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Climate
Despite Trump-Musk Feud, CO2 Milestone Is the 'Important News of the Day'
Scientists said that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations peaked above 430 parts per million for the first time in perhaps 30 million years.
Jun 06, 2025
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere peaked above 430 parts per million in 2025—the highest it has been in millions of years—according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego on Thursday.
The news was overshadowed by the explosive feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and his erstwhile backer Elon Musk, but climate activist Bill McKibben argued that it was ultimately more consequential.
"In the long run, this is actually going to be the important news of the day—CO2 in the atmosphere passes another grim milestone," McKibben wrote on social media.
In the long run, this is actually going to be the important news of the day--co2 in the atmosphere passes another grim milestone
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— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Carbon dioxide has been accumulating in the atmosphere due primarily to the human burning of fossil fuels, as well as by the clearing of forests and other natural carbon sinks. There, it acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping heat from the Earth, and is the primary gas responsible for the rise of global temperatures by approximately 1.1°C from the 1850 -1900 average. This warming has already had a host of dramatic impacts, from extreme weather events to sea-level rise to polar ice melt, and scientists warn these impacts will only accelerate under current energy policies, which put the world on track for around 3°C of warming by 2100.
The last time that atmospheric CO2 concentrations topped 430 ppm was most likely more than 30 million years ago, Ralph Keeling, who directs the Scripps CO2 Program, toldNBC News.
"It's changing so fast," he said. "If humans had evolved in such a high-CO2 world, there would probably be places where we wouldn't be living now. We probably could have adapted to such a world, but we built our society and a civilization around yesterday's climate."
"While largely symbolic, passing 430 ppm should be a wake-up call."
Scripps and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both measure carbon dioxide levels from NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, where Charles Keeling began taking measurements in 1958. As CO2 levels rise over time, they also follow a seasonal cycle—peaking in May before falling in the Northern Hemisphere summer and rising again in the fall.
This May, Scripps Oceanography calculated an average of 430.2 ppm for 2025, which is 3.5 ppm over the average for May 2024. NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory, meanwhile, calculated a monthly average of 430.5 ppm, a 3.6 ppm jump from the year before and the second-steepest yearly climb since 1958.
"Another year, another record," Keeling said in a statement. "It's sad."
The news comes two months after Mauna Loa daily measurements surpassed 430 ppm for the first time in March, which Plymouth Marine Laboratory professor Helen Findlay called "extremely disappointing and worrying."
"While largely symbolic, passing 430 ppm should be a wake-up call, especially given the accelerated response we are seeing of glaciers and ice sheets to current warming," Dr. James Kirkham, chief scientist of the Ambition on Melting Ice coalition of governments, said at the time.
"This upward trajectory is a direct result of continued fossil fuel use, likely exacerbated by emissions from extreme wildfires last year, methane leaks from fossil fuel extraction and possibly greater permafrost emissions, alongside decreased ability of very warm oceans to absorb CO2," Kirkham said.
The monthly record also comes a little more than a week after a United Nations report warned that there was a small chance global temperatures could surpass 2°C in at least 1 of the next 5 years, only a decade after world leaders pledged in the Paris agreement to keep global temperatures "well-below" that level.
"Carbon emissions are still rising, and the atmosphere is going to keep heating further until greenhouse gas concentrations stabilize," Matt Kean, who chairs Australia's Climate Change Authority, wrote in response to the Scripps and NOAA figures. "What sort of climate do we want to leave our children and those who come after them?"
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Greenpeace Denmark Complaint Accuses Dairy Giant of 'Systemic Greenwashing'
"Greenwashing and false marketing will not be tolerated, no matter how big you are and where you are based," said one Greenpeace Denmark campaigner.
Jun 05, 2025
Greenpeace Denmark this week filed a formal complaint against the Denmark-based dairy producer Arla Foods, accusing the firm of creating a "false and misleading picture" of actual emission reductions the company has achieved.
The green group is arguing the company has both misled consumers when it comes to Arla's progress toward achieving climate goals and that its reporting does not meet requirements under the Danish Annual Accounts Act.
Arla is the world's fifth-largest dairy company, according to its website.
Greenpeace Denmark submitted the complaint to the Danish Business Authority, the body in Denmark that controls and supervises compliance with business regulations, on Monday.
Greenpeace Denmark says it is concerned that data from Arla's annual reports appears to show that Arla has "changed its calculation methods and data foundation for Scope 3 emissions per kilogram of milk and whey since the original 2015 baseline year," but the dairy producer has not consistently or transparently adjusted that baseline across all of its reporting.
