These are some of the stories I found:
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Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows
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U.N. chief urges 'immediate, rapid and large-scale' emission cuts to curb climate change
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UN says global carbon emissions set to rise 16 per cent by 2030
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World on 'catastrophic' path to 2.7C warming: UN chief
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Fossil fuel firms sue governments across the world for £13bn as climate policies threaten profits
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Climate change and drought threaten a way of life for Arizona farmers
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LISTEN: EHN's Pittsburgh reporter featured on "We Can Be" podcast
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Guides Just Had Their Worst Season Ever in the Cascades
- The Aquaculture Industry Needs a Heat-Loving Salmon
- Indonesia president found negligent over Jakarta filthy air
- 5 stunning examples of green architecture around the world
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Greenpeace pulls stunt to demand a climate chancellor in Germany
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‘Twisting Words’: UK Oil Industry and Business Department Using Climate Change Committee to Justify New Drilling
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Changing climate poses burden as people count on fishing
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EPA confirms climate impacts are more adverse for racial minorities in the Southwest
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Climate change: Biden urges world leaders to cut methane gas emissions
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The Rate of Global Warming During Next 25 Years Could Be Double What it Was in the Previous 50, a Renowned Climate Scientist Warns
Inside Clean Energy: In Illinois, an Energy Bill Passes That Illustrates the Battle Lines of the Broader Energy Debate
This Is An Open Thread
Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows
None of the world's major economies -- including the entire G20 -- have a climate plan that meets their obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to an analysis published Wednesday, despite scientists' warning that deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are needed now.
The watchdog Climate Action Tracker (CAT) analyzed the policies of 36 countries, as well as the 27-nation European Union, and found that all major economies were off track to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The countries together make up 80% of the world's emissions.
The analysis also included some low-emissions countries, and found that the Gambia was the only nation among all 37 to be "1.5 compatible." As the study only included a few smaller emitters, it's possible there are other developing countries in the world on track as well.
U.N. chief urges 'immediate, rapid and large-scale' emission cuts to curb climate change
The head of the United Nations called Thursday for “immediate, rapid and large-scale” cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and avert climate disaster.
Ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting next week, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned governments that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil fuel emissions have already bounced back from a mid-pandemic dip.
Speaking at the launch of a U.N.-backed report summarizing current efforts to tackle climate change, Mr. Guterres said recent extreme weather — from Hurricane Ida in the United States to floods in western Europe and a deadly heatwave in the Pacific Northwest — showed no country is safe from climate-related disasters.
UN says global carbon emissions set to rise 16 per cent by 2030
A UN analysis today revealed a bleak upward trajectory for global carbon dioxide emissions, despite new CO2-curbing plans by scores of countries, including major emitters such as the US and the European Union’s 27 member states.
Global emissions will rise 16 per cent by 2030 on 2010 levels under governments’ plans put forward since the start of 2020, according to the synthesis report from UN Climate Change. That puts the world ruinously off track for the 45 per cent cut that climate scientists say is needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding global warming to 1.5°C.
“This report is really showing us sobering numbers,” says Patricia Espinosa at UN Climate Change. “But it is also still showing the progress to the 1.5°C goal is possible. The latest IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report says there is still this window open. It’s a very, very small window, that is true. The 1.5°C goal is, in my view, alive.”
World on 'catastrophic' path to 2.7C warming: UN chief
His comments come as a United Nations report on global emissions pledges found instead of the reductions needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change, they would see "a considerable increase".
This shows "the world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7-degrees of heating," Guterres said in a statement.
The figure would shatter the temperature targets of the Paris climate agreement, which aimed for warming well below 2C and preferably capped at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Fossil fuel firms sue governments across the world for £13bn as climate policies threaten profits
Fossil fuel companies are suing governments across the world for more than $18bn (£13bn) after action against climate change has threatened their profits, according to research conducted by campaign group Global Justice Now and provided exclusively to Sky News.
Five energy companies, including British companies Rockhopper and Ascent, are using a legal process that allows commercial entities to sue governments under international laws governing trade agreements and treaties.
These corporate arbitration courts operate outside of a country's domestic legal system.
According to Global Justice Now, which has collated publicly available information, five of the largest lawsuits under way are being brought by TC Energy, RWE, Uniper, Rockhopper and Ascent Resources.
