This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including an attribution study linking climate change to central Europe’s deadly floods and California’s latest lawsuit against Big Oil.

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1. ‘Heaviest Rain Ever’ That Triggered Deadly Floods in Central Europe Made Twice As Likely By Climate Change, Study Finds

The exceptionally heavy downpours that triggered deadly floods in Central Europe earlier this month, affecting two million people, was made at least twice as likely by human-made climate change, a new attribution report has revealed.

Storm Boris unleashed unprecedented rains throughout the region, causing rivers and reservoirs to swell to alarming levels. All affected countries – Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and northern Italy – experienced flooding and power cuts. Tens of thousands were evacuated and at least 24 were killed.

The four-day downpours were made at least twice as likely and 7% heavier due to human-made climate change, World Weather Attribution (WWA), an academic collaboration studying extreme event attribution, said on Wednesday. The group’s rapid attribution study revealed that the amount of rain that fell between September 12-16 was the heaviest ever recorded across Central Europe, and covered an area even greater than previous historical floods recorded in 1997 and 2002.

WWA warned that the continuous burning of fossil fuels will further increase the likelihood and intensity of devastating storms. In a 2C-warmer world, an event like Storm Boris would be 5% more intense and 50% more frequent, the 24 researchers involved in the study warned.

Read more here.

2. California Sues ExxonMobil Over ‘Decades-Long’ Deceiving Plastic Recyclability Campaign

Filed by the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta in the San Francisco County Superior Court, the first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeks to hold the American multinational accountable for its active contribution to plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental threats of our lifetime.

“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said in a statement issued on Monday.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) accuses ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, of deceiving Californians for five decades about the real environmental impact of its plastic products. Through “misleading public statements” and “slick marketing,” the company allegedly tricked consumers into thinking that all of its products are recyclable, despite knowing that this option is neither technically nor economically viable for “the vast majority” of its products.

Read more here.

3. COP29 Host Azerbaijan’s Climate Action ‘Critically Insufficient’ to Meet Paris Goal, Assessment Reveals

Azerbaijan, the country selected to host the year’s most important climate summit, is “moving backward” on climate action, an assessment of its climate policies revealed.

Conducted by Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent scientific project monitoring governments emissions reduction plans, the analysis concluded that the country’s policies and targets are “far from consistent” with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2C by the end of the century.

To avoid overshooting the Paris goal completely, the world would need to reduce emissions by 43% compared with levels in 2019. And yet, according to CAT, Azerbaijan’s greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise by 20% to 2030.

In its latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submission, the country pledged to achieve a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century compared to 1990 levels. However, it dropped a 2030 target that was included in its predecessor.

“Overall, we rate Azerbaijan’s climate action as ‘Critically insufficient’,” the assessment concluded. “Along with setting a more stringent climate target, Azerbaijan needs to significantly increase the ambition of its climate policies to reverse the present rapid growth in emissions and set its emissions on a firm downward trajectory.”

Read more here.

4. World Leaders Commit to ‘Inclusive, Networked Multilateralism’ As They Adopt UN Pact For Future

The United Nations General Assembly on Sunday adopted a blueprint to bring the world’s increasingly divided nations together to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.

The 42-page “Pact for the Future” covers a broad range of themes, including peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation, human rights, gender, youth and future generations, and the transformation of global governance. It also includes two annexes: a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.

“We are here to bring multilateralism back from the brink,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres as he thanked world leaders and diplomats for unlocking “the door” to a better future. “Now it is our common destiny to walk through it. That demands not just agreement, but action.”

Among the 56 actions and commitments that countries pledged to achieve are some addressing the climate crisis, such as accelerating efforts to meet obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The signatories also reaffirmed the COP28 deal – which calls on nations to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner to achieve net-zero by 2050” and to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 – and their commitment to the conservation targets set in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Read more here.

5. Earth in ‘Critical Condition’ As Six of Nine Planetary Boundaries Breached

According to the assessment, the first yearly scheduled report on the wellbeing of Earth systems, six boundaries have already been transgressed: climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities. Only three boundaries – atmospheric aerosol loading, stratospheric ozone depletion, and ocean acidification – remain within the safe operating space, though the latter is also quickly approaching the threshold.

