Sea level rise will force the abandonment of about 200,000 coastal properties in England within 30 years, new data suggests, as the climate crisis takes hold. These are the homes that…Continue readingSea level rise in England will force 200,000 to abandon homes
Author: Shane White
Global economic production – the world gross domestic product (GDP) – has been rising steadily relative to global primary energy demands, lending hope that technological advances can drive a gradual decoupling…Continue readingHow does the distant past determine today’s global rate of energy consumption?
Iraq temporarily closed Baghdad airport Monday as choking clouds of dust blanketed the capital, the latest crippling sandstorm in a country that has warned climate change poses an “existential threat”. It…Continue readingIraq swept by tenth sandstorm in weeks
Climate change is slowing down the conveyor belt of ocean currents that brings warm water from the tropics up to the North Atlantic. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change,…Continue readingA huge Atlantic ocean current is slowing down—if it collapses, La Niña could become the norm for Australia
QatarEnergy signed a partnership deal with TotalEnergies for the North Field East expansion of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, and said more partners would be announced in the…Continue readingQatarEnergy signs deal with TotalEnergies for North Field East
Tanzania has signed a framework agreement with Norway’s Equinor and Britain’s Shell that will bring them closer to starting construction on a $30 billion project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG).…Continue readingTanzania signs natural gas deal with Equinor and Shell
Alberta’s producers — forced to contend with sub-zero oil prices just a couple of years ago — are using the windfall from $100 a barrel crude to repair their balance sheets…Continue readingCanada’s oil sands: why some of the world’s dirtiest fuel is now in hot demand
Oil and gas is back in fashion — at least on the stock market. Soaring fossil fuel prices, pushed higher by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have helped the shares of the…Continue readingOil and gas back in vogue for retail investors
Almost the whole of Portugal was in severe drought at the end of May. The month of May was the hottest in the southern European country for the last 92 years.…Continue reading97% of Portugal in severe drought
A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades. Even with aggressive action to cut demand and…Continue readingGlobal plastic use and waste on track to triple by 2060
Carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2022 at 421 parts per million in May, pushing the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of…Continue readingCarbon dioxide peak for 2022 more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
Fueled by abnormally dry, warm conditions and spread by strong winds, wildfires have burned more than 600,000 acres across New Mexico this spring — making it one of the worst fire…Continue readingA ‘Perfect Recipe for Extreme Wildfire’:
New Mexico’s Record-Breaking, Early Fire Season
Coal prices are soaring, hitting $462 per tonne today, up from $186 on the 23rd of February and likely to pass $500 this year. Russia is Europe’s largest supplier of thermal coal. Last…Continue readingOld King Coal: price reaches highest level in more than 200 years, on track for $500
Muhammad Akbar, 40, sells dried chickpeas on a wheelbarrow in Jacobabad, and has suffered heatstroke three times in his life. But now, he says, the heat is getting worse. “In those…Continue reading‘It seems this heat will take our lives’: Pakistan city fearful after hitting 51˚C (124˚F)
Basra, Iraq – Southern Iraq was once known as the “black land” – the vast swaths of palm trees blocking out everything else, and providing food, shelter, and shade. But the…Continue readingClimate change ravages Iraq as palm trees make way for desert
Venture Global LNG has said it will build one of the US’s largest new liquefied natural gas export plants on the Louisiana coast, the first such project to be approved since…Continue readingVenture Global to build $13 billion LNG plant on US Gulf coast
The summer monsoon, which typically arrives in June and continues till September, is life and livelihood. More than 75% of India’s annual rainfall occurs during this period. Monsoon rains are critical…Continue readingIn India, waiting for the monsoon
Four key climate change indicators—greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification—set new records in 2021. “It is just a matter of time before we see another warmest…Continue readingFour climate change records broken in 2021: WMO State of the Climate Report
In their effort to provide decision makers with insight into the consequences of climate change, climate researchers are bringing order to the large number of sea level projections. Aimée Slangen is…Continue readingBringing order to the chaos of sea level projections
Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports Monday as another sandstorm—the ninth since mid-April—hit the country. More than 1,000 people were hospitalised across the nation with respiratory problems. The Iraqi…Continue readingIraq sandstorm grounds flights, sends 1,000 to hospitals
After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for COP15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction…Continue reading‘Sleeping through extinction’: China urged to end delays to COP15 summit
The Finnish company said the move by Russia would not cause disruptions in supplies. “It is highly regrettable that natural gas supplies under our supply contract will now be halted,” Gasum…Continue readingRussia to cut gas supplies to Finland on Saturday: Gasum
