The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Laboratory on Monday released data showing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by 3.75 parts per million in 2024. That…Continue readingIs the planet losing one of its best ways to slow climate change?
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The climate crisis is on track to destroy capitalism, a top insurer has warned, with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate. The world…Continue readingClimate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
The latest deadline for countries to submit plans for slashing the greenhouse gas emissions fueling climate change has passed. Only 15 countries met it—less than 8% of the 194 parties currently…Continue readingOnly 15 countries have met the latest Paris agreement deadline. Is any nation serious about tackling climate change?
Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024. It’s likely 2024 was the first year to…Continue readingSahara flooding, Amazon tributaries drying, warming tipping over 1.5°C—2024 broke all the wrong records
The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000…Continue readingMore than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN
The study, published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health, reveals alarmingly high levels of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness among adolescents in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. In…Continue readingClimate change fueling mental health crisis in areas most affected by climate crisis
Warm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented human-driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. These impacts may drive coral ecosystems past…Continue readingConsiderations for determining warm-water coral reef tipping points
An international group of scientists, led by King’s College London, has revealed how continued global warming will lead to more parts of the planet becoming too hot for the human body…Continue readingHalf a degree rise in global warming will triple area of Earth too hot for humans
The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, according to renowned climate scientist Prof James Hansen, who said the international 2˚C limit is “dead”. A new analysis by Hansen and…Continue readingClimate change limit of +2˚C is ‘dead’, says renowned climate scientist
In North America and Europe, scientists have long warned bird numbers are falling. As cities and farms expand, forests around them become fragments, animal habitats shrink, pollution contaminates rivers, pesticides and…Continue readingIn the most untouched, pristine parts of the Amazon, birds are dying. Scientists may finally know why.
The global economy could face a 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090 unless immediate policy action on risks posed by the climate crisis is taken, warns a new report…Continue readingCurrent climate policies risk catastrophic societal and economic impacts
Climate breakdown drove the annual global temperature above the internationally agreed 1.5˚C target for the first time last year, supercharging extreme weather and causing “misery to millions of people”. The average…Continue readingHottest year on record sent planet past 1.5˚C of heating for first time in 2024
The 12-day meeting of parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, has ended in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh without an agreement on responding to drought.…Continue readingUN talks fail
In launching its World Energy Outlook 2024 (WEO), the IEA stated that “the future of the global energy system is electric.” This follows its assertion that demand for coal, oil and…Continue reading‘’Age of electricity’ to follow looming fossil fuel peak’’: Analysis or Science Fiction?
A $200bn wave of new gas projects could lead to a “climate bomb” equivalent to releasing the annual emissions of all the world’s operating coal power plants, according to a report.…Continue reading‘Climate bomb’ warning over $200bn wave of new gas projects
“Natural resources … are a gift from God. Every natural resource, whether it’s oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, they are all natural resources. Countries should not be blamed for…Continue readingFossil fuel supply: The elephant in the room at climate change conferences
The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of…Continue readingWorld will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert
A distinguished international team of scientists on Tuesday issued the starkest warning yet that human activity is pushing Earth into a climate crisis that could threaten the lives of up to…Continue reading‘We Are Afraid’: Scientists Issue New Warning As World Enters ‘Uncharted Climate Territory’
Highlights of Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China, adopted at the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress on November 8, 2024 –Continue readingNew Energy Law passed by People’s Republic of China
Papua New Guinea’s decision to pull out of an upcoming UN global climate summit due to frustration over “empty promises and inaction”. Prime minister James Marape announced in August the country…Continue reading‘A total waste of time’: why Papua New Guinea pulled out of COP29
The chief executive of COP29 has been filmed apparently agreeing to facilitate fossil fuel deals at the climate summit. The campaign group Global Witness posed undercover as a fake oil and…Continue readingCOP29 CEO filmed agreeing to facilitate fossil fuel deals at climate summit
