Paris, France | AFP | France failed to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, the government said Monday, just a month after President Emmanuel Macron warned that “we are losing the battle” against global warming. The environment ministry said the country emitted 463 tons of greenhouse gases, …
Read More »Last three years hottest on record: UN
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The last three years were the hottest on record, the United Nations weather agency said Thursday, citing fresh global data underscoring the dramatic warming of the planet. Consolidated data from five leading international weather agencies shows that “2015, 2016 and 2017 have been confirmed as the …
Read More »Global warming will expose millions more to floods
Miami, United States | AFP | Global warming is expected to unleash more rain, exposing millions more people to river flooding particularly in the United States and parts of Asia, Africa and central Europe, researchers said Wednesday. The study in the journal Science Advances calculates how much more flood protection will …
Read More »Quarter of land will be drier under 2 C warming: study
Paris, France | AFP | More than a quarter of Earth’s land surface will become “significantly” drier even if humanity manages to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius, the goal espoused in the Paris Agreement, scientists said on Monday. But if we contain average warming to 1.5 C (2.7 …
Read More »Investors turn back on fossil fuels at Paris climate summit
Paris, France | AFP | Major investors vowed Tuesday to move away from Earth-warming fossil fuels as world leaders met in Paris seeking to unlock new cash to save humanity from climate “doom”. Two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement to avert worst-case-scenario climate change, …
Read More »Arctic, major fishing nations agree no fishing in Arctic, for now
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Arctic and major fishing nations, including China, announced Friday that they have agreed to a moratorium on commercial fishing in Arctic waters before a fishery in the icy region is even feasible. The far north is warming at nearly twice the global average rate, causing …
Read More »COMMENT: Alarm on biodiversity loss
Why don’t many policymakers recognise loss of healthy, robust, and diverse ecosystems as serious threat? COMMENT | ROBERT WATSON | With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway recently in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures were once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase …
Read More »Canadian mice adapt to warming by mutating, moving north: study
Montreal, Canada | AFP | Mice in Canada are mutating and migrating farther north in response to climate change, according to McGill University research released Monday. The study, published in the journal Evolutionary Ecology, found that “milder winters have led to physical alterations in two species of mice in southern Quebec …
Read More »Climate change pushing Earth toward risky ‘tipping points’: report
Bonn, Germany | AFP | As climate change drives up temperatures, Earth comes ever closer to dangerous ‘tipping points’ that could accelerate global warming beyond our capacity to reign it in, scientists warned at UN talks in Bonn Monday. “Climate change is here. It is dangerous. And it is about to …
Read More »Climate change imperils one in four natural heritage sites: report
Bonn, Germany | AFP | Climate change imperils one in four natural World Heritage sites, including coral reefs, glaciers, and wetlands — nearly double the number from just three years ago, a report said Monday. The number of sites at risk has grown to 62 from 35 in 2014, when one …
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