Judge Freezes Transfer of US Adaptation Grants, National Weather Service Hiring Spree, Sust Global Acquired, and More

A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from rerouting US$4bn of adaptation grants used to prepare communities for floods, storms, and other climate shocks.

The temporary injunction, ordered last Tuesday by US District Judge Richard Stearns, does not release the funds to states but does stop the White House from channeling the money to other initiatives while the case progresses.

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed last month by 20 mostly Democratic-led states, which claims they face irreparable harm if the money allocated to the Building Resilient Communities Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program is not restored. In April the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) scrapped the program — which it called "wasteful and ineffective” — saying the funds would be “returned to the Treasury or reapportioned by Congress.”

BRIC has allocated US$5bn in grants for weather-proofing buildings, undergrounding power lines, hardening wastewater facilities, and more since it first launched in 2018 during President Trump’s first term.

The states’ lawsuit says that FEMA does not have the authority to cancel the grants program, as Congress made addressing natural catastrophes a key function of FEMA, and the law prevents the White House from changing the agency’s mission without policymakers’ input. In his ruling, Stearns agreed with the states that FEMA was taking concrete steps to cancel the BRIC program — despite the agency’s statements to the contrary — and that the harms created by its abolition are “likely imminent and not merely speculative.”

The states that joined the lawsuit are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

“FEMA’s termination of this bipartisan program defies both law and logic,” said Washington Attorney General Nick Brown following the injunction. “Congress created this fund because America’s towns are already struggling with mounting challenges from climate change.”

The Friday before the injunction, FEMA announced US$1bn in grants for “disaster preparedness”. However, this funding is intended for Trump administration priorities on hardening the US border and “election security” as well as for addressing fires, floods, tornadoes and other natural catastrophes. “These programs are not related to the BRIC program. These are annual grant programs that are statutorily required to be released,” Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, Director at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Earth Institute, at Columbia University told Climate Proof.

The UNFCCC presidencies for COP29 and COP30 have issued a call for input on the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,” a plan to mobilize at least US$1.3trn annually by 2035 for climate action in developing countries. Established at last year’s UN climate summit, the roadmap aims to scale both public and private finance for low-emissions, climate-resilient development, using grants, concessional funding, and non-debt instruments. Stakeholders are invited to submit views by September 10, 2025. (UNFCCC)

Five major philanthropies have launched a US$50mn Adaptation and Resilience Fund to back locally led projects tackling climate risks like extreme heat, floods, and drought in low- and middle-income countries. Led by ClimateWorks with partners The Rockefeller Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and Howden Foundation, the fund will target underfinanced adaptation needs, starting with urban heat resilience in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. (ClimateWorks)

Mentions of “extreme weather” in FTSE 350 company filings have risen from just 35 in 2015 to 741 in 2024, with 560 already recorded this year, according to FactSet data. Well-known companies — like Greggs and Rio Tinto — have flagged direct operational hits from heatwaves and storms, while others have referenced forward-looking warnings about climate-related risks to sales, supply chains, and infrastructure. The trend mirrors a global spike in corporate discussions of physical climate risks. (The Times)

Swiss impact asset manager responsAbility is adding an adaptation component to its Climate Finance strategy, aimed at helping partner financial institutions in developing nations build out their own climate-resilient lending and investing operations. The strategy will initially target construction, agriculture, and water treatment, as these sectors are both vulnerable to climate impacts and hold commercial promise. (responsAbility)

German lender Commerzbank has earmarked €270mn (US$313mn) in new loan-loss provisions to cushion against “novel risks”, with €81mn (US$94mn) specifically for climate and environmental threats. The move, disclosed in second-quarter results, comes as European regulators press banks to bolster reserves amid rising credit risks from US tariffs and extreme weather. The European Central Bank has warned that historical loss data may underestimate emerging threats to lenders, and in June began embedding climate risk into bank capital reviews. (Commerzbank)

The top US climate agency will hire hundreds of weather service meteorologists, hydrologists, and radar technicians to restore staffing levels at the National Weather Service (NWS), reversing cuts made by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Congressmen Eric Sorensen, Democrat from Illinois, and Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican, said in a joint statement last Thursday that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which houses the NWS, had received White House approval to take on 450 staff to strengthen America’s extreme weather forecasting, monitoring, and early warning capabilities. This includes 126 new “front-line mission critical” personnel for its forecast offices across the country that were previously approved, according to CNN.

“For decades the National Weather Service has helped keep our communities safe with accurate and timely forecasts,” said Congressman Flood. “This announcement from the administration sends a message that they’re focused on strengthening the NWS for years to come.”