"The 2015 baseline is built on older, less precise national statistics from 2012, and the subsequent shift to more specific farm-level data and new emission factors—without a clear and consistent baseline adjustment—creates major uncertainty about Arla's real emission reductions since 2015," per the complaint.
The Danish Annual Accounts Act includes requirements to disclose corporate social responsibility information that is true and not misleading. Compliance with this provision, according to the complaint, "is essential because the provision is intended to ensure transparency about a company's environmental and broader sustainability impacts. The rules aim to give investors, partners, and society at large access to essential, credible, and comparable information about corporate sustainability practices, risks, and objectives."
"Arla presents itself as a Big Dairy role model on climate and nature, with a concern for animal welfare. But behind the scenes, it is lobbying to repeal laws that ensure the well-being of farm animals. This must stop, and the public needs to know," said Gustav Martner, creative lead and advertising expert at Greenpeace Nordic, in a statement published Wednesday.
This latest complaint comes on the heels of two complaints filed by Greenpeace Sweden against Arla, also alleging "systemic greenwashing," and a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace Aotearoa (New Zealand) last year against the dairy firm Fonterra.
"By coordinating complaints against Arla in both countries it calls home, we aim to set a precedent: Greenwashing and false marketing will not be tolerated, no matter how big you are and where you are based," said Christian Fromberg, campaign lead of agriculture and nature at Greenpeace Denmark, in a statement on Wednesday.
Common Dreams wrote to Arla for comment about the complaints. The company did not respond before press time.
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Analyses Expose Ocean Protection Failures Before UN Summit on 'Unprecedented Crisis'
"Conserving 30% of our ocean by 2030 is not just a target—it's a lifeline for communities, food security, biodiversity, and the global economy," said one advocate.
Jun 05, 2025
Ahead of the third United Nations summit on oceans, scheduled for next week, multiple analyses have highlighted how humanity is failing to address the multipronged emergency faced by the world's seas.
"The ocean is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overuse of marine resources," Li Junhua, secretary-general for the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), toldU.N. News.
UNOC3 is co-chaired by Costa Rica and France, and set to be held in the French coastal city of Nice June 9-13. Its theme is "accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean."
"Only $1.2 billion of finance is flowing to ocean protection and conservation—less than 10% of what is needed."
One of the new analyses—The Ocean Protection Gap: Assessing Progress Toward the 30×30 Target—was commissioned by the Bloomberg Ocean Fund and produced in partnership with nature groups, including WWF International.
The report, released Thursday, focuses on the 30×30 goal from the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which is a commitment to conserve at least 30% of the world's land and ocean by 2030. The document warns that right now, "just 8.6% of the ocean is protected, with only 2.7% assessed and deemed effectively protected—a far cry from the 30% target."
Additionally, "only $1.2 billion of finance is flowing to ocean protection and conservation—less than 10% of what is needed," the report notes. It urges governments behind the framework to boost funding, including honoring their pledge to "provide at least $20 billion by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 in international biodiversity finance to developing countries."
Calling the analysis "a wake-up call," Pepe Clarke, oceans practice leader at WWF, stressed that "we have the science, the tools, and a global agreement, but without bold political leadership and a rapid scaling of ambition, funding, and implementation, the promise of 30×30 will remain unfulfilled. Conserving 30% of our ocean by 2030 is not just a target—it's a lifeline for communities, food security, biodiversity, and the global economy."
🚨In a timely comment piece in @nature.com ahead of #UNOC3, leading ocean scientists make the case for protecting the High Seas from all extraction. @profcallum.bsky.social @ubcoceans.bsky.social @marklynas.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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— Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (@deepseaconserve.bsky.social) June 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Another new report, released Thursday by the U.S.-based Earth Insight in partnership with groups from around the world, details "the global expansion of offshore and coastal oil and gas development and its profound threats to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of coastal communities—drawing on regional case studies to illustrate these threats."
The analysis found significant overlap between fossil fuel blocks—sites where exploration and production are permitted—and coral, mangroves, sea grass, and allegedly protected areas. It calls for halting oil and gas expansion, retiring blocks not already assigned to investors, ending financial support for coastal and offshore fossil fuel development, investing in renewables, ensuring a just transition, restoring impacted ecosystems, and strengthening legal, financial, and policy frameworks.
Last week, Oceana released another analysis of fishing in France's six Marine Nature Parks in 2024. The conservation group found that over 100 bottom trawling vessels appeared to spend more than 17,000 hours fishing in these "protected" spaces.
"Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive and wasteful practices taking place in our ocean today," said Oceana board member and Sea Around Us Project founder Daniel Pauly in a statement. "These massive, weighted nets bulldoze the ocean floor, destroying everything in their path and remobilizing carbon stored in the seabed. You cannot destroy areas and call them protected. We don't need more bulldozed tracks on the seafloor. We need protected areas that benefit people and nature."
