Congress, in a rare bipartisan effort, has reaffirmed America’s commitment as a generous donor abroad. The recently passed National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 allocates roughly $50 billion in base funding. That’s less than prior levels but far exceeds the deepest cuts proposed by the White House. The result underscores that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seek to safeguard America’s influence in fostering a safer, more prosperous world through targeted international engagement.

A new pragmatism is infusing the climate debate in the West, driven by voters weary of soaring energy bills and annoyed by increasingly hysterical and patronizing climate rhetoric. From Washington to Westminster, Berlin to Canberra, the political class is confronting a simple truth: aggressive net-zero mandates are delivering present economic pain for unmeasurable and far-off climate gain.

What a difference a single year makes. The once-dominant push to radically reshape society in hopes of averting climate catastrophe has collapsed. Look at Davos, the talkfest long dominated by climate advocacy. That consensus has been all but abandoned by its once strongest proponents.

The IPCC’s rigor keeps a lid on alarmism. The U.S. is needed to make sure that doesn’t change.

An outspoken global actor in the grand theater of climate policy, New York has long insisted the transition to green energy would be cheap and straightforward. 

As 2026 begins, many of us have been taking stock of the year behind us and setting intentions for the one ahead.

For the world’s poorest, this was the year when the United Nations’ over-ambitious plan to solve every pressing global problem fell apart.

We should vow to be smarter, and do better, this year.

Twelve projects costing US$35 billion could do much more good than the $10 trillion the UN is spending on its official development goals

Twelve projects costing US$35 billion could do much more good than the $10 trillion the UN is spending on its official development goals

The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season ended on Sunday, and not a single hurricane made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. This is the first such quiet year since 2015; an average of around two hurricanes strike the U.S. mainland annually. You’d think this would be cause for celebration—or at least curiosity about what role, if any, global warming played. Instead there has been resounding silence.

Western politicians and climate activists are using the jungle backdrop of the poor Amazon city of Belém, Brazil for photo ops as they lecture the world on carbon emissions at the COP 30 climate summit this week.