Articles 2020

Un modèle dérivé, le Grok Gov Model, est utilisé dans un programme de ciblage assisté par intelligence artificielle de l’armée américaine, selon le ministère de la défense.

A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping climate security reports from the public.

I know it’s almost impossible to turn your eyes away from the Trump show, but that’s the point. His antics, ever-grosser and more preposterous, are designed to keep him in our minds, to crowd out other issues. His insatiable craving for attention is a global-threat multiplier. You can’t help wondering whether there’s anything he wouldn’t do to dominate the headlines.

The first session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP P1) will be hosted by the Government of Switzerland, from 2 to 6 February 2026 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG). The session will be preceded by regional and stakeholder meetings on 1 February 2026, at the same venue. The tentative schedule for the first session is available here. Please note that this schedule is subject to change.

Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security - A national security assessment

De groene transitie heeft een donkere keerzijde, schrijven Nancy Govaerts en Jennifer Van Driessche van WSM. ‘Terwijl Europa inzet op elektrische auto's en hernieuwbare energie, worden de benodigde grondstoffen gewonnen in mensonterende omstandigheden in DR Congo. Achter onze duurzame toekomst schuilt een schrijnende realiteit van uitbuiting, kinderarbeid en milieuvernietiging.’

A climate-focused report out of Europe throws serious shade at plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) cars, pointing out that they emit nearly as much carbon dioxide emissions as combustion engine-powered vehicles. In fact, it highlights how real-world emissions from supposedly greener PHEVs has increased over the years above officially recorded figures to nearly five times. Yikes! The findings come from the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), a clutch of non-government organizations focused on sustainable transport policy across the continent. The report has been published ahead of a review of automotive CO2 emission standards, which would see Europe continue to sell plug-in hybrid electric vehicles beyond 2035, when they're set to be phased out in order to meet EU climate targets.

A UN commission has found Israel’s war in Gaza ranks among history’s greatest crimes. The UK government must stop hiding behind legal fictions and recognise the reality

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP) is a new, independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the global science-policy interface.

Global sea level rose faster than expected in 2024, mostly because of ocean water expanding as it warms, or thermal expansion. According to a NASA-led analysis, last year’s rate of rise was 0.23 inches (0.59 centimeters) per year, compared to the expected rate of 0.17 inches (0.43 centimeters) per year.

As of February 22, over twenty Stand Up for Science protests are scheduled for March 7 throughout the United States. The protests are being organized by fellow scientists who are concerned about the Trump administration’s feelings and actions towards science (see Robles-Gil, 2025 in Science), includ

The problem of waste that really needs fixing is not the public employees but the private contractors—and Elon Musk is one of them.

Elon Musk has achieved astonishing power in Trump’s administration – and spent the weekend wielding it

Clouds play an important role in how much the Earth warms when greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide increase. However, scientists have struggled to determine whether low-level clouds in the tropics slow down or speed up global warming, creating uncertainty in climate predictions. A new study published in Nature adds to the growing evidence that cloud feedback is very likely to amplify warming in the climate system, rather than reduce it.

A new report explores a framework for global climate risk management and includes contributions from an actuary at the Government Actuary's Department.

We moeten wetlands herstellen als barrière tussen steden en de zee, schrijven Francisco García Sánchez en Dhanapal Govindarajulu. De onderzoekers trekken lessen voor Valencia en andere kuststeden uit eerdere grote overstromingen in de Indiase steden Chennai en Kochi.

Visualize and download global and local sea level projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report.

Climate change should be at the heart of national security plans, say experts.

En raison de nouvelles pluies abondantes attendues, une évacuation immédiate des régions de Jablanica et Konjic, les plus touchées par les inondations de vendredi, a été ordonnée.

Les pluies torrentielles qui se sont abattues sur la Bosnie-Herzégovine, dans la nuit du 3 au 4 octobre, ont provoqué des inondations meurtrières. Les pays voisins sont également en état d’alerte dans une région des Balkans de plus en plus souvent en proie à des évènements climatiques extrêmes.

Some Western nations are using old legislation or enacting harsh new laws to restrict the right to peaceful protest and impose disproportionate penalties, a report warns. Governments in democratic countries in Europe and the global north are using overly punitive measures to crack down on environmental activists, according to a new report.

The Svalbard archipelago’s ice caps suffered extreme episodes of melting in summer 2024, brought on by exceptionally high air temperatures.

Microplastics and nanoplastics may be present in food, primarily from environmental contamination where foods are grown or raised.

Bosnië en Herzegovina staat sinds maart een stap dichter bij toetredingsonderhandelingen met de Europese Unie. Voordat die gesprekken van start kunnen gaan, verwacht Brussel nog vooruitgang. Onder andere wat luchtvervuiling betreft is er in hoofdstad Sarajevo nog veel werk aan de winkel.

