Nearly a decade ago, the world rallied around the Paris Agreement on climate change and the goal of holding global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). Since then, the “1.5C goal” has become the world’s North Star for climate action — a critical benchmark against which policies are set and progress is measured. But an alarming wave of recent data underscores just how close we are to surpassing this widely cited threshold.

Source: World Resources Institute

June 25, 2025

With the future of deep-sea mining still under debate, here’s what we know so far about the proposed practice and its impacts — and what we don’t.

Source: World Resources Institute

April 30, 2025

Researchers find 89% of people around the world want more to be done, but mistakenly assume their peers do not

Source: The Guardian

April 24, 2025

Guyana’s rapid ascent to major oil producer has come at a steep price: rising inequality, weakened environmental regulations and unchecked gas flaring

Source: Climate Home News

April 17, 2025

New WRI research shows that pro-climate behavior changes, such as driving less or eating less meat, could theoretically cancel out all the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions an average person produces each year¹ — specifically among high-income, high-emitting populations.

But it also reveals that efforts focused exclusively on changing behaviors, and not the overarching systems around them, only achieve about one-tenth of this emissions-reduction potential. The remaining 90% stays locked away, dependent on governments, businesses and our own collective action to make sustainable choices more accessible for everyone. (Case in point: It’s much easier to go carless if your city has good public transit.)

Source: World Resources Institute

April 10, 2025

Half a century of oil drilling has left the world’s largest rainforest scarred by deforestation and pollution. Now it is bracing for a new wave of fossil fuel extraction

Source: Climate Home News

April 4, 2025

Not just a future problem: The world is changing before our eyes. 

Source: Yale Climate Connections

March 21, 2025

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — 84 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years. Because it traps heat more intensely in the short-term than other GHGs, cutting methane emissions now can have a fast and significant impact on slowing climate change.

A good place to start is farms. Nearly half of global methane emissions come from agricultural activities such as livestock production, rice cultivation and burning crop waste. And with global food demand rising, these emissions are projected to grow.

The good news is that promising approaches are emerging to rein in agriculture’s climate impact. A new WRI report provides the latest scientific updates, as well as economic considerations for over 25 methane mitigation solutions.

Source: World Resources Institute

March 19, 2025

Estimates range from less than $1 trillion to $7 trillion. Where do these numbers come from?

Source: Our World in Data

February 7, 2025

Heat waves exacerbate the danger of the disease.

Source: Yale Climate Connections

February 7, 2025

Recycling e-waste can unlock a vast and sustainable supply of transition minerals but in India the sector relies on a neglected informal economy.

Source: Climate Home News

January 21, 2025

Studies show that in general  women bear more risks from external pressures on collectively held lands no matter the tenure system. This is so even in Indigenous matrilineal communities, where women’s land rights are culturally legitimate.

Source: World Resources Institute

January 16, 2025

Eating low-carbon foods helps reduce emissions, but some foods actually suck up carbon from the atmosphere, leaving the climate in a better place.

We all know that producing most foods creates greenhouse gas emissions, driving climate change. These emissions come from hundreds of different sources, including tractors burning fuel, manufacturing fertiliser and the bacteria in cow’s guts. Overall, food production contributes a quarter of human caused greenhouse gas emissions.

However, there are some foods that remove more greenhouse gases than they emit, often referred to as “carbon negative” foods. These foods leave the climate better than they found it. Producing and eating more of these could help reduce the carbon impact of our food and, in some cases, restore ecosystems in the process.

Source: BBC Essential

January 7, 2025

The world cannot achieve a green energy transition without copper. 

A highly conductive metal, copper is the cornerstone of virtually all electricity-related technologies that are needed to decarbonise power, heating and transport systems. As the roll-out of clean energy technologies accelerates, Chile’s copper is highly coveted. The South American country is the world’s top producer of the metal.  But in its northern copper mining region, doctors have picked up on a worrying trend: the number of children being diagnosed with severe autism is soaring.

Source: Climate Home News

December 17, 2024

The world recently experienced a 13-month streak of record-breaking global temperatures. And as blistering heat waves punish communities across several continents, 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record. Global average temperatures are now perilously close to exceeding 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists warn will bring increasingly dangerous droughts, wildfires and other impacts of climate change. Researchers project nearly 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F) of temperature rise by 2100 without significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: World Resources Institute

December 12, 2024

The environmental pros and cons of Christmas trees go far beyond the climate impact of “real or plastic”, scientists say. So what’s the best choice for a green Christmas?

Source: BBC

December 3, 2024

A new declaration aims to make the southernmost continent an autonomous legal entity, akin to a nation-state, with inherent rights to participate in decision making that affects it.

Source: Inside Climate News

October 28, 2024

Since the turn of the century, mining has increased by 52% due to surging demand for coal, iron, industrial minerals and other metals. In some cases, this extraction has come at the expense of forests, along with burdens to the communities who rely on them.

WRI analyzed tree cover loss data from the University of Maryland and a combination of studies on global mining extent and found that mining has increasingly pushed into forests around the world — especially tropical primary rainforests and protected areas. From 2001 to 2020, the world lost nearly 1.4 million hectares of trees from mining and related activities, an area of land roughly the size of Montenegro.

Felling these trees also released 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year into the atmosphere, an amount similar to Finland’s fossil fuel emissions in 2022.

Source: World Resources Institute

October 24, 2024

Thick smoke, oppressive heat and eerily orange sunsets blanket both major cities and small villages. Hundreds of cities are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution while thousands of hectares of forest burn. The jarring images send out a clear distress signal: Something is fundamentally amiss. 

Everybody familiar with the scientific literature understands that climate change is accelerating, manifesting as heatwaves, severe droughts, more frequent floods and devastating fires, leading to urban calamities, biodiversity loss, economic impacts and health hazards. But this spate of fires is truly exceptional. Preliminary analyses by WRI’s Global Forest Watch initiative, which monitors tree cover loss in near-real time through satellite images, show that the current fires season in Brazil is the worst in at least a decade, with more than 47,000 high-confidence fire alerts from the beginning of the year through Sept. 16, 2024. MapBiomas data shows an 85% increase in area affected by fires, compared to the average since 2019.

Source: World Resources Institute

October 10, 2024

The fight against climate change may be missing a critical strategy: incorporating strategic policies that encourage people to integrate climate-friendly activities, like eating a plant-based diet or lessening reliance on gas-fueled cars, into their daily lives. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), adopting comprehensive behavior changes could cut climate-harming greenhouse gas emissions by 40% to 70% by 2050 compared to current national policies. Making sustainable living easy and affordable is essential for driving these reductions and securing our planet’s future.

Source: World Resources Institute

October 3, 2024

In its annual report, Global Witness affirms how dangerous it is to defend nature. More than 2,100 defenders have been murdered since 2012.

Source: Climate News

September 10, 2024

Europe has been plowed, logged, paved and settled for more than a millennium, making it appear to be one of the least wild continents on the planet.

But look again. Nearly a quarter of this populous region is pristine enough to support key herbivores and carnivores, hallmarks of functional wild ecosystems, according to new research. From the Arctic tundra of Norway to the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain, large tracts of land with minimal human presence offer the potential to meet biodiversity targets by restoring wildlife, a process sometimes referred to as “rewilding.”

Source: Anthropocene

August 23, 2024

Meat and dairy are major contributors to climate change. Animal agriculture is responsible for more than three-quarters of agricultural land use, 11%–20% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and more than 30% of global methane emissions. Meat production is also a leading driver of recent tropical deforestation.

The good news is that companies and consumers are increasingly looking for more sustainable animal products. But reducing emissions is just one piece of the puzzle. So are addressing water use, water pollution and biodiversity loss driven by animal agriculture; improving animal welfare; supporting local farmers and more.

The problem is that there’s no single solution to tackle all these priorities at once.

Source: World Resources Institute

July 18, 2024

Now, decades of data reveal that, in 20 years of growth, successfully planted mangroves can reach up to 73 percent of the carbon stock levels found in naturally occurring mangrove stands. In a new study published in Science Advances, a group of international researchers looked at 684 planted mangrove stands to come to this conclusion.

Source: Inside Climate News

July 17, 2024

Although deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have halved, it is still losing more than 5,000km² every year. That’s an area three times larger than Greater London.

By combining satellite imagery for the entire Amazon region with data from the Brazilian national census, a new study found that deforestation in areas protected by Indigenous communities was up to 83% lower compared to unprotected areas. These results show that Indigenous communities can play an important environmental stewardship role by helping to prevent deforestation by people encroaching on their lands

Source: The Conversation

July 16, 2024

Canada’s 2023 wildfires made international headlines, causing billions of dollars in property damage, displacing thousands of people from their homes, and spewing air pollution that traveled as far as Europe and China. A new analysis shows that the wildfires also had a massive effect on greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: World Resources Institute

July 11, 2024

The scrutiny of data centers has intensified because of tech company secrecy, energy consumption and societal impacts on customers, policymakers and communities.

Source: Green Biz

July 9, 2024

To avoid the Global South becoming a dumping ground for used ICE vehicles, part of the solution must be a normalization of scrapping them sustainably.

Source: Green Biz

June 28, 2024

An increasing number of people would describe their dietary habits as “flexitarian” or “reducitarian.” These are people who still eat meat and dairy but are trying to reduce their consumption, often for environmental or ethical reasons.

It’s tempting to assume that what’s good for the planet is also good for the animal, but unfortunately, this is not the case. These two goals are often in conflict. What’s better for animal welfare is often worse for the environment, and vice versa. This is true across different types of livestock (for example, beef versus chicken) and across different ways of raising a specific animal (caged versus free-range hens).

Source: Our World in Data

June 24, 2024

In the race to cut greenhouse gas emissions and rein in climate change, demand for critical minerals is surging. Materials such as lithium, cobalt and graphite are essential components of EV batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and other low-carbon technologies increasingly powering the world’s energy systems. Mining for these materials on land is already underway, but with demand surging, some are now looking to tap the seafloor for its millions of square kilometers of metal ores.

With the future of deep-sea mining still under debate, here’s what we know so far about the proposed practice and its impacts — and what we don’t.

Source: World Resources Institute

June 21, 2024

In a setback to efforts to conserve 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, a third of the world’s largest MPAs allow destructive practices like mining and commercial fishing, while others are “paper parks” with no formal conservation measures.

Source: Inside Climate News

June 18, 2024

The ocean has long sustained coastal communities that rely on it for their food, livelihoods and wellbeing. But these benefits don’t stop at the shoreline. New research commissioned by the Ocean Panel shows that the health of the ocean is directly linked to the health of humans everywhere.

The extent to which ocean health impacts human health is relatively unexplored in science and academia to date. This new research illustrates that a healthy ocean and its biodiversity can offer critical benefits to all people — such as new medicines and technologies, nutritious and sustainable diets and opportunities to bolster physical and mental wellbeing.

Source: World Resources Institute

June 17, 2024

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities are now higher than at any point in our history. In fact, recent data reveals that global CO2 emissions were 182 times higher in 2022 than they were in 1850, around the time the Industrial Revolution was underway.

Source: World Resources Institute

June 17, 2024

Noise from shipping and other ocean industries are drowning out the natural sounds of the ocean, and climate change could soon turn up the volume. The global shipping fleet nearly quadrupled in size between 1996 and 2020, and fishing, oil and gas, wind farm construction and more have spiked in many ocean areas. This growth has been reflected in sound data as well; scientists estimate that shipping noise has doubled each decade since 1960. In fact, a 2022 study revealed that there are few “quiet” areas of the ocean left around the world. 

Source: Inside Climate News

June11, 2024

According to new data analysis from WRI’s Global Forest Watch, the world lost 10 football (soccer) fields’ worth of primary forest per minute in 2023. The Tropics lost 3.7 million Hectares of Primary Forest. And while progress was made on fighting deforestation, it was not consistent around the world. 

The good news: Brazil and Colombia — home to the large and vastly biodiverse Amazon rainforest — showed dramatic reductions in primary forest loss due to strong policies and political will. The bad news: Significant decreases in Brazil and Colombia were counteracted by increases in other tropical countries like Bolivia, Laos and Nicaragua. Canada also experienced significant loss after a record-breaking wildfire season.

Source: World Resources Institute

June 4, 2024

Guerillas once protected the forests that provided them with cover, but recently some factions see the trees, critical to the nation’s climate commitments, as leverage in new peace talks with the government.

Source: Inside Climate News

June 4, 2024

A new study reconstructed iceberg production rates during the massive calving episodes of the last glacial period, called Heinrich events, when icebergs did affect ocean circulation. The authors found that present-day Greenland Ice Sheet calving rates are as high as during some of those events. However, because melting is causing the Greenland Ice Sheet to recede from the coasts of Greenland, where icebergs originate, its iceberg discharge should not persist long enough to cause major disruption of the Atlantic overturning circulation by itself.

Source: The Conversation

May 31, 2024

In the popular imagination, the Caribbean is paradise, an exotic place to escape to. But behind the images of balmy beaches and lush hotel grounds lies a crisis, the likes of which its residents have never experienced.

Source: The Conversation

May 17, 2024

The bank has advised wealthy nations to cut subsidies for high-emissions foods but stopped far short of promoting veganism

Source: Climate Home News

May 10, 2024

The Global Mining Boom Puts African Great Apes at Greater Risk Than Previously Known

New research reveals that one-third of great apes on the African continent are threatened by mining concessions, while inadequate protective measures are in place.

Source: Inside Climate News

April 3, 2024

Petrochemicals Are Killing Us, a New Report Warns in the New England Journal of Medicine

It’s well known that fossil fuels are the primary driver of climate change. A dirty secret is that they’re also the source of toxic chemicals linked to rising rates of chronic and deadly diseases.

Source: Inside Climate News

March 19, 2024

Complex Supply Chains Are Still a Major Barrier to Ending Deforestation

Almost 90% of the world’s forest loss is driven by the expansion of agriculture, thanks to growing consumer demand for commodities like coffee, cocoa, beef, soy, palm oil and timber. Because of this, governments, businesses and NGOs are increasingly targeting action to reduce deforestation in this sector. Several markets are developing policies that prohibit the sale or importation of products grown on deforested land, while hundreds of consumer goods companies have made zero-deforestation pledges.

Some of these regulations are still in the early stages of development or implementation so their potential positive impact remains to be seen, but existing measures have so far failed to stem the tide of deforestation. One of the major reasons is the persistent lack of traceability and transparency in supply chains.

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Source: World Resources Institute

March 8, 2024

The world’s spectacular animal migrations are dwindling. Fishing, fences and development are fast-tracking extinctions

 We can get a global glimpse of how migratory species are faring, in the first-ever stocktake produced by the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. The report shows falling populations in close to half (44%) the 1,189 species tracked by the convention. The problem is much worse underwater – 90% of migratory fish species are threatened with extinction.

Their decline is not inevitable. After all, the migratory humpback whale was headed for rapid extinction – until we stopped whaling.

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Source: The Conversation

February 19, 2024

Demand for critical minerals is booming. Global efforts to fight climate change are driving up the need for lithium, cobalt, graphite and other such minerals essential for building electric vehicles, solar panels and other clean technologies. This compounds existing demand from the tech sector, where critical minerals are used in smartphones, laptops and other consumer electronics.

There’s no question the world will have to mine more of these minerals, and quickly, as the clean energy transition ramps up. But doing so also comes with risks — including the potential to sap water supplies.

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Source: World Resources Institute

February 10, 2024

Most of the public seems unaware that global temperatures will soon push past the target to which the U.N. hoped to limit warming, but researchers see social and psychological crises brewing.

Source: Inside Climate News

February 1, 2024

Since mid 2023 the Amazon River Basin has been in a state of exceptional drought, driven by low rainfall and consistently high temperatures for the entire year 2023 across the basin. According to this study made by scientists from Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, the strong drying trend was almost entirely due to increased global temperatures, so the severity of the drought currently being experienced is largely driven by climate change.

Source: World Weather Attribution

January 26, 2024

Talk about astronomical costs of a sustainable economy is leaving out some of the savings of using fewer fossil fuels, according to a new analysis.

Source: Inside Climate News

January 19, 2024

Source: The Conversation

January 18, 2024

Source: Inside Climate News

January 17, 2024

Source: Inside Climate News

January 16, 2024

Source: The Guardian

January 12, 2024

Source: The Conversation

January 08, 2024

Source: Nature

December 01, 2023

Source: The Conversation

November 22, 2023

Source: The Conversation

November 22, 2023

Source: World Resources Institute

November 22, 2023

Source: World Resources Institute

November 14, 2023

Source: World Resources Institute

November 9, 2023

Source: Yale Climate Connections

November 2, 2023

Source: The Conversation

October 30, 2023

Source: UN University

October 29, 2023

Source: Inside Climate News

October 03, 2023

Source: World Resources Institute

October 02, 2023

Source: World Resources Institute

October 02, 2023

Source: Insight Climate News

October 9, 2023

Source: Insight Climate News

October 10, 2023

Source : The Conversation

October 3, 2023

Source : World Resources Institute

October 6, 2023

Source : World Resources Institute

September 1, 2023

Their efforts follow a historic vote to end drilling in parts of Yasuni National Park, but uncontacted families and other Indigenous groups remain at risk from oil exploration.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 31, 2023

A study in six countries across three continents finds that most carbon offsets aimed at avoiding deforestation are failing to keep forests standing or cut atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 30, 2023

Methane was about 0.7 parts per million (ppm) of the air before humans began burning fossil fuels. Now it is over 1.9 ppm and rising fast. Roughly three-fifths of emissions come from fossil fuel use, farming, landfills and waste. The remainder is from natural sources, especially vegetation rotting in tropical and northern wetlands.

Methane is both a driver and a messenger of climate change. We don’t know why it is now rising so rapidly, but the pattern of growth since late 2006 resembles how methane behaved during great flips in Earth’s climate in the distant past.

Source : The Conversation

August 24, 2023

Long awaited papers by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at correlations between natural gas development and childhood cancers, asthma, and birth outcomes.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 16, 2023

Fossil fuel companies’ favorite climate solution has scored tens of billions of dollars in support from the Biden administration and Congress, but many environmentalists and scientists say it is a dangerous boondoggle.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 14, 2023

June featured unprecedented Canadian heat and wildfires, record-low Antarctic sea ice, and a strengthening El Niño.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

July 14, 2023

Every day, governments, financial institutions and corporations have a choice to make: invest in physical assetsthat emit greenhouse gases and harm nature or prioritize the development of green solutions that foster a stable, resilient and equitable economy. As communities face the harsh impacts of climate change, the choice to build a sustainable future is becoming clearer.

Source : World Resources Institute

June 23, 2023

One-third of all food produced globally by weight is lost or wasted between farm and fork — that’s more than 1 billion tonnes. Converted into calories, this equates to 24% of the world’s food supply going uneaten. At the same time, 1 in 10 people globally remain malnourished.This scale of food loss and waste harms not only human health and nutrition but also economies and the environment. Wasted food takes a major financial toll, costing the global economy more than $1 trillion every year. It also fuels climate change, accounting for approximately 8%-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Source : World Resources Institute

June 23, 2023

At present, Brazil’s economy relies heavily on extraction of the Amazon rainforest — like farming, mining and other resource-intensive practices. The result: The majority of people see deforestation as essential for economic growth. But new research from WRI Brasil and New Climate Economy points to just the opposite. WRI experts explain how Brazil can halt deforestation in the Amazon while growing GDP and vastly improving quality of life for communities throughout the country

Source : World Resources Institute

June 23, 2023

The conclusion of the Global Stocktake at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this December will evaluate how much progress the international Paris Agreement on climate change has made in the fight against the climate crisis and what more is needed to accelerate climate action forward. But its findings will be no mystery: the world is way off track, and the most vulnerable countries are already disproportionately feeling the consequences.

Source : World Resources Institute

May 26, 2023

A study finds one plastics recycling plant in the U.K. produces as much as 3 million pounds of microplastics a year—and that’s with filtering.

Source : Inside Climate News

May 17, 2023

New research implicates emissions from the 2019-2020 Australian fires in the emergence of a three-year super La Niña that fueled droughts in Africa and hurricanes in the Atlantic.

Source : Inside Climate News

May 12, 2023

From mountain peaks to ocean depths, climate change continued its advance in 2022, according to the annual report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Droughts, floods and heatwaves affected communities on every continent and cost many billions of dollars. Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts.

In Switzerland, 6% of the glacier ice volume was lost between 2021 and 2022 – and one third between 2001 and 2022. For the first time in history, no snow survived the summer melt season even at the very highest measurement sites and thus no accumulation of fresh ice occurred.

Source : World Meteorological Organization

April 24, 2023

Last summer’s heat waves killed 15,000 people, and the odds for even hotter years keep rising.

Source : Inside Climate News

April 24, 2023

In 2022, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has achieved impressive results, ranking among the four organizations (seven per cent of the total) that met the environmental criteria. This is particularly noteworthy because, according to Greening the Blue Report 2021, UNESCO was among the group of entities that did not meet the criteria.

Source : UNESCO

April 10, 2023

As relentless drought dries out subsistence farmers’ wells, vast eucalyptus and pine plantations, remnants of the Pinochet dictatorship, are torching their communities.

Source : Inside Climate News

April 10, 2023

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have emitted more than 2,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (A gigaton is one billion metric tons.)

This concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the air causes the climate change impacts we’re experiencing today, from forest fires to stifling heat waves and damaging sea level rise — and the global community is still emitting more each year. Unless we make serious changes, climate impacts will only continue to intensify.

Source : World Resources Institute

March 31, 2023

March 20, 2023 marked the release of the final installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), an eight-year long undertaking from the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change. Drawing on the findings of 234 scientists on the physical science of climate change, 270 scientists on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability to climate change, and 278 scientists on climate change mitigation, this IPCC synthesis report provides the most comprehensive, best available scientific assessment of climate change.

Source : World Resources Institute

March 29, 2023

A framework agreement to protect open oceans is the first step toward enacting protections for ecosystems that take CO2 from the air and store it for millennia in sediments.

Source : Inside Climate News

March 14, 2023

Variability in product-level greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting standards and methodologies can prevent companies from understanding both their true emissions and their progress in reducing them, according to a new analysis from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). While rigorous organization-level GHG accounting has enabled companies to identify and address emissions hotspots, greater harmonization in product-level accounting could accelerate progress and enable cross-organizational comparison.

Source : WWF

March 13, 2023

With the continent holding enough ice to raise sea levels by many metres if it was to melt, polar scientists are scrambling for answers

Source : The Guardian

March 13, 2023

The trade of used clothing in Kenya has come to represent the export of plastic waste to countries in the Global South, and a lesser known source of vast quantities of plastic pollution. Our investigation sheds light on this broken system – the pressure realease value of the Global North’s overproduction and overconsumption of fast fashion, and the fashion industry’s overreliance on synthetic fibres

Source : Changing Markets Foundation

February 24, 2023

‘Extreme situation’: Antarctic sea ice hits record low

Sea ice helps protect glaciers and ice caps that would cause massive sea level rise when lost, scientists warn

Source : The Guardian

February 23, 2023

A large new marine protected area could help some of the world’s most heat-tolerant corals survive the century, if the pressures from resorts, industry and other development ease.

Source : Inside Climate News

February 6, 2023

The year was the second-costliest on record for drought. It also had three mega-disasters costing at least $20 billion, plus a heat wave that killed over 40,000 people in Europe.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

February 6, 2023

Major global banks are standing in the way of climate targets with new data showing just 7% of their financing for energy companies went to renewables between 2016 and 2022.

Source : Climate Action / Sierra Club

January 31, 2023

Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating

Source : The Guardian

January 31, 2023

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.

Source : The Conversation

January 23, 2023

The heat of global warming will keep penetrating deeper into the oceans for centuries after greenhouse gas emissions cease.

Source : Inside Climate News

January 16, 2023

Forests around the world play a major role in curbing or contributing to climate change. Standing, healthy forests sequester more atmospheric carbon than they emit and act as a carbon sink; degraded and deforested areas release stored carbon and are a carbon source.

Source : World Resources Institute

January 13, 2023

In a letter to NASA’s administrator, environmental advocates call for “rigorous” independent analysis of the climate implications of putting supersonic passenger jets back in the sky.

Source : Inside Climate News

January 12, 2023

Meteorologist Bob Henson answers pressing questions about a chilly winter weather phenomenon.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

December 29, 2022

Assessing more than 200 recent studies on climate modelling, authors of a new paper published in Science identified nine critical tipping points. These tipping points occur when changes in parts of the climate system become self-perpetuating above warming thresholds, and once triggered, these changes will likely lead to abrupt, irreversible and increasingly disastrous impacts for people around the world. Already, current levels of global warming (1.1 degree C or about 2 degrees F) put the world within range of reaching five tipping points, including the collapse of the Greenland ice sheet and West Antarctic ice sheet, shutdown of the sub-polar gyre in the North Atlantic Ocean, widespread mortality of low-latitude coral reefs, and abrupt permafrost thaw in the boreal region. (Picture by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)

Source : World Resources Institute / Science

December 22, 2022

News coverage of the Amazon rainforest in the past few years has been grim. Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon increased 15% during 2021, with 9,770 square kilometers of native vegetation lost, an area the size of Puerto Rico. If deforestation continues, a tipping point may be reached, where the Amazon rainforest becomes a net emitter of carbon rather than a carbon sink. Aside from fueling climate change, deforestation poses risks to biodiversity: the Amazon is home to one out of every 10 species known to science. The problem is that the current regional economic model in the Amazon is highly dependent on resource extraction and exploitation, pushing the rainforest closer to its tipping point. Changes in land use account for almost half of Brazil’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and of those emissions, approximately 80% are linked to deforestation in the Amazon. It’s clear that heavily forested nations like Brazil need a new economic model — one fit for a low-carbon, sustainable and prosperous future. Enter the “bioeconomy.”

Source : World Resources Institute

December 5, 2022

A New Yorker may not think about the forested Catskills Mountain Range upstate as she pours a glass of water. Londoners probably don’t consider the Amazon rainforest as they watch the rain falling on city parks. And folks in Addis Ababa are probably not thinking about the Congo Basin as they eat injera, an Ethiopian staple made from the grain teff. And yet, forests near and far affect these urbanites’ daily lives far more than most people realize.

Source : World Resources Institute

November 30, 2022

Researchers behind the Land Gap Report say we can’t plant our way out of global warming—and it’s disingenuous to pretend that we can.

Source : Inside Climate News


November 2, 2022

Less than 1% of used clothing gets recycled into new garments, overwhelming countries like Ghana with discards.

Source : Bloomberg

November 5, 2022

The Amazon has existed as a dense and humid rainforest teeming with life for at least 55 million years. But in a new paper, scientists claim that over 75% of the ecosystem has been losing resilience since the early 2000s due to climate change. This process appears to be most prominent in areas that are closer to human activity, as well as in those receiving less rainfall.

Source : The Conversation

November 2, 2022

Here are some pieces to help bring you up to speed on the fascinating nexus between your wardrobe, fashion, and beauty…and the world’s climate change challenges.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

October 24, 2022

New data on forest fires confirms what has been long feared: Forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning nearly twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago.

Using data from a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland, the World Resources Institute calculated that forest fires now result in 3 million more hectares of tree cover loss per year compared to 2001 — an area roughly the size of Belgium — and accounted for more than a quarter of all tree cover loss over the past 20 years.

Source : World Resources Institute

October 24, 2022

Back in the 1990s, researchers undertook the Human Genome Project, a 13-year journey designed to enable a new era of innovation in medicine. By assembling and sharing vast amounts of data to uncover the secrets behind the genetic determinants of disease, this project transformed the medical industry and led to innumerable breakthroughs. Now, researchers are extending that model of innovation to battery science with an eye on impact at a global scale.

Source : Argonne US National Laboratory

October 14, 2022

Animals can only endure temperatures within a given range. The upper and lower temperatures of this range are called its critical thermal limits. As these limits are exceeded, an animal must either adjust or migrate to a cooler climate.

Source : The Conversation

October 7, 2022

The three most prevalent myths about tackling climate change allege that transitioning to renewable energy jacks up household bills, requires massive amounts of government subsidy and creates mass unemployment. These concerns are all (thankfully) false.

Source : The Conversation

October 7, 2022

Long heatwaves in Eurasia and North America baked soils dry, threatening ecosystems and food production, and contributing to a cascade of compounding impacts that can reduce power supplies and increase heat deaths.

Source : Inside Climate News

October 6, 2022

Two years into a reforestation campaign, the country has yet to meet 1 percent of its objective, sowing worry about the level of financial commitment from the government. And some fret that planting trees may not be an optimal strategy for countering climate change or fulfilling other environmental goals.

Source : Inside Climate News

October 3, 2022

Europe’s largest river restoration is making changes across the entire landscape, bringing benefits to wildlife and people

Source : The Guardian

September 22, 2022

Globally, an astonishing 298 long-term weather stations – including 265 in China – set their all-time heat records in August.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

September 19, 2022

Lithium mining is much cleaner than coal mining.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

September 19, 2022

Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy could save the world as much as $12tn (£10.2tn) by 2050, an Oxford University study says.

Source : BBC

September 15, 2022

Climate, Food & Agriculture : Part 1
In recent decades, worrisome rises in drought, heat waves, and air pollution have stressed agriculture.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

September 10, 2022

Climate, Food & Agriculture : Part 2
More drought and higher heat from climate change increase risks of devastating global food shock events.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

September 10, 2022

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (September 7) emphasizes the need for better air quality. Air pollution affects so much more than our health. In addition to causing 7 million premature deaths annually, dirty air fuels climate change, reduces crop yields, diminishes renewable energy output and more. WRI experts lay out the many ways air pollution affects our lives.

Source : World Resouces Institute

September 7, 2022

The curious connection between the sky’s ‘thirstiness’ and the dry spell devastating the western U.S.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

August 26, 2022

We know that deforestation is an ongoing, devastating problem — satellite data has been tracking it closely for years. But another question has remained more elusive: How much new forest is growing? Thanks to new data from researchers at the University of Maryland and WRI, we now have an answer: Tree cover — lots of it —is cropping up all over the globe.  All told, 130.9 million hectares of land gained tree cover globally between 2000 and 2020, according to the study. Put together, that’s an area larger than Peru.

Source : World Resources Institute

August 23, 2022

The report by Changing Markets Foundation found that, at best, the certification programs provided a “patchy promise of sustainability.”

Source : Inside Climate News

August 19, 2022

Electric vehicles are far more energy-efficient than traditional internal combustion vehicles.

Source : Yale Climate Connections

August 15, 2022

The push to extract materials and food from the oceans at industrial scale menaces vulnerable communities and biodiversity.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 11, 2022

Signed by 653 marine science & policy experts from over 44 countries

The deep sea is home to a significant proportion of Earth’s biodiversity, with most species yet to be discovered. The richness and diversity of organisms in the deep sea supports ecosystem processes necessary for the Earth’s natural systems to function. The deep ocean also constitutes more than 90% of the biosphere, and plays a key role in climate regulation, fisheries production, and elemental cycling. It is an integral part of the culture and well-being of local communities and the seafloor forms part of the common heritage of humankind. However, deep-sea ecosystems are currently under stress from a number of anthropogenic stressors including climate change, bottom trawling and pollution. Deep-sea mining would add to these stressors, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that would be irreversible on multi-generational timescales.

Source : Deep-Sea Mining Science Statement

August 10, 2022

When most people think of coastal ecosystems, they think of mighty mangrove forests and colorful coral reefs. But these ecosystems are only the tip of the iceberg — there’s more beneath the surface, specifically seagrass. Seagrasses provide humans with countless goods and services — everything from food security to shoreline protection to clean water. They are found in almost every sea around the world, with more than 1 billion people living within 100 kilometers of seagrass meadows. Yet most people are unfamiliar with the many benefits these plants provide to humans and animals alike. Here, we answer key questions about seagrasses: What are they, where are they and why are they important? Let’s dive in.

Source : World Resources Institute

August 10, 2022

Researchers and startups are moving forward with plans for windows that generate electricity.

Source : Inside Climate News

August 10, 2022

Rockets launched by billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson emit black carbon in the stratosphere, where it is 500 times worse for the climate than it is on Earth. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rockets burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen and pose a lesser climate threat.

Source : Inside Climate News

July 1, 2022

These ocean giants store planet-warming carbon in their bodies – 33 tons in fact! That’s equivalent to thousands of trees. They also play an important role in the overall health of the marine environment by boosting phytoplankton – microscopic plants that produce more than half the world’s oxygen. Without whales, we won’t have a healthy ocean, let alone a healthy planet

Source : WWF International

July 1, 2022

The success of the green transition depends less on the development of new technologies, but rather on the creation of favourable conditions to increase the adoption of current solutions and benefit from their widespread implementation.

Source : Solar Impulse Foundation

July 1, 2022

Global “food miles” emissions are higher than previously thought – accounting for nearly one-fifth of total food-system emissions – new research suggests.

Source : Carbon Brief

June 24, 2022

A webinar on 20 May underscored the importance of the recently released landmark joint appeal, “Climate Responsible Finance—A Moral Imperative Towards Children,” signed by the World Council of Churches (WCC), United Nations Environment Programme, Muslim Council of Elders, and New York Board of Rabbis.

Source : World Council of Churches – 2050Today member

June 22, 2022

British academic Jem Bendell’s paper is a “Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy.” But many of its proponents embrace its precepts out of a “deep love for this planet.”

Source : Inside Climate News

June 18, 2022

A battery project uses a technology that could be vital for meeting the need for long-duration energy storage.

Source : Inside Climate News

May 20, 2022

Petrochemicals are linked to diverse health problems from infertility to cancer, and now they’re building up in pregnant women.

Source : Inside Climate News

May 12, 2022

While efforts to reduce GHG emissions should always take priority, meeting climate goals will also require carbon dioxide removal (CDR) — systems that remove carbon directly from the air — likely at the billion-tonne scale by mid-century. Carbon removal is needed not only to balance out residual emissions that cannot be or are not eliminated by 2050, but also to reduce the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the air, which is triggering increasingly devastating climate change impacts.

Source : World Resources Institute

May 11, 2022

While glass bottles have been part of the wine-drinking tradition for centuries, making the material requires huge amounts of energy at a time when companies are looking for ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their products. Recycling rates for glass are also poor.

Source : The Guardian

May 5, 2022

Agriculture is the biggest degrader of land, the authors say. Transforming farming practices could restore billions of acres by 2050 for less than is spent on developed-world farm subsidies.

Source : Inside Climate News

April 28, 2022

Water shortages leading to rising salt concentrations and sandstorms are eroding world’s ancient sites

Source : The Guardian

April 21, 2022

The world loses 3-4 million hectares of primary tropical forest every year. When they disappear, so do the benefits they provide — everything from carbon storage to biodiversity protection. But there are solutions. Forest expert Frances Seymour lays out four ways to end deforestation in the next decade.

Source : World Resources Institute

April 21, 2022

The month featured a $4 billion flood and a mass coral bleaching event in Australia, and an extreme heat wave in Antarctica.

Source : Yale Climate Connection

April 15, 2022

Solutions that work in concert with nature could help address climate risks, experts say, but barriers remain to widespread adoption by the railroad industry.

Source : Inside Climate News

April 9, 2022

The bloodless term “anomaly” doesn’t do justice to the stupendous temperature departures seen across parts of both the Antarctic and Arctic in mid-March 2022. With the initial shock now behind them, scientists are taking stock of exactly what happened and what it might portend. keeps ticking in search of a fusion ‘solution.’

Source : Yale Climate Connection

April 1st, 2022

Decades of as-yet unrealized optimism for the safe and effective application of fusion power keep us waiting, but the climate clock keeps ticking in search of a fusion ‘solution.’

Source : Yale Climate Connection

March 22, 2022