Qatar and Germany have signed a declaration to deepen their energy partnership, with a focus on trade in hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as Europe’s biggest economy looks for alternative…Continue readingGermany, Qatar sign energy partnership agreement
The outgoing head of Australia’s offshore oil and gas regulator has helped hand out awards to fossil fuel companies, including Santos, Inpex and Beach Energy, prompting criticism the body could be…Continue readingAustralia’s oil and gas regulator criticised after chief hands out environmental ‘excellence’ awards at industry dinner
Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are profiting from a surge in global commodity prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, burnishing their fossil-fuel credentials even as Asia’s richest men publicly push…Continue readingCoal, oil price surges on Ukraine war make Asia’s richest richer
Brussels has given the green light for the EU to burn more coal over the next decade as it tries to end the use of Russian gas and oil. Coal is…Continue readingEU accepts it will burn more coal in move away from Russian gas
Background (Nino neutral) global warming (relative to 1880-1920) is now at least 1.2°C (2.2°F) as a result of accelerated warming since 2015. What else is new? Hotspots are getting hotter. The…Continue readingHotter Hotspots, Drier Dryspots, Wetter Wetspots, and Stronger Storms
America’s shale oil companies are enjoying a cash bonanza, as soaring oil prices and months of capital restraint transform the fortunes and balance sheets of a sector once notorious for debt-fuelled…Continue readingUS shale companies enjoy ‘tsunami of cash’ on high oil prices
Australia’s tropical rainforest trees have being dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of global heating, according to new research that raises concerns tropical forests could start…Continue readingAustralia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’
Sandstorms across the Middle East have delayed flights, closed schools and hospitalised thousands—a phenomenon experts say could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns. The Middle East has always been…Continue readingMideast sandstorms snarl traffic, close schools, harm health
Jacobabad in Pakistan’s arid Sindh province is in the grip of the latest heatwave to hit South Asia—peaking at 51˚C (124˚F). Canals in the city—a vital source of irrigation for nearby…Continue readingExtreme temperatures compound poverty in Pakistan’s hottest city
Pakistan is in the grip of a blistering heatwave, with parts of the nation already scorched by temperatures of nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as officials warn of acute water shortages and a…Continue readingPakistan city hits nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as blistering heatwave grips nation
A new record for the highest daily level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been set this week, ringing alarm bells about the pace of global warming. The daily record…Continue readingRecord carbon dioxide levels alarm scientists
A relentless heat wave has blanketed India and Pakistan since mid-March, causing dozens of deaths, fires, increased air pollution, and reduced crop yields. Weather forecasts show no prospect of relief any…Continue readingNASA’s ECOSTRESS detects ‘heat islands’ in extreme Indian heat wave
If your house was burning down and the emergency services were not answering your call, what would you do? Would you try to put out the fire yourself? This is what…Continue readingThe Tories are going all out to shut down protest. Just Stop Oil activists like me will not be deterred
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the United Nations…Continue readingWorld ‘at a crossroads’ in management of droughts, up 29% in a generation and worsening, reports the UN
Microplastics are being transported to some of the most remote places on Earth by the wind, according to new research involving the University of East Anglia. A new study published today…Continue readingHow microplastics in the air are polluting the most remote places on Earth
India has relaxed environmental compliance rules for coal mines seeking to ramp up production as power outages exacerbate a sweltering heatwave, a government notice showed. Coal makes up more than two-thirds…Continue readingIndia relaxes environment rules for coal mines, citing heatwave
Saudi Aramco has overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company after higher oil prices pushed shares of the world’s biggest crude exporter to record levels, while a broader tech stock…Continue readingSaudi Aramco overtakes Apple as the world’s most valuable company
Since 2000, more than 71 million hectares of dry forest have been destroyed, an area about twice the size of Germany. Many hotspots of deforestation are concentrated in South America, such…Continue readingTropical dry forests disappearing rapidly around the globe
Spanning more than 179,000 km2 (69,000 square miles) in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the Pantanal boasts one of the highest concentration of flora and fauna in South America while serving as…Continue readingThe Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, is at risk of collapse
The Reef snapshot: summer 2021-22, quietly published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Tuesday night after weeks of delay, said above-average water temperatures in late summer had caused…Continue reading‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022
The relentless dry spell that is withering the American West is steadily warping normal life. Major reservoirs have baked down to record lows and are still dropping, threatening the ability to…Continue readingFacing a new climate reality, Southern California lawns could wither
Typically, heat waves in India affect only part of the country, occur in the summer and only last for a week or so. But a string of early heat waves this…Continue readingIndia tries to adapt to extreme heat but is paying a heavy price
