List of Environment articles
![A person with a small dog stands in front of a blue pond, with snow-topped mountains and a bright blue sky in the background. The person is on a gravel surface surrounded by white fences, with light brown shrubs all around the area.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1-GettyImages-2042744043.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
The Hidden Trade-Offs of Climate Policy
Today’s green dogmas cannot deliver an energy transition that is fast, just, and sustainable—all at the same time.
![The wind blows a plastic bag past the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, in Beijing on Jan. 23, 2008.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Olympics-environment-pollution-GettyImages-79171292.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
The Olympics Have a Dirty History—Literally
But a green sports movement is pushing for change, eager to see if Paris will be different.
![Protesters hold placards during a demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Manila.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PHILIPPINES-ENVIRONMENT-TERRORISM-GettyImages-2156458578.png?w=800?quality=90)
Anti-Terrorism Laws Are Being Used Against Environmentalists
Governments from Manila to Atlanta are targeting climate activists.
![A woman's face is obscured by a souvenir fan from Rome, Italy.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/rome-fan-GettyImages-2161273617.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Countering Europe’s Backlash to the Green Transition
A sustainable future is still possible—even amidst a radically altered political climate.
![New electric cars for sale are seen parked at a distribution center of the Changan automobile company in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality on March 24, 2024.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2102854838.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
The Fight Over China’s Electric Cars Is Upside-Down
Why Europe’s car companies are against—and environmentalists are for—making Chinese EVs more expensive.
![Three fishermen in a traditional vote ride the top of a wave as they had out to see. The lights of a gas terminal are seen on the horizon.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/senegal-gas-africa-oil-AP23103625472193.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
The Empty Promise of Africa’s Oil and Gas Boom
The continent is awash in fossil fuel discoveries. But relying on them for development will be disastrous.
![Aerial view of a deforested area of the Amazonia rainforest in the surroundings of the BR-319 highway at the city of Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Sept. 15, 2022.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/brazil-amazon-deforestation-GettyImages-1243267321.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Relieve Debt to Protect the Environment
Debt-for-nature swaps on a grand scale could slow climate change and promote economic growth in the Global South.
![This undated photo shows a rat in the a](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/rats-stowaway-GettyImages-51632741.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Are Rats Actually That Bad?
The rodent’s reputation, revamped.
![Signage indicating directions at Nusantara, the future capital city of Indonesia, in East Kalimantan.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/INDONESIA-CAPITAL-NUSANTARA-GettyImages-1246024054.png?w=800?quality=90)
Indonesia’s New Capital Is a Mess of Trees and Dirt
Environmental questions linger over the Nusantara project.
![Residents look on from their flooded house after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CLIMATE-TAX-FUNDING-GettyImages-2155281799.png?w=800?quality=90)
Who Pays for Climate Action?
Small island states are pointing the way on finding innovative funding.
![President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen delivers her speech during the Green Deal Summit 2023 on September 26, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-1689524588.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Europe’s Green Moment Is Over
After years of riding high, EU elections are about to send the continent’s green parties back to earth.
![The view from above a group of people as they lay on scorched, dry ground.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1-climate-change-degrowth-drought-spain-GettyImages-1249065518.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
No, It’s Not Too Late to Save the Planet
Doomism robs people of the agency and incentive to participate in a solution to the climate crisis.
![A city power worker removes an illegally connected electrical cable in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 9, 2022.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/South-Africa-electricity-GettyImages-1241195544.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Can South Africa Keep the Lights On?
Even with the suspension of power cuts, voters remain skeptical ahead of the country's general elections.
![A steel worker takes an iron sample from a blast furnace, surrounded by molten iron.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/steel-production-US-China-GettyImages-976692744.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
How Steel Built the Modern Economy
And how it might yet save it.
![Copper miners at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Butte, Montana.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/copper-mining-us-GettyImages-3431075.jpg?w=800?quality=90)
Uncle Sam Wants You to Join the Mining Industry
A major talent squeeze is complicating Washington’s critical mineral ambitions.