Theme: Climate

The Transnational Legal Coalition (TLC) filed 14 suspected money-laundering complaints on Wednesday against JBS, its financiers and service providers, with notifications sent to regulators in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The complaints rest on research commissioned from AidEnvironment, which linked the company’s direct and indirect supply chain to more than 6.5 million hectares cleared in the Amazon since 1988, and JBS says it cannot comment without access to the study’s methodology.

A delegation of 19 Democratic members of Congress will attend COP31 in Turkey, with an important diplomatic function, at a UN climate conference that runs from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, Representative Sean Casten said. The United States is not taking part in the negotiations after Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement for a second time on returning to office. Casten said the delegation will not be in the majority, but will be received with an understanding of what just happened.

The African Group of Negotiators says the UN climate convention has no agenda item that provides space to discuss public financing and wants one created under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, the 2015 provision that obliges developed countries to provide financial resources to developing ones. The group’s chair, Nana Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, said wealthy countries are likely to oppose the adoption of the agenda because of that item. The summit, hosted by Türkiye with Australia leading the negotiations, opens on November 9 and runs to November 20.

Singapore’s parliament on Wednesday passed tougher penalties against companies responsible for forest fires in Indonesia, including curbs on related business dealings, following one of its worst haze episodes. Fines against offenders will increase tenfold.

China is home to 49% of the world’s clean industrial plants, counting units in operation and under construction, accounts for $45 billion in energy transition investments this year and holds 23 of the 36 industrial decarbonization projects that reached a final investment decision, according to a Mission Possible Partnership report in an OilPrice text, which also notes that the country remains the world’s biggest coal consumer, with nearly 50% of its power generation coming from the fuel.

Brazil’s COP30 presidency presented two international Roadmaps to speed the shift away from fossil fuels and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. The documents address the two largest drivers of climate change — energy, at 75% of emissions, and forest loss, at 11% — but are voluntary and non-prescriptive, with no obligations, national targets or accountability mechanisms, according to TNC Brasil. Annual forest finance needs to jump from $84.5 billion in 2023 to more than $300 billion in 2030.

Peru’s government declared a 60-day state of emergency in 1,380 districts out of more than 1,800, over imminent danger from heavy rainfall linked to the El Niño phenomenon. The measure was formalized by Supreme Decree 149-2026-PCM and covers 25 departments and the Constitutional Province of Callao. The National Emergency Operations Center recorded 324 affected people and 110 uninhabitable homes after weekend rains in Tumbes. The technical commission ENFEN said the event will be of extraordinary magnitude through February and weaken through June.

The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) has delivered more than 187,000 metric tons of summer cereals and 60,529 metric tons of winter wheat to the Grain Marketing Board, according to 263Chat, in a report republished by AllAfrica. The authority also aims to cultivate 100,000 hectares in the 2026/27 summer season. Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said Zimbabwe is “almost 100 percent certain” to have below-normal rainfall, and that the warming of the central South Pacific associated with El Niño is expected to exceed three degrees Celsius.

Brazil’s government presented on Tuesday the world’s first global roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, arguing that countries can break their dependence on coal, oil and gas without waiting for new technologies, according to the Guardian. The roadmaps are not binding, contain no deadlines or milestones and leave it to each country to diagnose its own dependence on fossil fuels before choosing policies. Among the suggested steps are urgently cutting the flaring and venting of gas at extraction sites, reducing fossil fuel subsidies and expanding renewable generation. The forests roadmap estimates that about US$300 billion a year will be needed by 2030 and US$500 billion a year by 2050, against about US$85 billion available today. André Corrêa do Lago, Brazil’s president of the UN climate summit (COP30), said the roadmaps are documents of implementation and should be taken up by finance, transport, energy and infrastructure ministries in each country. Joeri Rogelj, a professor at Imperial College London, said the roadmaps are valuable but fall short of indicating the pace of change needed because they include no timeline or key benchmarks.

Indian authorities began evacuating residents along the eastern coast as Cyclone Murasu approached, with landfall expected early on Tuesday, with around 2,000 people evacuated and preparations to move a further 30,000, Prakhar Jain, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, told Reuters. The states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are expected to bear the brunt of the storm; Murasu is forecast to be less intense than Arnab, which killed six people last week, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz declared a national state of emergency on Saturday due to the worsening climate conditions in the country, according to Brasil 247. The measure will allow the government to expand the availability of financial resources and mobilize rescue teams to assist populations in the most affected areas.