The devastating heatwave that gripped India and Pakistan over the last two months is unprecedented, but worse—perhaps far worse—is on the horizon as climate change continues apace, top climate scientists told…Continue readingIndia, Pakistan must brace for even worse heatwaves
Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometres (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last day of the month yet to…Continue readingBrazil deforestation shatters April record
The world’s birds, described as the planet’s “canaries in the coalmine”, are disappearing in large numbers as the colossal impact of humanity on the Earth grows, a global review has found.…Continue reading‘Canaries in the coalmine’: loss of birds signals changing planet
The number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The results from many thousands…Continue readingThe number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004
Oyster fisheries in Australia and North America survived for up to 10,000 years prior to colonisation, sustaining First Nations communities even under intense harvest. Oyster fisheries have declined globally in modern…Continue readingPrecolonial First Nations oyster fisheries sustained millennia of intense harvests
Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas company Pertamina has reportedly received approval for the $2.41 billion investment plan to expand the Rokan oil block. Pertamina has received the approval from the…Continue readingPertamina gets planning approval for $2.4 billion Rokan block development
The team building Dogger Bank Wind Farm has officially marked the start of its offshore construction work with the installation of the first length of high voltage DC (HVDC) export cable off the…Continue readingConstruction begins on the world’s largest offshore wind farm
The Guanabara floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) has been designed to process up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day and 12 million cubic metres of gas per day.…Continue readingPetrobras begins production from FPSO Guanabara in Mero field
An unusually early and brutal heat wave is scorching parts of India, with acute power shortages affecting millions as demand for electricity surges to record levels. Supplies of coal at many…Continue readingHeat wave sparks blackouts, questions on India’s coal usage
In the Horn of Africa as a whole, in an area stretching from northern Kenya to Somalia and swaths of Ethiopia, up to 20 million people could go hungry this year…Continue readingHorn of Africa ravaged by worst drought in four decades
Just 9% of all plastic waste ever created has been recycled. Last year, the U.S. exported 74,000 shipping containers of plastic waste to low-income countries. For decades, China was the primary…Continue readingWhere your recycling actually goes
21% of reptile species are threatened with extinction, including more than half of turtles and crocodiles. More than 40% of amphibians, 25% of mammals and 13% of birds could face extinction.…Continue readingOver 21% of reptile species at risk of extinction
Pristine rainforests were once again destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021, according to new figures, prompting concerns governments will not meet a COP26 deal to halt and reverse deforestation by…Continue reading‘Relentless’ destruction of rainforest continuing despite Cop26 pledge
Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Hotter oceans can kill corals via expulsion of their…Continue readingPast the precipice? Projected coral habitability under global heating
Investors refused to back resolutions demanding stricter fossil fuel financing policies at three major US banks. Proposals filed at Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citi called on the banks to…Continue readingInvestors at top US banks refuse to back climate proposals
The world has more than 2,400 coal-fired power plants, for a total capacity of nearly 2,100 gigawatts (GW). An additional 176GW of coal capacity is under construction at more than 189…Continue readingBoom and Bust Coal 2022
Chinese leaders pledged ahead of climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, last November to peak national emissions before 2030 and stop building coal power plants abroad. A study published Friday indicates that…Continue readingWith coal surge, China puts energy security and growth before climate
China is in the throes of a building boom to jump start its economy. The government of President Xi Jinping has “scrambled in recent months to try to reverse a slowdown”…Continue readingChina doubles down on coal
Half of all river basins across the world are now “severely affected” by water diversion projects, which can exacerbate drought conditions and lead to human conflict. About the same percentage of…Continue readingDead rivers, polluted oceans: Industry adds to world’s mounting water crisis
In this mysterious woodland the cloud drapes over mountain ridges and “the trees are dwarfed and wind-sculpted, gnarled and heavily laden with mosses,” said J Alan Pounds, an ecologist at the…Continue readingLost golden toad heralds climate’s massive extinction threat
The Biden administration announced on Friday that it would resume selling leases for new oil and gas drilling on public lands. The Interior Department said in a statement that it planned…Continue readingBiden Plans to Open More Public Land to Drilling
As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million. The plan…Continue readingChile announces unprecedented plan to ration water as drought enters 13th year
Stuart Crow, chair of Lake Resources, said western companies and governments had failed to build adequate supply chains for lithium, making the sudden boom in electric vehicle manufacturing unsustainable. “There simply…Continue readingElectric vehicle targets ‘impossible’ without changes to lithium pipeline
