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The report finds that while most US states meet the minimum legal requirements for Title V air permitting notices, there are substantial gaps in transparency, accessibility, and the actual influence of public input on final decisions. It highlights that many public notices are written at a college reading level and lack plain language, and that few agencies transparently report how public comments shape permit outcomes. The analysis suggests that states with specific environmental justice or cumulative impacts laws tend to have better engagement practices. It recommends that agencies adopt plain language, provide multilingual resources, and establish clear mechanisms for reporting how community input affects regulatory decisions.

The document outlines the drivers of saltwater intrusion, including sea-level rise and groundwater extraction, and details its impacts on agriculture, human health, and ecosystems. It suggests reporting strategies such as using visual tools to identify 'ghost forests' and distinguishing between 'solutions' and 'strategies' for adaptation.

Between January and May 15, 2026, over 100 companies backed by asset management firms and venture capital notified labor departments of layoffs, resulting in nearly 13,000 job losses. The report highlights how private equity models—characterized by leveraged buyouts, dividend recapitalizations, and market consolidation—contribute to plant closures and bankruptcies. Specific examples include Walgreens, where Sycamore Partners added $13.3 billion in debt, and Albertsons, where Cerberus Capital Management received a $1 billion dividend payout despite ongoing layoffs. The report also notes a high concentration of layoffs in the manufacturing sector (34%) and discusses state-level legislative efforts in New Jersey, Maine, California, and Michigan to mandate severance pay and extend notice periods.

The document analyzes four case studies of 'electrification-friendly' electric rates in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maine, and Maryland. It finds that rates specifically designed for heat pump users or those with significant seasonal differentiation provide the greatest bill savings. The analysis emphasizes that automatic enrollment strategies are more effective at reaching customers than optional opt-in rates.

The report compares two pathways for meeting U.S. electricity demand growth through 2030: one relying on fossil fuels and another on clean energy. It finds that a clean energy scenario reduces the incremental cost of meeting demand by $5.1 billion annually in 2030 and offers greater protection against fuel price volatility. To realize these savings, the authors recommend setting ambitious clean energy targets, updating electricity system planning with market-based assumptions, reducing permitting and interconnection barriers, implementing fuel cost sharing to manage risk, improving grid utilization through technologies like surplus interconnection and high-performance conductors, and harnessing demand-side resources such as virtual power plants and distributed energy technologies.

Earthjustice's Counter/Act report details its multifaceted legal and advocacy response to the second Trump administration's environmental policy rollbacks. The organization has scaled up litigation, launched a dedicated enforcement team to fill gaps in federal oversight, and shifted focus toward state-level protections for clean energy and public health. Key achievements include defending electric vehicle infrastructure, challenging the repeal of the endangerment finding, and securing state-level wins on landfill emissions in Colorado and environmental justice laws in New Jersey.

The report argues that low-density urban sprawl is fiscally unsustainable for Canadian municipalities, contributing to a national infrastructure deficit of CAD 270 billion. Using Winnipeg as a primary case study, it demonstrates how the failure to account for long-term maintenance and carbon costs in development decisions creates a 'municipal Ponzi scheme' where new growth is used to mask the liabilities of old infrastructure. The author recommends reforming development cost charges, property taxes, and fiscal impact assessments to prioritize compact, complete communities that generate more revenue and produce fewer emissions.

The report details how private equity firms have acquired Medicaid contractors to capitalize on government-backed revenue, often leading to operational failures. It highlights systemic payment errors and wage theft allegations at Public Partnerships, LLC; massive debt-driven cost-cutting and fraud allegations at Gainwell Technologies; and delays in care authorizations and the use of offshore labor at Acentra Health. The document also warns of the risks associated with AI-driven analytics and the offshoring of sensitive patient health information to India.

The report highlights that the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (SRPS) has a high allocation to private markets, which obscures significant climate risks due to the opacity of these investments. It identifies specific exposure to fossil fuel assets through managers like BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) V and recommends the adoption of science-based climate targets and increased disclosure to mitigate financial risk.

The report identifies significant fossil fuel exposure within the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System's (SRPS) private market allocations, which comprise approximately 41% of its $74 billion in assets. It highlights specific controversial assets, such as the Rio Grande LNG terminal and the AES Corporation's power plant portfolio, and notes that 64% of energy companies associated with SRPS's private equity managers are fossil fuel-based. The document advocates for the adoption of five climate standards, including science-based targets and fossil fuel disclosure, to mitigate financial risks associated with the energy transition.

RMI proposes five policies to accelerate heat pump adoption in Illinois: increasing incentives for heat pumps and weatherization while phasing out gas equipment subsidies, providing 0% financing, reforming electric and gas rate designs, implementing an AC-to-heat pump replacement policy, and adopting electric-friendly standards for new construction. The brief notes that while heat pumps can reduce energy bills for most Illinois households—particularly those using propane or electric resistance heat—high up-front costs remain a primary barrier.

The document details how climate change disrupts U.S. transportation systems through acute events like hurricanes and chronic stressors like sea level rise. It highlights significant projected costs for asphalt maintenance and railroad delays, the vulnerability of coastal highways and bridges, and the necessity of proactive adaptation, such as using heat-resistant materials and nature-based solutions, to mitigate economic losses.

WWF's Food Waste Warriors (FWW) program aims to eliminate food waste in US K–12 schools, noting that nearly 40% of food served in schools is wasted, totaling 530,000 tons and $1.7 billion in lost value annually. The program focuses on three pillars: engaging students through standards-aligned education, expanding edible food recovery via share tables and refrigerators, and diverting waste from landfills through composting. FWW reports that up to 90% of school food waste can be recovered or recycled, with some participating schools achieving a 70% reduction in waste. The report details success stories from Maryland, Maine, Tennessee, and Georgia, and proposes a national data-collection platform and recognition program to scale these efforts.

The review finds that neonicotinoid seed treatments (NSTs) often fail to provide statistically significant increases in yield or profitability for North American farmers, particularly in colder regions like the Midwest and Northern U.S. where early-season pest pressure is lower. While some positive returns on investment (ROI) were observed in the U.S. South due to milder winters and higher pest pressure, these results were inconsistent year-to-year. The document highlights significant ecological harms, including the reduction of predator insect populations, damage to pollinators, and disruption of soil decomposition. It argues that a shift from prophylactic use to an 'assess-and-decide' approach based on actual pest pressure would save farmers money without reducing yields.

The EPA has proposed a significant rollback of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which would remove reporting requirements for 46 of 47 source categories and suspend subpart W reporting until 2034. This proposal threatens the viability of over 270 carbon capture projects and $77.5 billion in capital investment because the 45Q tax credit relies on GHGRP for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). Specifically, the loss of subparts PP, RR, and VV would prevent carbon capture and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects from claiming 45Q credits. For hydrogen projects, the delay of subpart W would reduce the reliability of upstream methane leak rate measurements used in the 45VH2-GREET tool for 45V tax credits, potentially forcing taxpayers to rely on an inaccurate 0.9% national average and increasing legal risks for high performers. Internationally, the rollback could disadvantage U.S. exporters in markets requiring verified data, such as those under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Domestically, at least ten states, including California and Colorado, have embedded GHGRP into their legal frameworks; removing it would force these states to create costly patchwork substitutes to maintain emissions inventories.

The document reports that November 2025 was the third warmest on record globally and the fourth warmest for the contiguous U.S. It highlights a long-term trend of warming winters in the U.S., where the coldest day of the year has warmed by approximately 7°F since 1970. The briefing also notes significant regional anomalies, such as extreme warmth in Texas and heavy rainfall in southern California, while discussing the ongoing La Niña advisory and its expected impacts on weather patterns through early 2026.

The report proposes a Gas System Analysis (GSA) framework to counter rising consumer costs and risks associated with massive gas infrastructure investments. It outlines a three-part process: depicting current system characteristics, defining future scenarios (including business-as-usual and alternative pathways), and forecasting impacts on costs, emissions, and public health. The framework aims to prevent stranded assets and support the transition to clean heat through electrification and non-pipeline alternatives.

The report critiques the 'firm fixation' approach where utilities meet surging data center demand by adding gas plants or refurbishing coal units. It identifies six defining features of data centers—agency, clustering, consumption profiles, flexibility, backup requirements, and modularity—that make them unsuitable for simple one-to-one matching with firm power plants. Instead, the author advocates for a 'system of systems' approach combining clean energy portfolios, battery storage, and demand-side flexibility. Key recommendations for policymakers include using the interconnection process as leverage to ensure cost causation and exploring demand-side resources, such as sponsoring household energy upgrades, to free up grid capacity.

The policy brief examines the misalignment between legacy gas utility energy efficiency programs and current state climate goals in the United States. It highlights how traditional cost-effectiveness tests often prioritize short-term gas appliance rebates over high-impact weatherization and electrification. Using examples from states like New York and Massachusetts, the document proposes six strategic reforms to redirect ratepayer funding toward long-term decarbonization and building efficiency.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that utilities in seven PJM states passed over $4.3 billion in data center connection costs to all customers in 2024. This occurs because large data centers (100–1,000 MW) require high-voltage transmission infrastructure, which falls under federal FERC jurisdiction and is typically allocated across all customers, unlike low-voltage distribution connections. UCS finds that in 95% of cases, these costs are not paid by the data center owners. The brief recommends that FERC and state PUCs require utilities to track and assign these specific costs to the customers causing them.