“For the first time Patient Earth goes through a full Health Check. The verdict is clear – the patient is in critical condition,” Rockström said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

First published in 2009, the planetary boundaries framework defines and quantifies the limits within which human activities can safely operate without causing irreversible environmental changes. It does so by identifying several critical Earth system processes and defining thresholds – or boundaries – that should not be exceeded to maintain a stable, sustainable, and habitable planet. Transgressing them heightens risks of breaching critical tipping points that would bring about irreversible shifts to the planet, threatening humanity and life as we know it.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for September 23-27, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including deadly floods in central and eastern Europe and a groundbreaking move to ban fossil fuel advertising in The Hague.

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1. Storm Boris: Record-Breaking Rainfall Floods Central Europe After Continent’s Hottest Summer on Record

The flooding events are among the worst to affect Central Europe in modern history. They follow Europe’s hottest summer on record and a hot start to September in the region as well as several consecutive months of exceptional warmth in the Mediterranean Sea.

They affected parts of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Italy. They were triggered by Storm Boris, which unleashed unprecedented rains throughout the region. Many European rivers have swelled to alarming levels, including the Danube.

A hotter atmosphere, driven by human-made climate change, can lead to more intense rainfall. As the sea surface warms, so does the air above it, causing water to be carried up to high altitudes to form clouds, while leaving a low pressure zone beneath causing more air to rush in. As these systems build up, thunderstorms are formed, and if there are no strong winds to slow it down, they can become powerful storms.

According to London-based meteorologist Scott Duncan, Boris has been drawing cold air from the Antarctic before mixing with a moisture drawn up from the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which is also much hotter than usual. The plunge of cold trapped the storm between the moisture to the west and east, slowing it down and fueling it.

Days before the events unleashed, weather models flagged the potential of a “massive rainfall event” and “catastrophic flooding,” prompting scientists to raise the alarm.

“A massive rainfall event is looking increasingly likely for parts of central Europe over the next few days. The reason: a slow-moving cut off upper low fueled by anomalously warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. If anything near that verifies, catastrophic flooding is likely,” scientist Nahel Belgherze wrote on X last Wednesday.

Read more here.

2. No Mention of Fossil Fuel Phaseout in COP29 Presidency’s Agenda

Azerbaijan has unveiled a list of priorities for the upcoming climate summit, which included global energy storage, electric grids, and climate finance but left out the production and consumption of planet-warming fossil fuels.

In a letter to Parties and Constituencies published Tuesday, the COP29 Presidency outlined a series of voluntary initiatives and outcomes on its Action Agenda, laying out in full the series of pledges and declarations that it will use to supplement the negotiated COP agenda and accelerate climate action.

Notably, the Action Agenda did not include any mentions of phasing out planet-warming fossil fuels: coal, natural gas, and oil. This is despite the COP28 deal’s unprecedented call to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner to achieve net-zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”

The appointment of Azerbaijan, a highly fossil fuel-dependent state and the oldest oil-producing region in the world, as the COP29 host has reignited debates over the role of fossil fuels in the UN summit as it marked the third petrostate in a row to host the talks after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year and Egypt in 2022. 

Read more here.

3. The Hague Becomes First City in the World to Outlaw Fossil Fuel Advertising, Months After UN-Chief Call to Stop Fueling Disinformation

The Dutch city of The Hague passed a groundbreaking law on Thursday to ban advertisements promoting fossil fuel products and services, the first city in the world to do so.

Effective from January 1, 2025, the new ban applies to fossil fuel products and high-carbon services such as cruise ships and air travel. The legislation is a crucial step in the city’s transition to net zero, which it aims to reach by 2030.

“The Hague wants to be climate neutral by 2030. Then it is not appropriate to allow advertising for products from the fossil industry,” said Leonie Gerritsen, a member of the city council for the Party for the Animals and one of the backers of the new local law.

For many, the ban will have repercussions beyond the local level and could act as a potential catalyst for similar actions worldwide.

The move comes months after UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to ban fossil fuel advertising in the same way they restricted tobacco.

“Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action – with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns. They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men fuelling the madness,” Guterres said in a speech in June to mark World Environment Day.

Read more here.

