Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Trump ‘SOS’
‘CHAOS’ GRIPS: More than 1,900 scientists from US national academies of sciences, engineering and medicine wrote an “SOS letter” warning of the risks to science imposed by the current administration’s grant cuts and mass layoffs, reported the Guardian. The Guardian also said a “sense of chaos has gripped” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, after Trump-sanctioned layoffs have affected 20% of staff.
WEAKER STANDARDS: Trump is weighing returning to weaker car emissions standards from 2020, saying pollution limits introduced by Joe Biden are “too onerous” for motor companies, Bloomberg reported. The US transportation sector is the country’s leading source of greenhouse gas emissions.
TARIFFS TURMOIL: The New York Times said that the renewable energy industry in the US is “bracing for particularly large effects” from Trump’s ongoing tariffs war with the rest of the world. It noted that the turmoil is “expected to drive up the costs of nearly every component of clean-energy production in the US, from the steel in wind turbines to the batteries in electric vehicles”.
Around the world
- SOFTENING GOALS: EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is considering softening the bloc’s 2040 climate goal amid a “backlash” from some quarters, Politico said. A second Politico story reported that the release of the goal will be delayed while Hoekstra “struggles” to rally support.
- COAL STICKS: The world’s total coal-fired power “inched up” by 18.8 gigawatts in 2024, the lowest rise in two decades, with new additions in China and India continuing to offset closures elsewhere, according to Reuters coverage of a new Global Energy Monitor report.
- ASIA HEAT: Large swathes of India will experience intense heatwaves this summer with above normal temperatures expected across much of the country, the nation’s meteorological office has warned, according to BBC News.
- RENEWABLE AFRICA: Africa increased its renewable energy capacity by 6.7% last year, equivalent to 4.2GW, according to an International Renewable Energy Agency report covered by Energy Capital and Power. Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa were among countries to build the most clean power.
40%
The percentage by which the “average person would become poorer” if the world warmed by 4C, according to an Environmental Research Letters study covered by the Guardian.
Latest climate research
- An “extraordinary” heatwave in Central Asia in March was made up to 10C hotter by human-caused climate change, a new World Weather Attribution analysis found.
- A Proceedings of the National Academy of Science study found that the limits of human heat tolerance are lower than previous estimates.
- Climate change has played a dominant role in destabilising communities of plankton, microorganisms that form the basis of the food web for marine wildlife, a new study in Communications Earth and Environment found.
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
China’s exports of solar panels to the global south have doubled in the past two years, overtaking global-north sales for the first time since 2018, according to data from the thinktank Ember explained in a new Carbon Brief guest post. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were among the top importers of Chinese solar panels in 2024.
Spotlight
Deep-sea mining talks
Carbon Brief explains the outcomes of the latest deep-sea mining talks held last week in Jamaica.
The deep sea has emerged as a new mining frontier in the global race towards energy security, with countries vying to explore and exploit its reserves of metals, such as nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese.
These minerals – critical to the energy transition – are held in the deep ocean’s nodules, hydrothermal vents and crusts, but the impacts of mining these deposits are still far from being fully understood.
In 2021, the Pacific island state of Nauru triggered a legal process for countries to agree rules around mining the seabed, or – in their absence – allow commercial mining of the deep sea to begin by 2025.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that provides a framework to regulate the use of the world’s seas and oceans.
Among other bodies and orders, UNCLOS established the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is based in Kingston, Jamaica, and oversees all resource extraction in the deep sea.
From 17-28 March this year, the ISA held the first part of its 30th annual session, with the aim of making progress on draft rules to govern commercial deep-sea mining.
Jamaica talks
The ISA said that there was “significant progress” on various aspects at the meeting and other areas that “require further deliberation”.
Some of this progress is the agreement to use the term “harmful effects” rather than “serious harm” to the marine environment, which aligns with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Earth Negotiations Bulletin noted.
However, it added that there were “major issues unresolved”, related to “regulations” crucial for the protection of the marine environment, such as environmental impact assessments and the rights and interests of coastal states.
Duncan Currie, the international legal advisor to the Deep-Sea Conservation Coalition, said parties did not agree on any of the 55 reviewed regulations, but rather just discussed their positions on those regulations.
He also pointed out the lack of discussion over financial matters, liability, the royalties that are paid and the benefit sharing from deep-sea mining, telling Carbon Brief:
“There are 80 standards and guidelines that can’t be developed until [countries] have developed the regulations. I think most people think that they’re quite a long way away from being adopted.”