Mass firings and staff buyouts in the early weeks of the second Trump administration reduced NWS headcount by more than 550, to below 4,000 total employees. Staffing shortages have forced remaining personnel to work extra shifts to try and maintain preparedness, and slashed the number of weather balloon launches conducted by the agency — degrading the government’s forecasting capabilities. 

Congressman Sorensen and Flood introduced the Weather Workforce Improvement Act in June, which aims to fully staff the NWS and protect it from future cuts. It has since been referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration is “reviewing” and may produce “updated” versions of old National Climate Assessments. Wright claimed the congressionally mandated reports on US climate risks and impacts were politically biased and overstated the risks. Earlier this year, the Trump administration fired more than 400 scientists working on the next report and is removing the federal website that housed previous editions. (CNN)

The Trump administration has directed NASA to draw up termination plans for its two Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions despite their importance to large numbers of scientists, farmers, and even oil and gas companies. The satellite tech, initially designed to measure CO2 emissions, also monitors plant growth and produces data useful for drought monitoring, crop yield tracking, and more. One mission, a stand-alone satellite, would burn up in the atmosphere if ended. (NPR)

Non-profit Climate Central will relaunch the US federal database tracking billion-dollar weather disasters this fall, after hiring Adam Smith, the former NOAA climatologist who ran the tracker for over a decade. The Trump administration stopped updating the database in May. Climate Central plans to expand coverage to disasters causing US$100mn or more in damage and produce more granular wildfire loss data, with potential future work on “economic attribution” to quantify the climate change share of specific event losses. (Bloomberg)

A South Carolina judge has thrown out the city of Charleston’s climate lawsuit against major oil and gas companies, ruling the claims fall under federal, not state, law. The city had accused Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and others of deceiving the public about the dangers of fossil fuel emissions and demanded they pay to fund adaptation and risk mitigation measures. Judge Roger M. Young said that greenhouse gas harms are governed by a mesh of federal and international law and that the court did not have jurisdiction over out-of-state companies. (New York Times)

Geospatial AI start-up Sust Global has been acquired by the sustainable investment arm of ISS STOXX, as the European financial data giant seeks to expand its physical risks analytics suite. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sust, founded in 2020, provides financial institutions and businesses with space-derived data on climate- and nature-related risks to their portfolios. Sust raised a $3.2mn seed round in 2021, including from UK-based Salica investments and US-based Powerhouse Ventures, among others. The company has offices in London and San Francisco.

ISS Sustainability Solutions plans to integrate Sust’s capabilities with its own data offerings, allowing institutional investors to drill down on climate risks at specific asset locations, model scenario-based impacts, and meet fast-moving regulatory requirements for disclosure and risk reporting. “Sust Global is a highly complementary fit whose platform and AI-powered physical risk models pair well with our proprietary asset level data. Our ability to map them to corporates and investment portfolios will result in highly effective solutions for our institutional clients,” said Till Jung, Head of Sustainability Business at ISS STOXX.

The acquisition reflects growing investor demand for geospatial intelligence to address increasingly material climate risks. Earlier this year, US consultancy Earth Finance acquired Climate Engine, a self-described “spatial finance” company that delivers environmental and economic data to investors and corporates through its own geospatial and AI capabilities.

Mars Inc. is investing US$5mn in a five-year plan to create peanut plants that are resilient to losses from pests, disease, and climate pressures — which currently wipe out up to 30% of global supply. Building on a decade of existing tech and research, the snack maker is funding advanced genomic science to breed hardier, higher-yielding varieties. Early results include a Brazilian strain, Sempre Verde, that thrives without fungicides and can boost yields by 30%. (Mars Inc.)

UK-based flood tech company Previsico has secured additional funding from BlueOrchard and existing investor Burnt Island Ventures to power its US expansion. Previsico’s AI-driven platform combines live sensor, satellite, and weather data to deliver property-level flood forecasts up to 48 hours in advance, helping insurers, utilities, and public agencies mitigate losses from extreme weather. BlueOrchard is participating through its InsuResilience Investment Fund Private Equity II, which is backed by Germany’s KfW, a state-owned development bank. (Previsico)

Data anomalies and the economic commitment of climate change (Nature)

Advances in complex climate change risk assessment for adaptation (NPJ Climate Action)

Is the climate-linked CAT bond market efficiently priced? A risk–return analysis (Research in International Business and Finance)

Climate change, armed conflict, forced displacement, and epidemic-prone diseases: an exploratory study in northern Syria (BMC Public Health)

Rivers increase drought resistance and resilience of forests in the Northern Hemisphere (Agricultural and Forest Meteorology)

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor