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In the lead-up to COP29, Fausto Corvino emphasized the need for a paradigm shift within the international climate negotiations to ensure that the global rich bear a greater responsibility for climate finance. In this follow-up article, he explains why COP29 has failed in its historic mission to lay the foundations for a rapid and equitable global transition to low-carbon energy....

We are used to thinking about natural disasters as events confined in time and space: the direct impact in a certain location of an earthquake happens over minutes, a hurricane over hours. While they might be confined in geography, longitudinal studies can help us understand the full range of effects and what extra efforts might be needed to rebuild.

Average global temperature in November was 1.62C above preindustrial levels, bringing average for the year to 1.60C. Data for November from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) found the average global surface temperature for the month was 1.62C above the level before the mass burning of fossil fuels drove up global heating. With data for 11 months of 2024 now available, scientists said the average for the year is expected to be 1.60C, exceeding the record set in 2023 of 1.48C.

The new study, led by researchers at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, associated with the Earth Commission, and Nanjing University, assessed what this would mean for the number of people living outside the “climate niche” in which our species has thrived. It says about 60 million people are already exposed to dangerous heat (average temperature of 29°C or higher). And two billion – 22% of the projected end-of-century population – would be exposed to this at 2.7°C of global warming.

Op de vijfde top van het Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, Zuid-Korea, is geen akkoord uit de bus gekomen. Het comité van het VN-Milieuprogramma moet de plasticproductie aan banden te leggen, maar de weerstand van de olieproducerende landen bleek te groot.

On why collapse could be much closer than predicted: what happens when the Atlantic Ocean’s heart stops beating?

To tackle the challenges of competitiveness and well-being of future generations, Europe needs to accelerate the climate transition. This will require sizable investment, both public and private. National governments must thus embrace and the EU must facilitate investments in climate transition.

Trump could reverse the nation’s progress on climate change, but rolling back the Biden administration’s significant climate successes could be a low, slow and difficult process...

In het Zuid-Koreaanse Busan leggen delegaties uit 175 landen de laatste hand aan een nieuw verdrag tegen plasticvervuiling, ondanks tegenstand van olieproducerende landen.

Top officials in Baku for COP29 say the spread of false climate narratives undercuts the annual climate talks.

This research reinforces the scientific consensus that the only viable strategy to limit catastrophic climate change requires drastic and immediate emissions cuts. An important study was published last month in the journal Nature, titled “Overconfidence in climate overshoot.” While increasingly dire warnings of the catastrophic impacts of global climate change continue to be published by scientists, the findings of this new paper provide another stark reminder of the urgent necessity to limit global warming by immediately reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The idea that the AMOC is headed to collapse is very controversial, but it is clearly weakening. If the circulation did collapse, the consequences on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean would be immense—including large changes in temperature and a spike in weather-related disasters.

Disruption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current could freeze Europe, scorch the tropics and increase sea level rise in the North Atlantic. The tipping point may be closer than predicted in the IPCC’s latest assessment.

04/17/2024 - Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19 % until 2050 due to climate change, a new study published in “Nature” finds. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence.

Op de VN-klimaattop in Bakoe zijn belangrijke besprekingen over uitstootreductie in de eerste week op een haar na gekelderd door verzet van oliestaat Saoedi-Arabië en enkele ontwikkelingslanden. Het voorzitterschap moest alle zeilen bijzetten om de onderhandelingen uit het slop te halen.

Global warming has already caused the Arctic to release more climate-warming methane—but exactly how much will depend closely on the actions we take to halt climate change.

Insurance costs are rising quickly across much of the country. Hurricanes are part of the reason, but it’s the other perils common across the Midwest and Great Plains that complicate costs.

The results of one election can’t stop the momentum of the energy transition. But they can do a lot of damage.

A Trump presidency can delay, but not stop, the global transition to renewable energy, but it may more effectively stymie progress than during his first term.

A new declaration aims to make the southernmost continent an autonomous legal entity, akin to a nation-state, with inherent rights to participate in decision making that affects it.

