BANGKOK (AP) — China is exporting a record amount of clean energy technology and that is making a dent in global emissions. Interest in renewables has surged due to the energy crisis from the Iran war. A report released Thursday shows that China’s exports of clean energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles will avert an estimated 450 million metric tons of carbon dioxide this year. Experts say this is a small sign of progress in faltering global efforts to curb climate change. Such issues are likely to be on the agenda of annual United Nations climate talks kicking off next month in Turkey. By Anton L. Delgado, Associated Press   Banner image: Installers haul a solar panel onto the roof of a home in Manila, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. Image courtesy of Anton L. Delgado via Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay

KAKINADA, India (AP) — A powerful cyclone battered India ’s Andhra Pradesh state on Wednesday, killing at least three people and damaging homes and farmland after authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people, officials said. Cyclone Arnab made landfall early Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm before weakening to a severe cyclonic storm as it moved inland, the India Meteorological Department said. Two women were electrocuted in separate incidents in the port city of Visakhapatnam, while another person was killed when a tree fell in East Godavari district, officials said. State disaster management officials said late Wednesday morning that wind speeds reached 135 kph (84 mph). Officials said the cyclone was expected to weaken further as it moved inland, with wind speeds likely to ease later in the day. The state’s chief minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, said that 14 coastal districts of the state were badly affected. He said winds and heavy rains caused widespread damage to houses, road networks, electrical poles and power supply infrastructure. He requested urgent assistance from the central government. The cyclone damaged 79,000 acres of crops and dozens of homes. The worst hit area was the state’s fertile Konaseema district. Banana and coconut plantations suffered extensively and a large number of trees and electricity poles were uprooted, disrupting electricity across the district, officials said. The meteorological service said the landfall process was complete and heavy rainfall as well as strong winds would continue under the cyclone’s influence in coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The discovery of five baby orangutans abandoned on a plantation in eastern India is highlighting the country’s growing role as a destination for trafficked apes. Experts say wealthy collectors, expanding air links with Southeast Asia and loopholes in wildlife laws are to blame. India also legally imported 41 orangutans between 2021 and 2024 and experts have raised questions about their origins. At the same time, efforts to return rescued orangutans to Indonesia have stalled. Scrutiny over ownership of apes intensified after one orangutan was transferred to a private wildlife facility run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s family. By Aniruddha Ghosal and Victoria Milko, Associated Press Banner image: Six baby orangutans playing on the ground at Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Bjorn Vaugn / BOSF / GreenpeaceThis article was originally published on Mongabay

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan shut down schools and offices and grounded hundreds of flights as Typhoon Champi brushed by the island Friday, packing strong winds and torrential rains. Champi peaked at 298 kph (185 mph) maximum sustained winds earlier this week but has weakened to 155 kph (96 mph) winds as it approached Taiwan from the southwest. Its center is forecast to remain offshore as it sweeps by the island’s northeastern tip before turning north toward Japan’s southwestern islands. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration urged residents in coastal areas to avoid outdoor activities and driving and be cautious of falling objects. One person was killed Thursday after being swept away by waves in Liuqiu, a small island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan’s main island, according to the fire department. More than 170 other people were injured in the storm. More than 2,600 people have been evacuated from vulnerable, mountainous areas, the government said. All of Taiwan’s 262 domestic flights were canceled, along with 669 international flights, according to the transport ministry. High-speed rail services on the western coast were operating normally. The capital Taipei, in northern Taiwan, saw light showers and gusts of winds. Transportation services including the subway remained open. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te visited the island’s Central Emergency Operation Center in New Taipei City, which spans from near the capital to Taiwan’s northern coast. Champi has a massive radius of around 320 kilometers (200 miles), large enough to engulf most of Taiwan. Experts expect its biggest effect…This article was originally published on Mongabay