Bulletins de vote - Élections du Parlement européen - Élections de la Chambre des représentants - Élections du Parlement wallon - Élections du Parlement flamand - Élections du Parlement de la Région Bruxelles-Capitale - Élections du Parlement de la Communauté germanophone

Dans le cadre des élections fédérales, européennes et régionales du 9 juin 2024, a eu lieu le tirage au sort des numéros de listes. Veuillez trouver ci-dessous le tableau avec les numéros attribués aux partis politiques.

Code Rood versus de luchtvaartindustrie: Don’t crash the planet

ibrio are bacteria that cause an estimated 80,000 illnesses each year in the United States. About a dozen species of Vibrio are pathogenic to humans. V. parahaemolyticus causes the most infections in the United States, accounting for about 40% of reported cases of vibriosis, followed by V. alginolyticus, which accounts for about 20%. Most people with Vibrio infection have diarrhea. Some people might also have stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. One species, V. vulnificus, is known to cause life-threatening infections. About 150–200 V. vulnificus infections are reported to CDC each year and about one in five people with this infection die—sometimes within 1–2 days of becoming ill.

INFO - Service public fédéral Intérieur - Direction des Elections

Une enquête YouGov, menée en Europe dans sept pays, a mis en lumière des disparités sur les modes d’action envisagées par les citoyens pour contrer le changement climatique.

The fallout when the industry fails to act is still smaller than the rewards for pumping out more pollution

The NASA climate spiral 1880-2022. This version is in Celsius; see below for an alternate version in Fahrenheit. Both a 30 fps, 60 second duration video and 60 fps, 30 second duration video are available. The visualization presents monthly global temperature anomalies between the years 1880-2022. Temperature anomalies are deviations from a long term global avergage. In this case the period 1951-1980 is used to define the baseline for the anomaly. These temperatures are based on the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4), an estimate of global surface temperature change. The data file used to create this visualization is publically accessible here.The term 'climate spiral' describes an animated radial plot of global temperatures. Climate scientist Ed Hawkins from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading popularized this style of visualization in 2016.The Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) is a NASA laboratory managed by the Earth Sciences Division of the agency’s Godd

Joint committee on national security strategy criticises ‘severe dereliction of duty’ by ministers as threat grows

Le traitement de l’information liée à l’urgence climatique est complexe. Si les faits sont bien véridiques, les questions climatiques sont touchées par de nombreuses polémiques du fait de leur caractère profondément politique. Dès lors, comment les journalistes doivent-ils traiter l’actualité climatique ?

The federal effort could set the stage for more studies into the feasibility, benefits and risks of one of the more controversial means of combating climate change.

Projected growth in rocket launches for space tourism, moon landings, and perhaps travel to According to new NOAA research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, a 10-fold increase in hydrocarbon fueled launches, which is plausible within the next two decades based on recent trends in space traffic growth, would damage the ozone layer, and change atmospheric circulation patterns.

If our next federal government wants to save the reef, it must tackle the main reason it is in trouble by phasing out fossil fuel use and exports as quickly as possible. Otherwise it’s like putting bandaids on an arterial wound.

A brutal heatwave that has enveloped parts of southern Asia since the end of April looks set to intensify, says the latest forecast from the Met Office. Nick Silkstone is a meteorologist with the Met Office’s Global Guidance Unit. He said: “Temperatures are expected to peak on Saturday, when maximum values could reach around 49-50°C in the hottest locations, such as Jacobabad, and the Sibi area of Pakistan.

A new survey from YouGov asked Americans for their thoughts on climate change, including what they believe its potential impacts could be and whether they believe they and their country are doing enough to tackle climate change. The findings suggest that most Americans anticipate dire consequences to climate change, but many believe there are still ways to avoid the worst of it. 

Most marine-terminating glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere are shrinking; some have completely left the water.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule changes that would require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, including information about climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition, and certain climate-related financial statement metrics in a note to their audited financial statements. The required information about climate-related risks also would include disclosure of a registrant’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have become a commonly used metric to assess a registrant’s exposure to such risks.

As Earth’s climate warms, incidences of extreme heat and humidity are rising, with significant consequences for human health. Climate scientists are tracking a key measure of heat stress that can warn us of harmful conditions.

Water vapor is Earth’s most abundant greenhouse gas. It’s responsible for about half of Earth’s greenhouse effect — the process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. Greenhouse gases keep our planet livable. Without them, Earth’s surface temperature would be about 59 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) colder. Water vapor is also a key part of Earth’s water cycle: the path that all water follows as it moves around Earth’s atmosphere, land, and ocean as liquid water, solid ice, and gaseous water vapor.

The most widely publicized threat to the Amazonian rainforest is deforestation. Less well understood is that public lands are being converted to private holdings in a land grab we’ve been studying for the past decade... Much of this land is cleared for cattle ranches and soybean farms, threatening biodiversity and the Earth’s climate.

