Peter Prengaman, a long-time Associated Press journalist who has had many roles in nearly 20 years with the cooperative, has been appointed Climate and Environmental news director. Prengaman was photographed on Nov. 17, 2021, in Phoenix Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross Franklin)

Staff Writer

Global climate and environment news director

Scientists and veterinarians capture a pink river dolphin in the Amazon River to perform health checks Sept. 7, 2025, in Puerto Narino, Colombia. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

AP photographers capture destruction, heartache and resilience as climate change advanced in 2025

Tropical storms pummeled the land and ravaged ecosystems. Powerful floods engulfed streets and left cars stuck in mud. And fires scorched trees and consumed houses.

André Corrêa do Lago, COP30 president, sits before the start of a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Many hoped UN climate talks in Brazil would be historic. They may be remembered as a flop

For years, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, along with many climate experts, had high hopes for the U.N. climate talks that just finished in Brazil.

A volcanic eruption is visible near the town of Grindavik, on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco, File)

In Iceland, a town still shaken by volcanic eruptions tries to recover

Nine volcanic eruptions since December 2023 have shaken the Icelandic town of Grindavik and forced residents to repeatedly evacuate.

Firefighters work from a deck as the Palisades Fire burns a beachfront property Jan. 8, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

The eye behind the lens: AP photographers on pictures capturing horror and emotions of LA fires

As uncontrolled blazes have turned large swaths of Los Angeles into hellscapes the last week, Associated Press photographers have been on the frontlines.

Firefighters watch as water is dropped on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Landscapes turned into hellscapes, shock and the ongoing fight against wildfires in Los Angeles

Firefighters on Saturday raced to get the upperhand on blazes chewing through homes in the greater Los Angeles area, five days after powerful winds swept across a bone-dry landscape and fueled urban wildfires that have turned much of the world famous city into a hellscape.

Grant Douglas pauses while evacuating as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Calif., July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

From destruction to deadly heat, Associated Press photographers capture climate change in 2024

After heat records were smashed and a torrent of extreme weather events rocked countless countries in 2023, some climate scientists believed that the waning of the El Nino weather pattern could mean 2024 would be slightly cooler.

Nick Chow, part of the COP29 Singapore Pavilion team, poses for a photo with NEWBrew, beer made with treated wastewater, during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

At UN climate talks, “sewage” beer from Singapore highlights water scarcity and innovations

The Singapore pavilion at the United Nations climate talks offers attendees free beer with an ingredient that’s surprising to many — treated wastewater.

FILE - Solar panels sit in the yard of an apartment building in Lyman, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko, File)

Ukraine has seen success in building clean energy, which is harder for Russia to destroy

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Maxim Timchenko, who runs the largest private energy company in Ukraine, pulls out a piece of paper with bar charts showing how much new electricity his company has brought online this year in the country versus how much Russian bombs have destroyed.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks to the media at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Head of UN nuclear watchdog: ‘Dire straits dynamic’ with Iran’s nuclear program amid Mideast wars

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran this week to meet with officials including its new president.

FILE - A cargo ship sails toward the Pacific Ocean waiting to transit the Panama Canal in Panama City, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

Head of international shipping regulator says industry must do more to cut carbon pollution

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary general of the International Maritime Organization, says international shipping companies need to do more to decarbonize their fleets right now.

Pattie Gonia performs at the "Save Her! Environmental Drag Show" during Climate Week, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

Drag queen Pattie Gonia aims to give the climate movement a makeover with joy and laughter

“Save Her! Environmental Drag Show” has become a popular attraction during New York’s Climate Week, which brings scientists, activists, executives from green energy companies, politicians and many others to the city for hundreds of climate-related events.

FILE - Margarita Salazar wipes sweat off her brow inside her home amid high heat in Veracruz, Mexico, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)

A 13-month streak of global temperature records just ended. Here are five takeaways

After 13 months of what felt like an endless breaking of heat records, the streak came to an end last month.

FILE - Workers build the stands for the upcoming Olympic Games on the Champ-de-Mars just beside the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, April 1, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)

Paris is aiming for the most sustainable Olympics yet. Organizers acknowledge the plan isn’t perfect

Organizers of the Paris Olympics have set ambitious goals for environmental sustainability. They aim to reduce the Olympics’ overall carbon footprint by half compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.

Yaad Ali, left, and his son Musikur Alam, row a boat to collect drinking water in the floodwaters in Sandahkhaiti, a floating island village in the Brahmaputra River in Morigaon district, Assam, India, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

AP photos reveal intensity, insecurity and inequality in 2023 as world altered by climate change

Punishing heat that hovered and hung on much longer than usual. Flash floods that washed away large swaths of land and life.

