Our latest coverage of climate change
Analysis of the science, politics and economics of the climate
Climate change affects everything from geopolitics to economies to migration. It shapes cities, life expectancies and wine lists. And because it touches everything The Economist reports on, we examine it from every angle imaginable. Register to receive The Climate Issue, our fortnightly newsletter
Latest stories
China is winning Africa’s “white-gold” rush for lithium
Its grip on clean-energy minerals is a challenge for the West
Sodium batteries offer an alternative to tricky lithium
Lithium is relatively scarce and mostly refined in China. Sodium is neither
Firms are exploring sodium batteries as an alternative to lithium
Unlike lithium, sodium is cheap and abundant
How to deal with the global anti-climate backlash
Minimise the cost and hassle that green policies impose on households
The global backlash against climate policies has begun
Cost, convenience and conspiracy-mongering undercut support for greenery
How carbon prices are taking over the world
A quarter of global emissions are now covered, and the share is rising fast
Politics
Saudi Arabia wants to become a force in electric-vehicle manufacturing
Its ambitions may yet meet a number of obstacles
Rishi Sunak’s anti-green turn on Britain’s climate targets
It creates uncertainty, will deter investors and probably won’t win voters
California cracks down on carbon
It is not just attacking big oil. Big everything is in the line of fire
Kenya wants to pioneer a new African approach to global warming
But not everyone agrees
Electric two-wheelers are creating a buzz in Asia
Cross-border tie-ups hope to make battery-swapping mainstream
El Niño has started. Preparations must too
It will bring chaotic weather to much of the world
Business and finance
David Keith on why carbon removal won’t save big oil but may help the climate
Greens should cheer the blurring of the industry’s interests, says the academic
Climate change is coming for America’s property market
Insurance is supposed to signal risk. Policymakers should let it
Renewable energy has hidden costs
Why it is often more expensive than policymakers expect to go green
How to avoid a green-metals crunch
With ingenuity, a 6.5bn-tonne problem may be dodged
Heat pumps show how hard decarbonisation will be
The row over them portends more backlashes against greenery
How climate change will hit holidaymaking
Extreme weather will affect where tourists go and when
Science and data
Long feared, volcanoes help the planet
A new book argues that volcanoes aid with carbon capture and environmental resets
El Niño and global warming are mixing in alarming ways
Havoc in poor countries and commodities markets is inevitable
Superbatteries will transform the performance of EVs
Provided manufacturers can find enough raw materials to make them
Corals are bleaching and dying earlier in the year than ever before
Scientists are evacuating corals off the coast of Florida to save them
Why the fires in Hawaii have been so bad
Fires need dry fuel and high winds, and both were in plentiful supply
Climate videos
Ocean “dead zones”
How chemical pollution is suffocating the sea
Many parts of the ocean are being starved of oxygen. This threatens marine life and adds to climate change
Climate change
Was COP26 a success?
Our correspondent runs through the most important takeaways from the UN climate conference
The future of food
Eating our way to a more sustainable future
Insects, lab-grown meat and vertically-farmed produce could all be on our plates
The green transition
How can the world’s energy be decarbonised?
We answer your questions on how the sector can become more sustainable
Understanding climate change
Climate adaptation policies are needed more than ever
People are already suffering from catastrophic losses as a result of extreme weather events like cyclone Amphan
The world’s energy system must be transformed completely
It has been changed before, but never as fast or fully as must happen now
Damage from climate change will be widespread and sometimes surprising
It will go far beyond drought, melting ice sheets and crop failures
Humanity’s immense impact on Earth’s climate and carbon cycle
Much needs to be done for the damage to be reversed
How modelling articulates the science of climate change
From paper and pencil to the world’s fastest computers