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Adaptation

Donald Trump and the Massachusetts statehouse.
Politics

‘There’s No Good Answers’: State Lawmakers on Climate Policy Under Trump

Talking to legislators from New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and New Jersey about what’s under threat, what’s safe, and the strain of it all.

Adaptation

Funding Cuts Are Killing Small Farmers’ Trust in Climate Policy

That trust was hard won — and it won’t be easily regained.

Green
Sparks

Trump Is Still Holding Up FEMA Funds, Despite Court Order

States filed yet another motion on Monday asking the court to release urgently needed disaster relief.

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Politics

AM Briefing: A Letter from EPA Staff

On environmental justice grants, melting glaciers, and Amazon’s carbon credits

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Washington state and a wave.

Now Is a Really Bad Time for the Really Big One

Job and funding cuts to federal emergency programs have the nation’s tsunami response experts, shall we say, concerned.

America’s Shrinking Climate Financing Footprint

AM Briefing: U.S. Abandons a Key Climate Financing Coalition

On energy transition funds, disappearing butterflies, and Tesla’s stock slump

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Adaptation

AM Briefing: Disaster Aid Gets Downsized

On job cuts, long-term planning, and quarterly profits.

Trump Is Downsizing Disaster Aid
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Current conditions:Schools in South Sudan are closing for two weeks due to a heatwave that has caused students to collapse • Unusually heavy snow in Virginia and North Carolina led to hundreds of car accidents • An atmospheric river will bring heavy rain to the Pacific Northwest this weekend.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Trump slashes disaster recovery team

The Trump administration plans to dramatically cut staff at a key office responsible for dispensing disaster recovery aid. The Office of Community Planning and Development, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be cut to 150 people, down from 936, according to The New York Times. The news follows hundreds of personnel cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which are expected to hamper disaster relief disbursements and rebuilding efforts around the country. NPR is also reporting that FEMA will no longer weigh in on the development of building codes and has taken its name off recommendations it made under the Biden administration.

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Technology

As Disasters Strike, Investors Turn to Adaptation Tech

The more Hurricanes Helene and Milton we get, the harder it is to ignore the need.

Money and disasters.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

As the southeastern U.S. recovers from hurricanes Helene and Milton, the destruction the storms have left behind serves to underline the obvious: The need for technologies that support climate change adaptation and resilience is both real and urgent. And while nearly all the money in climate finance still flows into mitigation tech, which seeks to lower emissions to alleviate tomorrow’s harm, at long last, there are signs that interest and funding for the adaptation space is picking up.

The emergence and success of climate resilience advisory and investment firms such as Tailwind Climate and The Lightsmith Group are two signs of this shift. Founded just last year, Tailwind recently published a taxonomy of activities and financing across the various sectors of adaptation and resilience solutions to help clients understand opportunity areas in the space. Next year, the firm’s co-founder Katie MacDonald told me, Tailwind will likely begin raising its first fund. It’s already invested in one company, UK-based Cryogenx, which makes a portable cooling vest to rapidly reduce the temperature of patients experiencing heatstroke.

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