2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38

Weekly Climate News and Opinion Roundup
September 14–20, 2025

Each week, we share a curated list of news and opinion articles on climate change that caught our attention. Below are 23 notable pieces we promoted on social media during the past week, organized by category.

Climate Policy and Politics (5 articles)

• Ani Dasgupta talked to 100 climate experts. He came away optimistic.
  In his new book, The New Global Possible, Dasgupta shares insights from dozens of climate leaders and how these conversations can reshape our approach to climate action.
  Interview by Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections, Sept 9, 2025.
• Climate impacts are real — denying this is self-defeating.
  The U.S. administration is attempting to undermine efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. Such actions will ultimately leave both the country and the world worse off.
  Editorial, Nature, Sept 10, 2025.
• Trump’s Energy Department disbands group that sowed doubt about climate change.
  Coverage on the dismantling of a group that previously promoted climate change skepticism.
  NPR Topics: Climate, Jeff Brady, Sept 13, 2025.
• National Academies publish new report reviewing evidence for greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. climate, health, and welfare.
  News release outlining comprehensive findings and recommendations.
  National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Sept 17, 2025.
• Q&A: Will China and the BRICS fill the ‘leadership gap’ on climate change?
  Amid a rapidly fracturing geopolitical order, there have been growing calls for China to step into the leadership void left by the U.S. on climate issues.
  Policy analysis by Anika Patel, Carbon Brief, Sept 18, 2025.

Climate Change Impacts (4 articles)

• Sea Surface Temperatures Hit 97.7°F: ‘One of the Highest’ Ever Recorded.
  Reporting on alarming ocean temperature records.
  Jess Thomson, Newsweek, Aug 27, 2025.
• Millions of Australians at risk from rising sea levels and heat deaths to soar, national climate risk assessment warns.
  The report reveals heat-related deaths in Sydney could surge by 450% if global heating surpasses 3°C.
  Dan Jervis-Bardy, The Guardian, Sept 15, 2025.
• ‘Cascading, compounding’: five key takeaways from Australia’s national climate risk assessment.
  Covering the environmental, economic, and health risks highlighted by the landmark report.
  Graham Readfearn, The Guardian, Sept 15, 2025.
• The Atlantic’s remarkable 20-day quiet period finally ends.
  Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed—the first tropical cyclone in the region since August 28.
  Jeff Masters & Bob Henson, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Sept 17, 2025.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (3 articles)

• Can the nation’s most wind-powered state look to solar?
  Solar energy development has been slow in Iowa, but utilities may finally be embracing its potential.
  Anika Jane Beamer, Inside Clean Energy, Inside Climate News, Sept 18, 2025.
• Plans bloom for a microforest in Princeton as New Jersey residents tackle rising heat.
  The U.S. is seeing growing interest in ‘super-charged’ plant growth projects to combat urban heat and climate change.
  Emilie Lounsberry, Science, Inside Climate News, Sept 18, 2025.
• Bill McKibben says cheap solar could topple Big Oil’s power.
  The veteran activist highlights how solar energy has scaled to meet the climate crisis and is organizing a nationwide “Sun Day” to promote clean energy.
  Interview by Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections, Sept 18, 2025.

Climate Education and Communication (3 articles)

• New evidence for the Gateway (mis)Belief Model: Perceived consensus shapes climate beliefs.
  Research exploring how people’s perceptions of consensus influence their climate beliefs.
  Eric W. Dolan, PsyPost, Sept 11, 2025.
• The Debunking Handbook 2020 is now also available in a Basque translation!
  This is the 21st language for this important climate misinformation handbook.
  Laida Arbizu Agirre, Skeptical Science, Sept 15, 2025.
• Climate activists disrupt fossil fuel executive at Harvard University symposium.
  Protesters condemned Harvard’s decision to host Occidental Petroleum’s CEO during Climate Action Week.
  Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News, Sept 19, 2025.

Climate Science and Research (3 articles)

• An Arctic researcher explains Yedoma, the permafrost keeping the planet livable.
  “Everybody on Earth is dependent on the boreal forest shielding this permafrost from thawing.”
  Interview by Jenni Doering, Living on Earth/Inside Climate News, Sept 13, 2025.
• Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in `grim` report.
  Humanity is just three years away from overshooting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, and seas are rising faster than ever, though the report offers some hopeful news.
  Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, Sept 15, 2025.
• IEA reiterates ‘no new oil and gas needed’ if global warming is limited to 1.5°C.
  The International Energy Agency states that investment in new fossil fuel projects is unnecessary if demand drops in line with climate targets.
  Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, Sept 16, 2025.

Health Aspects of Climate Change (2 articles)

• Extreme heat spurs new laws aimed at protecting workers worldwide.
  Governments are rapidly enacting measures to shield workers from heat stress, though risks remain high.
  Somini Sengupta & Hisako Ueno, The New York Times, Sept 13, 2025.
• Why polluting the planet is polluting us.
  An explainer on the direct health impacts of environmental pollution.
  ClimateAdam on YouTube, Adam Levy, Sept 13, 2025.

Miscellaneous (2 articles)

• 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #37.
  A listing of 28 news and opinion articles shared during the previous week (Sept 7–13, 2025).
  Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, John Hartz & Doug Bostrom, Sept 14, 2025.
• Getting involved with climate science via crowdfunding and crowdsourcing.
  An updated overview of citizen-driven climate science projects, including the new long-term Climate.us initiative and others.
  Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Sept 19, 2025.

Public Misunderstandings About Climate Science (1 article)

• Fact brief – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified? No.
  The greenhouse effect is basic physics understood for nearly 200 years. Without it, Earth would be too cold to sustain life.
  Sue Bin Park, Skeptical Science, Sept 16, 2025.

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