By   MICHAEL HILL . Associated Press (AP).  Excerpt: ...Battery energy storage systems that suck up cheap power during periods of low demand, then discharge it at a profit during periods of high demand, are considered critical with the rise of intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar. ...the systems can make grids more reliable and have been credited with reducing blackouts. ...China and the United States lead the world in rapidly adding battery storage energy systems. ...In the U.S., California and Texas have been leaders in battery storage. ...While the Trump administration has been unsupportive or even hostile to renewable energy, key tax credits for energy storage projects were maintained in the recently approved federal budget.... Developers added 4,908 megawatts of battery storage capacity in the second quarter of 2025, with Arizona, California and Texas accounting for about three-quarters of that new capacity, according to a report from American Clean Power As...

By Antonio Piemontese , Wired.  Excerpt: Speaking by video  at the UN Climate Summit in New York last week,  China's  president Xi Jinping laid out his country's  climate  ambitions. While the stated goals may not have been aggressive as some environmentalists would like, Xi at least reaffirmed China's green commitment. “Despite some countries going against the trend, the international community should stay on the right track, maintain unwavering confidence, unwavering action, and undiminished efforts,” he said. Any reference to Donald Trump and the United States was surely intended (though not explicit). ...Xi Jinping's speech included a commitment to reach 3,600 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind and solar capacity by 2035, six times the country's 2020 figures. This is already the leading country in terms of installed renewable power, and a giant on the technology front as well, with universities churning out environmental and climate tech research at full ...

By Daniel Gala, The Cool Down (TCD).  Excerpt: An initiative that tracks progress in the fight against  rising global temperatures  has  downgraded  the United States from "insufficient" to "critically insufficient" based on a new report. The Climate Action Tracker...  announced  in late September that it had downgraded the U.S. in light of the current administration's drastic U-turn on climate policy.  "The Trump administration's massive support for expanding fossil fuels and unwinding clean energy rollout means the U.S. is being left behind, particularly as China ramps up production of renewable energy,  electric vehicles  and other clean  technology ," Bill Hare, the chief executive officer of Climate Analytics, a nonprofit partnering on the Climate Action Tracker,  said  in a CAT press release....  Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/climate-action-tracker-us-carbon-emission-reduction/ ....

By Michael Booth  and  Mark Jaffe , The Colorado Sun.  Excerpt: Colorado is losing $550 million in federal clean energy grants as Trump administration officials slash awards to primarily Democratic-controlled states during the budget shutdown,  including a highly-touted $326 million block to Colorado State University  intended to create methane-cutting technologies to combat climate change.  The Colorado Energy Office struggled Thursday to understand the magnitude of the cuts, which are part of a $7.5 billion reversal of Biden-era clean energy grants announced Wednesday night by the U.S. Department of Energy.  ...The Department of Energy list that emerged Thursday “specifically targets states where a majority of Americans cast their votes in favor of the Democratic nominee for President,” a Colorado Energy Office statement said....  Full article at https://coloradosun.com/2025/10/03/colorado-federal-energy-grant-cancellation-550-million/ . 

By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The Trump administration is emphasizing defense concerns instead of climate research in the rapidly warming Arctic region. ...The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet and is one of the most rapidly changing places on Earth....  Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/climate/arctic-research-security.html . 

By Gaea Cabico , Science.  Excerpt: As government websites go dark, some nonprofits are trying to fill the void. When news broke that climate.gov was about to go dark in June, Jeffrey Grant scrambled to download as many graphs and data tables from the website as he could. The high school biology teacher had relied heavily on the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website to teach students about climate change, showing data on carbon dioxide levels and asking the students to analyze trends and make connections like real climatologists....  Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/science-teachers-scramble-u-s-climate-resources-vanish .

By Nicolás Rivero  and  Jake Spring , Washington Post.  Excerpt: The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled $7.56 billion in funding for 223 projects aimed at research and deployment of clean energy and other climate-friendly technology mainly in Democratic-led states. The cuts are the latest in President Donald Trump’s efforts to undercut renewable energy and other efforts to reduce the emissions driving climate change. The administration has already sought to claw back funding allotted under President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. That includes  $20 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund , which supported investments in green technology like heat pumps and electric vehicles, and  $7 billion in the Solar for All program  to help low- and middle-income families install rooftop solar. The latest cuts include a  $1.2 billion award for ARCHES H2 , ...aimed at kick-starting the hydrogen industry in California.... ...

By Calum X. Cunningham et al, Science.  Excerpt: As climate warms and humans build in more undeveloped environments, the threat of costly wildfire disasters is thought to be increasing. Cunningham  et al . examined data about the global distribution, frequency, and associated climate conditions of the most lethal and costly wildfire disasters from 1980 to 2023, finding that disaster risk was highest in regions near relatively affluent, populated areas, and that the frequency of economically disastrous wildfires increased sharply after 2015. They also found that major disasters coincided with extreme climatic conditions. —Jesse Smith...  Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr5127 . 

By effrey Mervis , Science.  Excerpt: NSF-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research fears worse in coming months. ...Anticipating steep cuts to its budget, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), one of the world’s leading climate research centers, this week laid off 29 employees and decided not to fill 21 vacant positions. The job actions...coincide with the start of a partial U.S. government shutdown. NCAR, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has so far been able to maintain normal operations and avoid furloughs of its 830 employees. But NCAR officials fear what could happen next: a $50 million cut to the center’s current $123 million budget....  Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/renowned-u-s-climate-center-trims-staff-ahead-expected-budget-cuts .