Welcome to another edition of Climatebase Weekly — our newsletter read by 150k+ professionals, delivering insights and perspectives on the latest climate news, curated job opportunities, and key updates from our team and community.

In today’s edition of Climatebase Weekly:

In today's edition of This Week in Climate, we saw China's CO2 emissions fall 1.6% year-on-year as clean power growth alone outpaced rising demand for the first time, Turkmenistan seal eight methane super-emitter leaks while the US ignored all 138 of its alerts, and a federal judge strike down New York's $75 billion Climate Change Superfund Act.

Climate Week Network, Climatebase's initiative supporting cities in launching their own Climate Weeks, keeps picking up steam with many Climate Weeks coming up this Fall — including the inaugural Atlanta Climate Week, October 10–15. More information below.

Discover the thousands of climate jobs that have been posted on Climatebase over the past few days—from startups to major employers hiring across climate tech, energy, policy, food, nature, and more.

Quick reminders:

Cohort 10 of the Climatebase Fellowship (featured in Forbes) kicks off next week, with 500+ new Fellows joining an alumni community of 4,500+ and featuring five Employer Office Hours sessions open to organization hiring now.

Employer Office Hours is a curated event series connecting select employers directly with climate-trained, job-seeking Fellows: employers give a short presentation on their open roles, join live Q&A, and receive a curated shortlist of interested candidates.

Fellows are mid-career professionals averaging 6–10 years of experience across engineering, policy, data, comms, and more. Over 250 organizations have hired a Climatebase Fellow across the program's first six cohorts, often more than one.

If you'd like to connect with Climatebase Fellows, express your interest below.

The inaugural Atlanta Climate Week runs October 10–15, with participation from the Mayor's Office of Sustainability & Resilience, Rivian, Interface, Hartsfield-Jackson, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, JLL, Atlanta Housing, Northside Hospital, SCAD, Southface Institute, and Klean Energy Kulture, among others.

A few details:

Credit to Michael Hawthorne Jr., Joey Womack, Enrico Cimador, Breana Mccullers, Anna Zelcer, Mitch Leff, Claire Horn, Lauren Benson, John R. Seydel, Cynthia Gibson Curry, Chris Moore, Brionte McCorkle, Dr. Erica L. Holloman-Hill, Maegan S., Karli Swift, and the rest of the team.

By Julian Moore

China's CO2 emissions fell 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and 1% over the latest 12 months, marking the first time clean power growth alone, rather than economic weakness, has driven emissions down despite rising demand, according to new analysis for Carbon Brief. Power-sector emissions dropped 5.8% in Q1 as new solar, wind and nuclear capacity outpaced a 2.5% rise in power demand, cutting coal and gas generation even as overall electricity use grew.

The decline marks the fifth such power-sector drop in four decades, but the first driven by clean-energy growth rather than economic shocks like the 2008 financial crisis or China's zero-Covid policy. Clean power additions have now outpaced not just current demand growth but the 15-year average, suggesting a potential structural shift.

Still, emissions remain just 1% below their recent peak, leaving open the possibility of a rebound. Outside the power sector, emissions rose 3.5%, driven by coal-to-chemicals expansion and metals production tied to a pre-tariff export surge, even as real estate construction and cement output continued declining. Whether China's emissions have genuinely peaked depends on whether sectors in decline, including cement, oil products and possibly steel, can outweigh continued growth in coal-to-chemicals, alongside policy choices in China's upcoming five-year plan and its response to US tariffs.

Turkmenistan, long the world's worst source of methane "super-emitter" leaks, has fixed eight leaks from corroded pipes, faulty wells and failing flares, prompted by scrutiny following Guardian reporting since 2023. The UN's satellite-based Mars alert system called it an "incredible first step," though vast emissions remain unaddressed. Turkmenistan responded to about 20% of its 192 alerts over the past year, a rate UN officials say is improving.

By contrast, the US ignored all 138 alerts it received and fixed no leaks, a shift from limited engagement under Biden to none under Trump. Russia, China and Iran also failed to respond to any alerts. Kazakhstan fixed eight leaks too, while Mexico, Brazil and Argentina achieved 100% response rates, though Mexico's massive offshore leak, the world's worst, remains unfixed.