4. Cities, States Leaders Call on World Leaders to Ban Fossil Fuels Ahead of UN Summit

The time has come for world leaders to listen to the voices of cities and states at the forefront of climate action and work alongside them to halt the expansion of fossil fuels, according to a letter signed by dozens of city and state leaders and addressed to UN heads of state.

The call comes ahead of the United Nation’s Summit of the Future, which is set to kick off on Sunday in New York, and the UN General Assembly High-Level Week. World leaders at the summit are set to adopt the Pact for the Future, an intergovernmental blueprint for multilateral governance in an age of crisis.

“As you meet for the General Assembly and Summit of the Future, we as leaders of States and Cities, urge you to transition your countries away from fossil fuels,” the letter, signed by 14 mayors, governors, and subnational leaders across five continents, read. Together, they represent more than 40 million people. The signatories hope their call will add pressure on national leaders to turn their positive words about transitioning away from fossil fuels – a pledge they made at last year’s COP28 –  into concrete action.

Home to 56% of the global population, cities are responsible for 70% of global primary energy consumption and 60% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They are also at the forefront of climate change, vulnerable to water-related hazards such as floods, droughts, sea level rise, and storm events as well as extreme heat. But as their climate vulnerability grows, so do their efforts in mitigating and adapting to a warming planet.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for September 16-20, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including new controversies surrounding the European Union’s anti-deforestation law and a new report unveiling the killing of nearly 200 land and environmental defenders in 2023.

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1. Nearly 200 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed in 2023, Mostly in Latin America, Global Witness Report Reveals

196 defenders were murdered in 2023 while exercising their right to protect their lands and the environment, a new report has revealed, adding that the number of casualties is likely much higher.

This brings the total number of killings to 2,106 since Global Witness began reporting data in 2012, the environmental watchdog group said in its latest report published Tuesday.

Latin America made up 85% of all killings last year. Weak legal protections, high levels of corruption, and intense conflicts over land and resource exploitation make the region one of the most dangerous to operate in for environmental defenders.

Colombia topped the list of the deadliest countries for environmental defenders for the second year in a row with 79 murders – 40% of the total. In 2022, 60 defenders were killed in the country, which is preparing to host the year’s most important biodiversity meeting next month.

In neighbouring Brazil, home to the world’s largest rainforest, 25 defenders were murdered, while Mexico and Honduras each saw 18 killings. The latter has the largest per capita killing rate.

“Every killing leaves the world more vulnerable to the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises,” the report read. 

Read more here.

2. Tens of Thousands in Seoul Protest Government’s Climate Inaction Following Landmark Court Victory

More than 30,000 people took to the streets in South Korea’s capital Seoul on Saturday demanding more action on climate change, days after a top court ruled that the government’s climate policies violate fundamental human rights.

Protesters from all walks of life marched in Seoul’s Gangnam District under the slogan “Let’s Change the World, Not the Climate,” many holding handmade cardboard banners reading “Climate Justice” and “Change Now.” In a joint statement seen by The Korea Times, 611 civic and environmental groups said they were marching to “address the climate disaster and global injustice, and to protect a life of equality and dignity.”

The protest came just little over a week after a group of young climate activists scored a landmark victory at the Constitutional Court of Korea. The court late last month ruled that the government’s measures to fight climate change are insufficient for protecting the rights of its citizens. It was Asia’s first climate litigation ruling of its kind.

Read more here.

3. Italy’s Marmolada Glacier Set to Disappear By 2040 As Temperatures Rise, Researchers Warn

The Marmolada glacier, the highest glacier of the Dolomites and an UNESCO World Heritage site, is disappearing and could melt away completely by as early as 2040.

The 3,343-meter glacier, located in the Alps mountain range in northeastern Italy and also known as the “Queen of the Dolomites,” is disappearing at a rate of between 7 and 10 centimeters a day, a recent assessment has revealed. It lost around 50% of its original surface in the past century and another 50% in the past decade. Since 2019, the glacier shrank by an additional 70 hectares or the equivalent of 98 football pitches.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that the largest glaciers in the Alps, namely the Adamello and Forni, are experiencing similar challenges. The Forni Glacier is losing ice at a rate comparable to that of the Marmolada. Meanwhile, long-term measurements of the 3,539-meter Adamello indicate that its current surface is primarily composed of snowfall from the 1980s, highlighting the significant and ongoing decline in glacial mass.

