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Tech News
The MIT Technology Review annually identifies leading climate technology companies, ranging from startups to large corporations, that are developing solutions to combat or adapt to climate change. The 2026 list emphasizes the urgent need for innovation to reduce emissions and mitigate climate impacts.
New analysis argues that the 2008 financial crisis marked a turning point in the US's relationship between economic growth and fossil fuel consumption, echoing a pattern earlier seen in Sweden. Since 1996 Sweden's carbon emissions have fallen by a third from their peak even as its GDP more than doubled, demonstrating that growth and emissions can be 'decoupled' over decades. The analysis cites this long-running Swedish trend as evidence that similar decoupling has since taken hold in the US economy.
A newly released 'Carbon Impacts Tracer' translates projected CO2 output from fossil fuel projects into tangible consequences such as heat-related deaths and coral reef degradation. The tool aims to make emissions figures, typically expressed in abstract tonnage, more understandable by linking them to specific human and ecological impacts.
Skeptical Science contributors published a peer-reviewed study combining data on ocean, land, air and ice warming, calculating that Earth is accumulating heat at roughly 250 trillion joules per second. To make that figure understandable, the group built a widget—available for blogs, Facebook, iPad and iPhone—that expresses this rate as equivalent to about four Hiroshima-sized atomic bomb detonations every second.
New climate research finds that greenhouse gas emissions released after the 2015 Paris Agreement have intensified the severity of heatwaves across Europe. The findings attribute part of the recent extreme heat events to continued fossil fuel output following the accord's adoption.
Researchers have calculated the economic damage caused by heat stress reducing worker productivity worldwide, finding that current estimates of the social cost of carbon largely omit this factor. Hot and humid conditions force workers to slow down, take more breaks, or work fewer hours, cutting output across the global workforce.
At this year's Climate Week gatherings around the UN General Assembly, AI's dual role in the climate crisis emerged as a central topic of debate. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the assembly that artificial intelligence could either help address climate-driven instability and displacement or worsen it, as a new UN Environment Program report found the world has effectively passed the point of limiting warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
Amazon's chief sustainability officer Kara Hurst said at an Axios event that the company does not yet know exactly how it will reach its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. She said Amazon remains committed to the goal, citing its position as one of the largest corporate buyers of clean energy with 42 gigawatts in its portfolio, while acknowledging emissions reduction requires cooperation from suppliers and governments across many sectors.
New research finds that 178 major fossil fuel companies have already released enough greenhouse gases to continue raising global temperatures for centuries, even if all of them halted emissions immediately. The study attributes this locked-in warming to carbon already emitted and persisting in the atmosphere, rather than to any future activity.
Rivian's newly released 2025 impact report shows the R2 Performance model produces roughly half the lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of its original 2022 R1 vehicles, hitting a target the company had set for 2030. Rivian credits the result to design choices around aerodynamics, vehicle weight, manufacturing efficiency, and unconventional materials like paper-waste-derived surfacing sourced from Nordic forests. The R2 also reportedly emits 58 percent less over its lifetime than a comparable gasoline vehicle.
MEK, a branding agency in Melbourne, Australia, found that its website generated more carbon emissions than the average webpage and decided to rebuild it. The redesign involved removing duplicated HTML tags and switching to a new, more efficient font to shrink its digital footprint.
The US Environmental Protection Agency announced on September 14 that it is rescinding the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which had required coal plants and new gas plants to capture 90 percent of their carbon emissions or close by 2039. The agency says the rollback will save industry $370 million in compliance costs, but has not disclosed the resulting public health toll.