More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is…Continue readingGlobal water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the…Continue readingTrees and land absorbed almost no CO₂ last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
Global wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 73% in 50 years, a new scientific assessment has found, as humans continue to push ecosystems to the brink of collapse. Latin…Continue readingCollapsing wildlife populations near ‘points of no return’, report warns
We are seeing unprecedented rapidly intensifying tropical storms such as Hurricane Helene in the eastern United States and Super Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam. Unprecedented fires in Canada have destroyed towns. Unprecedented…Continue readingUnprecedented peril: Disaster lies ahead as we track towards 2.7°C of warming this century, researchers warn
Some kind of overshoot of 1.5˚C is increasingly being seen as inevitable by scientists and policymakers. This new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, cautions against “overconfidence” in such a…Continue readingStudy warns of ‘irreversible’ climate impacts from overshooting 1.5˚C
An international coalition led by Oregon State University scientists concludes in its annual report published in BioScience that the Earth’s worsening vital signs indicate a “critical and unpredictable new phase of…Continue readingClimate report warns of escalating crisis, urges immediate action as UN summit nears
The timeline, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the most rigorous reconstruction of Earth’s past temperatures ever produced, the authors say. It shows the intimate link between carbon dioxide and…Continue readingScientists have captured Earth’s climate over the last 485 million years. Here’s the surprising place we stand now.
A new international coalition is disrupting airports to make one demand: the adoption of a treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030. Under the banner Oil Kills, small groups of activists…Continue readingOil Kills: Inside the International Uprising Disrupting the Aviation Industry
The time has come to accept that climate policy has failed, and that the 2015 landmark Paris agreement is dead. We let it die by pretending that we could both continue…Continue readingThe overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
A world where global mean surface temperature has increased 3°C will be characterized by widespread and intense heat stress, extreme weather events, ruptured and unproductive marine and terrestrial ecosystems, broken food…Continue readingEarth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just & sustainable future
On average, “the background extinction rate” will bump off about one species, per million species, per year. But what we’re seeing now is a bit more extreme. “If we look at…Continue readingLiving in a ‘mass extinction’
Researchers for the banking on climate chaos report, now in its 15th edition, analysed the world’s top 60 banks’ underwriting and lending to more than 4,200 fossil fuel firms and companies…Continue readingBanks have given almost $7tn to fossil fuel firms since Paris deal
Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown. The continent, which is…Continue readingDisease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds
April was the Earth’s 11th consecutive month of record-breaking heat, with warmer weather already sweeping across Asia and a hotter-than-usual summer expected in Europe. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service…Continue readingWorld extends run of heat records for an 11th month in a row
A massive new review of ancient atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels and corresponding temperatures lays out a daunting picture of where the Earth’s climate may be headed. The study covers geologic records spanning…Continue readingA New 66 Million-Year History of Carbon Dioxide Offers Little Comfort for Today
The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas…Continue readingRecord-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere
Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5˚C (4.5˚F) above preindustrial levels this century. Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative…Continue readingWorld’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5˚C target
The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1˚C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather, delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been…Continue reading‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for some 2,300km (1,429 miles) off the country’s northeastern coast, is suffering its worst bleaching event on record. The extent of the bleaching was revealed…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers worst bleaching on record
Ocean currents are driven by winds, tides and water density differences. In the Atlantic Ocean circulation, the relatively warm and salty surface water near the equator flows toward Greenland. During its…Continue readingOnce melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we will see extreme climate change within decades
The devastating drought in the Amazon River Basin that reported in October has continued into Northern Hemisphere winter, which is the heart of the wet season in the southern part of…Continue readingWhat’s causing the Amazon’s ongoing record drought?