Britain's Minister for Climate Graham Stuart speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Heard at UN climate talks: Quotes that tell the story

Over 14 days of U.N. climate talks, delegates from nearly 200 countries debated, made proposals, lobbed criticisms and did their best to convince each other how best to stop the planet from warming at a dangerous pace.

FILE - Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a group photo at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Brazil’s Lula takes heat on oil plans at UN climate talks, a turnaround after hero status last year

At last year’s climate talks, then Brazilian President-elect Inacio Lula da Silva was received as a hero with chants of “Lula! Lula! Lula!”

FILE - Capuava oil refinery owned by Petrobras sits in Maui, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

At COP28 meeting, oil companies pledge to combat methane. Environmentalists call it a “smokescreen”

Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production are pledging to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030.

FILE - The United Nations flag is adjusted ahead of the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

5 reasons why COP28, the UN climate talks, are worth your attention

The annual U.N. climate talks are nearly two weeks of delegates meeting. They use wonky terms like “NDCs,” “1.5 degrees” and “loss and damage.”

Capuava oil refinery owned by Petrobras sits in Maui, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Petrobras specializes in deep water exploration, drilling and extraction. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Oil companies attending climate talks have minimal green energy transition plans, AP analysis finds

Oil and gas companies have a large presence at international climate talks aimed at getting the world to sharply reduce emissions, which lead to climate change.

A single-use cup undergoes a rigidity test at the Tryer Center at Starbucks headquarters, Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Seattle. Paper pulp from recycled cups has shorter fibers than virgin pulp, which means less rigidity, important particularly with hot coffee. Part of the company's goal is to cut waste, water use and carbon emissions in half by 2030. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Citing sustainability, Starbucks wants to overhaul its iconic cup. Will customers go along?

For a generation and more, Starbucks’ throwaway cup has been a cornerstone of consumer society, first in the United States and then globally.

FILE - People watch the sunset from a peak at Papago Park, Feb. 19, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

As he leaves Phoenix’s blistering sun, AP’s climate news director reflects on desert life

For four years, The Associated Press’ global climate and environment news director, Peter Prengaman, has lived in Phoenix.

Bobby Rhinebolt, right, smokes a cigarette while sitting beside Victor Perez near a formerly sunken boat that is now above the waterline at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, near Boulder City, Nev., on June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/John Locher)

In 2022, AP photographers captured pain of a changing planet

In 2022, Associated Press photographers captured signs of a planet in distress as climate change reshaped many lives.

FILE - Mari Carmen Zambrano poses for a photo on her broken and wet bed as she dries it outside her home that lost its roof to Hurricane Ian in La Coloma, in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

EXPLAINER: How will UN climate deal on loss and damage work?

The establishment of a fund to help poor nations getting hit hard by extreme weather events was one of the most significant decisions to come out of U.N. climate talks the last 30 years.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks during a session on the Global Methane Pledge at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

US envoy Kerry positive for COVID as UN climate talks drag

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has tested positive for COVID-19 at U.N. climate talks in Egypt. A spokeswoman says he is experiencing mild symptoms and continues to work by phone.

Nakeeyat Dramani Sam, of Ghana, poses for photos at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. She made a plea for negotiators at the summit to come to an agreement that could help curb global warming. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Ghanaian girl cuts through jargon, delivers message at COP27

During a session at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt, 10-year-old Nakeeyat Dramani Sam told attendees that rich nations should compensate developing countries’ climate impacts.

Demonstrators participate in a sit-in calling for reparations for loss and damage at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Confusion, finger-pointing, opposing views at Egypt’s COP27

The day before U.N. climate talks were to end, negotiators from around the world appeared to be far apart on any deal to combat climate change.

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, leaves after speaking at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

At climate summit, Brazil’s Lula promises new day for Amazon

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is promising to combat deforestation when he assumes office on Jan. 1.

Brazil's Marina Silva, a former environmental minister, speaks during a session at the Brazil Pavilion at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Brazil will be climate leader, says ex-minister Marina Silva

Marina Silva, a former environmental minister, has a message for the U.N. climate summit: Brazil is back when it comes to protecting the Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world that is crucial to staving off the worst effects of climate change.

Climate activists Luisa Neubauer, of Germany, left, and Vanessa Nakate, of Uganda, center, Helena Marschall, of Germany, center right, and Licypriya Kangujam, of India, joined by others of Fridays for Future protest against Germany's Olaf Scholz's climate policy at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Takeaways: Bold proposals and ‘net zero’ criticism at COP27

The second day of leaders’ speeches at the UN’s climate conference included bold proposals, recommendations to crack down and standardize “net zero” claims and continued discussion about the situation of a jailed pro-democracy activist who is on a hunger and water strike.

Pollution rises from the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Takeaways: Calls for reparations, emissions cuts at COP27

Reparations to poor countries suffering the impacts of climate change and calls to drastically slash greenhouse emissions are two of the biggest storylines the first day of the U.N. climate summit, known as COP27.

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