Emissions

Revised figures increase fears about how the energy-intensive sites could worsen the climate emergency The UK government vastly underestimated the climate impact of artificial intelligence, it has emerged, after officials raised their estimate of carbon emissions from the technology by a factor of more than 100.According to new data quietly published this week, energy use by AI datacentres in the UK could cause the emission of up to 123m tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO₂) – about as much as generated by 2.7 million people – over the next 10 years. Continue reading...

• A comprehensive analysis from the National Center for Atmospheric Research shows US carbon dioxide emissions fell 8.2% year-over-year in Q1 2026, driven primarily by renewable energy sources now supplying 34% of national electricity generation. • Solar and wind capacity additions reached record levels with 42 gigawatts of new renewable infrastructure installed in 2025, according to data released by the Department of Energy and independent research institutions. • Climate scientists attribute the acceleration partly to state-level climate policies and federal incentives from the 2024 Clean Energy Investment Act, though transportation and industrial sectors still require significant emission reductions.

The Albanese government overhauled policy and promised significant pollution cuts – but carbon offsets are still being used as an excuseSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereIs this how a national scheme to cut climate pollution is supposed to work?Australian government data released this week shows emissions from Australian coalmines increased last financial year. About 80% of the coalmines pumped more into the atmosphere than their government-imposed limit.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groupsMicrosoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints. Continue reading...

• New research reveals the Crab Pulsar's puzzling radio emission patterns result from a 'tug-of-war' between its magnetic field and gravity acting as lenses on plasma in the magnetosphere. • Gravity focuses emissions while magnetospheric plasma defocuses them, explaining the pulsar's unique behavior observed in this well-studied supernova remnant. • This physics discovery advances understanding of neutron star dynamics, with implications for interpreting signals from thousands of known pulsars across the galaxy.

Greenhouse gases dropped just 0.1% last year as environment minister criticises lack of improvementGreenhouse gas emissions in Germany have again missed targets set by the Climate Protection Act and barely fell at all in 2025.Emissions decreased by just 0.1% last year compared to the previous year, according to data from the German Environment Agency. Continue reading...