climate change

In civil court in The Netherlands, hearings began Tuesday in a case against energy company Shell that could have implications for future cases and the role of companies in meeting climate targets.

The case was brought by a group of seven environmental organizations and more than 17,000 Dutch citizens who are co-plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are demanding that Shell be forced to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2019 levels.

After decades advocating for action on climate change as a U.S. senator and then secretary of state, John Kerry has been tapped for a newly created post — special presidential envoy for climate, based on the National Security Council.

Khaled Taleb steps out of his vehicle high on a mountainside in northern Lebanon, and surveys the charred remains of the cedar forest he fought to save. A black carpet of the trees' burned needles crunches underfoot.

Armed with only gardening tools and cloth masks, Taleb and four friends spent the night of Aug. 23 on this mountainside battling a wildfire that swept up from the valley and engulfed this high-altitude woodland of cedars and juniper trees.

Letty Martinez, Shiny Flanary and Xochitl Garnica spent the spring and summer taming weeds and planting crops on their new 2-acre urban farming collective, which offers free produce to low-income customers. Now, they're hoping to add a greenhouse and lighting powered by solar panels.

"We're really off the grid," Garnica says. "So, all of that will really help us a lot, so we can help the community that really needs fresh produce."

Just over a decade ago, the American Farm Bureau Federation declared war on legislation to slow down global warming. The organization, a lobbying powerhouse, argued that a "cap-and-trade" proposal making its way through Congress would make fuel and fertilizer more expensive and put farmers out of business.

When Joe Biden won the Democratic primary months ago, many progressives got in line behind him with a common goal: beat President Trump.

Now that President-elect Biden, a moderate Democrat, has signaled that he will govern as such, Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, sees room for their party to compromise.

"Joe Biden showed how to find common ground, as did Bernie Sanders — that we can speak about budgeting our values," Khanna, vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition on Thursday.

President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to make climate change a priority and plans to get the U.S. back in the Paris Climate Accord on day one of his administration. This comes as the U.S. has already seen at least $16 billion dollars worth of weather and climate disasters in 2020.

Updated at 2:42 p.m. ET

President-elect Joe Biden will take office in January with a lot of promises to keep. He has pledged to enact new policies swiftly that veer the U.S. off President Trump's current path.

In his campaign for president, Joe Biden proposed the most aggressive plan to tackle climate change of any major party nominee and made climate justice part of his closing argument. But his goal of making the U.S.