Climate and environment updates: 7 key measures of Earth's health in danger, report warns

New York State is establishing a "Climate Superfund" that will make companies that release large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions financially responsible for some of the damage that climate change caused to the state's infrastructure, communities and ecosystems.

On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul, signed a bill into law requiring large fossil fuel companies to "pay for critical projects that protect New Yorkers." Citing the hundreds of billions of dollars the state will have to spend on climate adaptation through 2050, the law requires that the companies responsible for most carbon emissions, more than a billion metric tons, between 2000-2018 pay nearly $3 billion annually for the next 25 years.

"With nearly every record rainfall, heatwave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment," Hochul said in a press statement.

The new law calls climate change "an immediate, grave threat to the state's communities, environment, and economy." According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists believe human activity, specifically burning fossil fuels, is the primary driver of climate change and global warming. And those changes to the climate have resulted in more intense and more frequent extreme weather events.

The New York legislature said the "Climate Superfund" was now possible because scientific research enables them "to determine with great accuracy the share of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by specific fossil fuel companies over the last 70 years or more, making it possible to assign liability to and require compensation from companies commensurate with their emissions during a given time period."

"The governor's approval of the Climate Change Superfund Act is a welcome holiday gift for New York taxpayers," said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, in a statement. "Until her approval, New York taxpayers were 100% on the financial hook for climate costs. Now Big Oil will pay for much of the damages that they helped cause."

The state anticipates collecting up to $75 billion over 25 years, and the law requires that at least 35% of the funds go to disadvantaged communities.

New York State Senator Liz Krueger said the new legislation was modeled after the federal Superfund law that requires polluters to pay for toxic waste cleanups.

But not everyone is cheering the new legislation. In a letter to Gov. Hochul, urging her to veto the bill, the Business Council of New York State, which represents more than 3,000 companies, chambers of commerce and associations, wrote, "The bill discriminates by targeting only the largest fossil fuel extraction and processing firms, including petroleum, natural gas, and coal."

The Council added, "This legislation ignores the near universal use and benefits associated with fossil fuel." They argued that the new law would do nothing to address what they said is the primary cause of carbon emissions: "consumption."

There are still a lot of specifics that have yet to be determined, and the state's Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for figuring out the program's details over the next few years. With legal challenges all but certain, it will be some time before the companies actually have to pay up.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Matthew Glasser

Earthquakes are usually triggered by seismic activity deep beneath the Earth's surface and far beyond the influence of atmospheric conditions. However, according to new research, there may be instances where climate change can impact seismic activity.

A recent Colorado State University study suggests that melting glaciers could impact earthquake activity in some areas. Researchers analyzed southern Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains during the last ice age. They found the active fault responsible for triggering earthquakes was held in place by the weight of glaciers sitting on top of it.

Thousands of years ago, as the last ice age ended and the planet began to naturally warm, glaciers in this region began to melt. The study found that as the ice melted, there was less pressure on the quake-prone fault, which triggered an increase in earthquake activity. Basically, the glacier was holding the fault in place -- less ice, less weight.

There is limited scientific evidence linking changes in Earth's climate to earthquake activity. Still, this study demonstrates that, in some cases, climate-related events, like melting glaciers, could influence seismic events.

Sean Gallen, Geosciences associate professor and senior author of the study, highlights that this research helps us better understand the factors that can drive earthquakes.

Even though the study focused on investigating links between Earth's natural climate variability (an ice age) and seismic activity, this research shows how other glacier-adjacent faults worldwide could respond as greenhouse gas emissions accelerate global warming.

As human-amplified climate change continues to drive global glacier melt, earthquake activity along these faults could increase as glaciers recede.

"We see this in the rapid mountain glacial retreats in Alaska, the Himalayas and the Alps," said Cece Hurtado, an author of the study. "In many of these regions, there are also active tectonics, and this work demonstrates that as climate change alters ice and water loads, tectonically active areas might see more frequent fault movements and earthquakes due to rapidly changing stress conditions."

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

The Biden administration only has a month left, but that's not stopping it from taking some significant climate actions. On Wednesday, they approved California's request to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars. On Thursday, the administration announced an ambitious new climate goal to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 61% to 66% compared to 2005 levels by 2035.

The countries that signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, the historic climate treaty, agreed to set goals for reducing their emissions. These Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, goals are updated every five years. While nonbinding, the goals provide a road map for reaching carbon neutrality globally.

"I'm proud that my Administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history," President Joe Biden said in a video announcing the pledge. "That is why I'm proud to announce an ambitious new goal: cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035."

Biden touted his administration's efforts to increase renewable energy sources, conserve the country's public lands and waters, set new pollution-cutting standards and sign climate investments into law over the last four years.

The new emissions goal comes as other countries are submitting their NDCs to the United Nations for approval.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, which scientists believe would significantly reduce the impacts of climate change.

In 2021, Biden re-entered the Paris Agreement after then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international climate accord and set the current target of 50% to 52% greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.

In announcing the new goal, Biden said, "Together, we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation for generations to come."

During his campaign, President-elect Trump said he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement again and pledged to reduce or eliminate climate and environmental regulations.

Despite the expected change in federal posture on climate action, senior Biden administration officials told reporters Wednesday that non-federal leaders, like governors and mayors, can continue to drive progress, saying they believe the new goals are still achievable through state, local and tribal action.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Kelly Livingston and Matthew Glasser

Climate change is making it more expensive for many Americans to insure and protect their homes and property. That's the finding of a two-year investigation by the Senate Budget Committee.

"Climate change is no longer just an environmental problem, is our conclusion here — it is an economic threat," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said during a hearing on Wednesday. "And it is an affordability issue that we should not ignore."

The final hearing coincided with the release of a report from the committee detailing how extreme weather events made more severe by climate change is driving increasing both insurance policy non-renewal rates and premium costs across the country.

"The data released with this report demonstrate climate change beginning to upend insurance markets around the country," the report reads.

Benjamin Keys, a real estate and finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, testified before the committee, saying, "Both affordability and accessibility issues have reached a crisis point in many communities around the country."

He explained that the data shows the rate of policy non-renewals have almost doubled since 2020.

"The most striking pattern from the data is that both premiums and non-renewal rates are higher in markets with more disaster risk," Keyes said.

"Insurers are responding to larger realized disaster losses, better data and risk models and growing reinsurance costs," Keys explained. "Some of the largest insurance companies have exited markets, deciding that they cannot charge premiums that adequately reflect this growing risk."

Ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed disappointment that the committee spent so much time on this issue. However, he said he agrees that "climate change is a serious issue meriting discussion."

"I remain convinced that the budget committee should be focused on the immediate fiscal problems facing our country," Grassley said.

"The climate crisis that is coming our way is not just about polar bears. It's not just about green jobs. It actually is coming through your mail slot in the form of insurance cancellations, insurance non-renewals and dramatic increases in insurance costs," Whitehouse said while closing the hearing.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Kelly Livingston