Climate change and drought threaten a way of life for Arizona farmers
Nancy Caywood recalls the days when the white tufts on the cotton plants on her family’s 255-acre farm popped out against the stark blue desert sky, and their alfalfa fields were a sea of green yielding eight to 10 cuttings a year.
“To walk out and smell the fresh hay, there’s nothing like it,” the third-generation Casa Grande, Ariz., farmer told Yahoo News.
This year, thanks to the extreme drought that experts say is exacerbated by climate change, all they’ve been able to grow successfully is weeds.
LISTEN: EHN's Pittsburgh reporter featured on "We Can Be" podcast
EHN's Pittsburgh reporter, Kristina Marusic, is featured on this week's episode of the Heinz Endowments' "We Can Be" podcast.
She discussed Fractured, her investigative series on fracking and health, the rise of "super pollution" events driven by climate change, and the ways that true, well-told stories can help change the world for good.
"We all know that when you're reading too much news you get depressed because it's all about problems and what's wrong with the world," Marusic says on the episode. "Covering solutions with the same rigor with which we cover problems is one way to help advance solutions ... I really try to do that in my reporting."
Guides Just Had Their Worst Season Ever in the Cascades
Last week, the three commercial guiding companies on Washington’s 14,411-foot Mount Rainier did something they’d never done before: canceled the climbing season outright with weeks left to go. Stormy weather routinely thwarts summit climbs throughout the season, but this was different. It’s way too hot, and has been for months.
More than 10,000 people try for the summit of Rainier every year, about 60 percent of whom are guided. From May 1 to September 30, Rainier Mountaineering (RMI), Alpine Ascents International (AAI), and International Mountain Guides (IMG) run daily sold out trips—at least that’s how it’s been for decades. But this season was an unwelcome indication of what the future might bring.
The Aquaculture Industry Needs a Heat-Loving Salmon
To escape rising ocean temperatures and marine heatwaves, many fish species are heading for cooler waters near the poles. But salmon farmed in marine enclosures don’t have that option. To help salmon reared on farms survive, researchers around the world are working to see if they can make them more heat tolerant.
The Atlantic salmon, the most commonly farmed salmon species, does best at temperatures between 10 °C and 14 °C, says Binyam Sime Dagnachew at the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Research (Nofima). When the temperature approaches 20 °C, the fish stop eating and begin to show signs of heat stress, such as an elevated heart rate. The fish aren’t necessarily at risk of dying, but when they stop eating, they stop growing, and that’s bad for salmon farmers.
Indonesia president found negligent over Jakarta filthy air
An Indonesian court has ruled that President Joko Widodo and other top officials have been negligent in tackling air pollution in Jakarta.
In a landmark decision, the court ordered monitoring stations and other measures to improve the capital's air.
The lawsuit was filed by residents in 2019 and the verdict has since been postponed several times.
Air pollution is reducing Jakarta residents' life expectancy by 5.5 years, US researchers say.
Persistent smog in the city of 10 million people is caused by heavy traffic and coal-fired power plants that have not been fitted with filters.
5 stunning examples of green architecture around the world
Not only has it been scientifically proven that urban gardens, woodlands and parks reduce depression, in a study by the University of Leeds for example, they are immensely valuable for preserving the environment.
Urban gardens and vertical farms are starting to pop up all over the world, as the UN predicts 68 per cent of the world population will live in towns and cities by 2050. With the building of ‘urban forests’ around Paris, in a bid to decrease air pollution, and Singapore confronting the food crisis with sky farms and lab-grown shrimp, the trend is catching on.
When it comes to green architecture, the results are stunning. But what makes a building sustainable?
Greenpeace pulls stunt to demand a climate chancellor in Germany
A huge 'mock job advertisement' has been placed on a tower at Berlin's main station, near Germany's federal chancellery, by Greenpeace activists.
The 16 by 22 metre banner reads "climate chancellor wanted" with a list of requirements for the position.
Job tasks include putting the country on course for 1.5 degrees, phasing out coal by 2030, no new cars with combustion engines after 2025, and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2035.
"If you want to take responsibility for the whole of Germany as chancellor, you have to put the protection of the climate and the people at the centre of politics," says Lisa Goeldner, a climate expert at Greenpeace.