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed a decree on Saturday declaring a national state of emergency to address the effects of El Niño, calling for further deployments of rescue teams in areas of the country hard hit by flooding and drought, according to Al Jazeera. The drought affects 78,000 families in six of Bolivia’s nine departments and has led to the loss of more than 75,000 cattle, according to a government report released this week.

The UK approved the development of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea on October 21, after years of legal battles and political uncertainty, according to OilPrice. A legal challenge by environmental campaigners led to a ruling that the earlier consent had been granted unlawfully and that a more detailed assessment of the environmental impact was needed, according to the BBC. The government says gas from Jackdaw will be in British homes and businesses this month.

China has brought the world’s largest 60-megawatt liquid air energy storage demonstration project online in Golmud City, northwest China’s Qinghai Province, according to CGTN. The system uses an ultra-cold process at minus 194 degrees Celsius to turn surplus electricity into liquid air for storage. According to the broadcaster, the project can absorb 600,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean energy daily and deliver about 180 million kWh of electricity annually.

Pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the archipelago in September, according to a new study cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) — non-fire pollution from power generation, industry and transport caused a further 1,750 deaths in the month, for a total of 5,310 in the country of about 290 million people.

At least six people died and power supply across parts of India’s east coast remains disrupted on Thursday (29), one day after Cyclone Arnab hit the region. The Andhra Pradesh government confirms six dead; local authorities put the toll at nine, from electrocution and collapsing trees and houses. A Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship with 20 crew members ran aground off the coast of Andhra Pradesh and remained stationary on Thursday because of rough seas.

The 1996 treaty governing dry-season water sharing of the Ganges at India's Farakka Barrage, 20 km upstream of Bangladesh, expires on December 12, according to AFP. Bangladesh needs a new deal based on “mutual benefit and respect”, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, a prime ministerial adviser who heads a technical committee on water-sharing, told AFP.

Global solar generation reached 2,778 TWh in 2025, up from 256 TWh in 2015, and is now running ahead of global nuclear output, according to OilPrice. In 2025 solar surpassed nuclear by a wide margin, producing 13 percent more electricity worldwide, according to the same outlet.

Cyclone Arnab made landfall on India's southeastern coast, forcing nearly 100,000 people to leave their homes in two states, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), hitting Andhra Pradesh as a very severe cyclonic storm, with winds of 125–135 km/h and gusts of 150 km/h, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Donald Trump announced the end of Biden-era methane rules to save consumers and producers US$45 billion, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), targeting the Super Emitter Program and rules for marginal wells and flaring of associated gas, and said the change unlocks 210 million barrels of oil, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The global average atmospheric concentration of CO2 reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025, equivalent to 153% of the pre-industrial baseline of 1750, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. Methane stood at 1948 parts per billion, or 267% of the 1750 level, the UN agency said.

Heavy rains triggered massive flooding in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city. The Pilco, Tenguel and Balao rivers overflowed on October 25 and 26, flooding homes and streets in Tenguel parish, Guayaquil and Balao canton in Guayas province and causing road closures, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The National Risk Management Secretariat (SNGR) reported 24 adverse events across six provinces in a 24-hour period and 11 overflowing water bodies in Guayas and El Oro, PAHO reported.

Indonesia deployed buses fitted with oxygen tanks in a city on Borneo island, where residents are choking on forest-fire haze that shows no sign of letting up. More than 300,000 people in seven provinces were struck by respiratory tract infections from August to October, according to Indonesia’s health ministry, cited by AFP in a report published by Malay Mail.

Thousands of people were evacuated along India’s eastern coast, with some train services cancelled, on Tuesday, one day before the expected landfall of Cyclone Arnab, which is expected to reach the coastal state of Andhra Pradesh by Wednesday morning, bringing strong winds and intense showers to parts of the state as well as Odisha, according to authorities. Two states along India’s eastern coast were preparing to evacuate thousands of people ahead of the expected Wednesday landfall.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s cabinet is split over whether to approve drilling at the Rosebank oilfield, west of Shetland, an £8.7 billion development that its operator says would pump about 69,000 barrels a day at peak, OilPrice reported. Energy security sits on one side, the government’s climate commitments on the other.

