2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #02

Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Policy and Politics (8 articles)

• Analysis: UK renewables enjoy record year in 2025 – but gas power still rises Carbon Brief, Simon Evans & Ho Woo Nam, Jan 2, 2025.
• The Year in Climate: Attacks on Science, the Start of Trump’s Second Term and Surging Electricity Demand Foreshadow a Future Filled with Uncertainty Global inaction on fossil fuel and plastic treaties, the dismantling of federal agencies and regulations and the rapid rise of data centers were just a few of the consequential stories that Inside Climate News tracked in 2025. Inside Climate News, Dan Gearino, Dec 28, 2025.
• How Trump Derailed a NOAA Pioneer’s Move From Climate Impacts to Solutions "Libby Jewett founded the U.S. ocean acidification program and had begun work on offshore wind energy. But she joined the past year’s historic exodus from the agency, the impacts of which are still not clear." Science, Inside Climate News, Marianne Lavelle, Jan 6, 2026.
• All the climate info that disappeared under Trump. And how it’s being saved. "Scientists are racing to rescue hundreds of datasets, websites and federal reports that have been deleted by the administration." ClimateWire, E&E News by Politico, Chelsea Harvey, Jan 7, 2026.
• Outrage as Trump withdraws from key UN climate treaty along with dozens of international organisations Experts decry move to leave UNFCCC as ‘embarrassing’ as president orders withdrawal from 66 international groups. The Guardian, Oliver Milman, Jan 07, 2026.
• What Top Climate Scientists Think of Trump’s Treaty Withdrawals "Though the abandonment of international agreements is 'a damn shame,' they say science will prevail." Science, Inside Climate News, Lee Hedgepeth, Jan 8, 2026.
• Q&A: What Trump`s US exit from UNFCCC and IPCC could mean for climate action The Trump administration in the US has announced its intention to withdraw from the UN’s landmark climate treaty, alongside 65 other international bodies that “no longer serve American interests”. Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief Staff, Jan 09, 2026.
• Where things stand on climate change in 2026 "Last year saw the U.S. move backward on climate while China ascended. Here’s what to expect next." Policy & Politics, Yale Climate Connection, Dana Nuccitelli, Jan 9, 2026.

Climate Change Impacts (7 articles)

• Glaciers are melting. It may reawaken the world’s most dangerous volcanoes "As the planet warms, humans could face a much more risky and explosive future." CNN, Laura Paddison & Sam Hart, Dec 30, 2025.
• Is Thwaites Still the ‘Doomsday Glacier’? "Recent research has led scientists to new conclusions about the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica. Some are reassuring, others the opposite."Is Thwaites Still the ‘Doomsday Glacier’? New York Times, Raymond Zhong, Dec 30, 2025.
• ‘These trees may not survive’: Jordan’s ancient olive harvest wilts under record-breaking heat "Extreme heat and drought has destroyed 70% of Jordan’s olive crop, endangering livelihoods of 80,000 families and a centuries-old tradition" The Guardian, Mohamed Ersan in Amman, Jan 1, 2026.
• A ‘visible signal’ of climate extremes: Why unexpected wildflower blooms have sparked concern "Experts warn that the slightest increase in temperatures can trigger early blooming in hundreds of wildflower species." Green, Euronews , Liam Gilliver, Jan 4, 2026.
• Scientists just got some ancient clues about future sea-level rise — and it’s bad news "Rock samples collected from the Greenland ice sheet’s Prudhoe Dome show it completely melted in the past 10,000 years — and could vanish again amid climate change." The Washington Post, Sarah Kaplan, Jan 5, 2026.
• Climate Change Is Quietly Rewriting The World’s Nitrogen Cycle, With High Stakes For Food And The Environment Eurasia Review, Staff, Jan 6, 2026.
• Why scientists are worried that Greenland’s Prudhoe ice dome could melt away – again "An ice dome the size of Luxembourg melted around 7,000 years ago. Is history about to repeat itself?" Green, EuroNews, Liam Gilliver, Jan 7, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (3 articles)

• Experts call for 'urgent global action' after making disturbing discovery deep within the ocean: 'An overlooked link' "Tiny plastic particles floating in our oceans may be making our rising temperatures worse, according to a study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials." Outdoors, The Cool Down (TCD) , Leslie Sattler, Jan 5, 2026.
• Ancient Antarctica reveals a ’one–two punch’ behind ice sheet collapse "Polar scientist Molly Patterson is the lead author of a study that explores factors behind melting ice sheets" BingUNews (Binghamton University), Jennifer Micale, Jan 6, 2026.
• Climate Models Don’t Account for This Surprising Shift in the North Pacific Storm Track "Climate change is unexpectedly causing north Pacific storms to shift toward the Arctic, throwing projections for future West Coast weather into question." Climate Change, Gizmodo, Ellyn Lapointe, Jan 7, 2026.

International Climate Conferences and Agreements (3 articles)

• Cop30, Trump and the fragile future of climate cooperation "In this week’s newsletter: From geopolitics to populism, multilateralism is under pressure – but climate action cannot succeed in a fractured world" The Guardian, Fiona Harvey, Jan 2, 2026.
• As the Trump Administration Withdraws From Climate Treaties, Legal Scholars Debate Whether—and How—It Can Do So "The Supreme Court has yet to decide if a president can exit international treaties the Senate has ratified, saying it’s a political question."As the Trump Administration Withdraws From Climate Treaties, Legal Scholars Debate Whether—and How—It Can Do So Politics, Inside Climate News, Georgina Gustin, Jan 9, 2026.
• A colossal own goal’: Trump’s exit from global climate treaties will have little effect outside US "For much of the last 30 years, the rest of the world has been forced to persevere with climate action in the face of US intransigence" Environment, The Guardian, Analysis by Fiona Harvey & Oliver Milman , Jan 9, 2026.

Miscellaneous (3 articles)

• ‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate? "Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worried" The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan, Jan 3, 2026.
• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #01 A listing of nn news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 28, 2025 thru Sat, January 3, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, Jan 4, 2026.
• A few reasons to feel hopeful about the climate in 2026 Environment, The Conversation UK, Will de Freitas, Jan 8, 2026.

Climate Education and Communication (2 articles)

• Study reveals opportunities, challenges of climate messaging Cornell Chronicle, Tom Fleischman, Jan 5, 2026.
• How writing about places people know makes the climate crisis less abstract The Conversation, Sam Illingworth, Barbara Barrow, Ellen Turner, Jan 06, 2026.

Health Aspects of Climate Change (1 article)

• The Real Pain of Climate Change Is Easy to Feel, but Increasingly Difficult to Study "Many chronic pain patients cite the weather as a driver of their suffering, and climate change is making the torment more likely and harder to deal with. But research on the relationship is uncertain, and federal cuts could hold it back." Inside Climate News, Chad Smaill, Jan 4, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (1 article)

• Keep it in the ground? When the politics of affordability meet the needs of climate mitigation. The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Jan 05, 2026.

Posted by BaerbelW on Sunday, 11 January, 2026

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