Limiting average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels has been the gold standard for climate action since at least the 2015 Paris…Continue readingNew study says the world blew past 1.5˚C four years ago
Category: The Anthropocene
There’s no precedent in at least five centuries for how hot and dry the West has been in the last two decades, new research asserts using analysis of tree…Continue readingUS West’s ‘hot drought’ is unprecedented in more than 500 years
Chile began two days of national mourning Monday for at least 122 victims of a raging wildfire, as the search continued for the missing and survivors picked through the…Continue readingChile mourns 122 killed in wildfire inferno, searches for missing
In a warming climate, meltwater from Antarctica is expected to contribute significantly to rising seas. For the most part, though, research has been focused on West Antarctica, in places…Continue readingCurrently stable parts of East Antarctica may be closer to melting than anyone has realized
Exxon posted full-year net income of $36bn, down from $55.7bn the previous year, but otherwise its biggest profit since 2012. Chevron’s net income of $21.4bn was down from $35.5bn…Continue readingExxonMobil and Chevron notch second-biggest annual profits in decade
Fipronil and imidacloprid are highly toxic pesticides that are no longer approved for use in outdoor agriculture, but continue to be widely used in pet flea treatments, typically applied…Continue readingHandwashing is a major source of pet pesticide pollution in UK rivers
The global mean temperature in September 2023 was 0.93° C warmer than the 1991–2020 average, breaking the previous record set in 2020 by a margin of 0.5° C. This…Continue readingThe jump in global temperatures in September 2023 is difficult to explain by natural climate variability alone
The EPA told stakeholders it was ditching specific search requirements for glider den trees, which must currently be retained with a 50-metre logging exclusion zone around each one. Instead,…Continue readingGreater glider put on path to extinction by NSW environmental watchdog
The Queensland government approved the Vulcan South coalmine in the Bowen Basin earlier this month without requiring an environmental impact statement (EIS). But the project still needs approval from…Continue readingTanya Plibersek urged to block ‘climate-wrecking’ Queensland coalmine that would raze koala habitat
Through the process of photosynthesis, trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere to produce new growth. Yet, under stressful conditions, trees release CO2 back to the atmosphere, a process called…Continue readingTrees struggle to ‘breathe’ as climate warms
Shell, Equinor, bp, Total and NEO are among the 17 separate companies which have been offered a total of 24 licences in the second tranche of the 33rd oil…Continue reading24 licences offered in second tranche of 33rd oil and gas licensing round
QatarEnergy has awarded four main engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract packages, collectively valued at over $6bn, for the next development phase of the Al-Shaheen field located offshore…Continue readingQatarEnergy awards $6bn worth contracts for further development of Al-Shaheen field
The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes. Underlying…Continue reading‘Literally off the charts’: global coral reef heat stress monitor forced to add new alerts as temperatures rise
The World Meteorological Organisation confirmed on Tuesday that continental Europe recorded in 2021 its highest ever temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit), and warned that new extremes were…Continue readingUN confirms Europe hit record high temperature in 2021
Plastic microparticles released into the environment from common road tires should be treated as a “high concern” pollutant that may exceed chronic safety limits in some heavily contaminated environments,…Continue readingMicroparticles from road tires are ‘high concern’
Located in West Bengal state in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh, the Sundarbans forest system is a cluster of low-lying islands and represents the largest mangrove ecosystem in the…Continue readingThe Sundarbans dilemma: Islands swallowed by water, and nowhere else to go
“We have the expertise, the supply chains and the teams ready to build Hinkley Point C safely, on time and on budget,” Vincent de Rivaz, then chief executive of…Continue readingHinkley Point C delay deals blow to UK energy strategy
Despite strict EU regulations on plastic recycling, there is little oversight on plastic waste shipped from the EU to Vietnam. About half of Europe’s plastic waste is exported to…Continue readingA large percentage of European plastic sent to Vietnam ends up in nature
The climate crisis turned the drought that struck the Amazon rainforest in 2023 into a devastating event, a study has found. The drought was the worst recorded in many…Continue readingDevastating drought in Amazon result of climate crisis
Rainfall has been lower than the average in Catalonia for the past three years, with the drought lasting more than twice as long as the previous dry spell of…Continue readingHeavens remain shut over Catalonia as three-year drought persists
A total of 144 animals, plants and ecological communities were added to the list, five times more than the yearly average and double the previous record year (2009). “The…Continue readingMore Australian wildlife added to threatened species list in 2023 than ever before
Norway’s annual exploration round, which is known as APA, focuses on the most mature regions of the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has awarded ownership…Continue readingNorway awards 62 production licenses in APA 2023 licensing round
“Chronic arsenic poisoning from drinking water … is a real problem, not a theoretical exercise,” said the lead researcher, Dr Seth Frisbie, an emeritus professor of chemistry at Norwich…Continue readingClimate crisis to increase cancer risk for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh
A team of researchers at the University of Sassari, in Sardinia, used GPS collars equipped with motion sensors to track the activity of the Alpine ibex, a species of…Continue readingGlobal heating pushes mountain goats into more nocturnal lifestyle
An Australian court has dismissed an attempt by members of the indigenous population of the remote Tiwi Islands to block a new gas pipeline being built by oil and…Continue readingAustralian court allows Santos pipeline to proceed after dismissing Tiwi Islanders’ case
In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees…Continue readingEarth shattered global heat record in ’23 and it’s flirting with warming limit
The U.S., Mexico and countries in the Caribbean are being battered by hurricane-induced ocean waves that have grown in areal size by 80% over the past 40 years, a…Continue readingHurricane waves hitting Americas grow 20% per decade