Current and future outlook
So far, 32 ISA member states are in favour of a moratorium on deep-sea mining, while other countries are seeking to exploit minerals in the seafloor “as soon as possible”.
Among those promoting the deep-sea mining industry are India, China and Norway, while countries such as Palau, Fiji and Samoa are promoting a “pause on deep-sea mining until its ecological impacts are better understood”, Carbon Brief previously reported.
In a surprise move that sent “alarm bells ringing” in the ISA and beyond, the US subsidiary of the Metals Company announced on 27 March that it is moving ahead with applying for deep-sea exploration permits under existing US legislation in the second quarter of 2025.
The announcement came on the last day of the ISA talks, where it dominated discussions at the end of the meeting.
On 31 March, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is “weighing an executive order” that could let miners bypass the ISA, its safeguards and “fast-track” permits. The US is not a party to UNCLOS.
Both developments signal that the ISA is “at a crossroads”, according to the Earth News Bulletin, and its next session in July will be closely watched for how the body responds to a potential unilateral action to allow deep sea-mining.
Watch, read, listen
NOT WITH SPORTS: A Discovery+ documentary explored how extreme weather is already affecting sport events.
STRENGTHENING MENTAL HEALTH: A psychologist writing in the Revelator offered strategies to reduce the effects of climate change on mental health.
FOSSIL LOBBY: Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and political strategist Tom Rivett-Carnac addressed the fossil fuel lobby within COPs on their Outrage and Optimism podcast.
Coming up
- 2-5 April: Global Youth Climate Summit, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
- 7 April: International Mother Earth Day
- 7-11 April: International Maritime Organization Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting (MEPC 83), London
Pick of the jobs
- Sky News, senior news editor – science, climate and technology | Salary: Unknown. Location: London
- Australian National University, postdoctoral research fellow in climate systems | Salary: AU$85,010-$131,227. Location: Canberra, Australia
- Dialogue Earth, social media officer | Salary: £36,035 per annum. Location: London
- Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, policy officer (adaptation policy and governance) | Salary: from £42,679-£54,730. Location: London
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
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The post DeBriefed 4 April 2025: Scientists issue Trump ‘SOS’; EU climate goal in jeopardy; Deep-sea mining talks appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Climate Change
Greenpeace slams NSW government decision to reverse decade-long freeze on gas exploration
SYDNEY, Wednesday 29 April 2026 — In a major policy backflip, the Minns government has today announced it will reverse a more than decade-long ban on gas exploration in NSW, opening up huge new areas in Far West NSW for harmful gas drilling.
The decision comes in the midst of the ongoing energy crisis spurred by the illegal war on Iran and advice from the chief of the International Energy Agency that further investment in fossil fuels doesn’t make business or climate sense.
Solaye Snider, Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said:
“It’s deeply unsettling to see the NSW government once again bending over backwards to please the gas lobby, who have been pushing aggressively to expand exploration under the cover of the illegal war on Iran.
“This decision won’t solve any problems for Australians – in fact it will create them. Any new gas coming from the Far West would be more expensive than renewable energy and take decades to come online. It would also destroy the environment, cause enormous and irreversible climate damage, and delay the transition to what is irrefutably a cheaper, cleaner source of energy, renewables.
“If the fossil fuel crisis driven by the illegal war on Iran has taught us anything, it is clear that we should be rapidly unhooking ourselves from volatile fossil fuels like gas, and that our politicians should be rapidly unhooking themselves from the gas lobby who consistently pollute their decision making.
“We don’t have a gas supply problem here in Australia, we have an export problem. Instead of opening up more areas for drilling, the Federal Government should have the courage to make gas giants prioritise supply for domestic use instead of shipping away 80% of it – as proposed under the Gas Market Review.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lucy.keller@greenpeace.org
Greenpeace slams NSW government decision to reverse decade-long freeze on gas exploration
Weather extremes fuel wildfires that have burned through tens of thousands of acres across Georgia, Florida and other states.
Drought and fire are a dangerous duo. The Southeastern United States is witnessing this firsthand as several major blazes burn tens of thousands of acres across the parched region, destroying homes and prompting evacuations in some areas. Florida and Georgia have been particularly hard hit, and strong winds and unusually low humidity have made it difficult to combat the flames.
Drought Turns Southeastern US Into ‘Tinderbox’ as Wildfires Rage
Climate Change
Night Skies and Shifting Stars: How Indigenous Celestial Knowledge Tracks a Changing Climate
When the land no longer answers the stars the way it once did, Indigenous peoples are among the first to notice — and the first to ask why.