In total, 43 leaks have been sealed globally since Mars began, including a nearly 40-year-old leak in Algeria. Experts stress that plugging methane leaks is among the cheapest, fastest ways to slow near-term warming, since methane is far more potent than CO2 but breaks down quicker. UN officials called Turkmenistan's progress a "breakthrough" in demonstrated action, though not yet in overall emissions reduction, and urged governments to respond to at least 80% of alerts.

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), launched at COP30 to pay tropical countries for standing forest, faces mounting scrutiny over its finances and structure despite broad public backing. The fund needs $10 billion by the end of 2026 to unlock Norway's $3 billion pledge, but sits at just $7.3 billion, with only a handful of governments, including a recent £400 million UK loan, actually contributing after more than 50 countries voiced public support.

Global Witness has questioned whether the fund's projected profits are realistic, noting they depend on winning sufficient investor backing, securing a strong credit rating and delivering returns from a high-risk asset class. Other campaigners and academics argue the TFFF effectively uses taxpayer money to shield private investors from risk while doing nothing to stop those same investors profiting from deforestation elsewhere, a concern sharpened by data showing 60% of high-risk financial institutions still lack a deforestation policy.

Indigenous groups, while praising the fund's commitment to direct 20% of payments to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, note they were denied voting rights on TFFF's main boards, limiting their influence over decisions despite having helped shape the fund's founding principles

A federal district judge struck down New York's Climate Change Superfund Act, which sought $75 billion from fossil fuel companies for climate damages, dealing a blow to a legal strategy that a dozen states have been pursuing after direct damage lawsuits stalled in procedural disputes. Judge Brenda Sannes ruled the law effectively regulates interstate greenhouse gas emissions, a federal responsibility under the Clean Air Act, drawing parallels to a dismissed New York City lawsuit against Chevron rather than the federal Superfund program the law was modeled on. Notably, she said the Trump administration's rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding had "no impact" on her reasoning.

Climate advocates called the decision flawed and are pushing New York's attorney general to appeal, while the underlying legal question, whether financial penalties tied to climate damages amount to emissions regulation, remains contested. A parallel challenge to Vermont's similar superfund law is proceeding in federal court, brought by the same coalition of industry groups, Republican states and the Trump administration.

The bigger test looms at the Supreme Court, which will hear a case brought by Boulder County against Exxon and Suncor. Filed in 2018 and long stuck in jurisdictional fights, the case now asks the justices to resolve definitively whether federal law preempts states from seeking climate damage relief.

Latest Jobs

Check out some of the latest featured jobs below. If you don't see anything that speaks to you, you can always go to Climatebase to explore over 50,000 new climate jobs.

Parisi Labs

“Parisi Labs builds foundational AI and decision systems for complex physical industries, starting with energy.”

Class 3 Technologies

“We are the first generation of resilience software.”

Incite

“Funding impact-based companies around the world.”

CEATI

“A solution-driven network for power industry professionals, connecting utility peers to solve their biggest challenges through collaborative R&D and knowledge exchange.”

Collective Clean Energy Fund

“Colorado's Nonprofit Green Bank”

Vital Lyfe

“Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation, creating a new category of personal water making technology.”

Solar Stewards

“Solar Stewards creates opportunities for equity in renewable energy and infrastructure deployment”

Glimpse

“Ensuring battery quality to drive the electrification of everything and combat climate change.”

Copper

“Accelerating adoption of climate-friendly home technologies for immediate impact.”

Energy 350

“Driving energy efficiency to combat climate change.”

Amply

“Revolutionizing heat pump design and sales to accelerate residential decarbonization”

Rhizome

“AI platform identifying climate risks and quantifying grid investment benefits for electric utilities.”

Form Energy

“Affordable, long-duration energy storage for a reliable, 100% renewable electric grid.”

Synop

“Accelerating commercial EV adoption with integrated software for vehicles, chargers, and utilities.”

cKinetics

“Driving global sustainability through insightful innovation and strategic advisory.”

Logical Buildings

“Empowering real estate managers to cut energy costs, boost sustainability, and revolutionize property management.”

Ever.green

“Accelerating renewable energy investment to reduce fossil fuel reliance.”

Boundary Stone

“Leading climate change solutions at the nexus of tech, finance, and policy.”