No collapswashing

Donald Trump’s administration is to reconsider the official finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health, a move that threatens to rip apart the foundation of the US’s climate laws, amid a stunning barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits upon power plants, cars and waterways.

Adam Greenfield author of Lifehouse, Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire. A Lifehouse is an institution at the heart of each neighborhood that responds to the terrifying reality of climate collapse in our own communities.In this book Adam Greenfield, recovers lessons from the Black Panther survival programs, the astonishingly effective Occupy Sandy disaster-relief effort and the solidarity networks of crisis-era Greece, as well as municipalist Spain and autonomous Rojava, to show how practices of mutual care and local power can help shelter us from a future that often feels like it has no place for us...

Climate change will fuel contests—and maybe wars—for land and resources.

US government stripping funds from domestic and overseas research amid warnings for health and public safety

One of the world’s most climate-ambitious governments is about to fall, replaced by a likely chancellor who says green policy went too far.

... An “acid” test of our interpretation will be provided by the 2025 global temperature: unlike the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Ninos, which were followed by global cooling of more than 0.3°C and 0.2°C, respectively, we expect global temperature in 2025 to remain near or above the 1.5°C level. Indeed, the 2025 might even set a new record despite the present weak La Nina. There are two independent reasons. First, the “new” climate forcing due to reduction of sulfate aerosols over the ocean remains in place, and, second, high climate sensitivity (~4.5°C for doubled CO2) implies that the warming from recently added forcings is still growing significantly.

Reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands could lead to an expansion of native woodland which could take in and store one million tonnes of CO2 annually, according to a new study.

Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump’s return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoil

Concerns raised as $10bn Bezos Earth Fund halts funding for Science Based Targets initiative, which monitors companies’ decarbonisation

It’s not just Florida and California — from poisoned water supplies to infrastructure issues to polar vortices, Holly Baxter speaks to experts about why the entire U.S. is being threatened by climate change, and why you can’t just move to Vermont to escape it

An engaging discussion on groundbreaking research that reveals the unexpected drivers behind the recent unprecedented rise in global temperatures. Moderated by SDSN President Professor Jeffrey Sachs, this virtual event explored Dr. James Hansen and colleagues' findings in the latest publication, “Global Warming Has Accelerated,” their implications for climate sensitivity, and the urgent need for alternative approaches to mitigate the looming "point of no return."

Prof James Hansen says pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, though other scientists disagree

Scientists say unusually mild temperatures linked to low-pressure system over Iceland directing strong flow of warm air towards north pole

The USDA has begun removing references to climate change on its webpages and sites, including the U.S. Forest Service website.

Forest service website among many sites affected as agencies scramble to comply with president’s orders

The directive follows President Trump's orders reversing climate policies.

Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a scientific study found. But the myriad of causes that go into the still smoldering fires are complex, so the level of global warming's fingerprints on weeks of burning appears relatively small compared to previous studies of killer heat waves, floods and droughts by the international team at World Weather Attribution. Tuesday's report, too rapid for peer-review yet, found global warming boosted the likelihood of high fire weather conditions in this month's fires by 35% and its intensity by 6%.

A rule known as the endangerment finding requires the E.P.A. to regulate greenhouse gases. It has proved resilient against earlier attacks.

Previous health impact assessments of temperature-related mortality in Europe indicated that the mortality burden attributable to cold is much larger than for heat. Questions remain as to whether climate change can result in a net decrease in temperature-related mortality. In this study, we estimated how climate change could affect future heat-related and cold-related mortality in 854 European urban areas, under several climate, demographic and adaptation scenarios. We showed that, with no adaptation to heat, the increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across all considered scenarios in Europe. Under the lowest mitigation and adaptation scenario (SSP3-7.0), we estimate a net death burden due to climate change increasing by 49.9% and cumulating 2,345,410 (95% confidence interval = 327,603 to 4,775,853) climate change-related deaths between 2015 and 2099. This net effect would remain positive even under high adaptation scenarios, whereby a risk attenuation of 50%

The only publication for climate action, covering the environment, biodiversity, net zero, renewable energy and regenerative approaches. It’s time for The New Climate.

Revealed: US climate denial group working with European far-right parties Representatives of Heartland Institute linking up with MEPs to campaign against environmental policies Helena Horton, Sam Bright and Clare Carlile Wed 22 Jan 2025 13.01 CET Last modified on Wed 22 Jan 2025 14.27 CET Climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank have been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against environmental policies, the Guardian can reveal. MEPs have been accused of “rolling out the red carpet for climate deniers” to give them a platform in the European parliament, amid warnings of a “revival of grotesque climate denialism”.

The world’s addiction to fossil fuels is a “Frankenstein’s monster sparing nothing and no one”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. “Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein’s monster, sparing nothing and no one. All around us, we see clear signs that the monster has become master,”

The 29-year-old was arrested by City of London police after activists said they had cut the cables to insurance company offices in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield on Monday. In a press release, the group, which calls itself Shut the System, said it had targeted insurers “due to their critical role underpinning the fossil fuel economy through underwriting contracts and investments”.

Shifting responsibility to consumers minimises the role of energy industry and policymakers, University of Sydney research suggests

Wildfires that blazed around the world in 2024 helped to drive a record annual leap in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, surprising scientists. The data shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather.

