Hours after a powerful tornado tore through an Oklahoma suburb, killing dozens, some renewed speculation about such storms' connection to climate change. In recent years, researchers have been working to assess what causes these storms and whether manmade global warming...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last week that carbon dioxide concentrations at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii surpassed the milestone 400 parts per million for a sustained period. NOAA has since revised the figure -- on the basis of computer...

Carbon dioxide emissions are soaking into Arctic waters and affecting the chemistry of the ocean, a new report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program shows. Increasing carbon dioxide emissions and freshwater runoff challenge the ocean's ability to neutralize acidification -- an imbalance caused by absorption...

According to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment, two formations in the central United States hold three times the amount of natural gas and two times the amount of oil than the federal government previously estimated. Concentrated in the Dakotas and Montana, the Bakken and...

Senate confirmation hearings for Ernest Moniz and Gina McCarthy -- President Barack Obama's appointees to oversee the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- began this week.

For Moniz, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist, committee grilling

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday announced its proposed Tier 3 rules, which would reduce allowable amounts of sulfur in gasoline and help automobiles' catalytic converters capture more pollutants. The new measures would reduce sulfur in gasoline by

A new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) finds global temperatures to be one of the best predictors of hurricane activity. In fact, the PNAS study found that a one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in global...

Since China announced it will hold off plans to introduce a carbon tax, the idea has generated some activity on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers on Tuesday proposed a draft bill that would charge the largest industrial polluters a fee for, or carbon tax on, their fossil-fuel emissions....

After weeks of speculation, President Barack Obama officially announced his selections to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday. Gina McCarthy was chosen to lead the EPA, replacing Lisa Jackson, while Ernest Moniz...

Unless Congress reaches a deal by Friday, a set of automatic spending cuts -- known as the sequester -- will take effect. According to the Obama Administration, this trigger, for $85 billion worth of across-the-board federal spending cuts, is expected to have significant implications...

As Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed the Obama Administration's commitment to combat climate change, new data indicates carbon dioxide emissions in the United States in 2012 dropped to their lowest levels since 1994. The report found expansion of renewables, increased efficiency and...

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that even as high as 30,000 feet in the sky, fungi and bacteria are present in the air. These living microorganisms could very well affect global climate.

"The million-dollar...

In his remarks at the 57th presidential inauguration, President Barack Obama discussed a topic Americans hadn't heard much about since his November victory speech -- climate change. In the nationally televised speech following his oath of office, Obama elevated the issue of climate change...

It's official. Last year was the warmest year in history for the contiguous United States with at least 356 record-high temperatures tied or broken, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Average temperatures in 2012 were above the 20th century average by

Just days after the announcement that last year was the warmest in history for the continental United States, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found global temperatures are rising too.

In their separate...

After months of negotiating, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., reached an agreement to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff." Featured in the measure is an extension of a renewable electricity production tax credit for wind, geothermal and some

As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., debate the so-called fiscal cliff -- when U.S. federal tax increases and spending cuts are due to take effect at the end of 2012 -- new research in the journal Nature Climate Change says we are already at the...

After weeks of deliberation among representatives of nearly 200 countries, the United Nations climate talks ended with an agreement to extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol. The only global agreement in place to curb greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations, it was set...

A collection of papers now out in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) looks at the response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2011, examining whether it was successful and how it could be improved. The release of the...

Thousands have converged for a two-week meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha for the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Running through Dec. 7, the UN conference brings together environmental minds across...