In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and…Continue readingBottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic bits
Tropical raptor species including the martial eagle, the bateleur and the dark chanting goshawk have vanished from swathes of the African continent over the past 40 years, new analysis…Continue readingBirds of prey in Africa experiencing population collapse
Petrobras and its partners have started production from the second phase of development of the Mero field (Mero-2 project) located on the Libra block in the pre-salt area of…Continue readingPetrobras and partners begin production from Mero-2 project offshore Brazil
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…Continue readingAssessment of warm-water coral reef tipping point thresholds
A research study for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics focused on the number of daily trips taken in the United States. In 2021, 52% of all trips, including all…Continue readingMore than Half of all Daily Trips in US Were Less than Three Miles in 2021
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…Continue readingIce sheet collapse closer than thought
More than 20 stations posted all-time December lows in the early hours of Thursday. They included Hohhot, capital of the northern Inner Mongolia region, where a reading of -29.1…Continue readingMore records tumble as China cold snap persists
Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the Amazon’s rivers and streams for food, transportation and income. But the historically low water levels have forced residents to reimagine their…Continue reading‘Everything is dead’: How record drought is wreaking havoc on the Amazon
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…Continue readingFlowers ‘giving up’ on scarce insects and evolving to self-pollinate
The president of the COP28 climate summit will continue with his oil company’s record investment in oil and gas production, despite coordinating a global deal to “transition away” from fossil fuels.…Continue readingCOP28 president says his firm will keep investing in oil
A climate activist has been jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful slow march protest on a London road. The sentence handed to…Continue readingJust Stop Oil activist jailed for six months for taking part in slow march
Global consumption of coal reached an all-time high in 2023, the IEA energy watchdog said Friday, as Earth experienced its hottest recorded year. The International Energy Agency reported that…Continue readingCoal use hits record in 2023, Earth’s hottest year
The failure of COP28 to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels is “devastating” and “dangerous” given the urgent need for action to tackle the climate crisis, scientists have said. One…Continue readingFailure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists
My colleagues and I overlaid the projections of climate models with data on the geographic distributions of more than 35,000 species on land and in the ocean. We found…Continue readingClimate change research: If warming approaches 2°C, a trickle of extinctions will become a flood
Climate agreement may fail to result in falls in oil and gas production. The world’s largest oil producers have saluted the COP28 agreement’s focus on an “orderly” move away…Continue readingBig oil welcomes COP28 call to move away from fossil fuels in ‘orderly’ way
Australia passed breakthrough climate laws in March this year, 10 months after a new centre-left Labor government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office. Even as the Albanese government…Continue readingAustralia is preparing to burn – more fossil fuels
Nearly 200 nations meeting in Dubai on Wednesday approved a first-ever call for the world to transition away from fossil fuels. The biggest-ever COP meeting hosted more than 88,000…Continue readingDubai summit adopts world-first ‘transition’ from fossil fuels
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…Continue readingEndangered species list grows by 2,000. Climate change is part of the problem.
The elephants are gone. The trees are logged out. The Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary in central Cambodia is largely destroyed, after being handed over by the government to a…Continue readingHow Mounting Demand for Rubber Is Driving Tropical Forest Loss
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…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…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,…Continue readingClimate tipping points are nearer than you think. Our new report warns of catastrophic risk.
Norway has secured a parliamentary majority for its plans to open up for deep-sea mining despite opposition from environmentalists and the fishing industry, who warn the move risks further…Continue readingNorway’s parliament backs deep-sea mining plans
Rishi Sunak, David Cameron and King Charles are just three of the more than 70,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries at the latest UN climate summit in Dubai, COP28.…Continue readingWhy are people still flying to climate conferences by private jet?
The COP28 climate talks have been flooded with announcements hyping controversial carbon credits before rules for them have been hammered out, with environmental groups fearing “greenwashing” on a massive…Continue readingControversial carbon credits flood COP28, yet still no rules
Many of the gravest threats to humanity are drawing closer, as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels, scientists have warned. Five important natural thresholds already…Continue readingEarth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries, an undercover investigation has revealed. Critics said the plan…Continue readingRevealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has slammed the door shut to agreeing to phase down fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in…Continue readingSaudi Arabia says ‘absolutely not’ to oil phase down at COP28
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,…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…Continue readingCOP28 president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels
The vast amount of electricity that India’s growing number of ACs will require presents a significant challenge. Already during peak summertime hours, ACs have accounted for 40% to 60%…Continue reading‘A matter of survival’: India’s unstoppable need for air conditioners
Simultaneous episodes of extreme heat and drought could occur earlier and repeatedly in Europe, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Laura Suarez-Gutierrez and colleagues investigated how…Continue reading‘End of century’ extreme heat and drought conditions in Europe could occur much earlier than previously thought
In the ocean, tropical species are moving from the equator towards the poles as sea temperatures rise. Meanwhile, temperate species are receding as it gets too warm, they face…Continue readingGlobal marine life is on the move due to sea temperature rises