The European Drought Observatory’s map of current droughts in Europe shows the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast in bad shape, with red areas indicating an alert similar to those in north Africa…Continue readingWhat will Spain look like when it runs out of water? Barcelona is giving us a glimpse
Global liquefied natural gas demand is forecast to surge 50% by 2040 as the world transitions to cleaner fuel, Shell said in its latest annual LNG outlook. China was likely to…Continue readingLNG demand set to surge 50% by 2040 in clean-fuel transition, says Shell
Oxford university has come under heavy criticism after its £6bn endowment fund increased its investment in fossil fuels just a few years after making a landmark commitment to divestment. About £1 out of…Continue readingOxford under fire for increasing fossil fuel investments
Greenland is part of the Arctic region. It is the world’s biggest island, around 836,330 sq miles in size (2.1 million sq km). Most of the land is covered by ice…Continue readingGreenland’s ice sheet is melting and being replaced by vegetation
The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature study by an international research…Continue readingAmazon rainforest at a critical threshold: Loss of forest worsens climate change
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
TotalEnergies and its partners in Nigeria have commenced production from the Akpo West field in the Gulf of Guinea. Akpo West, which is located 135km off the coast, is producing through…Continue readingTotalEnergies begins production from Akpo West field offshore Nigeria
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the end of…Continue readingIce cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past
The new chief of the World Meteorological Organization said it looks to her that the rate of human-caused climate change is accelerating and that warming has triggered more Arctic cold outbreaks…Continue readingNew UN weather agency chief says rate of global warming is speeding up
BP’s new boss Murray Auchincloss set out plans to win over shareholders on Tuesday as he pledged to turn the oil major into a “higher value company” even as he sticks…Continue readingBP targets boost for returns as it delivers second biggest profit in a decade
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
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 Agreement. A…Continue readingNew study says the world blew past 1.5˚C four years ago
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 rings. The…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 scorched remains…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 like the…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 the previous…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 to the…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 was the…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, Forestry Corporation…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 the federal…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 photorespiration. With…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 and gas…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 Qatar. The…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 the warning…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 expected. The…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, new research…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 world. It…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 EDF, said…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 a number…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 places and…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 2008, the…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 problem is…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 interests to…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 University, in…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 mountain goat,…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 gas major…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 Celsius (2.66…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 new study…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 food. Formed…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 shows, as…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 Brazil’s Santos…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 literature search…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 modes of…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 temperatures rise…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 degrees Celsius…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 relationship to…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 Paris are…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. Sultan Al…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 Stephen Gingell,…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 nations would…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 called it…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 that limiting…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 from fossil…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 passed its…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 people, including…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 species, about…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 politically well-connected…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 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.
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 damage to…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. But they…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 scale. The…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 risk being…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 was designed…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 Dubai. A…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, 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
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% of total…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 soon end-of-century…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 increased competition…Continue readingGlobal marine life is on the move due to sea temperature rises
More than two million people across the Horn of Africa have been forced from their homes by torrential rains and floods, according to an AFP tally compiled Thursday from government and…Continue readingHorn of Africa floods displace more than two million
More than 400 oil and gas projects were approved globally in the last two years despite calls to abandon all new hydrocarbon development, new figures showed as the UN COP28 climate…Continue readingHundreds of new oil and gas projects approved despite climate crisis
A new investigation by human rights experts appointed by the United Nations has expressed alarm at evidence of pollution from a North Carolina PFAS manufacturing plant, describing it as “alleged human…Continue readingUN human rights experts express alarm over PFAS pollution in North Carolina
Potentially toxic “forever chemicals” have been detected in the drinking water sources at 17 of 18 England’s water companies, with 11,853 samples testing positive, something experts say they are “extremely alarmed”…Continue reading‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water sources across England
Nearly half of the whales and dolphins found in UK waters over the past five years contained harmful concentrations of toxic chemicals banned decades ago, an investigation has found. Among orcas…Continue readingLevels of toxic PCB chemicals found at 30 times ‘safe’ limits in stranded whales
Spain, the world’s biggest producer of olive oil, suffered a very difficult year in 2022 and drought this year has compounded the problem. In Italy, this year’s olive harvest is down…Continue readingWinter isn’t coming: climate change hits Greek olive crop
Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, is a term for fine particulates that are typically the by-product of car exhausts or coal-fired power plants. Their tiny size enables them to travel deep…Continue readingAir pollution behind over 250,000 deaths in Europe in 2021: agency
Haiyan was one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall. More than 6,300 people were killed as the storm swept across the island of Leyte, flattening homes and causing a…Continue reading10 years after Haiyan, are mangroves protecting Philippine coastal areas?
The number of listed threatened species in Australia’s world heritage northern rainforests has increased by 25% since 2020, as ecologists say they are now clearly observing the long-predicted impacts of global…Continue readingQueensland’s wet tropics see 25% rise in threatened species in three years as climate change bites
Cyclone Freddy lasted a record 38 days. The storm barrelled 5,000 miles across the Indian Ocean, pummelling Madagascar and Reunion before striking the African mainland. It swirled over southern Mozambique and…Continue readingAfter the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future
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
US industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS “forever chemical” waste over the last five years, and did so with processes that probably pollute the environment around disposal sites,…Continue readingUS industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS waste in last five years
Germany’s finance minister, withdrew his party’s support for a crucial agreement between the governing parties to phase out the nation’s coal-burning power plants by 2030. “Until it is clear that energy…Continue readingShifting Political Winds Threaten Progress on Europe’s Green Goals
More than half the seabird species breeding on British and Irish coasts have declined over the last 20 years, according to the most comprehensive census to date. Some species have declined…Continue readingMore than half of UK and Ireland seabirds in decline
Germany’s top court has ruled the government broke the law with a €60bn off-budget fund, throwing Berlin’s plans for financing its energy transition and climate policy into disarray. The judges said…Continue readingGerman top court strikes down €60bn climate funding
All aquatic species in the river mouths flowing into the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean are contaminated with microplastics, with mollusks being the most affected due to their ability to filter…Continue readingAll aquatic species in river mouths are contaminated by microplastics
Extreme drought in northern Italy has doubled over the past two decades, creating a climate that increasingly mirrors that of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The southern Shabelle region of…Continue readingExtreme drought in northern Italy mirrors climate in Ethiopia