The election of Donald Trump as president for a second time and the Republican takeback of the U.S. Senate could undo many of the national climate policies that are most reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to climate solutions experts.When they list measures that are making the most difference, it lines up with policies Trump has said he’ll target. These rollbacks will come as more lives are being lost in heat waves, record amounts of climate pollution are accumulating in the atmosphere, the United States has been hit with what may be two of its most expensive hurricanes, and nations, which will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan next week for climate negotiations, have failed to take strong action to change these realities.

Without urgent action, Earth is heading for climate catastrophe. Yet there are reasons for hope in 2024 – including a possible peak in global greenhouse gas emissions.

The predicted El Niño is a worry, but it doesn’t guarantee the record-breaking heat we’re seeing in parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

UN Climate Change Conference Baku - November 2024 | UNFCCC

Oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf explains why Amoc breakdown could be catastrophic for both humans and marine life

If despair is the most unforgivable sin, then hope is surely the most abused virtue. That observation feels particularly apposite as we enter the Cop season, that time of United Nations megaconferences at the end of every year, when national leaders feel obliged to convince us the future will be better, despite growing evidence to the contrary.

Abstract. We review how the international modelling community, encompassing integrated assessment models, global and regional Earth system and climate models, and impact models, has worked together over the past few decades to advance understanding of Earth system change and its impacts on society and the environment and thereby support international climate policy. We go on to recommend a number of priority research areas for the coming decade, a timescale that encompasses a number of newly starting international modelling activities, as well as the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) and the second UNFCCC Global Stocktake. Progress in these priority areas will significantly advance our understanding of Earth system change and its impacts, increasing the quality and utility of science support to climate policy. We emphasize the need for continued improvement in our understanding of, and ability to simulate, the coupled Earth system and the impacts of Earth system change. There is an urgent need to investiga

Critical tipping points in the climate system are the flies in the ointment when it comes to accurate prediction of where our planet is headed

These powerful ‘rivers in the sky’ provide a huge share of annual precipitation in many regions, including California. They can also melt sea ice, with global climate implications.

The big question: Would climate engineering like sending reflective particles into the stratosphere or brightening clouds help reduce the national security risks of climate change or make them worse?

Surpassing 1.5°C of warming can be undone at a later date – using tech, land and resources that don’t exist.

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

Record emissions, temperatures and population mean more scientists are looking into possibility of societal collapse, report says

We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis. For many years, scientists, including a group of more than 15,000, have sounded the alarm about the impending dangers of climate change driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions and ecosystem change (Ripple et al. 2020).

Allen samen op vrijdag 20 september om 17.30 uur in Brussel-Centraal!CONCERT EN MARS #NowForFutureTer gelegenheid van de Global Climate Strike roepen Youth for Climate, Rise for Climate, Grootouders voor het Klimaat en anderen op tot mobilisatie om politieke leiders te herinneren aan het belang van sociaal- en klimaatrechtvaardige maatregelen.We willen een beroep doen op de staatshoofden van de wereld die op 22 en 23 september bij de VN bijeenkomen voor een wereldtop over de toekomst.

To analyze the climate change experienced in Spain between 1971 and 2022 and to estimate the future climate for 2050.

VN-klimaatbaas Simon Stiell roept wereldleiders op om ‘het script om te gooien’ als het gaat om klimaatmaatregelen in Afrika. Hij wil de ‘epidemie van onderinvestering’ ombuigen naar een ‘goudmijn voor de Afrikanen en hun economie’.

The EU is being sued for failing to set ambitious climate targets in sectors that contribute more than half of the bloc’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

For many of us the climate crisis mainly calls to mind rising global temperatures, but the crisis goes far beyond this – we are at risk of pushing our planet across climate ‘tipping points,’ critical thresholds where small changes can lead to abrupt and irreversible shifts in the Earth’s climate system. One major element in climate tipping is a huge system of ocean currents, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which is responsible for Europe's relatively mild climate. Past climate patterns show that these currents can switch abruptly between today’s vigorous flow and a much weaker flow state. A future shutdown would have potentially devastating consequences in Europe and around the world.

High-level policy discussions have built momentum for “food system transformation” that would help farmers address the climate crisis.

A case in point: When Ecuador placed a windfall tax on foreign oil operations, French and U.S. companies filed claims—and were awarded more than $800 million.