Nicolas Fournier, Oceana's campaign director for marine protection in Europe, urged action by French President Emmanuel Macron.
"This is a problem President Macron can no longer ignore," said Fournier. "France needs to go from words to action—and substantiate its claim of achieving 30×30 by actually protecting its marine treasures from destructive fishing."
As #UNOC3 approaches, it's clear: a #FossilFreeOcean is no longer optional, but a moral and legal imperative. The fight for our oceans is urgent! Read more: bit.ly/3HtViJl
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— Center for International Environmental Law (@ciel.org) June 5, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Greenpeace has also recently called out the "weaknesses" of French marine protections—and then faced what the group condemned as retaliation from the government: Authorities blocked its ship, Arctic Sunrise, from entering the port of Nice.
"Arctic Sunrise had been invited by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the 'One Ocean Science Congress' and in the ocean wonders parade taking place right before the U.N. Ocean Conference," the group explained in a Tuesday statement. "Greenpeace International had intended to deliver the messages of 3 million people calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining to the politicians attending the conference."
Greenpeace International executive director Mads Christensen denounced the "attempt to silence fair criticism" before UNOC3 as "clearly a political decision" and "utterly unacceptable."
"France wants this to be a moment where they present themselves as saviors of the oceans while they want to silence any criticism of their own failures in national waters. We will not be silenced," Christensen declared. "Greenpeace and the French government share the same objective to get a moratorium on deep-sea mining, which makes the ban of the Arctic Sunrise from Nice even more absurd."
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Trump Administration Uses Emergency Power to Rescue Another Dying Fossil Fuel Plant
The Energy Department's order "will result in American households paying even higher electricity bills," warned one consumer advocate.
Jun 02, 2025
Consumers are set to foot the bill after the Trump administration intervened late last week to prevent the closure of the fossil fuel-powered Eddystone Generating Station, a Pennsylvania plant owned by Constellation Energy that was set to shut down its remaining units on Saturday.
The order from U.S. President Donald Trump's Energy Department marked the second time the administration has invoked emergency authority to rescue a dying fossil fuel plant. Last month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright stepped in to halt the closure of the J.H. Campbell power plant in West Olive, Michigan.
The authority cited in the orders is "typically reserved for emergencies such as extreme weather events and war," Bloombergobserved.
Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, warned in a statement following the Energy Department's latest order that "extending the life of the unit will force ratepayers to shell out money to cover expensive maintenance and overpay for expensive power that will result in American households paying even higher electricity bills, as Trump's emergency order requires consumers to pay 100% of all costs to get the plant up and running, including a guaranteed profit for Constellation."
"Trump's last-minute emergency order—issued literally on the last day these power plants were set to operate—causes significant, expensive complications," said Slocum. "Old units like Eddystone require both minor and major maintenance—maintenance that was deferred because of its planned retirement on May 31."
In December 2023, Constellation informed PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, that it would be retiring Eddystone Units 3 and 4, which ran on either fracked gas or oil. Constellation said at the time that "continued operation" of the units was "expected to be uneconomic."
PJM Interconnection signed off on Constellation's decision to retire the units in a letter dated February 27, 2024. But in the wake of the Energy Department's emergency order on Friday, PJM praised the Trump administration's intervention as "prudent."
Public Citizen slammed PJM's statement as a "craven, politically motivated about-face."
The order rescuing Eddystone Generating Station came days after the Trump Energy Department moved to save the coal-fired J.H. Campbell Generating Plant, stunning Michigan officials.
“It came as a surprise to everybody, and it was baffling why they chose this plant," Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, told The Washington Post. "Nobody asked for this order. The power grid operator did not. The utility that owns the plant did not. The state regulator did not."
Citing state officials, the Post noted that "the move will collectively increase electric bills forratepayers in the Midwest by tens of millions of dollars." The J.H. Campbell plant is "the largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in West Michigan," according to the Sierra Club.
Trump laid the groundwork to save the fossil fuel plants earlier this month with an executive order instructing the Energy Department "to develop a process for using emergency powers to prevent unprofitable coal plants from shutting down in order to avert power outages."
Bryan Smigielski, organizer of the Sierra Club's Michigan campaign, called the administration's J.H. Campbell plant rescue a "blatant act of federal overreach" that "is being imposed against the wishes of Michigan consumers, businesses, regulators, and elected leaders."
"Don't be fooled: There is no 'energy emergency' here—just a payday for the coal industry that leaves us with higher bills and dirtier air," Smigielski added.
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