Trends – At one weather station in Fairbanks, Alaska, each hour of rainfall is about 50% more intense, on average, than it was a half-century ago. The Wichita area,…Continue readingExtreme Rainfall in the U.S.
Category: The Anthropocene
Heavy rains in Iran have set off flash floods and landslides in 21 of the country’s 31 provinces, killing at least 53 people, heavily damaging hundreds of villages, cutting…Continue readingHeavy Rain Causes Deadly Flooding Across Iran
Moscow-based integrated energy company Rosneft has started production drilling at the Payakhskoye field on the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia. The field is part of Rosneft’s Vostok Oil strategic project,…Continue readingRosneft starts production drilling at Payakhskoye field in Russia
Wintershall Dea and its partners Sval Energi and Pandion Energy Norge have started production from the Nova oil field (previously Skarfjell) located in the Norwegian North Sea. The development…Continue readingWintershall Dea begins production from Nova oil field, offshore Norway
A team of researchers have found that the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares from 1960 to 2019, equivalent to an area of more than 10%…Continue readingNew study finds global forest area has declined by 81 million hectares from 1960 to 2019
Mangroves are enormously valuable coastal ecosystems. Healthy mangrove ecosystems not only buffer shorelines against rising sea levels, but they also provide valuable protection against erosion, abundant carbon sinks, shelter…Continue readingClimate change killed 40 million Australian mangroves in 2015. Here’s why they’ll probably never grow back
In the last two years, fires have consumed nearly 20% of them, according to the Forest Service. In Kings Canyon, hundreds of giant sequoias have burned to death —…Continue readingGiant Sequoias Are Built to Withstand Fire, But Not These Fires
The 127-gram hatchling was found lying on its back in a rockpool near Sydney’s Tamarama beach. It was missing one of its four flippers, had a chip in another,…Continue readingTurtle pooed ‘pure plastic’ for six days after rescue from Sydney beach
Illegal ivory poaching once posed a significant threat to Kenya’s elephants. But now the giants of the animal kingdom are facing an even bigger risk: climate change. As Kenya…Continue readingClimate change is killing more elephants than poaching
BP reported a profit of $8.5 billion for its second quarter on Tuesday, its biggest windfall in 14 years. Just days earlier, the two largest U.S. oil companies —…Continue readingBP profits highest in 14 years, raking in $8.5 billion
The nation’s biggest oil companies — ExxonMobil and Chevron — saw their profits roughly triple in the second-quarter. On Friday, Exxon reported net income of $17.9 billion for the…Continue readingExxon, Chevron post blockbuster profits on oil price boom
The UK-headquartered group, Europe’s largest oil company, reported adjusted earnings of $11.5 billion in the second three months of the year, breaking the record $9.1 billion posted in the…Continue readingShell reports record profits on surging oil and gas prices
The Ghasha gas project is located on the north-western shore of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is developing the project. ADNOC expects…Continue readingADNOC Drilling wins $2 billion worth of contracts for Ghasha mega-project
The more than 4,000km (2,485 mile) long onshore gas pipeline is planned to start in Warri in Nigeria, travel through Niger, and end in Hassi R’Mel in Algeria, from…Continue readingAlgeria, Nigeria, and Niger sign MoU for $13 billion Trans Saharan gas pipeline
Supporters of Australia’s coal export industry have been arguing for the past decade that global greenhouse gas emissions would go up if overseas customers had to source coal from…Continue readingAustralian Prime Minister parrots a pro-coal talking point as Ampol offers ‘carbon neutral’ petrol
Japan has begun restarting nuclear plants that have been idle since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledging to get at least nine reactors up and…Continue readingAsia goes nuclear
The $2.17 billion Hunutlu coal fired power plant is the largest foreign direct investment in Turkey by China. Despite the efforts of campaigners, and several pending legal challenges, the…Continue readingTurkey’s new power plant exposes ‘huge contradictions’ of net zero pledge
More than 900 million Chinese, about 65% of the population, are living under some kind of heat warning. Temperatures have reached, or exceeded, the highs that have recently tormented…Continue readingHotter, Longer and More Widespread Heat Waves Scorch China
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Labor will not support a moratorium on fossil fuel projects. “That’s not in our policy and we won’t be implementing that policy,” Albanese…Continue readingAustralian Prime Minister rules out banning fossil fuel projects
INPEX CORPORATION (INPEX) announced it has signed a statement of commitment to a net zero emissions future with the government of Australia’s Northern Territory, where the Ichthys liquid natural…Continue readingINPEX gas company and Northern Territory Government sign statement of commitment to a net zero emissions future