Storms battered northern Europe on Sunday, cutting power to more than 150,000 homes, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and silencing phone networks, according to AFP. Authorities in the countries said more than 82,000 homes in Britain, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany had power cuts inflicted by storms Boelo and Austen within 24 hours of each other. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport cancelled dozens of flights on Sunday; AFP counted some 90 cancelled flights on the airport website, mainly to European cities including Paris, Rome and Dublin.

Turkey, the host of the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN climate convention, is encouraging wealthy countries to spend more on climate support than on defence, according to OilPrice. The host of the next UN summit told The Guardian that wealthy countries should spend far more than the 5% of GDP NATO members have promised for defence, because “the climate issue is the security issue”. Asked whether as much should be spent on climate as on defence, he said: “Much more.”

Typhoon Champi continued to batter China’s eastern coast on Saturday, grounding over a hundred flights and prompting the authorities to relocate tens of thousands of people, according to the South China Morning Post. The typhoon was weakening as it moved towards Japan.

Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than 500, as powerful winds and torrential rain brought down trees, disrupted flights and knocked out electricity to thousands of homes, according to the Times of India. Taiwan's fire department said 527 people were injured and kept the death toll at one, a man swept away by waves on Liuqiu Island. State-owned utility Taipower said more than 167,000 homes had lost electricity at one point.

Typhoon Champi struck Taiwan, killing one person and injuring at least 350, as authorities warned of “destructive winds” and instructed people to stay indoors, according to Al Jazeera. The storm swept past the island’s northeast on Friday, toppling trees, shutting shops and schools, cutting power to thousands of households and forcing more than 4,300 people to evacuate from their homes.

Almost all of Taiwan shut down on Friday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Champi, which is forecast to bring strong winds and torrential rain, though the storm is weakening and is not expected to make direct landfall on the island, the Straits Times reported. The transport ministry said all 262 domestic flights were cancelled for Friday, along with more than 350 international ones.

Japanese telecommunications carrier KDDI has apologized over a massive wildfire that broke out in a Mongolian nature reserve earlier this month, NHK World reported. Mongolia’s state-run Montsame News Agency reported that the blaze started in the Numrug Strictly Protected Area in the eastern province of Dornod on October 8 and spread to grassland. KDDI has not disclosed details about the fire, but said Mobicom executives, including its Japanese CEO, entered the nature reserve by vehicle to conduct a communications network test.

The United Nations (UN) climate loss and damage fund moved to provide US$20 million in aid to flood-stricken Nepal — the first time it has set aside money for any country, according to the SCMP. The fund’s board agreed to earmark the money at an extraordinary meeting for the country, hit in August by floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing, also according to the SCMP.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Tibet on Thursday killed 16 people and injured 32, according to the South China Morning Post. The epicentre was in a mountainous area about 190km east-northeast of Nagqu and 390km northeast of Lhasa, the US Geological Survey said.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that the current El Niño event could be unprecedented in strength, off the monitoring tables of the past four decades, according to The Hindu. El Niño is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, persisting almost certainly until February 2027, according to the WMO.

S&P Global warned that the energy shock around the Strait of Hormuz could turn into a global food crisis, with pricier diesel and fertilizer, strong biofuel demand and El Niño pressing on world agriculture, OilPrice reported. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects fertilizer prices up 10 percent by the end of 2026, adding 5 percent to food costs this year and another 2.4 percent in 2027. According to OilPrice, even if the strait stays open, Gulf gas output would need months or years to recover, leaving the poorest countries, where food takes about half of household spending, most exposed.

The UN is warning that global commitments to cut planet-heating emissions fall far short of the Paris climate goals of 1.5 degrees Celsius and put the world on course for 2.6C warming this century, according to France 24.

The British government approved on Wednesday the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, ending years of legal and political wrangling between climate commitments and energy security, with a peak of around 6% of domestic output expected and supply for up to 11 years, according to Reuters. The approval frustrates environmental campaigners and some Labour MPs, according to the Guardian.

Torrential rain battered eastern Spain, leaving at least four people dead in recent days, flooding streets and forcing many residents to stay indoors, authorities said. In some areas of the Valencia region, as much as 700 liters of rain per square metre fell in just 24 hours.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Jim Skea asked that the suspended plenary in Addis Ababa be reconvened at the earliest opportunity, AFP reported. In a statement, Skea said he suspended the panel’s 65th plenary session on the evening of October 16: most of the agenda was concluded, including agreement on a new process for the use of artificial intelligence, but there was no consensus on the timelines for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) or on the IPCC budget.