AMOC, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where…Continue readingAtlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point
Scientists analysed 300 years of ocean temperature records from marine sponges and discovered global warming has increased by 0.5˚C more than was previously estimated. In the study, published in Nature Climate…Continue readingMarine sponges reveal global warming has already exceeded 1.5 degrees
Warm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented Anthropogenic driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse, functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. We draw upon a literature search…Continue readingAssessment of warm-water coral reef tipping point thresholds
How the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) responded to warmer climates in the geologic past has obvious relevance to our understanding of what its future could be as global temperatures rise…Continue readingIce sheet collapse closer than thought
Flowers are “giving up on” pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline. A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are…Continue readingFlowers ‘giving up’ on scarce insects and evolving to self-pollinate
Leaders of the IUCN updated their Red List of Threatened Species, a tracker of biodiversity around the globe. It was mainly bad news. The list includes information on 157,000 species, about…Continue readingEndangered species list grows by 2,000. Climate change is part of the problem.
Nearly a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction due to global heating, overfishing and pollution, according to an expert assessment. Nearly a fifth of all threatened…Continue readingQuarter of world’s freshwater fish at risk of extinction
New analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in Greenland and…Continue readingCurrent carbon dioxide levels last seen 14 million years ago
Most people expect that if a system, like someone’s body, an ecosystem, or part of the climate system, becomes stressed, it’ll respond fairly predictably—double the pressure, double the impact, and so…Continue readingClimate tipping points are nearer than you think. Our new report warns of catastrophic risk.
The world is on track to have burned more coal, oil and gas in 2023 than it did in 2022, according to a report by the Global Carbon Project, pumping 1.1%…Continue readingGlobal carbon emissions from fossil fuels to hit record high
The president of COP28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5˚C, the Guardian and…Continue readingCOP28 president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels
Total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 were 54.5GtCO2e, and grew to 57.4 in 2022. The emissions gap for 2030 is defined as the differencebetween the estimated total global GHG…Continue readingEmissions Gap Report 2023
By Christoper Ketcham The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has assumed Nordhaus is to be trusted. The integrated assessment models used at the IPCC are based on Nordhausian visions of adaptation…Continue readingWhen Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics
Earth’s vital signs have worsened beyond anything humans have yet seen, to the point that life on the planet is imperiled. William Ripple, a distinguished professor in the Oregon State University…Continue readingClimate report: ‘Uncharted territory’ imperils life on Earth
Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are…Continue readingRapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable
Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned. Their assessment found that six out of nine…Continue readingEarth ‘well outside safe operating space for humanity’
Much of the world’s natural coastline is protected by living habitats, most notably mangroves in warmer waters and tidal marshes closer to the poles. These ecosystems support fisheries and wildlife, absorb…Continue readingAfter studying more than 1,500 coastal ecosystems, researchers say they will drown if we let the world warm above 2˚C
You may not have noticed, but earlier this month we passed Earth overshoot day, when humanity’s demands for ecological resources and services exceeded what our planet can regenerate annually. Many economists…Continue readingCritics of ‘degrowth’ economics say it’s unworkable—but from an ecologist’s perspective, it’s inevitable
Soaring greenhouse gases, ubiquitous microplastics, pervasive “forever chemicals”, the global upheaval of animals, even old mobile phones and chicken bones—all have been put forward as evidence that the world entered the…Continue readingSigns of the human era, from nuclear fallout to microplastics
Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops. That is nearly a…Continue readingFootball pitch of tropical forest lost every 5 seconds
The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a…Continue readingArctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, with global, damaging and dangerous consequences
It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice. The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could be in…Continue readingToo late now to save Arctic summer ice, climate scientists find
We found melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. The meltwater makes Antarctic surface waters fresher, less dense, and therefore less likely to sink. This puts…Continue readingAntarctic alarm bells: Observations reveal deep ocean currents are slowing earlier than predicted
The dangerous and destructive myths of conventional economics include the claims that: Since planetary boundaries have already been exceeded and low-income countries must develop, social justice demands that the rich countries…Continue readingSaving humanity: Here’s a radical approach to building a sustainable and just society