GAZ-SYSTEM said that the Baltic Pipe project, a 900km long offshore and onshore natural gas pipeline has been connected to the Polish and Danish transmission systems. The pipeline project…Continue readingGAZ-SYSTEM connects Baltic Pipe to Polish and Danish transmission systems
The health of Australia’s environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to pressures of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and mining. The…Continue readingAustralia State of the Environment Report
Oil and gas giant Woodside Energy been given the green light to operate the North West Shelf gas processing facility on the Burrup peninsula, in the Pilbara, until 2070.…Continue readingFifty-year extension for Australia’s biggest CO₂ emitter
In its State of the Climate report for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for 2021, the WMO said ecosystems, food and water, human health and welfare were all…Continue readingBattered by climate change, Latin America must brace for worse
At a sprawling landfill near Madrid, hundreds of white storks dodge garbage trucks as they look for scraps of food among the mountains of multicoloured garbage bags. The birds…Continue readingStorks give up migrating to live on landfill in Spain
Italy faced the hottest day of the current heatwave Friday with red extreme heat warnings issued for 16 cities across the country, as firefighters battled blazes up and down…Continue readingItaly heatwave peaks with 16 cities on red alert as Tuscany burns
China’s year-old carbon market has given more than 2,000 power plants a taste of emissions trading, but design flaws and data fraud have meant limited large-scale greenhouse gas reductions…Continue readingA year on, China’s CO₂ market fails to drive big emission cuts
India’s thermal coal imports hit a monthly record in June of 20.9 million tonnes, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government called for increased purchases in order to overcome a…Continue readingGautam Adani ramps up share of coal imports as power crisis grips India
A heat wave that brought record temperatures to Britain and parts of France swelled over Central Europe. The toll from a heat dome is rising, and Portugal alone has…Continue readingBrutal heat dome moves east, with Central Europe sweltering
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…Continue readingCorinne Le Quéré: ‘Could we just adapt to climate change? The answer is no’
Wildfires and heatwaves wreaking havoc across swathes of the globe show humanity facing “collective suicide”, the UN secretary general has warned. António Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting…Continue readingHumanity faces ‘collective suicide’
In the first quarter of 2022, Chinese regulators gave the green light to coal plants with a total capacity of 8.63 gigawatts. That is nearly half of the entire…Continue readingChina speeding up approvals for new coal plants
As dawn breaks over Javed Rahi’s mountain village, a loud boom shatters the silence and a torrent of water comes cascading down from the melting glacier nearby, followed by…Continue readingConcerns as Pakistan glaciers melt
Kenya’s remote Marsabit County, in the far north near the border with Ethiopia, is the land of pastoralists. The region has been dubbed the “Cradle of Mankind” – Kenya…Continue reading‘Everything is dry’- The droughts putting Kenya’s herding cultures at risk
The maximum temperature reached Tuesday in Coningsby, England — 130 miles (209km) north of London — was unlike anything the village had ever observed. It was an outlier in…Continue readingBritain’s freakish heat demolished records
US president Joe Biden said he expected Saudi Arabia to take “further steps” to increase the supply of oil in the “coming weeks” following a meeting with Crown Prince…Continue readingBiden expects Saudi Arabia to take ‘further steps’ to boost oil supply
Mongolia expects Russia to begin construction of the “Power of Siberia 2” gas pipeline through its territory to China within two years, as Moscow moves to connect its Europe-supplying…Continue readingMongolia says Russia-China gas pipeline will break ground in 2024
In 2015, French oil giant TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the governments of Uganda and Tanzania, to drill…Continue readingOil drilling to go ahead in Ugandan park despite threat to nature
The migratory monarch butterfly, a North American icon with a continent-spanning annual journey, now faces the threat of extinction. Thursday’s decision by the International Union for Conservation of Nature…Continue readingWhy monarch butterflies, now endangered, are on the ‘edge of collapse’
In the years ahead, sea level rise, more intense storm surge and jacked-up tropical storms will be visiting many of the world’s roughly 3,800 ports. Most of those ports…Continue readingRising Seas Are the Next Crisis for the World’s Ports