As one of the world’s most famous game reserves, Murchison Falls National Park is home to some of the largest populations of elephants, giraffes, lions and leopards anywhere on the planet.…Continue readingThe oil giants drilling among the giraffes in Uganda
Canada’s environment minister approved Wednesday a controversial offshore oil project expected to see 300 million barrels of oil extracted over 30 years This is equivalent to about 3 days of global…Continue readingCanada approves controversial Bay du Nord offshore oil project
Amazon rainforest becomes a savanna The 2.5 million square mile rainforest is so vast it creates its own rainfall and is home to 10% of the world’s species. But rising temperatures…Continue readingThe world is ‘perilously close’ to irreversible climate change
For the second year in a row, NOAA scientists observed a record annual increase in atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful, heat-trapping greenhouse gas that’s the second biggest contributor to human-caused…Continue readingIncrease in atmospheric methane set another record during 2021. Carbon dioxide levels also record a big jump
Scientists from the University of Illinois tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Panama to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to 2020. A…Continue readingBird populations in Panama rainforest in severe decline
Large quantities of plastic—transported by rivers, the air and shipping–can now be found in the Arctic Ocean. High concentrations of microplastic can be found in the water, on the seafloor, remote…Continue readingThe global ‘plastic flood’ reaches the Arctic
A $400 million coal mine expansion that would result in almost half a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions has been conditionally approved by New South Wales planning authorities. The NSW…Continue readingNarrabri coal mine expansion gets final approval from NSW planning commission
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its sixth massive bleaching event as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a…Continue readingClimate warming has dealt yet another blow to the Great Barrier Reef
Transocean Ltd. announced today that it has purchased a minority interest in Ocean Minerals Ltd., a company engaged in the exploration of seabed resources containing metals critical to the growing renewable energy market.…Continue readingTransocean Ltd. Invests in Exploration of Seabed Minerals to Support the Renewable Energy Supply Chain
Global industrialization and urbanization processes enabled a diverse cement production boom over the past three decades, as cement is the most important building construction material. Consequently, the cement industry is the…Continue readingA striking growth of CO2 emissions from the global cement industry driven by new facilities in emerging countries
15 years after its was first discovered in a New York cave, white-nose syndrome has decimated the nation’s population of northern long-eared bats, reducing their numbers to almost nothing. It evolved…Continue readingA disease more lethal than covid-19 has nearly wiped out northern US long-eared bats
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90˚F…Continue readingIt’s 70˚F (40˚C) warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, will launch special investigation into the implementation of medium- and long-term contracts signed by coal suppliers in 2022. The…Continue readingMedium- and long-term contracts signed by Chinese coal suppliers shall account for over 80% of their resources: economic planner
Work published in Science Advances shows that large fires have not only become more common, they are also spreading into new areas, impacting land that previously did not burn. “Projected changes…Continue readingUS fires have become 4 times larger, 3 times more frequent since 2000
Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6% in 2021 to 36.3 billion tons, their highest ever level, as the world economy rebounded strongly from the COVID-19 crisis and relied heavily…Continue readingGlobal carbon dioxide emissions rebounded to their highest level in history in 2021
The study examined four possible scenarios for future carbon emissions, and found increased risk of El Niño events in all four. This means El Niño events and associated climate extremes are…Continue readingIncreasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040
The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity. Novel statistical analysis shows that more…Continue readingAmazon rainforest tipping point is looming
Hundreds of residents in the US state of Florida were evacuated from their homes after a rash of wildfires that ignited dead vegetation swept through the area. Dry conditions in Florida…Continue readingFlorida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes
Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world’s heaviest impacts of climate change. This will only get worse, according…Continue readingAfrica, already suffering from warming, will see worse
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation this century are far higher than previously thought, doubling in just two decades and continuing to accelerate, according to a study. The world’s forests form an…Continue readingDeforestation emissions far higher than previously thought
The gang-gang cockatoo, the animal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory, will be officially listed as a threatened species after a large decline in its numbers due to the climate crisis…Continue readingGang-gang cockatoo threatened species
The Mekong dolphin population has long been IUCN red-listed as Critically Endangered. The last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool on the Cambodia-Laos border was found dead on February 15,…Continue readingDeath of the last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool in the Mekong between Laos and Cambodia