New studies suggest global warming boosts natural methane releases, which could undermine efforts to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas from fossil fuels and agriculture.

Jordanians now only have access to publicly distributed water a day and a half a week – prompting many to turn to illegal markets.

Coal and gas exports expected to remain roughly at current level until at least 2035 with 4.5% of emissions linked to Australia, report finds

With up to three billion people expected to be displaced by climate change by 2100, does there need to be a shift in the way we think about national borders, asks Gaia Vince?

We're nearly halfway through the 2020s, dubbed the most decisive decade for action on climate change. Where exactly do things stand? Climate impact scholar Johan Rockström offers the most up-to-date scientific assessment of the state of the planet and explains what must be done to preserve Earth's resilience to human pressure.

A short glossary of the changes we’ve made to the Guardian’s style guide, for use by our journalists and editors when writing about the environment

Ter gelegenheid van de Global Climate Strike roepen Youth for Climate, Rise for Climate, Grootouders voor het Klimaat politieke leiders op om sociaal-rechtvaardige klimaatmaatregelen te nemen. De wereldwijde klimaatstakingen, in 2019 gelanceerd door Fridays For Future op initiatief van Greta Thunberg, brengen jongeren, burgers en organisaties van over de hele wereld samen om zich te verzetten tegen de vernietiging van het klimaat en ecosystemen.

European nations must end the repression and criminalisation of peaceful protest and urgently take action to cut emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders has said.

Watchdogs warn of rights violations as governments crack down on disruptive protests.

Misinformation by fossil fuel companies is slowing down the energy transition and global efforts to tackle climate change, warns the UN.

Unprecedented wildfires in Canada and parts of Amazonia last year were at least three times more likely due to climate change and contributed to high levels of CO2 emissions from burning globally, according to the first edition of a new systematic annual review.

An extensive new multi-proxy database of paleo-temperature time series (Temperature 12k) enables a more robust analysis of global mean surface temperature (GMST) and associated uncertainties than was previously available. We applied five different statistical methods to reconstruct the GMST of the past 12,000 years (Holocene). Each method used different approaches to averaging the globally distributed time series and to characterizing various sources of uncertainty, including proxy temperature, chronology and methodological choices. The results were aggregated to generate a multi-method ensemble of plausible GMST and latitudinal-zone temperature reconstructions with a realistic range of uncertainties. The warmest 200-year-long interval took place around 6500 years ago when GMST was 0.7 °C (0.3, 1.8) warmer than the 19th Century (median, 5th, 95th percentiles). Following the Holocene global thermal maximum, GMST cooled at an average rate −0.08 °C per 1000 years (−0.24, −0.05). The multi-method ensembles and th

Adapt2climate est un site développé par la Commission Nationale Climat dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre du Plan National Adaptation. Ce portail national vise à mettre à disposition les informations disponibles concernant les incidences des changements climatiques, les évaluations de vulnérabilité et l’adaptation en Belgique.

In Virginia, a small conservation group is leading the fight against the powerful and secretive data center industry.

UN says a global ‘backlash’ against climate action is being stoked by fossil fuel companies

The floods displaced more than 80,000 people, led to over 150,000 being injured and, on the 29th of May, to 169 fatalities with 44 people still missing (Governo do Estado de Rio Grande do Sul, 2024). Essential services were also disrupted, leaving 418,200 households without electricity and over a million consumer units without water. Dozens of municipalities lost telephone and internet services.

Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco experienced extreme heat in July 2024, causing at least 23 fatalities, widespread wildfires and bringing public life to a hold.

Under current emission trajectories, temporarily overshooting the Paris global warming limit of 1.5 °C is a distinct possibility. Permanently exceeding this limit would substantially increase the probability of triggering climate tipping elements. Here, we investigate the tipping risks associated with several policy-relevant future emission scenarios, using a stylised Earth system model of four interconnected climate tipping elements.

The Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) helps communities hold oil and gas corporations accountable for the massive costs of climate change.

From farmers to disaster survivors, new plaintiffs and progressing lawsuits are putting pressure on industry polluters.

This report focuses on the 20 investors and 20 banks that are funding the methane generating activities of 15 of the leading meat and dairy companies worldwide. Collectively these financial institutions fund a methane footprint that could exceed 503 Mt CO2e – nearly as big as the CO2emissions of Saudi Arabia.