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell to its lowest level since records began in 1988, according to official figures reported by Al Jazeera days before a presidential run-off. In the Cerrado, deforestation fell by about 24 percent, to 5,517 sq km, the lowest since 2001, according to the same report. Satellite data show that in the year up to July 2026, the rate fell by 41.8% in the Amazon, the biggest drop since records began, according to the BBC.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that holding the country's enemies accountable for military aggression and environmental damage is an undeniable necessity, and that US and Israeli attacks on Iran and on oil and energy targets created serious environmental hazards, according to Mehr News, adding that Iran “neither forgives nor forgets.”

Conflict and drought are increasing the risk of famine across Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan regions, warned the global food crisis monitor (IPC), which says food insecurity, acute malnutrition and excess mortality will likely intensify. In May, nearly 19.5 million people, more than 40% of the population, were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the Associated Press, which also reports a severe El Niño-linked drought affecting more than half of Sudan, causing localized crop failures.

The head of Iran's Department of Environment, Shina Ansari, said US strikes on the petrochemical hub in the Iranian city of Asaluyeh generated emissions equivalent to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to Sputnik. Ansari said the amount equals what 66 million mature trees absorb annually, according to Iranian state television.

Brazil’s public prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit against the Brazilian subsidiary of oil company Shell, blaming it for the torrential rains that hit southern Brazil in 2024, according to Le Monde. The accusation attributes to Shell 2% of historical global greenhouse gas emissions linked to the exploration, production and marketing of fossil fuels, according to Le Monde. The prosecutor’s office is seeking 270 million reais for environmental and climate moral damages, plus the same amount for material damages, according to Le Monde.

The Iran war pushed about 25 countries to adopt structural electrification policies since March, according to ABC News, in a text by OilPrice, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted oil and gas flows. COP31, in Türkiye, will ask countries to meet 35 percent of global energy demand with electricity by 2035, up from 23 percent today. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that 80 million kilometres of new or retrofitted lines are needed by 2040, and a report by consultancy Bain & Company found that between 50 percent and 60 percent of renewable projects in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were cancelled or delayed from 2021 to 2025.

Flávio Bolsonaro won 47% of the vote in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and heads to an October 25 runoff ahead of incumbent president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who got 44.2%, according to The Guardian. Lula’s administration reduced deforestation in the Amazon by almost 50%, but the success secured little electoral traction for pro-forest candidates in the same vote.

Nepal suspended all non-essential search and rescue operations 40 days after the August 26 Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, according to the Times of India, and is shifting to reconstruction. The official toll is 1,455 dead and 5,285 missing, including 189 Indians. The council recommended that the finance ministry approve 559 billion Nepalese rupees for 504 reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes.

At least 21 people have died, five are missing and five others have been injured in Nepal after four days of torrential rain triggered floods and landslides, according to authorities. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) attributed 14 of the deaths to landslides, four to floods and three to continuous heavy rainfall. Around 3,000 people were moved from high-risk areas, 260 homes were completely destroyed and another 80 partially damaged.

In 2021, Xi Jinping pledged at the United Nations General Assembly to stop Chinese funding for overseas coal power plants. According to AP, in a text published by the Hindustan Times, China has canceled most of the coal projects it had planned that year, but experts warn that Chinese companies are taking advantage of regulatory loopholes to skirt the pledge and keep investing in coal abroad.

The parliament of Moldova approved a nationwide state of emergency in the energy and hydrological sectors for 60 days, according to the official Moldpres news agency. The 101-seat legislature approved the measure in a 54-20 vote, and it takes effect on Saturday, September 26, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by WTOP. The government cites falling water levels in the Dniester River and global conflicts driving up energy costs, according to The Independent.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that last month’s floods were “a warning to the world” about the rising dangers of climate change in the Himalayas. Shah, whose country contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said Nepal “did not create this crisis, yet is paying for it,” and proposed a Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism with India and China to share satellite data, monitor glacial lakes and strengthen joint early warning systems. The floods killed more than 1,400 people, left 6,000 missing and caused devastation worth billions of dollars, according to France24.

