Climate Change

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...

September 23, 2024 3:17 AM

Leaders at climate change meetings in New York warn of growing mistrust between nations

A marathon week of climate change meetings opened in New York on Sunday, with celebrities and world leaders mingling with corporate leaders over talks on how to drive climate action forward. On Sunday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres launched a two-day, climate-themed "Summit for the Future" as part of the U.N. General Assembly. National leaders addressed the group after adopting a "Pact for the Future" aimed at ensuring and increasing cooperation between nations. Many underlined the ...

September 19, 2024 5:28 PM

Global health fund says health, climate, conflict ‘triple whammy’ hits world’s poorest

Climate change and conflict risk overshadowing efforts to improve people's health, when in reality the issues overlap, Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said. He was speaking in London ahead of Thursday's release of the Global Fund’s 2024 report covering its work last year, which showed improvement in tackling the three diseases after COVID-19 knocked efforts off course. Despite the progress, Sands said another pandemic legacy is that donor governm...

August 9, 2024 12:39 PM

Climate change fueled record early fires in Brazil’s wetlands, study says

Climate change intensified by 40% the weather feeding devastating wildfires that have likely killed millions of animals this year in Brazil's Pantanal, the world's largest wetlands, scientists said in a study published on Thursday. Climate change also made the hot, dry and windy conditions this year four to five times more likely, according to the study by World Weather Attribution, a global team of scientists that examines the role played by climate change in extreme weather. The Pantanal's n...

July 31, 2024 3:35 PM

World’s forests failed to curb 2023 climate emissions, study finds

Forests and other land ecosystems failed to curb climate change in 2023 as intense drought in the Amazon rainforest and record wildfires in Canada hampered their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide, according to a study presented on Monday. That means a record amount of carbon dioxide entered Earth's atmosphere last year, further feeding global warming, the researchers said. Plant life helps to slow climate change by taking in huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas drivin...