With host communities across the U.S. turning against their gargantuan data centers, America’s technology giants are promising to take fewer taxpayer handouts, keep fewer secrets or shower more money onto the communities willing to allow the server warehouses. The promises come as anti-data center sentiment has become a potent issue in the midterm election with control of Congress and 36 governors’ offices on the line. In addition to ramping up financial incentives, officials with Google and Meta said in interviews with The Associated Press they are trying to address mistrust by being more transparent with communities where they would like to build. By Marc Levy and Kaitlyn Huamani, Associated Press Banner image: Anti-data center demonstrators protest at the Pennsylvania state Capitol, Oct. 6, 2026, in Harrisburg, Pa. Image courtesy of Marc Levy, Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay

LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — A bow once used to fire arrows in an ancient hunt. A crunched tube of mayonnaise and a discarded wine bottle. An alpinist’s cracked helmet. A statuette dating back to Roman times. The Glacier Garden in Lucerne is showcasing artifacts like these in a new exhibit of relics that have emerged from Switzerland’s vaunted glaciers over the years, with more expected to come as global warming accelerates the thaw. The exhibit, whose title translates as “Treasury of Ice” from German, comes as Swiss glaciologists recently reported that Switzerland lost 5.5% of its total glacier volume this year, the second-biggest decline on record. “The glaciers are disappearing very, very fast now and before that completely happens, we want to show to the people that this is a very important and interesting archive of what we will lose, unfortunately,” said Andreas Burri, director of the Glacier Garden, an open-air museum. The exhibit features an array of relics — a cow skull, boots, a primitive sort of Swiss army knife, ski gear — as well as videos from Swiss glaciers, charts showing the level of thaw over the years, and a mockup of a glacier flow. Some, Burri says, was just rubbish. “It’s trash. People either lost it or threw it away. We don’t really know for sure,” he said. “But it does give an idea of the variety of things that are now being found as the glaciers melt away.” The remnants from the ice are stacked on…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A battery system that stores excess energy when it’s plentiful will power an apartment building in Buffalo, New York, when the grid is strained and electricity is costly. The manufacturer and state officials hope it will show that larger batteries can safely operate where people live and work. Buffalo-based battery storage manufacturer Viridi and developer Good Carbon Co. say the lithium-ion battery system is connected to the electric grid for Peace Bridge Place. Viridi says the 3.75 megawatt-hour system can power the building for several days. It’s among the largest of these systems in a U.S. residential building. By Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press Banner image: A sign for Peace Bridge Place apartments that have Viridi’s lithium-ion battery energy storage system in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Image courtesy of Lauren Petracca, Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay

Typhoon Champi has moved from the western Pacific into the Philippine Sea and has become a Category 5 super typhoon, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. It had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (258 kph) by late Monday Asia time, and was not near land. Champi earlier passed close to Guam, and the governors of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands requested emergency disaster declarations Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump approved the emergency declaration for Guam. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said federal assistance was available for the territory to supplement local response efforts. Airports, harbors and some health facilities in the territories were closed. Relief supplies were unlikely to reach the islands for three to five days, FEMA said Saturday. Meanwhile, former hurricane Trudy weakened to a tropical storm early Monday after it lashed parts of Mexico’s Pacific coast with rain and winds. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (100 kph) and was moving west at 6 mph (9 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Trudy was moving away from the coast and its center was forecast to pass south of the Baja California Peninsula on Monday and Tuesday. Some further rainfall was possible in the region where the ground has been saturated by successive storms. By Associated Press Banner image: This GOES-19 GeoColor satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and taken on Thursday, Oct. 15 2026, shows Hurricane Trudy in the Pacific. Image courtesy…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Promises by nations to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to finance nature and increase protections for oceans around the globe are falling short ahead of a key U.N. biodiversity conference. The warnings from the head of the conference and environmental groups comes as the countries gather Monday in Yerevan, Armenia for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP17. The conference running from Oct. 19 to Oct. 30 is a chance for countries to take stock of their progress after agreeing to a historic deal in 2022. Countries agreed to protect 30% of land and water considered important for biodiversity by 2030 and raise at least $200 billion by 2030. By Michael Casey, Associated Press Banner image: Flamingos feed at Duden Lake near the town of Kulu, in Konya province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. Image courtesy of Emrah GurelThis article was originally published on Mongabay