Wildfires in West Kalimantan province, on Borneo, are among the worst in 11 years under “super-El Niño” conditions driving up temperatures and causing severe droughts, according to Reuters. More than 12.5 million people have been exposed to haze across seven provinces on Borneo and Sumatra, and wildfire-related respiratory cases more than doubled to 113,336 by September 9, from 50,891 on September 1, according to Indonesian health ministry data. The transboundary smog has turned the air unhealthy in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Hurricane Polo intensified to Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, on Tuesday night, September 22, 2026, with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (265 kph), and was centred about 210 miles (338 kilometres) south of Zihuatanejo off Mexico’s Pacific coast, according to the Associated Press, citing data from the US National Hurricane Center, which has active advisories for the storm. The centre warned that tropical storm conditions were expected along the coasts of Guerrero, Michoacán and Colima, forecast 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimetres) of rain with a risk of mudslides, and said Polo should track west-northwest without making landfall, according to AP. It is the third Category 5 hurricane of the Pacific season after Genevieve and Lowell, and Colorado State University researcher Philip Klotzbach attributed the rapid intensification to El Niño.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimated that an extreme El Niño event would cause a cumulative loss of at least 2% of regional gross domestic product (GDP) over three years, half of it in the first year, and could add up to 4.8 million people to poverty by the end of the decade compared with a scenario without the phenomenon. ECLAC’s third Special Report, released on 21 September 2026, points to critical vulnerability in energy, fishing, agriculture and infrastructure and recommends ten public policy measures, according to the agency’s press release. Projections by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cited in the report indicate a more than 90% probability that the phenomenon will reach very high intensity in the northern hemisphere’s fall and winter of 2026-2027 and a 69% probability of historic magnitude, a “Super El Niño”; for the October-December 2026 quarter, the probability of a rainfall deficit is 60%, and 31.1% of the region’s territory is on high alert, according to Xinhua.

A report by the Climate Impact Lab, a research group at the University of Chicago, released on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, estimates that El Niño-driven heat could cause as many as 451,000 additional heat-related deaths between June 2026 and the end of February 2027, compared with deaths expected in a typical year, according to the Associated Press. The Sahel is expected to be the hardest-hit region, with about 66,800 additional deaths. The report also projects about 19,400 additional heat deaths combined across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, 19,300 in Indonesia, 15,800 in India and 13,300 in Brazil, according to AP. The study combined seasonal temperature forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with local estimates of how heat affects mortality across more than 24,000 regions worldwide. Michael Greenstone, a co-founder of the group and co-author of the study, told AP the danger is likely to persist beyond February, when the current El Niño is expected to have ended.

Hurricane Polo intensified into a Category 5 storm in the Pacific off southwestern Mexico on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, with maximum winds of 180 mph, and is expected to remain “extremely dangerous” over the coming days, according to the National Hurricane Center, as cited by the Los Angeles Times. The center issued tropical storm warnings for portions of Mexico’s coast, with risks of heavy rainfall, flooding and mudslides through Thursday, September 24, 2026. Polo is the 16th named storm of the eastern Pacific season, in a year when El Niño is forecast to be the strongest in at least a generation; in California, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency on Monday, September 21, 2026, to prepare the state for high surf and winter storms, with the immediate concern being high tides coinciding with heavy swell next Monday, September 28, 2026, and the following day.

The attorneys general of California, Rob Bonta, and New York, Letitia James, sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, over deals that buy back federal offshore wind leases. Bonta is challenging the removal of a project planned off the California coast by Chicago-based Invenergy; the administration said in June 2026 it would buy back the company’s US offshore wind leases for four projects on the east and west coasts. James is leading seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and a separate proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast, according to The Associated Press, in a dispatch published by The Guardian. The deals would hand energy companies about $1.4 billion in taxpayer money in exchange for cancelling multiple projects, and the administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies to walk away from projects across the country. James called the deals illegal and said they will raise electricity bills: “Americans are facing increasing energy costs because this administration would rather pay off energy companies than let us build the new power sources we need.” Attorneys general from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York’s suit.

The developing El Niño in the Pacific surpassed all previous records on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, becoming the strongest event in the observational record, according to the Met Office, the United Kingdom’s weather service. Daily sea surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific were 3.05 °C above average on 19 September, exceeding the previous record of 3.02 °C set during the 2015 El Niño, per BBC Weather. The peak is not expected until later in 2026, and longer-term measures have not yet hit record levels. Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office, said expected effects of the event are already being felt worldwide. Among them, the British service cites India’s monsoon running 15% below normal through 22 September and the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season with no hurricane formed so far.