A new report from U.K. actuaries and climate scientists "shows a 50% GDP contraction between 2070 and 2090 unless an alternative course is chartered," said the lead author.​

Britain’s crackdown on climate protest is setting “a dangerous precedent” around the world and undermining democratic rights, the UK director of Human Rights Watch has said. In the UK “laws criminalising protests undermine democratic rights”, the NGO says in its latest annual world report, published on Thursday, adding that in the past year “the UK continued to crack down on and criminalise climate protests”.

On the topic of climate and carbon reduction commitments, corporations like Google, Microsoft, and Shell once positioned themselves as leaders in sustainability, setting ambitious net-zero goals to align with global environmental efforts. However, the rapid rise of energy-hungry artificial intelligence is forcing these companies to reconsider—or even abandon—these commitments as they struggle to balance environmental responsibility and making money from new tech.

he global economy could face 50% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action by political leaders is taken to decarbonise and restore nature, according to a new report The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown.

British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism.

Voor het eerst is de gemiddelde wereldtemperatuur in 2024 boven de kritieke drempel van 1,5°C gestegen ten opzichte van pre-industriële niveaus. Volgens gegevens van de Europese Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) bedroeg de gemiddelde temperatuur in 2024 maar liefst 1,6°C hoger.

For those trying to pay attention in our post-truth, post fact-checking brave new world that has such misinformation systems in it, Dr. Rees is a source to consider. The link: Climate Change, Overshoot and the Demise of Large Cities: Why large cities will need to contract or be abandoned altogether

The abrupt loss of many species from a system is generally attributed to a breakdown in ecological functioning. As species are sequentially knocked out, the whole community becomes unstable, and it all comes crashing down. Another mechanism that may be at play. My colleagues and I argue that despite the fact life on Earth displays such great variety, many species that live together appear to share remarkably similar thermal limits. That is to say, individuals of different species can tolerate temperatures up to similar points.

Global warming is moving faster than the best models can keep a handle on.

Thirteen of the ports with the highest supertanker traffic will be seriously damaged by just 1 metre of sea level rise, the analysis found. The researchers said two low-lying ports in Saudi Arabia – Ras Tanura and Yanbu – were particularly vulnerable. Both are operated by Aramco, the Saudi state oil firm, and 98% of the country’s oil exports leave via these ports.

The year 2024 wasn’t just another chapter in the unfolding climate saga; it felt like the plot twist no one wanted to believe. For decades, climate scientists warned of ifs — if we pass this tipping…

People around the world suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat this year because of human-caused climate change. The figure comes from analysis done by researchers at World Weather Attribution and Climate Central. In 2024 climate records were shattered as heat across the globe made it likely to be the hottest year ever measured, with few countries spared fatal weather events.

Analysis shows fossil fuels are supercharging heatwaves, leaving millions prone to deadly temperatures

Sea ice extent for the Arctic overall as of mid-December is at the lowest for this point in the season in the entire satellite era record (since autumn 1978) Whether this is a transient low extent or not, expanded open water now, with the winter solstice upon us, means that there’s less time for ice, once it forms, to thicken up before the spring melt commences in a few months.

To date, the ocean has largely been treated as an afterthought in global climate strategies, sidelined in favor of more visible priorities like renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions. But ocean-based solutions are indispensable to the green transition and must be funded accordingly.

President formally files new plans under Paris agreement and hails ‘boldest climate agenda in American history’. Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US’s carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a “capstone” on his legacy on the climate. With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement – the global climate treaty from which Trump has vowed to withdraw.

As the world’s largest gathering of Earth and space scientists swarmed a Washington venue last week, the packed halls have been permeated by an air of anxiety and even dread over a new Donald Trump presidency that might worsen what has been a bruising few years for science.

The climate and ecological crisis poses an unprecedented challenge, with scientists playing a critical role in how society understands and responds. This study examined how 27 environmentally concerned scientists from 11 countries construct the future in the context of climate change, applying a critical discursive psychology analysis. The degree to which the future is constructed as predetermined or transformable impacts both the urgency and scope of proposed actions. ...

In this week’s Down To Earth newsletter: The global crackdown against climate activists and groups is clearly part of the fossil fuel industry’s strategy to crush dissent and keep burning the planet

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....

Several high-profile research papers have brought renewed attention to the potential collapse of a crucial system of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, as we discussed in part one of this two-part post. Huge uncertainties in both the timing and details of potential impacts of such a collapse remain.

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.

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.

Olivia Ferrari is a New York City-based freelance journalist with a background in research and science communication. Olivia has lived and worked in the U.K., Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. Her writing focuses on wildlife, environmental justice, climate change, and social science.

Why governmental climate plans are a complete joke.

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?

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

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...

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

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.

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.

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.

At least 1773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP29 summit in Baku, underscoring an outsized polluter presence year after year at crucial climate talks, according to a new analysis from Corporate Europe Observatory, Corporate Accountability and Global Witness, from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition.

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

UN Climate Change Conference Baku - November 2024 | UNFCCC

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

EPFL scientists developed a tool to evaluate climate models, revealing that some predict a much hotter future due to high carbon sensitivity, suggesting current emission reduction efforts may be inadequate.

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

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.

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

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).

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

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.

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’.

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

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.