"In a powerful testament to the warming of the planet, two leading U.S. science agencies Wednesday jointly declared 2016 the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set just last year — which, itself, had topped a record set in 2014.

Average surface temperatures in 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were 0.07 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than 2015, and featured eight successive months (January through August) that were individually the warmest since the agency’s record began in 1880.

"The British Antarctic Survey is to pull all staff out of its space-age Halley base in March for safety reasons."

"British climate scientists asked Britain's prime minister on Monday to press U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to acknowledge climate change risks and support international action to slow global warming."

"The state Department of Natural Resources recently scrubbed language from an agency web page on the Great Lakes that said humans and greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change."

"How we view the costs of future climate change, and more importantly how we quantify them, may soon be changing. A much-anticipated new report, just released by the National Academy of Sciences, recommends major updates to a federal metric known as the “social cost of carbon” —  and its suggestions could help address a growing scientific concern that we’re underestimating the damages global warming will cause."

"Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has won a showdown with Exxon Mobil, from which she demanded company documents on climate change dating back 40 years, according to a Wednesday court ruling."

"Days ahead of the Trump Administration taking power, the US Department of Energy released long-demanded rules on Wednesday to protect its scientists from political harassment."

"A move by conservative lawmakers and business groups to fundamentally alter how science is used in crafting environmental policy has a greater chance than ever of becoming law."

"The company, led by Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, has supposedly shifted its stance on global warming. But the receipts suggest otherwise."

"Exxon Mobil Corp. promised nine years ago to stop donating to groups that spread misinformation about climate change. Yet between 2008 and 2015, the oil giant’s charitable arm gave over $6.5 million to groups that deny that burning fossil fuels is causing global warming, a new analysis shows.

"President Obama, writing in the nation's leading science journal, declared that 'the trend toward clean energy is irreversible' regardless of the different policy choices likely to come from his successor."