ISTANBUL (AP) — A heavy downpour has shut down Istanbul, flooded homes and roads and killed at least three people, officials said Thursday, as rescuers evacuated hundreds of stranded people. The downpour Wednesday night flooded homes and businesses and inundated roads and underpasses, stranding vehicles and causing traffic chaos in Turkey’s largest city. In some neighborhoods, the floods swept away cars, sending them crashing into one another. It was the heaviest rainfall in the city in 83 years, said Murat Kurum, the minister for the environment, urbanization and climate change. The Istanbul governor’s office on Thursday reported three deaths in the city and said five other people were reported missing. A 14-year-old was electrocuted after stepping in a puddle at a park in the Fatih district, and a 34-year-old slipped on a sidewalk in the Sariyer district and hit their head, local media reports said. The governor’s office said the body of a third victim was discovered near another park in the Kagithane district. More than 3,000 people who were stranded by the floods were safely evacuated throughout the city, Kurum said. The minister, who will chair the U.N. climate change conference, COP31, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya next month, linked the floods to the climate crisis. “Climate change is no longer an issue of the future; it is the most important issue of today,” he told reporters. “Unfortunately, climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. We are now facing more intense rainfall events.” In Sakarya province, around 150…This article was originally published on Mongabay

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a lobster fisherman who alleged the government requiring commercial fishing boats to use electronic tracking devices amounts to unreasonable search and seizure. Maine lobster fisherman Frank Thompson sued after his state began requiring all federally permitted lobstermen to install GPS trackers on their boats to collect data that will help manage the industry. Thompson appealed to the high court after losing at the appeals court level. The Supreme Court formally denied Thompson’s petition on Oct. 5. The decision allows the state to collect “critically important” data, said Carl Wilson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “It will inform the lobster stock assessment, enhance offshore enforcement, and support better decision-making in a range of federal management contexts,” Wilson said in a statement. Thompson’s lawsuit raised questions about the limits of government surveillance and the ways commercial fisheries are managed. Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented Thompson, said in a Tuesday statement that “the fight over whether the government can use industry regulations to sidestep Fourth Amendment protections is far from over.” The foundation said in a blog post that the court’s decision means some 1,200 Maine lobster fishermen who hold federal permits can be tracked. However, the legal battle over government surveillance isn’t over, the foundation said. Environmental groups that have called for more commercial fishing surveillance cheered the decision. Some have said the industry needs to be monitored more closely to protect rare North Atlantic…This article was originally published on Mongabay

