Michael Copley Michael Copley is a correspondent on NPR's Climate Desk.
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Michael Copley

Michael Copley

Correspondent, Climate Desk

Michael Copley is a correspondent on NPR's Climate Desk. He covers what corporations are and are not doing in response to climate change, and how they're being impacted by rising temperatures.

Before joining NPR, Copley was a reporter at S&P Global, where he covered the energy industry and green investing. He was the first reporter to reveal the solar industry's links to China's Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of persecuting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

Copley was part of a team at S&P Global that was a finalist for a Dateline Award in 2020 for a series of stories that documented how a building spree of natural gas infrastructure threatens to leave American energy consumers holding the bill for stranded fossil fuel assets. He also investigated the auto industry's failure to disclose the risk of human rights abuses in the supply chains for electric vehicles. The work was named enterprise story of the year in 2019 by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

He can be reached via encrypted message at michaelcopley.29 on Signal.

Story Archive

Wednesday

Volunteers help a homeowner search for personal items in the remains of a home that burned in the Palisades Fire in January in Pacific Palisades, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

Protecting your home from disaster might not help you get insurance

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Friday

The sun begins to set beyond an oil refinery in California. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

Oil companies face a wrongful death suit tied to climate change

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Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

The U.S. has accused an Israeli private investigator of orchestrating a hacking campaign that targeted American climate activists. Extradition hearings for the private eye, Amit Forlit, were held at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. Alberto Pezzali/AP hide caption

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Alberto Pezzali/AP

Wednesday

People gathered to protest the Trump administration during the 'Hands Off' protest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 5, 2025. BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty/AFP hide caption

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BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty/AFP

Environmental groups say Trump administration violated their free-speech rights

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Tuesday

Climate change activists carry signs as they march during a protest in Philadelphia in 2016. Earlier that year, U.S. prosecutors allege hackers began targeting prominent American climate activists in an effort to gather information to foil lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry over damage communities have faced from global warming.

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John Minchillo/AP/AP

Tuesday

An activist protests against the Trump administration's plan to stop some federal grants and loans during a rally near the White House on January 28 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

Rural leaders push GOP lawmakers to unfreeze climate and environmental funding

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Wednesday

A solar plant in Mona, Utah. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says solar will account for just over half of new power generation that will get built in the U.S. this year. Rick Bowmer/AP hide caption

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Rick Bowmer/AP

America’s clean-energy industry is growing despite Trump’s attacks. At least for now

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Thursday

A hurricane specialist looks at a satellite image of Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 season. The National Hurricane Center provides forecasts of major storms, many of which make landfall in the U.S.. The Center is part of NOAA, the country's oceans- and atmosphere-focused agency. Experts say ongoing staff cuts at the agency could endanger some of its core missions, like forecasting weather. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Saturday

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration includes the National Hurricane Center, which researches hurricanes and provides weather updates and forecasts for the dangerous storms. Employees at the agency are worried the Trump administration will cut support for their work. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Friday

The U.S. Department of Agriculture building in a 2019 file photo. Workers around the sprawling federal agency were told Friday that their jobs had been eliminated as part of sweeping layoffs from the new Trump administration. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

Wednesday

A demonstrator shows opposition during a demonstration at the Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 6 in Washington, DC. Al Drago/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption

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Al Drago/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow

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Monday

President Trump arrives back at the White House after visiting New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. A federal judge on Monday found that the administration has not fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption

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Jose Luis Magana/AP

Friday

The U.S. has accused an Israeli private investigator of orchestrating a hacking campaign that targeted American climate activists. Extradition hearings for the private investigator, Amit Forlit, were held at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. Alberto Pezzali/AP hide caption

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Alberto Pezzali/AP

LONDON HACKING HEARING

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Friday

Workers build an electrical substation for a new Facebook data center under construction on May 29, 2019 in Eagle Mountain, Utah. George Frey/Getty Images hide caption

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U.S. electricity demand is set to explode. That will make it harder to cut climate pollution

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Thursday

Tuesday

Monday

The COP29 climate conference ended in dramatic fashion on Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan

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Saturday

Activists, including Harjeet Singh from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, demanded that rich countries pay up for climate finance for developing countries at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption

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Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Wednesday

The plight of poorer nations takes spotlight at this year’s global climate conference

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Monday