A Sky Full of Knowledge
Look up on a clear night on Turtle Island and you’re seeing a sky that has guided human life for thousands of years. Across Indigenous nations in Canada, detailed systems of celestial knowledge developed not as abstract science but as living, practical guides —telling people when to plant, when to harvest, when herds would move, and when ice would come. This astronomical knowledge was woven into language, ceremony, and everyday life, passed down through generations with remarkable precision.
The Mi’kmaq and the Celestial Bear
Among the Mi’kmaq of Atlantic Canada, star stories are ecological calendars, precise and functional. The story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters connects the annual movement of what Western astronomy calls Ursa Major to the seasonal cycle of hunting and harvest: the bear rises in spring, is hunted through summer, and falls to earth in autumn. This knowledge was brought to broader public attention in 2009 during the International Year of Astronomy, when Mi’kmaq Elders Lillian Marshall of Potlotek First Nation and Murdena Marshall of Eskasoni First Nation shared the story through an animated film produced at Cape Breton University narrated in English, French, and Mi’kmaq.¹ The story encodes specific observations about when and where to hunt, and which species to expect at which time of year. It is science in narrative form.
The Anishinaabe and the Seasonal Star Map
Among the Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes and northern Ontario, celestial knowledge forms part of a comprehensive seasonal understanding. Knowledge keepers like Michael Wassegijig Price of Wikwemikong First Nation have described how Anishinaabe constellations quite different from those of Western astronomy connect the movement of the heavens to naming ceremonies, seasonal gatherings, and land practices.² The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada now offers planispheres featuring Indigenous constellations from Cree, Ojibwe, and Dakota sky traditions, recognizing their value as both cultural heritage and ecological knowledge systems.³
When the Stars and the Land Fall Out of Rhythm
Here’s the challenge that climate change has introduced: the stars still move on their ancient, reliable schedule. But the land no longer always responds as expected. Migratory birds that once arrived when certain constellations appeared are now showing up earlier or later. Ice that once formed in predictable windows is forming weeks late, or not at all. Berry harvests, fish runs, animal migrations, all once timed by celestial cues accumulated over millennia are shifting. Indigenous knowledge holders across Canada describe this as a kind of dissonance: the sky remains faithful, but the land has changed.⁴
Long-Baseline Ecological Records
Far from being historical curiosity, Indigenous celestial knowledge systems are now being recognized by researchers as long-baseline ecological calendars —records of how nature behaved over centuries, encoded in story and ceremony. When an Elder observes that a particular star rising no longer predicts the arrival of certain geese, that observation represents a departure from a pattern that may have held true for hundreds of years. The Climate Atlas of Canada integrates Indigenous knowledge observations alongside western climate data, recognizing that both contribute meaningfully to understanding ecological change.⁵
Keeping the Knowledge Alive
Language revitalization and land-based education programs are helping ensure this knowledge reaches the future. From youth astronomy nights on-reserve to the integration of Indigenous sky stories in school curricula, there is growing recognition that these knowledge systems belong to what comes next, not only what came before. As Canada grapples with accelerating ecological change, the quiet precision of thousands of years of skyward observation offers something no satellite can fully replicate: a continuous record of the relationship between the cosmos and a living land.
Blog by Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
Image Credit: Dustin Bowdige, Unsplash
References
[1] Marshall, L., Marshall, M., Harris, P., & Bartlett, C. (2010). Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters: A Mi’kmaw Night Sky Story. Cape Breton University Press. See also: Integrative Science, CBU. (2009). Background on the Making of the Muin Video for IYA2009. http://www.integrativescience.ca/uploads/activities/BACKGROUND-making-video-Muin-Seven-Bird-Hunters-IYA-binder.pdf
[2] Price, M.W. (Various). Anishinaabe celestial knowledge. Wikwemikong First Nation. Referenced in: Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Indigenous Astronomy resources.
[3] Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. (2020). Indigenous Skies planisphere series. RASC. https://www.rasc.ca/indigenous-skies
[4] Neilson, H. (2022, December 11). The night sky over Mi’kmaki: A Q&A with astronomer Hilding Neilson. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/hilding-neilson-indigenizing-astronomy-1.6679072
[5] Climate Atlas of Canada. (2024). Prairie Climate Centre, University of Winnipeg. https://climateatlas.ca/
The post Night Skies and Shifting Stars: How Indigenous Celestial Knowledge Tracks a Changing Climate appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.
https://indigenousclimatehub.ca/2026/04/night-skies-and-shifting-stars-how-indigenous-celestial-knowledge-tracks-a-changing-climate/
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