Typhoon Dujuan killed four people and left six others missing in eastern Japan, in the prefectures of Chiba and Kanagawa, and injured 22, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) of Japan, cited by The Japan Times and Jiji Press. Chiba recorded three of the deaths. The typhoon, Japan’s 25th this year, cut power to tens of thousands of homes and forced more than 1.6 million people in the Tokyo area to leave at-risk areas, BBC News reported. The storm also brought record rainfall: Oshima island recorded 832 millimetres over 48 hours, more than double its average rainfall for the whole of September, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Japan’s meteorological agency lifted or downgraded most heavy rain and landslide warnings on Tuesday.

Nearly four weeks after Nepal’s August 26, 2026 floods, more than 1,000 children remained in temporary shelters, according to an assessment by Nepal’s National Child Rights Council and the nonprofit Save the Children, with data from September 4: 102 children were unaccompanied by any relative and 439 were separated from their parents and in the care of relatives. More than 500 are living in those shelters with their parents dead or missing, and Nepali law requires a person to be missing for 12 years before they can be declared dead, with an exemption during disasters when relatives must seek a judicial declaration. A Nepal Police bulletin released on September 16 put the death toll at 1,404 with about 6,150 people still missing from the disaster, triggered by a glacier and rock collapse near the border with Tibet. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates 32,000 children were displaced and said 18 schools were destroyed and 20 others damaged, leaving about 10,000 school-age children without classes.

Typhoon Dujuan left at least four people dead and 22 injured in Japan, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) said, cited by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, September 22: three deaths in Chiba prefecture and one in Kanagawa, both near Tokyo. Searches for six people missing after landslides continued on Tuesday morning. More than 45,000 households in Chiba were still without power and 460 houses were damaged. The death toll, put at two on the night of Monday, September 21, rose as rescue teams advanced. The storm moved away from the coast and out into the Pacific on Tuesday morning, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to lift or downgrade most heavy rain and landslide warnings. Oshima island recorded 832 millimetres of rain in 48 hours, more than double its average for the whole of September, public broadcaster NHK reported, and Tokyo’s Edogawa ward logged a local record of 282.5 millimetres in 24 hours. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delayed her departure for New York by about four hours and arrived late on Monday, Kyodo reported; she is due to meet Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Typhoon Dujuan has killed two people in Japan, in landslides in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, according to local governments cited by Japanese media, including the Kyodo news agency, and by Agence France-Presse (AFP). Early on Tuesday the storm had moved away from the coast and was heading northeast out to sea with weaker winds, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Japan Airlines cancelled 135 flights and All Nippon Airways (ANA) cancelled 140, and more than 9,000 households near Tokyo lost power, according to AFP. The rain forced the early closure of the Tokyo Game Show, one of the world’s biggest video-game trade fairs, on Monday, its final day, and led to the cancellation of a music festival and a baseball game in Chiba.

Typhoon Dujuan churned along Japan’s east coast on Monday, prompting authorities to urge more than 1.9 million people to evacuate and to cancel hundreds of flights, according to the BBC. The 25th typhoon of the season is not expected to make landfall but could bring record rainfall near Tokyo, with landslide warnings in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, according to The Independent. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported more than 1 million people under evacuation advisories and power outages along the east coast, and United Press International (UPI) reported grounded planes and trains in the central Chubu region.

A US federal judge on Monday refused to block a land exchange that hands SpaceX more than 700 acres (280 hectares) of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, according to the Associated Press (AP). Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, nominated by Donald Trump in his first term, said the plaintiffs offered ‘relatively weak’ evidence of environmental harm and that an injunction would set back the company’s plans. SpaceX surrenders 683 acres (276 hectares) it bought in Cameron County. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) approved the exchange in June in a finding that concluded it would cause no significant impact. The suit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, which said they will keep litigating; spokesperson Laiken Jordahl said the swap amounts to handing public land to the company and clears the way for bulldozers in the refuge. The administration is weighing a similar swap of land in Yosemite National Park in California.

World leaders opened New York’s Climate Week on Monday, running alongside the UN General Assembly, in a year marked by extreme heat across Europe and the United States, wildfires in Africa and a record-breaking El Niño, according to The Guardian. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, gave the opening keynote, and Iceland’s prime minister, Kristrún Frostadóttir, closed the day with her country’s geothermal transition. UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband told AFP the climate crisis is a job for heads of state.