No organism on Earth is known to live as long as the Great Basin bristlecone pine. The oldest documented tree, a well-hidden specimen nicknamed “Methuselah,” after the long-lived biblical…Continue readingScientists rush to save 1,000-year-old trees on the brink of death
The Met Office has issued its first ever extreme heat weather red warning for next week across much of England as temperatures hit levels during which “illness and death…Continue readingMet Office issues first ever red warning for extreme heat in England
France, Portugal and Spain are among the European countries particularly affected, with temperatures of more than 45˚C (113˚F) recorded during a heatwave that is also sweeping the UK. France:…Continue readingFirefighters tackle southern Europe wildfires as heatwave passes 45˚C
In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (Assessment Report 5; AR5) concluded that Northern Hemisphere temperatures had reached levels unprecedented in at least 1,400 years. The…Continue readingTechnical Note:Past and future warming – direct comparison on multi-century timescales
Hungary’s government has declared an “energy emergency” in response to supply disruptions and skyrocketing energy prices in Europe, an official said. There is “unlikely to be enough gas in…Continue readingHungary declares ‘energy emergency’ over threat of fuel shortages
United States: In Texas, temperatures hit triple digits Fahrenheit over the weekend, with some places breaking century-old records. On Saturday, Waco reached 108˚F (42˚C), smashing the 104˚F (40˚C) high…Continue readingHeatwaves in the US, China and Spain
Deforestation of the Amazon hit a new record during the first half of 2022. Satellite data showed more than 3,980 square kilometers, an area five times the size of…Continue readingAmazon deforestation hits six-year high in Brazil
While 425 square kilometres of land lie within the probable maximum flood in the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley, it has also long been identified as fertile for property development amid rising…Continue reading‘Stark raving, barking mad’: experts question the building of homes below ‘worst-case’ flood levels in western Sydney
New Fortress Energy (NFE) has signed a deal to sell 11 liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure vessels to a joint venture (JV) it will form with Apollo for a…Continue readingNew Fortress Energy to sell 11 LNG vessels to JV with Apollo for $2bn
Under the plans, gas can be classed as a sustainable investment if “the same energy capacity cannot be generated with renewable sources” and plans are in place to switch…Continue readingEU votes to class gas and nuclear as green
Salmon famously travel hundreds of miles upstream to reach their home waters to spawn, but climate change is shrinking their destination. A new study offers high-resolution details on how…Continue readingClimate change is shrinking and fragmenting salmon habitat
Restoring degraded environments, such as by planting trees, is often touted as a solution to the climate crisis. But our new research shows this, while important, is no substitute…Continue readingNature restoration no substitute for cutting fossil fuels
From ocean depths to mountain peaks, humans have littered the planet with tiny shards of plastic. We have even absorbed these microplastics into our bodies—with uncertain implications. Millions of…Continue reading‘They’re everywhere’: microplastics in oceans, air and human body
A potent weather system near Australia’s east coast has unloaded tremendous rainfall in the state of New South Wales for days, putting Sydney on track for its wettest year…Continue readingAustralia flood, boosted by climate change, making history in Sydney
Italy is facing an unusually early heatwave and a lack of rainfall, particularly in the northern agricultural Po valley, which has been hit by its worst drought in decades.…Continue readingItaly declares state of emergency in five regions over drought
Almost a quarter of the world’s population are exposed to significant flood risks, according to new research published Tuesday, which warned those in poorer countries were more vulnerable. 1.81…Continue readingNearly 1 in 4 globally at risk from severe flooding
Millions of native animals, including wallabies, green rosellas, cockatoos and wombats have been killed in Tasmania, Australia, under property protection permits. In Tasmania, landowners can obtain property protection permits…Continue readingMillions of native animals killed under Tasmania’s property protection permits
One of the world’s biggest gliding mammals – the once common greater glider – has been pushed closer to extinction and is now officially endangered. The nocturnal marsupials, which…Continue readingGreater glider now endangered as logging, bushfires and global heating hit numbers
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…Continue readingEven temporarily overshooting 2°C would cause permanent damage to Earth’s species
The proposed program for offshore drilling between 2023 and 2028 would ban exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. But by leaving the possibility for new drilling in parts…Continue readingBiden opens door to more offshore drilling, despite earlier climate vow