SACRAMENTO -- Data from the California Energy Commission (CEC) shows that 59 percent of the state’s electricity came from renewable and zero-carbon sources in 2020. The CEC estimates that in 2020, 34.5 percent of the state’s retail electricity sales were served by Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS)-eligible sources such as solar and wind. When sources of zero-carbon energy such as large hydroelectric generation and nuclear are included, 59 percent of the state’s retail electricity sales came from non-fossil fuel sources in 2020. In 2019, over 60 percent of the state’s electricity came from renewable and zero-carbon sources. The decrease in 2020 is due to decline in hydroelectric generation caused by severe drought, as well as pandemic-related delays to new renewable energy projects.

As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, the government has today submitted the Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) to Parliament. Professor Richard Betts MBE, who led this team, says that ""ne of the key conclusions from the University of Exeter's work was that current worldwide policies could result in up to 4°C warming by 2100."

The UK Government is forecasting that, without better plans to improve climate resilience, billions of pounds will be wiped off of national GDP in the coming decades, with the costs of inaction set to outweigh the cost of action by 2045.

Selon l’autorité de surveillance financière des États-Unis (GAO – Government Accountability Office), le département de l’Énergie a investi environ 1,1 milliard de dollars entre 2009 et 2015 dans neuf projets de capture et séquestration du carbone (CCS).

The Government needs to make immediate hard choices such as rationing fossil fuels, stopping forest and peat harvesting, cutting the national herd and restricting car traffic into cities if it wants to meet its own targets on emissions reductions, climate change experts have told an Oireachtas committee.

Nigéria Deep De-carbonization DDP

La Bosnie-Herzégovine est-elle au bord de l’implosion ? Trente ans après la guerre, l’inquiétude grandit dans ce pays divisé, où le Parlement de la Republika Srpska (RS), l'entité serbe de Bosnie, a entamé un processus de retrait des Serbes de plusieurs institutions fédérales, en particulier de l’armée.

Largest scientific study of its kind finds climate anxiety affects the daily life and functioning of nearly half of children and young people surveyed globally.

Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response.

Pledges to plant trees fall from politicians’ lips like leaves in the autumn, especially during elections and climate summits. Yet ambitious government planting targets are likely to be missed because there are not enough trees or people to plant them, leading forestry figures have warned.

A former police officer who is now a prominent climate crisis campaigner has accused the Metropolitan police of attempting to recruit him to spy on Extinction Rebellion.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against a seabed mining consent today, there is nothing standing in the way of the Government moving to ban the experimental industry from New Zealand waters, said Kiwis Against Seabed Mining.

Europe’s 25 largest banks are still failing to present comprehensive plans that address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, putting their sustainability pledges in doubt, campaigners have warned.

Climate risk, a growing focus for environment, social and governance-minded investors, has morphed into an urgent issue for insurers as wildfires ravage the U.S. and Europe and natural disasters destroy property and cost lives worldwide.

Environment minister has 28 days to appeal historic ruling that carbon emissions from coalmine should not cause young people ‘personal injury or death’

It is hard to believe it’s happening again, even harder to believe that so few people seem to know or care. A massive famine is unfolding in Tigray in northern Ethiopia. Five million people are in need of food aid, and perhaps 900,000 are already starving.

Every new climate pledge is an attempt to distract people from the failed ones it replaces. Apparently, all seven governments have committed “to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s land and at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030”. But what does it mean?

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Under a “climate lockdown,” governments would limit private-vehicle use, ban consumption of red meat, and impose extreme energy-saving measures, while fossil-fuel companies would have to stop drilling. To avoid such a scenario, we must overhaul our economic structures and do capitalism differently. Many think of the climate crisis as distinct from the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic. But the three crises – and their solutions – are interconnected.

Based on preliminary analysis, the global average atmospheric carbon dioxide in 2020 was 412.5 parts per million (ppm for short), setting a new record high amount despite the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the jump of 2.6 ppm over 2019 levels was the fifth-highest annual increase in NOAA's 63-year record. Since 2000, the global atmospheric carbon dioxide amount has grown by 43.5 ppm, an increase of 12 percent.

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Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are aerosols with an aerodynamic diameter of 0.1 µm (100 nm) or less. There is a growing concern in the public health community about the contribution of UFPs to human health. Despite their modest mass and size, they dominate in terms of the number of particles in the ambient air. A particular concern about UFPs is their ability to reach the most distal lung regions (alveoli) and circumvent primary airway defenses. Moreover, UFPs have a high surface area and a capacity to adsorb a substantial amount of toxic organic compounds. Harmful systemic health effects of PM10 or PM2.5 are often attributable to the UFP fraction. In this review, we examine the physicochemical characteristics of UFPs to enable a better understanding of the effects of these particles on human health. The characteristics of UFPs from diesel combustion will be discussed in the greatest detail because road vehicles are the primary source of UFP emissions in urban pollution hotspots. Finally, we will elaborate on the