This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including Greenpeace’s $345 Dakota pipeline verdict and a proposal to roll back lifesaving protections for North Atlantic right whales in the US.
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1. ‘Exploring Every Option’: Greenpeace Vows to Fight $345 Million Verdict in Dakota Pipeline Suit
Greenpeace has vowed to fight a $345 million verdict over its role in protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) underground pipeline transporting crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.
A North Dakota District Court judge on Friday validated a $345 million jury award against the environmental group that was reached last year. The case was brought by the pipeline company, Texas-based Energy Transfer, which accused Greenpeace of hindering construction of the pipeline by galvanizing protests at the site a decade ago. Greenpeace has always denied the accusations, saying that it only played a supporting role in the non-violent protests led by Native American groups.
Greenpeace has warned the sum could bankrupt it. The campaign group works as an independent network funded by individual contributions and funding grants. It does not accept money from governments, corporations or political parties, according to its website. In 2023, Greenpeace USA had just a little over $40 million in revenue and support, and about $38 million in expenses, its financial statement shows. It has warned the sum could bankrupt it.
“It’s a dark day for freedom of expression and the environmental movement. But this battle is far from over,” David Simons, Senior Legal Counsel for Strategic Defence at Greenpeace International, said on Friday. Greenpeace has announced it will seek a new trial and appeal the decision at the North Dakota Supreme Court, if necessary.
2. Trump Administration Mulls Rollback of Lifesaving Protections For Critically Endangered Whale
On Tuesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the fish management arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said it is “considering possible deregulatory action to modify and modernize the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule.” Established in 2008, the rule mandates that most vessels at least 65 feet long (the size of a typical school bus) must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations along the US East Coast at certain times of the year.
North Atlantic right whales are classified as critically endangered amid a rapid population decline. Between 200 and 250 mature individuals are believed to remain, down from 409 at the end of 2018.
Environmental groups have warned that the deregulation would put whales and boaters at risk of deadly collisions. “This reckless decision threatens the future of North Atlantic right whales,” said Erica Fuller, Senior Counsel at Conservation Law Foundation, calling the move “short-sighted.”
3. ‘Political Attack’: Scientists Condemn Removal of Climate Chapter From US Judges’ Reference Manual
A group of more than two dozen scientists has criticized the removal of a chapter on climate change from a manual that for decades has equipped US judges, prosecutors and defend attorneys to better interpret the scientific complexities of the cases before them.
Since it was first issued in 1994 by the Federal Judicial Center in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence has assisted federal and state judges and attorneys in managing cases that involve complex scientific, technical, or forensic evidence. Its content has been cited more than 1,300 times.
The manual’s peer-reviewed chapters touch on topics spanning from engineering to forensic DNA, statistics to epidemiology, artificial intelligence to computer science. Until last month, the manual – now in its fourth edition – also included a chapter on climate science. But that chapter came under fire when 27 Republican state attorneys general claimed in a letter that the content was biased and threatened to undermine judicial impartiality.
On February 6, Judge Robin Rosenberg, the Director of the Federal Judicial Center, announced the chapter had been removed from the fourth edition.
4. Hong Kong Sees Warmest Winter on Record
Hong Kong has just experienced its warmest winter on record, the city’s observatory has confirmed.
February, which saw “unseasonably warm” weather and mean temperatures 3C above the normal, marked the end of the city’s hottest winter since records began in 1884.
Hong Kong Observatory data published Wednesday shows that the mean temperature between December and February reached 19.3C, a whole 2.0C above the normal. The mean maximum temperature of 21.9C was the highest on record for that period, while the minimum temperature of 17.3C was the second-highest on record. Only five cold days – defined as days with a minimum temperature of 12C or below – were recorded, the third lowest on record.
“Together with the well above normal temperatures in December 2025 and warmer than usual weather in January 2026, Hong Kong experienced the warmest winter on record,” the Observatory said on Tuesday.
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