Scientific American reports that carbon-dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere continue to climb, promising more significant climate disruption in our future. In April of 2026, the global average concentration of carbon dioxide was 431 ppm, according to data collected at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. April is normally the peak month for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Levels decline as plants take carbon dioxide out of the air as they grow in the spring and summer. The Trump Administration is responding to this depressing statistic by proposing to drastically cut the Observatory’s budget.

The New York Times visits Costa Rica, where (as in many other countries) EV purchases have doubled since last year. The country provides subsidies to encourage citizens to make these purchases in an effort to achieve sustainability goals, but the main reason for the upsurge is saving fuel costs. A grocery chain is saving 5-10% on costs by using EVs for deliveries, and a private bus company is transitioning its entire fleet to EVs. Costa Rica also demonstrates what happens if there are no import restrictions on vehicles, as Chinese models account for one-third of all car sales. “We’re living probably the biggest disruption since we went from the horse to a car a hundred years ago,” said the chief executive of the largest car dealership. Solar Power World notes that recycled EV batteries from Rivian vehicles are now going to be used to provide energy storage at a Rivian factory in Illinois. Inside Climate News describes how the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program has been expanding charging stations in the U.S. despite efforts by the Trump Administration to interfere.

Meanwhile, gas prices continue to climb in the U.S. The Union of Concerned Scientists notes that California residents are now spending about $6 billion per month on gasoline. This is despite a significant decline in demand. ‟While the state’s population has increased slightly, gasoline sales in California have dropped 2.4 billion gallons per year since the peak in 2017.” Better “gasoline vehicle efficiency, the replacement of gasoline cars with EVs, and lower driving with remote and hybrid work arrangements means that drivers in the state are saving $1.2 billion per month compared to if they were driving and using gasoline at the same volume as they were in 2017. And this lower gasoline consumption is despite having more people in the state and having a GDP that grew by $1.7 trillion and at a faster rate than the US as a whole since 2017.” The San Francisco Chronicle found that the monthly cost of driving an EV in California is $166 less than a gasoline-powered car. A year ago this figure was $99.

In an interview with The Guardian, Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said: ‟The oil crisis triggered by the Iran war has changed the fossil fuel industry for ever, turning countries away from fossil fuels to secure energy supplies.” He notes that the Iran war is having an impact on people’s ‟perception of risk and reliability” of fossil fuels, and this will accelerate the shift toward an electrified future. As I noted in Acting Like Plants to Save the World, Birol likened the fossil-fuel industry to a broken vase that cannot be reassembled. He predicts there will be permanent consequences for global energy markets for years, and states, ‟I still cannot understand that the world was so blind-sided, that the global economy can be held hostage to a 50km strait.”

The ‟President’s latest assault on scientific research organizations” is reported on by The New York Times, as Trump unilaterally fired every member of the National Science Board, which advises the National Science Foundation (NSF) on its plans. The NSF, ‟established in 1950 to fund scientific research ranging from quantum computing to microbiology, has been under pressure since Mr. Trump returned to office. Last year, the foundation terminated hundreds of active research awards, and awarded new grants at the slowest pace in at least 35 years. It lost about a third of its employees in layoffs or forced retirements, and its director, a Trump appointee, resigned.” Trump proposed cutting the NSF’s budget by more than half, but Congress kept its funding intact. Trump’s latest budget proposal calls again for cutting funding for the NSF.

Inside Climate News quotes Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist and biogeographer at the University of Maine. “It was incredibly chilling, and my stomach just dropped to my feet when I saw that the entire board had been fired,” Gill said. “Because now this last bastion of accountability and transparency and scientific expertise has been dismantled overnight.” And, of course, there is an expectation that Trump will replace the National Science Board members with people who are devoted to him rather than to science for the public good.

The New York Times reports that a federal judge ‟granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit that a coalition of renewable energy developers filed against the Interior Department in December. The developers argued that the Trump administration was unlawfully discriminating against wind and solar power, impeding projects on public and private land.” This is another in a string of judicial decisions that have put the brakes on the Trump Administration’s efforts to throttle renewable electricity from wind and solar (geothermal has been getting a pass because it involves drilling). ‟The renewable energy developers gave examples of numerous projects that had been blocked by the permitting slowdown. One planned wind farm in Illinois had been delayed indefinitely while waiting for wildlife and water permits, the filings said. The project lost its spot in line to connect to the electrical grid after its developer had already invested $10 million.”

Canary Media notes that, while the U.S. is trying to kneecap wind power, the rest of the world is embracing this renewable domestic energy resource. ‟Global offshore wind capacity rose by over 9 gigawatts in 2025, up 16% from the previous year’s installations, bringing the world’s total offshore wind capacity to about 92 GW. Land-based wind projects saw record gains, adding over 155 GW in 2025.” About half of this additional capacity, both on- and offshore, is in China. The desire for energy security and climate resilience is driving this change.

Heatmap describes the ‟deal” the Trump Administration worked out with TotalEnergies, where the federal government is to pay the company $1 billion to give up its federal wind leases in return for the company’s investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure. Big surprise, it turns out to be a con-job. The Trump Administration described the deal as a mutually beneficial trade but, now that the terms of the deal have been made public, the ‟Americans’ side of the bargain appears to be worthless.” The company is being credited for investments that it has already made.

KneeDeep Times reports on decades of work to reduce respiratory disease in West Oakland, caused primary by particulates and other pollutants from operations at the Port of Oakland. The Port and its local partners, including community groups, have secured a grant from the U.S. EPA for $322 million to electrify equipment. The grant will help the Port of Oakland acquire ‟475 drayage trucks and 188 pieces of zero-emissions cargo handling equipment, including 118 yard tractors, 57 forklifts, eight electric top-picks, four reach stackers, and one rail car mover.” The community sees this project as an opportunity for ‟the port to take ownership and responsibility for the environmental pollution that they’ve been doing to the neighborhood for a hundred years.” The port will be installing charging stations, a solar array and battery storage systems to support the new electrical infrastructure.

‟The Port of Oakland is the main entry point for nearly all waterborne goods moving through Northern California. In January 2025 alone, over 80,000 20-foot containers arrived at its docks, and were then moved onto trucks and rail cars to supply the West; more than 64,000 containers, packed with American-made goods, were shipped out.” So far, the Trump Administration has not tried to interfere with the implementation of this EPA grant.

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