This report reveals the tactics of Big Meat and Dairy companies to delay, distract, and derail action on transforming the food system, mirroring strategies used by the tobacco and fossil fuel industries. Food systems are responsible for around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with approximately 60% coming from animal agriculture, the largest source of man-made methane emissions.

The airline blamed difficulties securing more efficient aircraft and sustainable jet fuel.

Scientists now fear that there is little more than five years left to prevent irreversible climate damage and stark changes to the Earth’s weather patterns from global carbon emissions, Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan has warned.

A new study finds that the mining and processing of the metal critical to EV batteries and renewable energy storage projects depletes and contaminates surface water, often in already vulnerable communities.

Offsetting allows corporations to increase emissions, while getting credit for pseudo-reductions elsewhere

Sudden cut in pollution in 2020 meant less shade from sun and was ‘substantial’ factor in record surface temperatures in 2023, study finds

Scientists warn of ‘scary’ feedback loop in which fires create more heating, which causes more fires worldwide

Melting of ice is slowing planet’s rotation and could disrupt internet traffic, financial transactions and GPS

Monthly global surface air temperature anomalies (°C) relative to 1850–1900 from January 1940 to June 2024, plotted as time series for all 12-month periods spanning July to June of the following year. The 12 months from July 2023 to June 2024 are shown with a thick red line, while all other 12-month periods are shown with thin lines shaded according to the decade, from blue (1940s) to brick red (2020s).

Simultaneous harvest failures across major crop-producing regions are a threat to global food security. Concurrent weather extremes driven by a strongly meandering jet stream could trigger such events, but so far this has not been quantified. Specifically, the ability of state-of-the art crop and climate models to adequately reproduce such high impact events is a crucial component for estimating risks to global food security. Here we find an increased likelihood of concurrent low yields during summers featuring meandering jets in observations and models. While climate models accurately simulate atmospheric patterns, associated surface weather anomalies and negative effects on crop responses are mostly underestimated in bias-adjusted simulations. Given the identified model biases, future assessments of regional and concurrent crop losses from meandering jet states remain highly uncertain. Our results suggest that model-blind spots for such high-impact but deeply-uncertain hazards have to be anticipated and acc

Overexploitation and habitat loss pose extinction threats for migratory fish, birds and others, worldwide

New research shows the company’s scientists were as “skillful” as independent experts in predicting how the burning of fossil fuels would warm the planet and bring about climate change.

Het affakkelen van gas in de fossiele brandstofindustrie klom vorig jaar naar het hoogste niveau sinds 2019, ondanks de groeiende internationale druk om de vervuilende praktijk aan banden te leggen.

Summary for Policymakers. A Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Environ 500 personnes ont participé dimanche à une marche pour le climat à Bruxelles, a indiqué l’organisation à l’origine de l’évènement Rise For Climate Belgium. Par le biais de cet évènement intitulé "Touche pas à mon futur", l’organisation espère inciter la société civile à s’opposer à l’éventuelle réduction des politiques climatiques et aux politiques d’austérité, alors que l’extrême droite monte un peu partout en Europe.

Historical responsibility for climate change is radically shifted when colonial rule is taken into account, Carbon Brief analysis reveals.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2016, the world’s 60 largest private banks financed fossil fuels with USD $6.9 trillion. Nearly half – $3.3 trillion – went towards fossil fuel expansion. In 2023, banks financed $705 billion in fossil fuel financing with $347 billion going to fossil fuel expansion alone.

Abstract. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments are the trusted source of scientific evidence for climate negotiations taking place under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Evidence-based decision-making needs to be informed by up-to-date and timely information on key indicators of the state of the climate system and of the human influence on the global climate system. However, successive IPCC reports are published at intervals of 5–10 years, creating potential for an information gap between report cycles. We follow methods as close as possible to those used in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Working Group One (WGI) report. We compile monitoring datasets to produce estimates for key climate indicators related to forcing of the climate system: emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers, greenhouse gas concentrations, radiative forcing, the Earth's energy imbalance, surface temperature changes, warming attributed to human activit