Conservatives wouldn't meet Canada's new UN climate target. Here's what that could mean
If the Conservatives are elected as Canada's government this fall, they've indicated they won't meet Canada's current greenhouse gas emissions targets under the Paris Agreement.
What does that mean? And what could the consequences be? Here's a closer look.
What kinds of targets do countries set under the Paris Agreement?
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, Canada and 195 other countries have committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to limit global warming to well below 2 C, and ideally 1.5 C compared to pre-industrial temperatures, in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, from extreme weather damage to rising seas.
‘Twisting Words’: UK Oil Industry and Business Department Using Climate Change Committee to Justify New Drilling
The UK’s Business Department and the country’s leading oil and gas industry body have both been accused of citing the Climate Change Committee “out of context” in a bid to justify new developments in the North Sea.
Campaigners say the industry is “twisting the words” of the government’s independent climate advisers in a “shameless” attempt to promote its growth plans.
Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) cited the CCC in public statements last week around the release of its annual Economic Report, which announced an estimated £21 billion of investment in new oil and gas projects by the industry over the next five years.
But the CCC has not issued advice on the opening of new offshore oil and gas developments, and has a high bar for whether they could be justified, with the committee’s Chair recently saying he had yet to see strong enough reasons to do so.
Changing climate poses burden as people count on fishing
A warming climate leads to greater weather extremes and impacts the distribution of marine life in North Carolina’s coastal waters, scientists say.
The changes occurring challenge the state’s fishing industry and other secondary industries that rely on the catch. But the effects trickle down and place a burden on the state’s most economically vulnerable coastal residents dependent on access to seafood to provide income and help feed their families.
Local anglers who rely on their catch for food often fish from spots along the shore, not boats. Although sales of recreational fishing vessels are at a record level, the price is beyond the reach of individual anglers at the bottom rung of the state’s economy.
EPA confirms climate impacts are more adverse for racial minorities in the Southwest
The worst effects of climate change are disproportionately falling on “underserved communities who are least able to prepare for, and recover from, heat waves, poor air quality, flooding, and other impacts,” according to an Environmental Protection Agency report released last week.
The peer-reviewed report forecasts how the impacts of climate change will be distributed across racial and ethnic minority communities across the country, and is one of the most advanced environmental justice studies to date, said the EPA in a statement.
“The impacts of climate change that we are feeling today, from extreme heat to flooding to severe storms, are expected to get worse, and people least able to prepare and cope are disproportionately exposed,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Climate change: Biden urges world leaders to cut methane gas emissions
US President Joe Biden has urged world leaders to commit to cutting methane gas emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by the end of the decade.
He said it would "rapidly reduce the rate of global warming" if other countries joined the US and the EU in signing up to the pledge.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that experts say is a harmful contributor to global climate change.
Mr Biden has made tackling the climate crisis one of his main priorities.
The president reversed his predecessor Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement - a legally binding international climate treaty adopted by nearly 200 countries - on his first day in office.
The Rate of Global Warming During Next 25 Years Could Be Double What it Was in the Previous 50, a Renowned Climate Scientist Warns
James Hansen, a climate scientist who shook Washington when he told Congress 33 years ago that human emissions of greenhouse gases were cooking the planet, is now warning that he expects the rate of global warming to double in the next 20 years.
While still warning that it is carbon dioxide and methane that are driving global warming, Hansen said that, in this case, warming is being accelerated by the decline of other industrial pollutants that they’ve cleaned from it.
Plunging sulfate aerosol emissions from industrial sources, particularly shipping, could lead global temperatures to surge well beyond the levels prescribed by the Paris Climate Agreement as soon as 2040 “unless appropriate countermeasures are taken,” Hansen wrote, together with Makiko Sato, in a monthly temperature analysis published in August by the Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions center at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Inside Clean Energy: In Illinois, an Energy Bill Passes That Illustrates the Battle Lines of the Broader Energy Debate
If you want to understand the politics of the clean energy transition, I could give you a stack of books to read and a list of experts to consult. Or, you could just watch the debate on the floor of the Illinois Senate on Monday.
In about 80 minutes, each side laid out its case—replete with emotional pleas, straw men and the occasional joke—providing an encapsulation of how complex issues get translated into bumper sticker arguments.
The debate was over a clean energy and climate bill that senators passed later in the day with a 37 to 17 vote and that was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.