The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fired all federal employees running a key energy assistance program for low-income families, raising concerns about access to funds as summer approaches.
HHS fired the entire federal staff managing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps poor families pay heating and cooling bills.
About 15 people had staffed LIHEAP before the layoffs, which also included all federal workers overseeing Social Services Block Grants.
The firings are part of a broader cut ordered by the Trump administration to reduce HHS staff by 20,000 employees, with officials citing a shift toward focusing on chronic disease prevention.
Key quote:
“My fear is that quietly in their homes, grandmothers will die this summer.”
— Katrina Metzler, executive director of the National Energy & Utility Affordability Coalition
Why this matters:
The quiet dismantling of federal oversight for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program threatens to sever a crucial support system for more than six million U.S. households that rely on it to keep the heat on in winter and the AC running in sweltering summer months. As climate change pushes temperatures to new extremes, LIHEAP has become more than a seasonal subsidy — it's a public health safeguard, especially for elderly residents, medically vulnerable individuals, and families with young children. But with federal staff eliminated, states could face bureaucratic bottlenecks just as need spikes, leaving people in the lurch.
Tariffs proposed by President Trump could raise the cost of building wind power projects in the U.S., threatening the already fragile momentum of the renewable energy sector.
President Trump’s planned tariffs on imported goods could increase the cost of wind turbines on land by 10% and renewable energy projects by 7%, according to analyst Endri Lico.
Many wind turbine components are sourced internationally, and the new tariffs could disrupt supply chains and drive up electricity prices.
With only a few offshore wind projects expected to move forward and investor confidence shaken, states may fall short of clean energy targets.
Why this matters:
As wind energy takes off across the U.S., supply chain turbulence is emerging as a serious headwind. The nation’s growing appetite for clean electricity—driven by rising demand from electric vehicles, AI-powered data centers, and state-level decarbonization mandates—has elevated wind power as a cornerstone of the energy transition. But the industry’s reliance on global suppliers for everything from turbines to specialized ship components leaves it vulnerable to tariffs, shipping delays, and geopolitical instability. Even as the Inflation Reduction Act offers unprecedented incentives to accelerate domestic renewables, the U.S. manufacturing base has struggled to scale up in time, pushing costs higher.
Shell’s oil production fleet, including the vessel at the center of a 2011 Nigerian spill, continues to show safety flaws years later, raising concerns about the risk of future disasters.
Internal Shell reviews and whistleblower accounts show that major safety issues persist on Shell's offshore oil ships, including the Bonga vessel, which spilled 40,000 barrels of oil in 2011. A 2022 audit flagged “high risk” transfer systems — the same kind that failed during the earlier spill.
Other vessels in Shell’s fleet, including the Fluminense off Brazil and the Prelude off Australia, also showed signs of serious decay and safety lapses. Reports describe fire hazards, corroded equipment, and chemical exposure risks, with some workers injured and others raising alarms internally.
Internal surveys and communications show that Shell once set legal thresholds for safety concerns based on worker feedback, but later abandoned them. Experts say the company’s failure to act on known issues weakens its claims of a safety-first culture.
Key quote:
“One mistake can cost a lot of lives. If you don’t maintain that equipment, that’s when the fires happen, that’s when the explosions happen.”
— Irina Woodhead, former Shell safety engineer
Why this matters:
Floating production storage and offloading units—FPSOs—are marvels of offshore engineering, often operating miles from land to tap into deepwater oil reserves. They serve as floating refineries, storing and processing oil on-site before offloading it to tankers. But behind their slick, self-sustaining exterior lies a more troubling truth: Many of these vessels are aging, overworked, and under-regulated. When a failure happens—whether it’s a blowout, a leak, or a structural breach—the results can be catastrophic.
The Climate Pro Bono Bootcamp, launched by environmental lawyer Matthew Karmel and Green Pro Bono’s Stephanie Demetry, aims to show how legal skills of all kinds — not just litigation — can support climate efforts.
The bootcamp’s 2024 debut drew 700 participants, leading to a doubling of Green Pro Bono’s legal volunteer network and a 53% increase in matched projects.
Organizers hope to eventually break a Guinness World Record for largest virtual law conference, using that momentum to connect more lawyers to climate-related service.
Key quote:
“There are so many attorneys working at large law firms, small law firms — who just don’t do litigation, but are still very passionate about climate change and want to apply their skills in that way.”