Researchers complain that the oxygen problem doesn’t get the attention it deserves, with ocean acidification and warming grabbing the bulk of both news headlines and academic research. Just this April, for…Continue readingAs Ocean Oxygen Levels Dip, Fish Face an Uncertain Future
“These ice-ocean interactions make the glaciers more sensitive to ocean warming,” said senior co-author Eric Rignot, UCI professor of Earth system science and NASA JPL research scientist. “These dynamics are not…Continue readingResearchers discover a cause of rapid ice melting in Greenland
On September 8, 2022, at 6.30pm in Britain, Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The news broke just 30 minutes before the press embargo lifted on a major…Continue readingHumanity’s tipping point? How the Queen’s death stole a climate warning’s thunder
The groundbreaking modeling study published by Australian and American researchers at the end of March for the first time includes a detailed assessment of the likely impact of melting ice, revealing…Continue readingNew Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
The UK has lost 40m birds since 1970 and Europe as a whole has lost 600m birds since 1980. The British figures, especially for farmland species such as skylark and lapwing,…Continue readingLook up, listen, and be very concerned. Birds are vanishing – and their crisis is our crisis
The United States is Earth’s punching bag for nasty weather. Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet,…Continue reading“Buckle up. More extreme events are expected,” says head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Risks are cascading and underestimated, new climate extremes recorded, and the conclusion.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 3
2°C degrees is not a point of system stability, we are heading towards 3°C or more, and system-level change and tipping points are happening faster than forecast.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 2
Record emissions, the 1.5°C target, what about overshooting 1.5°C and cooling back to that level by 2100?, and the likelihood of achieving the 2°C target.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 1
Parts of Earth’s ice sheets that could lift global oceans by meters will likely crumble with another half degree Celsius of warming, and are fragile in ways not previously understood, according…Continue readingClimate, ice sheets & sea level: the news is not good
Using the new measurements of land elevation, Vernimmen and co-author Aljosja Hooijer found coastal areas lie much lower than older radar data had suggested. Analyses of the new lidar-based elevation model…Continue readingWorst impacts of sea level rise will hit earlier than expected, says modeling study
Exxon was expected to record more than $56bn in profits in 2022 and Chevron is set to top $37bn, record highs for both companies, according to Wall Street estimates compiled by…Continue readingExxon and Chevron share $100bn in profit after surge in oil prices
“At the moment,” writes Warren Hern, “we are the most misnamed species on the planet: Homo sapiens sapiens—’wise, wise man.’ Not.” Hern, 84, physician and adjunct professor of anthropology at the…Continue readingHumanity devouring itself and the planet
Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 69% in just under 50 years, according to a leading scientific assessment, as humans continue to clear forests, consume beyond the limits…Continue readingAlmost 70% of animal populations wiped out since 1970, report reveals
Everybody likes trees. There is no anti-tree lobby. A global push to go beyond conservation of existing forests and start creating new ones goes back to 2011, when many of the…Continue readingPhantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing
The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed…Continue readingWorld on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points
Major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now inevitable, scientists have found, even if the fossil fuel burning that is driving the climate crisis were to…Continue readingMajor sea-level rise is ‘now inevitable’
An international team of researchers looked specifically at 25,000 species, including fish, bacteria, plants and protozoans living in the top 100 meters of the world’s oceans. They found that under the…Continue reading90% of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed
In the 2000s, Le Quéré was a lead author of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won a Nobel Peace Prize. Today she bridges science and policy,…Continue readingCorinne Le Quéré: ‘Could we just adapt to climate change? The answer is no’
Unless urgent action is taken, emissions are expected to cause the planet to continue heating rapidly over the next few decades, prompting the global average temperature to overshoot the Paris agreement’s…Continue readingEven temporarily overshooting 2°C would cause permanent damage to Earth’s species
From the U.S. to China, in Europe, India and Japan, fossil fuels are staging a comeback, clean energy stocks are taking a hammering, and the prospects for speeding the transition to…Continue readingThe great climate backslide: How governments are regressing worldwide
As required by the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the government has today submitted the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) to Parliament. Professor Richard Betts MBE, who led this team,…Continue readingUK government: 4°C warming by 2100: “can’t be ruled out”