Read more here.

4. ‘From the City to the Countryside’: Greenpeace Raises Alarm After Microplastic Found in 85% of Hong Kong Wild Mammal Feces Samples

A new study published Monday revealed the presence of microplastics in the feces of five wild mammals – buffalo, boar, macaque, porcupine, and cattle – with the latter having the highest concentration. Greenpeace collaborated with research teams from universities in Hong Kong and Taipei to collect 100 samples of feces in Hong Kong’s countryside between June and August 2022. They found a total of 2,503 microplastics pieces in 85% of the 100 samples collected.

The Greenpeace investigation revealed that microplastics commonly found in single-use plastic packaging, takeaway containers, and disposable utensils – also known as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) – were the predominant types mammals ingested.

“The findings of this study are important, proving that wild animals can ingest microplastics in the countryside, where it is away from urban areas and human activities,” said Christelle Not, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Hong Kong.

Previous Greenpeace research conducted in 2021 confirmed the presence of microplastics in many of Hong Kong’s countryside streams, though Monday’s study marks the first evidence of microplastics reaching wild animals.

Read more here.

5. Brazil Urges EU to Postpone and Reassess ‘Unilateral’ Anti-Deforestation Law Over Fears It Will Affect Trade Relations

In a letter to the European Commission seen by Reuters, the Brazilian government said the law was an “unilateral and punitive instrument” that discriminates against countries whose economies rely on forest resources such as Brazil.

“Brazil is one of the main suppliers to the EU of most of the products covered by the legislation, which correspond to more than 30% of our exports to the community bloc,” the letter, signed by the Minister of Agriculture Carlos Fávaro and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira, said. “In order to avoid impact on our trade relations, we request that the EU not implement the EUDR (EU Deforestation-free Regulation) at the end of 2024 and urgently reassess its approach to the issue.”

Government calculations suggest the legislation could affect some $15 billion-worth of exports. According to Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade figures, as reported by Reuters, Brazil’s exports of products covered by the EUDR in 2023 amounted to $46.2 billion.

In April, European Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said the law will come into force at the end of 2024 as initially planned in response to calls by an Austria-led coalition of 20 of the 27 EU member states to review the law. They argued that the new rules would hurt European farmers, who are also subject to the new rules.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for September 9-13, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including new data confirming summer 2024 as the hottest on record and worrisome rise in wildfires in Brazil.

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1. Record-Breaking Summer Signals 2024 Could Be the Hottest Year Ever, European Scientists Say

This year is well on track to be the hottest on record after a record-breaking summer and the highest year-to-date global average temperature, European scientists confirmed on Friday.

The global-average temperature between June and August was the highest in the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s (C3S) ERA5 dataset at 0.69C above the 1991-2020 average for the same period and 0.03C higher than the previous record set last year.

According to C3S, a service operated by the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, July was the second-hottest on record, just 0.04C shy than the average temperature in July 2023. However, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) later found it to be the hottest on record. July also saw two back-to-back record-breaking daily temperatures.

Between January and August, the global-average temperature anomaly was 0.70C above the 1991-2020 average, 0.23C warmer than the previous highest anomaly recorded in 2023. For 2024 not to be warmer than 2023, the anomaly for the remaining months of the year would need to decrease by at least 0.30C – a highly unlikely scenario, said C3S.

Read more here.

2. Bangladesh Floods Leave 71 Dead As UNICEF Warns of ‘Unprecedented’ Challenges

The floods, the worst in 34 years for the region, have affected an estimated 5.9 million people – including more than 2 million children – and left at least 71 dead as of Tuesday. More than half a million people were displaced, with thousands currently at evacuation shelters.

Speaking from the southeastern district of Feni, the epicenter of the flooding, UNICEF Deputy Representative to Bangladesh Emma Brigham on Monday talked about “unprecedented times” in the country as she appealed for support.

“Bangladesh is a country that is normally very good at dealing with cyclones, with flooding, they happen all too frequently. But this case is different. It’s happened in an area that doesn’t normally suffer from cyclones and flooding so the preparedness levels were not what they should’ve been amongst communities,” Bringham told CNN.