— Stephanie Demetry, executive director of Green Pro Bono
Why this matters:
As the climate crisis escalates, the spotlight often lands on solar panels, electric vehicles, and carbon capture technology, but behind the scenes, legal frameworks are emerging as critical tools for climate resilience. Legal infrastructure shapes everything from who owns the rights to a climate-smart invention, to whether a frontline community group can navigate the red tape to incorporate and access funding. Environmental attorneys, nonprofit legal aid organizations, and pro bono networks are quietly enabling transformative work, helping communities build sustainable businesses, defend against polluting developments, and maintain control over local land and resources.
A top executive at Allianz says the climate crisis is pushing insurance and broader financial systems toward collapse as rising temperatures and extreme weather make entire regions uninsurable.
Allianz SE board member Günther Thallinger warned that global warming is rendering climate risk uninsurable, leading to cascading failures in housing, investment, and credit markets.
At projected warming levels between 2.2C and 3.4C, insurers will no longer be able to cover many risks, leading to systemic financial instability and the breakdown of essential market mechanisms.
Thallinger stressed that cutting fossil fuel use is the only viable path to preserving financial stability, as no government can absorb the costs of repeated high-impact climate disasters.
Key quote:
"There is no way to ‘adapt’ to temperatures beyond human tolerance … Whole cities built on flood plains cannot simply pick up and move uphill.”
— Günther Thallinger, board member, Allianz SE
Why this matters:
In the increasingly volatile era of climate change, the insurance industry — long considered a stabilizing force for modern economies — is beginning to buckle under the weight of escalating environmental disasters, threatening the foundations of the financial sector. Insurers have traditionally absorbed the financial shock of wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts, but the new normal of climate-fueled extremes is forcing them to reassess risk, and in many cases, retreat. Entire swaths of high-risk states like Florida and California are now facing partial or full withdrawal from major insurers, leaving homeowners without coverage and entire communities economically exposed. As the planet continues to warm, experts warn that climate-driven instability in the insurance sector could deepen global inequality, creating pockets of uninsurable — and therefore uninhabitable — territory.
Human-caused emissions are fueling a sharp increase in ground-level ozone, a toxic air pollutant that worsens with climate change and threatens global health, food systems, and forests.
Ground-level ozone forms from chemical reactions involving methane, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds under sunlight, and spikes during heat waves worsened by climate change.
The pollutant damages human lungs, stresses the cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and has been linked to 1.4 million deaths annually — far more than previously estimated.
Ozone pollution weakens forests and reduces food crop yields, particularly in the tropics, raising concerns for biodiversity and food security as temperatures climb.
Key quote:
“Ozone pollution is an often overlooked but significant threat to pollinators and global food security. Addressing it requires policy action and interdisciplinary research to develop mitigation strategies that balance human activities with ecosystem health.”
— James Ryalls, researcher at the University of Reading
Why this matters:
Ground-level ozone is not emitted directly but forms from other pollutants — largely from vehicles, agriculture, and fossil fuel use — reacting in sunlight. It aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions and lowering crop yields worldwide. Rising ozone also undercuts the carbon-storing ability of forests and threatens pollinators critical to agriculture. Its effects cross borders, making it a global problem requiring international cooperation. Despite being a lesser-known greenhouse gas, ozone is deeply intertwined with public health, biodiversity, and climate resilience.
A wave of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant terminations has left small towns in the West scrambling to protect residents from worsening wildfire smoke and climate impacts without the resources they were promised.
The EPA has frozen or ended more than 450 grants — worth over $1.5 billion — citing a review of funding priorities and a new executive order against DEI and environmental justice programs.
Rural communities across Alaska, Oregon, and Washington that rely on these grants for air filters, home retrofits, and flood protection now face health and safety risks with no backup.
Many local nonprofits, tribes, and small towns learned of the cuts without warning, and some, like the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk, are now at risk of losing essential infrastructure to climate-driven erosion and flooding.
Key quote:
“We’re basically abandoning people who need it most.”
— Jasmine Minbashian, executive director of Methow Valley Citizens Council
Why this matters:
From the thick forests of Oregon to the wind-scoured tundra of Alaska, rural towns across the American West are finding themselves on the frontlines of climate chaos, where the line between “natural disaster” and “chronic crisis” has blurred. Climate change has lengthened wildfire seasons and made blazes burn hotter, sending dense smoke into mountain valleys that trap pollution for days, even weeks. The same warming that fuels fires also melts permafrost and lifts seas, carving away coastlines in Indigenous villages like Kipnuk. These communities, many already grappling with aging infrastructure, dwindling populations, and fragile health care systems, depend heavily on federal environmental justice programs to help them adapt and build resilience. But as the Trump administration rolls back those investments, it’s not just money disappearing — it’s respiratory health, livable housing, and even cultural continuity.
Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.
