A tank holds untreated waste from plutonium production at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a site that was integral to the nation’s nuclear arsenal after World War II, north of Richland, Washington, in March 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2025
Most contaminated U.S. nuclear site is set to be the largest solar farm
Plans to transform Hanford had just begun inching forward when U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term.
India, the world’s third-biggest emitter, wants to more than double clean-power capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. That won't be easy.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 10, 2025
Eyeing short-term savings, India’s utilities put green energy boom at risk
A federal auction model that helped the country add more than 130 gigawatts of renewables projects over the past decade is under threat of circumvention.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025
Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives
Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
Soaring costs in recent years have upended the investment plans of offshore wind developers globally.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Feb 3, 2025
Mitsubishi reviews Japanese offshore wind after economic changes
Soaring costs in recent years have upended the investment plans of offshore wind developers globally.
A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 26, 2025
How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem
Japan is investing billions of yen to get carbon capture and storage off the ground, but the technology is dogged by high costs and uncertainty.
A coal terminal in China's Hebei province in February 2023. Electricity use in the country grew 6.8% last year, outpacing overall economic growth at the highest clip in at least 15 years.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jan 26, 2025
China’s surging power demand creates a climate conundrum
As the world’s largest polluter, China holds outsized sway over whether emissions can be reduced fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
A worker inspects the outdoor gas pipes at the underground gas storage facility operated by Gas Storage in Haje, Czech Republic, on Jan. 3.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jan 13, 2025
Europe threatens to trigger a global scramble for natural gas
For the first time since the energy crisis was turbocharged by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Europe risks failing to meet its storage targets for next winter.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic