Environment

List of Environment articles

Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.
Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.

How Chile’s Politics Are Shaping the Global Energy Transition

Chile’s rightward lurch is an opportunity to expand the supply of lithium, a critical battery resource.

A shirtless man wearing sunglasses launches a balloon into the sky above a camper in Baja California, Mexico, in 2022. The camper is decorated with spray-painted leaves with a metal ladder propped up next to it.
A shirtless man wearing sunglasses launches a balloon into the sky above a camper in Baja California, Mexico, in 2022. The camper is decorated with spray-painted leaves with a metal ladder propped up next to it.

Solar Geoengineering Is Coming. It’s Time to Regulate It.

There is no comprehensive international governance for solar radiation modification. There needs to be.

Members of Extinction Rebellion hold a banner reading "Make Ecocide a Crime" in Parliament Square in London.
Members of Extinction Rebellion hold a banner reading "Make Ecocide a Crime" in Parliament Square in London.

Ecological Murder Could Soon Be Illegal

The European Union is considering a new law that would ban ecocide.

Telecommunication domes are pictured on a mountaintop along the coastline near Longyearbyen in the Svalbard archipelago.
Telecommunication domes are pictured on a mountaintop along the coastline near Longyearbyen in the Svalbard archipelago.

Arctic Harmony Is Falling Apart

An isolated Russia is turning to China for help in the north.

A campaign poster for Turkish opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu is seen across the street from an earthquake-scarred building in Antakya, Turkey.
A campaign poster for Turkish opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu is seen across the street from an earthquake-scarred building in Antakya, Turkey.

Erdogan’s Support Is Shakiest in Turkey’s Quake Belt

Millions of voters return to shattered towns hoping for a new president this weekend.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks at German economics and climate minister Robert Habeck prior to the start of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 2, 2022.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks at German economics and climate minister Robert Habeck prior to the start of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 2, 2022.

Germans Want Climate Policy—Just Not in Their Homes

A new law about home heating reveals political constraints on the energy transition.

The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) minister of industry and advanced technology, Sultan al-Jaber (R), welcomes John Kerry, the US president's climate envoy, at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in Dubai on November 22, 2021.
The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) minister of industry and advanced technology, Sultan al-Jaber (R), welcomes John Kerry, the US president's climate envoy, at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in Dubai on November 22, 2021.

The UAE’s China-Nixon Moment Has Arrived

The news on climate change is grim—but the Emirates’ hosting of COP28 could be a breakthrough.

FP-Live-podcast-foreign-policy-site-1500x1000
FP-Live-podcast-foreign-policy-site-1500x1000

John Kerry on the Climate Crisis

Is the White House’s Inflation Reduction Act working?

US Climate Envoy John Kerry speaks during CERAWeek, an international energy conference, in Houston, Texas, on March 6, 2023.
US Climate Envoy John Kerry speaks during CERAWeek, an international energy conference, in Houston, Texas, on March 6, 2023.

John Kerry: ‘The IRA Is Working on Overdrive’

The U.S. special envoy for climate responds to critics of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.
Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.

Part 6: The Future

How fishers are working toward more sustainable practices.

An aerial view shows a mining site in Para state, Brazil.
An aerial view shows a mining site in Para state, Brazil.

Will Brazil Destroy the Amazon to Save the Climate?

Brazil’s mineral wealth could power the energy transition, but mining is a very dirty business.

Farmers gather with their tractors near the headquarters of the the National Institute for Health and Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu), for a protest against the nitrogen policy rules, in Bilthoven, on October 16, 2019.
Farmers gather with their tractors near the headquarters of the the National Institute for Health and Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu), for a protest against the nitrogen policy rules, in Bilthoven, on October 16, 2019.

Farmers Won’t Save the Climate at Their Own Expense

Pushing farms toward a green transition could result in a big backlash.

Colombian senator and opposition leader Gustavo Petro delivers a speech under the rain during a political rally in Medellin, Colombia, on November 19, 2021.
Colombian senator and opposition leader Gustavo Petro delivers a speech under the rain during a political rally in Medellin, Colombia, on November 19, 2021.

Colombia’s President Is a Difficult U.S. Ally—Except on Climate

Tensions are high between Colombia and the United States—but climate policy offers a way out.

Protesters hold up signs representing Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Protesters hold up signs representing Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

A Partnership to Save the Planet

Cooperating on climate change could be the strategic guardrail the United States and China need to stabilize relations.

General outside view of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Essenbach, Germany.
General outside view of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Essenbach, Germany.

Germany Turns Out the Lights on Nuclear Power—at Last

It’s taken a few decades, but the final shutdown comes at a delicate time.

Rectangular yellow, green, and blue pools are shown from an aerial view in the desert.
Rectangular yellow, green, and blue pools are shown from an aerial view in the desert.

Can South American Lithium Power Biden’s Battery Plans?

Washington needs lithium—but its history of intervention in the region complicates things.

Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.
Visitors stand on a salt mound at an Albemarle Corporation lithium mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022.

Part 4: The Cartel of the Sea

And how the weak response from the Mexican government is impacting local fishers.

A nuclear plant in Diablo Canyon, California.
A nuclear plant in Diablo Canyon, California.

Will Washington Halt the Global Renaissance of Nuclear Power?

Hopes to slash emissions using nuclear energy are being dashed by U.S. regulators.

Protesters call for climate justice and loss and damage payments during the COP27 U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 12, 2022.
Protesters call for climate justice and loss and damage payments during the COP27 U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 12, 2022.

The U.N. Could Have a Secret Legal Weapon to Fight Climate Change

An obscure 1978 treaty may grant the ICJ jurisdiction over the world’s largest emitters.

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