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Region: International

These 3 Numbers Explain Earth System Interventions in 2026

Earth seen from space, showing the planets curved horizon and cloud-covered surface against the black sky.

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

On October 12th and 13th, more than 250 people gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the “Global Risk and Stabilization Summit,” to talk about the new level of risk the planet is facing as we pass 1.5C degrees and potential ways to address it. UCLA’s ESI Project, which I help direct, was a convening partner of …

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Our Powerful ‘Eye in the Sky’ Just Multiplied

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Next month, scientists and diplomats from all over the world will arrive in Antalya, Türkiye for the UN climate conference known as COP31. The host country wants to make global progress on reducing planet-warming methane from landfills, which could be a big deal. So, UCLA’s STOP Methane used satellite data to create a Top …

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The Endhó Dam: One of the World’s Least Known Sacrifice Zones

View looking down into a stone-lined well with brown water at the bottom. A bucket attached to a rope is partially submerged, and green moss is visible on the inner wall of the well.

Photo by Omer Al Faruq from Pexels

It’s well past time to end sacrifice zones, including the area that has been treated as “Mexico’s toilet bowl” for decades.

Last week, about halfway down the New York Times’ Monday morning newsletter, there was a video titled “Living Next to Mexico’s Toxic Reservoir.” I watched it, appalled not only by the dangerous conditions described in the video and accompanying article, but also by the fact that I had never heard of this enormous environmental justice …

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From Desert to Oasis?

Xi Jinping’s Tree-Planting Toast and the Future of U.S.-China Environmental Cooperation

Last week, China’s President Xi Jinping shocked retired American teacher Ron Sakolsky by mentioning him in a toast at a White House state dinner as a “shining example of friendly exchanges” between Chinese and American people. Sakolsky found himself in unexpected company: Xi’s brief history of U.S.-China friendship included George Washington’s purchase of Chinese porcelain; …

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By Our Powers Combined, We Are Captain Planet

Facing climate disasters, the GCF Task Force is putting the network theory of governance into practice.

I don’t need to tell you that the last several months have seen an increasing number of climate-related disasters, including severe heatwaves throughout Europe and droughts that are impacting water supply and reducing ship passages through the Panama Canal. This year’s super El Niño has exacerbated the ongoing fires across Indonesian Borneo. It is projected …

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UCLA Law Clinics File Brief in the “Mecheros” Case

A group of people in raincoats walk toward two tall gas flares burning brightly, surrounded by lush green trees and grass, under a grey, overcast sky.

UCLA’s Human Rights Litigation Clinic and Environmental Law Clinic represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.

Guest Contributors Incia Haider and Enrique Garcia are J.D. candidates of UCLA School of Law, ‘27. This month, the Human Rights Litigation Clinic and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at UCLA School of Law filed an amicus brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on behalf of a group of law professors and international legal scholars: our own Kate Mackintosh of UCLA Law, …

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The Overlooked Fast Track for Cutting Planetary Warming

A wildfire burns through a forested hillside at dusk, with orange flames and thick smoke rising against a dark mountain silhouette and glowing, hazy sky.

Guest contributors V. Ram Ramanathan, Durwood Zaelke, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco write that we can cut the rate of warming by 30% to 50% within 15 years. “And we must.”

This guest post is authored by V. Ram Ramanathan, Durwood Zaelke, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco and is informed by a presentation that Ramanathan is set to give at the Vatican on September 26. Among the three of us, we have 15 decades of high-level experience in climate science, policies and actions, and we have never been …

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The Bottleneck in Forest Monitoring Isn’t in Orbit

Satellite image of Bosawás Reserve outlined in white, showing deforestation in colored dots: yellow (2020), orange (2021), red (2022), dark red (2023), and black (2024). Scale and north arrow included.

Groups on the frontlines fighting deforestation are held back by institutional constraints – not just technological barriers – according to a new study from UCLA, NYU, World Resources Institute, and the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force.

