CLIMATE NEWS
Follow the latest news on climate change, sustainability, and environmental policies from around the world.
Reporting on Arctic Sovereignty in the Polar Bear Capital of the World
Global competition in the Arctic is raising hopes of a revival in the town of Churchill. We went to meet the people, and the bears, there.
Clean, Limitless Energy Exists. China Is Going Big in the Race to Harness It.
Beijing is pouring vast resources into fusion research, while the U.S. wants private industry to lead the way. The winner could reshape civilization.
‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement
The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable Ten years on from the historic Paris climate summit, which ended with the world’s first and only global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to dwell on its failures. But the successes go less remarked. Renewable energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in clean energy topped $2tn, outstripping that into fossil fuels by two to one. Continue reading...
The path of least emissions: how to take a sustainable holiday this summer
While it’s impossible to escape the emissions associated with flying, some travel methods are more carbon-intensive than others Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com As the Australian summer gets under way, many of us are planning holidays. When it comes to limiting emissions associated with travel, a staycation or local holiday – by train, bus or car – remains the lowest-impact option. But overseas travel by Australians has been increasing in recent decades, with Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States and China among the top destinations, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Continue reading...
100,000 in Washington State Ordered to Evacuate as Rivers Rise
Days of heavy rain pushed waterways to record flood levels in a mountainous region north of Seattle. “Do not wait,” local officials warned residents, urging them to seek higher ground.
Our Children’s Trust Suit Asks Montana Court to Block Some New Laws
The young plaintiffs, who won a major case over climate change policy in 2023, argue that legislators are illegally ignoring the effects of fossil fuels.
Lawsuit Challenges Park Service Passes Featuring Trump
An environmental group is suing, saying federal law requires an image of public lands, not the president.
Harold Hamm, Oklahoma Oil Tycoon, Allies With Trump to Reshape U.S. Energy
Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma oil tycoon, has played a central role in reshaping energy policy by allying himself with President Trump.
Coalmine expansions would breach climate targets, NSW government warned in ‘game-changer’ report
Environmental advocates welcome Net Zero Commission’s report which found the fossil fuel was ‘not consistent’ with emissions reductions commitments Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The New South Wales government has been warned it can no longer approve coalmine developments after the state’s climate agency found new expansions would be inconsistent with its legislated emissions targets. In what climate advocates described as a significant turning point in campaigns against new fossil fuel programs, the NSW Net Zero Commission said coalmine expansions were “not consistent” with the state’s legal emissions reductions commitments of a 50% cut (compared with 2005 levels) by 2030, a 70% cut by 2035, and reaching net zero by 2050. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...
UN environment assembly wraps up in Nairobi
The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) concluded in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday with Member States adopting 11 resolutions, three decisions and a ministerial declaration aiming to advance solutions for a more resilient planet.
The Paris climate treaty changed the world. Here’s how | Rebecca Solnit
There’s much more to do, but we should be encouraged by the progress we have made Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris climate treaty, one of the landmark days in climate-action history. Attending the conference as a journalist, I watched and listened and wondered whether 194 countries could ever agree on anything at all, and the night before they did, people who I thought were more sophisticated than me assured me they couldn’t. Then they did. There are a lot of ways to tell the story of what it means and where we are now, but any version of it needs respect for the complexities, because there are a lot of latitudes between the poles of total victory and total defeat. I had been dreading the treaty anniversary as an occasion to note that we have not done nearly enough, but in July I thought we might be able celebrate it. Because, on 23 July, the international court of justice handed down an epochal ruling that gives that treaty enforceable consequences it never had before. It declares that all nations have a legal obligation to act in response to the climate crisis, and, as Greenpeace International put it, “obligates states to regulate businesses on the harm caused by their emissions regardless of where the harm takes place. Significantly, the court found that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is fundamental for all other human rights, and that intergenerational equity should guide the interpretation of all climate obligations.” The Paris treaty was cited repeatedly as groundwork for this decision. Continue reading...
‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism
Research shows that the British colonial wealth extraction system still influences the region’s tourist industry Luxury tourism in the Caribbean sells a kind of timelessness. A paradise of sun, sea and sand. But to step off the cruise ship or away from the all-inclusive resort is to see a more complex picture: a history of colonialism and a future of climate devastation. New research from the Common Wealth thinktank maps how, over the 400 years since the first English ships arrived in Barbados, empire engineered a system of wealth extraction that shapes the tourism economies of today. Sir Hilary Beckles, Barbadian historian and chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, describes Barbados as the birthplace of British slave society. Between 1640 and 1807, Britain transported about 387,000 enslaved west Africans to the island. Extraordinary violence, from whippings to amputations and executions, were a regular feature of their lives. On the Codrington Plantation in the mid-18th century, 43% of the enslaved died within three years of their arrival. Life expectancy at birth for an enslaved person on the island was 29 years old. This was the incalculable human cost of the transatlantic slave economy. Continue reading...
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