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  1. 1

    UN biodiversity summit COP17 opens in Yerevan, Armenia

    The UN Convention on Biological Diversity's 17th conference opens in Yerevan, Armenia, where governments will conduct the first global review of progress under the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that more than one million species face extinction and that countries risk falling well short of the 2030 conservation goal. Negotiators face a funding gap, with some major donors having curtailed conservation aid. Convention chief Astrid Schomaker said collective action is not yet at the scale required, while Armenia's UN representative Paruyr Hovhannisyan called for commitments to become measurable progress on the ground.

    Key facts

    • Since 2022, formal protection has expanded by 1.3 million square kilometres of land and six million of ocean, Guterres said.
    • The 2022 framework set 23 targets for 2030, including protecting 30% of land and sea.
    • The framework calls for at least $200 billion a year from all sources by 2030.
    • The Cali Fund had received $10,656 in commitments as the summit began, against a $1 billion annual target.
    • Fewer than half of countries say they are on track to meet their own biodiversity targets.

    Commentary

    The predictable part is the pledge language; the telling part is money. The 30 by 30 land target rests on effective management rather than new paper designations, so implementation funding will decide it. Donors that have curtailed conservation aid will be asked to fund targets most countries are already behind on.

    Sources: UN News, The Guardian, news - Mongabay, JusticeInfo.net

  2. 2

    Wisconsin DNR to assess environmental impacts of data centers under lawsuit settlement

    Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources has agreed with Sierra Club, Midwest Environmental Advocates and Vantage Data Centers to conduct a statewide review of data center environmental impacts. The deal settles a lawsuit challenging permits for the $15 billion Lighthouse campus in Port Washington, which the groups argued required an environmental impact statement. The review will examine direct, indirect and cumulative effects of AI data center buildout on agriculture, water, air, climate, energy and the economy, with Vantage paying the costs and the DNR retaining control. The deal does not pause permitting, and Lighthouse permits stay valid without further environmental review.

    Key facts

    • The DNR must complete the statewide strategic analysis by January 31, 2028.
    • Vantage Data Centers will fund all costs tied to the statewide analysis.
    • Lighthouse permits remain valid and need no further environmental review under the deal.
    • Wisconsin Examiner reported the DNR will conduct full environmental impact statements for future individual data center proposals.
    • Lawsuit filing date differs: WPR reported July, while Wisconsin Examiner reported June.

    Commentary

    The settlement moves the fight from one campus to the state's whole data center build-out, while leaving the Port Washington permits intact. Vantage is paying for a review of an industry it profits from, and its findings arrive after the Lighthouse approvals are already locked in, so the deal's real test is whether future projects face stricter scrutiny.

    Sources: WPR, Civic Media

  3. 3

    Supreme Court weighs whether oil companies can be sued in state court over climate change

    The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case brought by Boulder, Colorado, against Exxon Mobil and Suncor over the costs of climate change, which Boulder says it faces from wildfires, flooding and drought. Oil companies asked the justices to intervene, arguing that climate matters belong to Congress and the White House and that a state court could effectively regulate global emissions. Boulder says it does not seek to stop oil production or emissions and instead wants compensation for alleged deception of the public. Justice Kavanaugh called the consequences potentially ruinous for some firms, while Justice Kagan compared the suit to 1990s state lawsuits against cigarette makers. Justices gave no clear signal of their ruling, and a split 4-4 decision, with Justice Alito recused, would leave the Colorado case moving forward. Legal commentators said the ruling could affect dozens of similar suits.

    Key facts

    • Boulder, Colorado, sued Exxon Mobil and Suncor in Colorado state court over climate change costs
    • Oil companies asked the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing the issue belongs to Congress and the White House
    • Justice Samuel Alito removed himself from the case
    • Boulder says it does not seek to stop oil production or enforce emissions controls
    • A 4-4 split would leave Boulder's state-level lawsuit able to proceed

    Commentary

    The justices' real struggle was not over whether climate harm can be litigated but over whether a state court can reach conduct everywhere. Boulder's deception framing is the argument most likely to be tested, since the justices kept redirecting it toward emissions. Whatever the outcome, Boulder's lawyers must show the case is about misleading the public, not global regulation.

    Sources: The Good Men Project, Daily Journal

  4. 4

    Google's US$200mn Cerrillos data center in Chile exempted from environmental review

    Chile's Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) for the Metropolitan Region has ruled that Google's Cerrillos data center need not enter the environmental impact evaluation system (SEIA). This removes a regulatory hurdle. The ruling is not a construction permit and does not exempt Google from other environmental rules or sectoral permits. The SEA said the design raised no grounds for mandatory review, and the planned power line and substation fall outside the thresholds. The project had already been reformulated after a court partially annulled its approval. Local groups, including OLCA and MOSACAT, argue the project should face full review because its owner, land and purpose are unchanged. The Superintendence of the Environment can still require full review.

    Key facts

    • The resolution is dated October 16 and was notified on October 19.
    • The project covers about 23 hectares, with roughly 32,412 square meters built across four phases.
    • The 44 backup diesel generators total 120.25MW, against a 3MW threshold for generating plants.
    • The flammable substance threshold rose to 1,000 tonnes in January 2026; the project plans 695.9 tonnes.
    • The court's partial annulment followed claims about planned extraction of 169 liters per second from the Santiago Central aquifer.

    Commentary

    The decision rests on reading the generators as backup and the power line by its length, so the project clears review thresholds on technicalities rather than its overall scale. That leaves the outcome open: the appeal window and the Superintendence's power to order full review will decide whether it stays closed, and local opponents carry the burden of pursuing that challenge.

    Sources: BNamericas

  5. 5

    Five big tech hyperscalers' combined emissions forecast to rise about 60 percent in 2026

    A new forecasting method from Bricola Group, a startup whose founder Jimmy Gillan built the model, projects that the combined 2026 emissions of Alphabet, Amazon Web Services, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle will reach 215 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, an increase of almost 60 percent. Bricola said the rise is almost entirely driven by building, equipping and powering new data centers, with the five companies' capital expenditure across 2025 and 2026 expected to exceed $1 trillion. After renewable energy certificates and other instruments are deducted, the total falls to 140 million tons, up from 87 million in 2025. Gillan said the model is meant to help sustainability teams and others act faster, since it estimates footprints from capex data that companies release months before their sustainability reports.

    Key facts

    • Combined 2026 emissions of five hyperscalers forecast at 215 million tCO2e, according to Bricola Group
    • Forecast increase of almost 60 percent, with emissions growing 57 percent this year
    • Capital expenditure across 2025 and 2026 expected to exceed $1 trillion
    • After deducting certificates and other instruments, emissions fall to 140 million tCO2e
    • AWS and Alphabet each forecast to emit just over 53 million tCO2e in 2026

    Commentary

    The headline rise is the predictable part; the less obvious finding is that offsets and certificates cut the total by about a third, so the reported number depends heavily on accounting choices. Gillan's model shows emissions can be estimated from spending plans before companies publish their own reports, which is a faster early-warning tool. Whoever pays for that growth is likely to be the power systems and communities hosting the new facilities, not the forecast itself.

    Sources: Trellis Group, Türkiye Today, The Conversation

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