There are 16,000 satellites circling the Earth right now, and a growing share of them capture images of our planet in unprecedented detail at every moment of the day. One of the many things they measure, monitor, and observe are forests. Being able to measure forests is the foundation for protecting them and for decades …

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Good News from Turkmenistan! Bad News from the UN

Three news articles report on climate issues: Nepal flood devastation, Turkmenistan methane leaks, and a UN report on limiting overshoot, shown as overlapping magazine covers with relevant images and headlines.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — this week, like most weeks. The UN Environment Programme’s new report, “Limiting Overshoot: Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways toward return” was simultaneously big news and yet met with stony silence in many quarters of the media. The report narrates what it …

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Word on The Street

A Wall Street sign is in focus with a blurred American flag in the background. A Broad Street sign is partially visible below the Wall Street sign.

The Wall Street Journal’s news coverage of EVs is surprisingly positive.

You might expect the Wall Street Journal to take a dim view of electric vehicles, given the paper’s conservative slant. You’d be wrong. The Journal’s news coverage, which is less ideological than the opinion page, tells us something important. In a newspaper designed for businesspeople, electric vehicles are taken very seriously. That’s good news for the industry.

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Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

The Drain is a roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet delivered to your Inbox once a week.

A quick overview of the Senate permitting reform bill

Senate bill has major changes for NEPA, some changes for Clean Water Act

Improving permitting reform

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

NEPA Remedies Revisited

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

A Major Problem with “Permit Certainty”

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

These 3 Numbers Explain Earth System Interventions in 2026

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

Our Information Ecosystem is Toxic. But We Can Clean It Up

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Unpacking the Senate Permitting Reform Bill: NEPA

NEPA provisions are substantial in their changes, but (mostly) leave the core of the Act in place

Opening Shots in a War on Doctors

What began as a war on science has now reached your kid’s doctor.

The Other Big Environmental Case at the Supreme Court

Guest contributor Clifford Villa writes that Dept. of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, which will be argued Wednesday, raises profound questions for democracy and environmental justice.

The Arguments We Did and Didn’t Hear in Suncor v. Boulder

Oral arguments in the climate case before the Supreme Court gave hints to possible outcomes. But one of Boulder’s strong answers to the “tort suits are regulation” objection went unmade.

Region: International

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

It’s well past time to end sacrifice zones, including the area that has been treated as “Mexico’s toilet bowl” for decades.

Xi Jinping’s Tree-Planting Toast and the Future of U.S.-China Environmental Cooperation

Facing climate disasters, the GCF Task Force is putting the network theory of governance into practice.

UCLA’s Human Rights Litigation Clinic and Environmental Law Clinic represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.

Guest contributors V. Ram Ramanathan, Durwood Zaelke, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco write that we can cut the rate of warming by 30% to 50% within 15 years. “And we must.”

Groups on the frontlines fighting deforestation are held back by institutional constraints – not just technological barriers – according to a new study from UCLA, NYU, World Resources Institute, and the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

The Wall Street Journal’s news coverage of EVs is surprisingly positive.

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

The Drain is a roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet delivered to your Inbox once a week.

TRENDING

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

The Trump Administration once again proves shortsighted and spiteful.

Part of it is a move in the right direction. But one provision raises serious questions.

Bill attempts to draw on discrimination law to address disparate treatment for permits, but provision has problems

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Permit certainty provisions are problematic and unclear in their scope

Changes to the Endangered Species Act are limited in scope

Senate bill has major changes for NEPA, some changes for Clean Water Act

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

NEPA provisions are substantial in their changes, but (mostly) leave the core of the Act in place

What began as a war on science has now reached your kid’s doctor.

Guest contributor Clifford Villa writes that Dept. of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, which will be argued Wednesday, raises profound questions for democracy and environmental justice.

Oral arguments in the climate case before the Supreme Court gave hints to possible outcomes. But one of Boulder’s strong answers to the “tort suits are regulation” objection went unmade.