize—but it can also be slowed more easily than most of us expect. 🚘 Good news: More than one-quarter of vehicles sold globally are now electric, and some of the biggest growth is being seen in countries like Vietnam and Turkey. ✋ Not-so-good news: Clean energy progress can be slowed by just one determined opponent and the resultin...

This has been an extraordinarily hard year for science both globally, and especially in the United States. In this week’s Talking Climate, I unpack why recent cuts to scientific programs and data don’t only affect climate research in the U.S. They weaken the knowledge infrastructure we rely on to protect public health, manage risk, and make good decisions around the world. I also share good news f...

This week, I’m setting aside Talking Climate’s usual format to share joyful stories of people taking action for climate and nature—because sometimes what we need most is a reminder that solutions are already underway. 🇿🇦 In South Africa, SeaH4 is producing sustainable biofuel from algae that can be used in conventional combustion engines to help decarbonise shipping and aviation. 🇮🇳 In India, facu...

This week’s Talking Climate newsletter is guest edited by my friend Bill McKibben — one of the most influential climate activists of our time and a lifelong voice for hope, honesty, and collective action. In this issue, Bill shares: 🌞 Good news: Australia is rolling out free midday electricity thanks to a solar boom—an extraordinary glimpse of what a clean energy future can look like. ⚠️ Not-so-g...