Climate Change

July 26, 2024 3:33 PM

Climate change causing more change in rainfall, fiercer typhoons, scientists say

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms. Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday. Stronge...

June 21, 2024 3:25 PM

How climate change fuels extreme heat worldwide

Climate change is driving dangerous heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere this week and will continue to deliver dangerous weather for decades to come, research shows. "It is a worldwide heat wave that we are now suffering. That puts the heat under our decisions," said Christiana Figueres, a former U.N. climate agency chief. Here's how climate change is pushing heat to new extremes. HOW IS CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVING HEAT? As the continued burning of fossil fuels releases more carbon emission...

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - JUNE 4: A policeman walks past a large advertisement for the 29th Climate Summit on June 4, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) will convene in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.(Photo by Fadel Dawod/Getty Images)

June 13, 2024 1:34 PM

Climate change funding talks stuck ahead of COP29 summit

With just five months to go before this year's U.N. climate summit, countries cannot agree on the size of a global funding bill to help the developing world fight climate change - let alone how to split it. The decision is set to dominate the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan in November, where nearly 200 countries need to agree on a new annual financing target for helping poorer countries cut their emissions and protect their societies in a harsher, hotter world. The new target will replace t...

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JUNE 05: A plane takes off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on June 05, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix will experience record temperatures over 100 degrees as a pattern of high pressure builds over the region. A forecasted high of 114 is expected on Thursday. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

June 6, 2024 12:54 PM

World hits streak of record temperatures as UN warns of ‘climate hell’

Each of the past 12 months ranked as the warmest on record in year-on-year comparisons, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Wednesday, as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action to avert "climate hell". The average global temperature for the 12-month period to the end of May was 1.63 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average - making it the warmest such period since record-keeping began in 1940, the Copernicus Climate Chan...

Beautiful healthy reef system with schooling pyramid butterfly fish (Hemitaurichthys polyepis) Palau Islands, Micronesia.

May 23, 2024 3:30 PM

‘Boiling not warming’: Marine life suffers as Thai sea temperatures hit record

Aquatic life from coral reefs to fish in the Thailand's eastern gulf coast is suffering as sea surface temperatures hit record highs this month amid a regional heatwave, worrying scientists and local communities. The once vibrant and colourful corals, about five metres (16 feet) underwater, have turned white in a phenomenon known as coral bleaching, a sign that their health was deteriorating, due to higher water temperatures, scientists say. Sea surface temperatures in the East...

Wild bird in mangrove forest in Abu Dhabi

May 23, 2024 2:32 PM

Half of world’s mangroves under threat, says conservation group

Half of the world's mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse as a result of human activity, rising sea levels and extreme weather, according to the latest survey by an international conservation group. Unless action is taken, a quarter of the world's total mangrove areas could be completely submerged within 50 years, with critically endangered ecosystems in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives expected to bear the brunt, said the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN...

Hikers walk to Everest Base Camp during Everest Base Camp trekking in Nepal.

May 22, 2024 4:15 PM

Nepal demands full operationalisation of loss & damage funds due to climate change

The two-day 'International Dialogue on Mountains, People and Climate Change' is taking place in Kathmandu today (May 22) to draw the international community's attention to the negative effects of climate change in the mountains. Experts from 25 countries are participating in the international dialogue to be concluded tomorrow. More than 200 people, including representatives from mountainous and small island countries, the international community, development partners, international NGOs, the pr...

April 28, 2024 10:29 AM

Strong tornado hits China’s Guangzhou, killing 5, injuring 33

Five people were killed and 33 others injured in a strong tornado that hit Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, on Saturday afternoon, local authorities said. The tornado hit Zhongluotan Town in the city's Baiyun District at approximately 15:00, while the weather station in Liangtian Village, roughly 2.8 kilometers from the tornado's point of occurrence, registered a maximum wind gust of 20.6 meters per second. A preliminary investigation by the provincial m...

April 23, 2024 4:52 PM

Asia most affected by climate disasters in 2023, heatwaves fatalities rising in India: UN report

Asia was world's most disaster-hit region by weather, climate and water hazards in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, with floods and storms causing the highest number of casualties. In a report published on Tuesday, WMO said that 79 disasters linked to hydro-meteorological events had been reported in Asia in 2023. More than 80% of these were related to floods and storms that caused more than 2,000 deaths. Asia is warming faster than the global average, according to WMO. L...

TOPSHOT - This photo taken on July 7, 2016 shows an overview of trees and houses submerged by floodwater in a village in Xuancheng, in east China's Anhui province. Flooding is common during the summer monsoon season in southern China, but rainfall has been particularly heavy this year and many areas have been lashed by torrential rains this week. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

April 22, 2024 10:28 PM

Floods swamp southern China, spark extreme weather fears

Floods swamped cities in southern China's densely populated Pearl River Delta following record-breaking rains, sparking worries about the region's defences against bigger deluges induced by extreme weather events. The province once dubbed the "factory floor of the world" is prone to summer floods. Its defences against disruptive floods were severely tested in June 2022 when Guangdong was pounded by the heaviest downpours in six decades. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated. Since Thu...