Climate Change

January 10, 2025 3:04 PM

2024 was the first year above 1.5C of global warming, scientists say

The world just experienced the first full year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial times, scientists said on Friday. The milestone was confirmed by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which said climate change is pushing the planet's temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans. "The trajectory is just incredible," C3S director Carlo Buontempo told Reuters, describing how every month in 2024 was the warmest or second-warm...

December 13, 2024 5:56 PM

Rich countries, island states lock horns on climate change at UN court

The World Court concludes hearings on Friday on countries' legal obligation to fight climate change and whether large states contributing most to greenhouse-gas emissions may be liable for damage caused to small island nations. The International Court of Justice will issue an opinion on those questions, likely in 2025, that could be cited in climate change-driven litigation around the world. During two weeks of hearings, rich countries of the global north broadly argued that existing climate t...

December 2, 2024 10:22 AM

World Court to open climate change hearings

The United Nations' top court on Monday starts hearings on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change and the consequences for states of contributing to global warming, the outcome of which could influence litigation worldwide. Vanuatu, one of the small island states that spearheaded the effort to get the International Court of Justice to give a so-called advisory opinion, will be the first of over a hundred states and international organisations to give their views in two weeks ...

November 24, 2024 10:48 AM

World agrees on USD 300 billion climate aid for developing nations

COP29 in Baku concluded with wealthy nations committing $300 billion annually by 2035 to help developing countries combat the escalating climate crisis. The agreement, reached after over two weeks of contentious talks, was hailed as a step forward but criticized as inadequate by vulnerable nations facing the brunt of climate disasters. The negotiations were fraught with disagreements, boycotts, and protests. Talks nearly collapsed on Saturday when representatives of small island states and leas...

November 12, 2024 12:07 PM

COP29: What is the latest science on climate change?

This year's U.N. climate summit - COP29 - is being held during yet another record-breaking year of higher global temperatures, adding pressure to negotiations aimed at curbing climate change. The last global scientific consensus on climate change was released in 2021 through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, however scientists say that evidence shows global warming and its impacts are unfolding faster than expected. Here is some of the latest climate research: 1.5C BREACHED? The...

October 25, 2024 10:45 AM

Climate set to warm by 3.1 C without greater action, UN report warns

Current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report on Thursday (October 24), more than twice the rise agreed to nearly a decade ago. The annual Emissions Gap report, which takes stock of countries' promises to tackle climate change compared with what is needed, finds the world faces as much as 3.1 C (5.6 F) of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100 if governments do n...

October 24, 2024 10:44 AM

Commonwealth nations to discuss slavery reparations, climate change

The leaders of the Commonwealth group of nations will meet at a welcome banquet in Samoa in the South Pacific on Thursday, with climate change and reparations for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade on the agenda of summit discussions. Leaders and officials from 56 countries with roots in Britain's empire, as well as Britain's King Charles, are attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the small island nation, that began on Monday. The countries' foreign mini...

October 11, 2024 10:53 PM

Climate change made Hurricane Milton worse, scientists say

The brutal wind and torrential rainfall of Hurricane Milton that killed 16 people in Florida this week were worsened by human-caused climate change, a team of international scientists said on Friday. Global warming made wind speeds around 10% stronger and rainfall greater by between 20% and 30%, according to an analysis by World Weather Attribution. The group of climate scientists studies the role of climate change in fueling extreme weather. Milton intensified from a Category 1 storm into a t...

October 10, 2024 4:07 PM

COP28 President calls on parties to implement UAE Consensus

Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President, today called on nations to once again "unite, act and deliver" at COP29 in Baku to build on the mandate of last year's historic UAE Consensus, which represents the "road back to Paris". The UAE Consensus "represents the defining roadmap for achieving the ambition of the Paris Agreement," Al Jaber said in an address at the opening session of Pre-COP. "As we gather against a backdrop of continuing g...

September 25, 2024 5:46 PM

Climate change doubles chance of floods like those in Central Europe, report says

Climate change has made downpours like the one that caused devastating floods in central Europe this month twice as likely to occur, a report said on Wednesday, as its scientific authors urged policymakers to act to stop global warming. The worst flooding to hit central Europe in at least two decades has left 24 people dead, with towns strewn with mud and debris, buildings damaged, bridges collapsed and authorities left with a bill for repairs that runs into billions of dollars. The report fro...