SERANGAN ISLAND, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities on the tourist island of Bali released 20 protected green sea turtles back into the ocean Tuesday after they were found and seized on an empty boat seemingly abandoned by wildlife smugglers fleeing a police raid. Officers conducted final checks on the turtles at a conservation center on Serangan Island, also known as Turtle Island, in southern Bali. They then carefully lifted the turtles using blue cloths and transported them by small truck to the shoreline. Marine police officers in Bali on Saturday foiled an attempt to smuggle 22 green sea turtles, known by the scientific name Chelonia mydas, in the waters off Serangan Island after receiving a report from residents who suspected sea turtle smuggling activity in the area. Two of the 22 turtles are still sick and need to be treated before they can also be released, Gusti Agung Purnama Wirahadi from the Bali Water and Air Police said Tuesday. All of the turtles, which are protected species in Indonesia, were found alive on the boat, but the suspected smugglers had already fled the scene by the time officers arrived. “We hope that no one will dare to capture, keep, or trade these protected species anymore,” Wirahadi said. Turtle species in Indonesia have been legally protected under conservation and fisheries laws since 1990. A 2018 Environment Ministry regulation further clarified protections for the six species of sea turtles found in the country’s waters. Additional government regulations also prohibit their trade. According…This article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Wildfires sweeping across parts of Indonesia’s Borneo island have left endangered orangutans struggling to survive, prompting rescuers to evacuate animals found injured, stranded and surrounded by thick haze. A female Bornean orangutan nicknamed Novita was among dozens of apes rescued from wildfires in parts of Sumatra and Borneo in recent months. She was found clinging to a nearly leafless tree as dense smoke billowed across the scorched landscape in the Katune forest in Central Kalimantan province, said Jamartin Sihite, the chairman of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. “The palms of her hands and the soles of her feet suffered burns that were likely sustained when Novita crossed a burned area while trying to reach a tree,” Sihite told The Associated Press in an interview. He said that Novita, estimated to be 3 to 4 years old, was tranquilized, given oxygen and intravenous fluids and taken to the rehabilitation center in Nyaru Menteng. Once her burns have healed, Novita will be evaluated to see if she can climb and survive in her natural environment, Sihite said. “We have previously released orangutans missing several fingers and they were still able to survive in the forest, so we remain hopeful that Novita can eventually return to the wild.” Forest and land fires in Indonesia have worsened this year as El Niño intensifies a prolonged dry season, not only in the Indonesian part of Borneo but also in some regions on Sumatra island. Water shortages in the areas have hampered…This article was originally published on Mongabay

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Heavy rains lashed much of central Vietnam on Friday and caused flooding in parts of the historic city of Hue, a day after floods and landslides hit the coastal port city of Danang. Troops were mobilized and amphibious armored vehicles readied for rescue operations, state media reported. More rainfall was forecast through Sunday morning and authorities warned that continued downpours could trigger flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas and flooding in low-lying communities. In Hue, the country’s former imperial capital known for its centuries-old palaces, rainfall over the past three days exceeded 800 millimeters (31.5 inches), increasing the risk of flash floods and landslides. The rain was heaviest in coastal lowlands and hilly areas in the city’s south. In Danang, residential areas and streets were inundated on Thursday, with water levels more than waist-high in some areas, exceeding 1 meter (3.3 feet). Rescue teams helped evacuate children and move residents’ belongings to safety. A man remained missing after a boat carrying him and his wife capsized on the Truong Giang River on Wednesday afternoon, state media reported. The couple were returning home after cutting grass when their boat overturned. The woman, who could not swim, clung to a sack of grass and was swept nearly 300 meters (yards) downstream before residents rescued her. Her husband was carried away by the current. The military deployed nearly 130 troops in Danang and more rescue teams were formed. Amphibious armored vehicles were readied in case conditions worsen, state…This article was originally published on Mongabay

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The families of thousands of people who remain missing in Nepal weeks after catastrophic floods devastated the country have expressed mixed feelings after the government said this week that it is stopping the search for victims. The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah decided on Monday that search and rescue operations for victims of the Aug. 26 floods will cease. Instead, authorities will concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction including restoring roads and bridges cut off by floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made aid deliveries difficult. Rescuers have so far recovered the bodies of at least 1,455 people, but 5,285 others remain missing, including hundreds of foreigners. The government estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost $4.77 billion. Nearly 33,000 people have been affected and about 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed. Hopes for finding survivors were briefly revived after two Nepalese workers were rescued from an underground tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project on Sept. 4, and again two days later when rescuers found a Chinese man at the same location. Families of victims have held protests and vigils in Nepal, calling for search efforts to be improved. “I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing. I just don’t understand how they can do that when we still have hope left that our loved one can still be found,” said Usha Khatri, who has spent days searching for her husband in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center on Wednesday issued a hurricane watch for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours. Isaias was centered about 260 miles (420 kilometers) northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 540 miles (870 kilometers) southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph). Forecasters predict Isaias will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path and timing could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. The hurricane center said residents of the northern Gulf Coast should prepare for dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rain that could trigger flash floods. “It’s definitely time to look at your hurricane plan and put whatever you need into…This article was originally published on Mongabay