Spending for NASA’s research and analysis programs has remained relatively flat for 15 years, ignoring recommendations from community-led decadal surveys and directives by Congress.
science policy
Posted inResearch & Developments
EPA Will Remove Carbon Dioxide Limits on Power Plants
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency will announce the repeal of federal limits on power plant carbon dioxide emissions, finalizing a proposed rule that the agency has been considering since last spring.
The repeal means that coal-, oil-, and gas-powered electricity plants in the United States will no longer need to limit their carbon dioxide emissions in accordance with regulations set in 2024. Those rules required existing coal-powered and new gas-powered plants to control 90% of their carbon pollution. At the time, the Biden administration estimated that the rules would result in tens of billions of dollars’ worth of public health benefits.
Posted inAGU News
The Arctic Report Card Matters More Than Ever; AGU Joins Partners to Publish in 2026
The critical and highly anticipated yearly assessment will be carried forward through a partnership with CIRES/CU Boulder and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Posted inResearch & Developments
EPA Moves to Redefine “Discharge of a Pollutant”
The EPA is proposing a change to the definition of “discharge of a pollutant” that would exempt moving boats and ships from pollution regulations.
Posted inEditors' Vox
AGU Launches New Special Collection at the Nexus of Science and Policy
Seven AGU journals are encouraging submissions of policy-related commentaries and research articles, boosting scientists’ voices to decision-makers.
Posted inResearch & Developments
The World Will Overshoot 1.5°C and Must Now Remove Carbon, United Nations Says
Humanity is certain to exceed the warming limit set by the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty meant to cap the world’s carbon emissions, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Now, to reduce severe threats to human health, food security, water supplies, and more, societies will need to reach net-negative greenhouse gas emissions by not only cutting those emissions, but expanding carbon dioxide removal projects, a pathway called “overshoot, peak and decline.”
Posted inNews
The Colorado River Basin Is Running Out of Water. Not Everyone Is Happy with the Government’s Suggested Solution.
Though overallocation is one reason the river is shrinking, reduced snowpack and increased evaporation caused by climate change are also contributing factors.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Arctic Report Card Will Move Ahead Without NOAA
The Arctic Report Card, an annual, peer-reviewed evaluation of the state of our warming Arctic, will still be published this year despite a lack of financial or logistical support from NOAA.
On 10 August, editors of the Arctic Report Card were informed that NOAA will no longer support its publication, meaning the agency will not provide the report with coordinating editors, coordinate its external peer review, or fund the report’s web presence, publicity, graphics, or summary video.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Forest Service to End Protection for 45 Million Acres of Forest
The U.S. Forest Service has moved forward with a rule to withdraw protections from 45 million acres of pristine national forests.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card
The Trump administration is pulling funding from NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, an annual, peer-reviewed report about the state of the region, which is warming more quickly than anywhere else on Earth.