El Niño conditions emerge amid warnings of intensified extreme weather, while solar power surpasses coal in US electricity generation and climate policy faces political challenges
Key Points
El Niño has officially formed in the Pacific Ocean, with meteorologists predicting it could be the strongest of the century, prompting the UN secretary-general to call it an 'urgent climate warning' as it threatens to turbocharge floods, heat waves, and other extreme weather events globally.
Solar energy generated more electricity than coal in the US for the first time, supplying 12.8% of US electricity in May, marking a significant renewable energy milestone despite the Trump administration's push to boost coal over clean energy.
Climate-fueled landslides in Indonesia killed over 5% of an endangered orangutan population, demonstrating the immediate biodiversity impacts of extreme weather events intensified by climate change.
Millions of homes across London, Essex, and Kent face subsidence risks as climate change causes hotter, drier weather that shrinks ground and pulls building foundations downward, according to new vulnerability analysis.
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration land exchange with SpaceX, arguing the deal would worsen ecological risks to sensitive Texas habitats.
The US is increasingly restricting refugees from climate-vulnerable countries, with analysis revealing that most of 39 nations facing Trump administration entry restrictions are among the most environmentally vulnerable globally.
Right-wing campaigns are working to influence how US judges view climate litigation, with current US Energy Secretary Chris Wright having previously featured in seminars targeting judges when he was a fracking executive.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Cuba's coast, the region's strongest tremor in nearly 150 years, affecting Florida and parts of Mexico including Cancún in a reminder of climate-adjacent geological hazards.
NOAA has issued an El Niño advisory warning that the global weather pattern threatens to worsen floods and heat waves already intensified by climate change, though it may reduce hurricane activity.