Climate Change

"Coal is looking at a starring role during the Republican national convention, as support for clean coal takes a step toward greater bipartisan support.

The fossil fuel was included in the draft political platform ahead of this week's convention in Cleveland.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who serves as the Republican National Committee's platform chairman, said the final platform would seek to lay out an agenda that reverses the "failed" policies of the Obama administration. Barrasso's state is home to one of the nation's largest coal regions."

"Two leading U.S. Senate Democrats say last year's Paris climate deal should help one of its architects become the next U.N. secretary-general."

"As one of the worst droughts recorded in southern Africa persists ... dry conditions are threatening lives of the region's most vulnerable."

"The Chinese government is trying to slow down the approval of new coal-fired power plants because of overcapacity, but projects already in the pipeline, as well as loopholes in policy, mean China is on track to add an average of one new coal-fired plant a week until 2020, according to a report released on Wednesday by Greenpeace East Asia."

"New York's attorney general is rejecting a congressional committee chairman's demand for records about his investigation into whether Exxon Mobil misled investors about global warming."

"Researchers are finding that kelp, eelgrass, and other vegetation can effectively absorb CO2 and reduce acidity in the ocean. Growing these plants in local waters, scientists say, could help mitigate the damaging impacts of acidification on marine life."

"In the energy business, natural gas is supposed to be one of the good guys — the cleaner-burning fossil fuel that can help wean the world from dirty coal during the transition to a low-carbon future. But when natural gas escapes unburned, as it often does during production and distribution, it is a big troublemaker."

"The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday voted down a Democratic push to allow federal spending on an international climate change program."

"The Union of Concerned Scientists will continue to object to House Republicans' requests for documents and communications on climate change, the nonprofit group's president said."

"Former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres isn't the only contender for secretary-general who has already made climate change a central theme of her vision for the United Nations' future."