Read more here.

3. Drought-Stricken Brazil Sees 80% Yearly Rise in Wildfires in 2024 As Toxic Smoke Spreads Across the Country

Wildfires in drought-stricken Brazil have surged to the highest level since 2010 in August as government figures suggested criminal actions were behind the spike.

Last week, environment minister Marina Silva said during an emergency meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that the country was “at war” with fire, adding that the historic surge in blazes was “unusual” and was being investigated by federal police.

The biome has recorded 38,266 fire hotspots last month, more than double compared to the same time last year according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). More than 80% of them were concentrated in the states of Para (36%), Amazonas (29%) and Mato Grosso (16%).

Read more here.

4. Italy’s Southern Islands Drought Made 50% More Likely By Climate Change, Study Finds

The “extreme” drought affecting two major Italian islands was made 50% more likely by climate change and exacerbated further by the region’s ageing water infrastructure, a new attribution study has revealed.

In Sicily and Sardinia – the two largest islands in the Mediterranean, home to 5 and 1.6 million people, respectively – a year of “exceptionally low rainfall and persistent heat” have created the perfect conditions for the exceptional droughts, among the worst on record. In July, both islands were in a state of emergency as bone-dry conditions led to devastating wildfires that destroyed farmland and forests. Sicily accounted for 45% of wildfires so far this year; Sardinia for 10%.

Conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), an academic collaboration studying extreme event attribution, and published Wednesday, the analysis revealed that without human-driven warming, the droughts on both islands would not have been classified as “extreme.”

Read more here.

5. Super Typhoon Yagi Nears Southern China After Killing At Least 17 in the Philippines

Yagi intensified into a Super Typhoon on Wednesday night local time and is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, with sustained wind speeds of 210 km/h (130 mph). It is expected to make a rare landfall as a super typhoon in Hainan in the evening of Friday. Between 1949 and 2023, of the 106 typhoons which made landfall in Hainan, only 9 were classified as super typhoons.

Typhoon Yagi formed as a tropical storm on Sunday in the western Philippine Sea. It crossed the islands, dumping 25cm (10 inches) of rain on the northern city of Luzon before moving westward toward the South China Sea. Yagi’s torrential rainfall led to floods and landslides in the northern part of the archipelago, killing at least 13 people.

Typhoons – also known as hurricanes in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific and cyclones in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific – are a rather common weather phenomenon, though there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades, which scientific observations link to anthropogenic climate change. 

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for September 2-6, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including the landmark victory of a group of South Korean young climate activists and a new study warning of a “new era of bigger, deadlier typhoons.”

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1. South Korean Youth Score Historic Climate Victory, Setting Important Precedent for Climate Litigation in Asia

A top court in South Korea on Thursday ruled the country’s measures to fight climate change insufficient for protecting the rights of its citizens in Asia’s first climate litigation ruling of its kind.

Currently, South Korea does not have any legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions between 2031 and 2049. This absence means the government cannot guarantee the protection of future generations, a right engrained in its constitution, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled.

“Future generations will be more exposed to the impact of climate change, but their participation in today’s democratic political process is limited,” the court said, as reported by The New York Times. “So the legislators have the duty and responsibility to make concrete laws for mid- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction plans.”

The ruling is the first of its kind in Asia. Experts say the landmark decision sets an important precedent for the region, as similar cases are under way.

Read more here.

2. UN Chief Issues Climate ‘SOS’ For Pacific Islands Worst Hit By Ocean Warming, Sea Level Rise

Pacific islands should be provided with a “greater voice on the global stage” as climate change and sea level rise driven by reckless actions from industrialized nations threaten their existence, António Guterres said on Monday.

Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga, the UN Secretary-General warned of the imminent threat of sea level rise in the Pacific. Guterres highlighted the findings of two UN reports, which show that the South West Pacific is worst hit by rising sea levels, with some areas at risk of disappearing by the end of the century. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the average annual increase was “significantly higher” in two measurement areas of the Pacific north and east of Australia compared to the global average rate rise of 3.4 millimetres a year over the past 30 years.

“I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS – Save Our Seas – on rising sea levels,” Guterres said. “Around the world, rising seas have unparallelled power to cause havoc to coastal cities and ravage coastal economies. Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. The world must act, and answer the SOS before it is too late.”

Read more here.

3. Typhoon Gaemi Intensified By Climate Change As Scientists Warn of A New Era of ‘Bigger, Deadlier’ Typhoons

A typhoon that swept across the Philippines, Taiwan and China’s Hunan province in late July, killing more than 100 people, was intensified by fossil fuel-driven global warming, a new analysis has found.

World Weather Attribution (WWA), an academic collaboration studying extreme event attribution, said on Thursday that Gaemi’s winds were about 9 mph (14 km/h) or 7% more intense due to human-made climate change. The study also determined that the warm sea surface temperatures that fuelled Gaemi would have been “virtually impossible” without anthropogenic climate change.

“Fossil fuel-driven warming is ushering in a new era of bigger, deadlier typhoons,” said Ben Clarke, Researcher at the London Imperial College’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. Clarke also warned that Asia will become increasingly inhospitable and dangerous “until fossil fuels are replaced with renewable energy.”

Read more here.

4. Green Groups Sue European Commission Over Insufficient Emission Reduction Targets

In a statement published Tuesday, CAN Europe and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) announced they had submitted the final written arguments to the General Court of the European Union after the lawsuit was formally filed before the court earlier this year. The two groups accuse the bloc of failing to conduct essential assessments when setting climate targets for sectors including buildings, agriculture, waste, small industry, and transport, which together account for 57% of the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The lawsuit, brought against the European Commission, follows a previous attempt by CAN Europe to sue the bloc for its climate targets, which was ultimately not admitted. An oral hearing is expected in the first half of 2025.

“We have to use all available channels to push the European Commission to bring the EU’s climate ambition on track with its fair share for the 1.5C goal of the Paris agreement. The EU has to ramp up emissions reduction and achieve at least a 65% cut by 2030 if it wants to be a credible actor,” said Sven Harmeling, head of climate at CAN Europe.

Read more here.

5. Environmental Groups Defend Kamala Harris Amid Silence on Climate Crisis at DNC

The absence of any serious mention of climate change at the Democratic National Convention, least of all from presidential candidate Kamala Harris in her closing speech on Thursday, did not go unnoticed. In fact, since Harris ascended the 2024 Democratic ticket, she has been mostly quiet on the issue, offering no hints on her climate plan if she wins November’s election. Amid the silence, one of Harris’s advisors was being quoted as saying at the DNC’s Environmental & Climate Crisis Council that she is committed to “bold action” on climate.

However, environmental groups have come forward in recent days to defend Harris, with a coalition of climate groups last week announcing a $55 million advertising campaign in “at least six swing states” in support of her campaign. This marks a drastic change in approach compared to the last presidential campaign, when environmentalists obsessively scrutinized every aspect of Biden’s climate agenda.

Many groups have openly stated they do not want to sabotage Harris’s campaign as they fight to keep her climate denier counterpart, Republican nominee Donald Trump, out of the White House. Others have hinted they are “not worried” about Harris’s climate agenda, arguing her past decisions holds promise for bold action if she wins the election.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for August 26-30, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including a scientific update on climate tipping points and an important shift in China’s energy landscape and priorities.

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1. Global Warming of 1.6C Now Best Case Scenario, New Research Shows

The world will soon witness an overshoot of the 1.5C global warming target, according to a new study that argues that constraints in implementing climate policies in some countries make the Paris goal no longer feasible.

“Limiting peak temperature to below 1.5C is not possible with even moderate likelihood anymore,” said lead author of the study Christoph Bertram, who is associate research professor at the University of Maryland and guest researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Bertram and his colleagues examined dozens of potential scenarios that take into account technological advancements as well as the feasibility of enforcing climate policies in different regions of the world. They found that green tech’s significant contribution in speeding up the energy transition worldwide gives the world a 50% chance of limiting global warming below 1.6C – now the best case scenario.

However, constraints that prevent some governments from implementing climate policies such as a carbon tax reduce the likelihood of staying within this limit to 5-45%. Constraints range from a lack of adequate infrastructure to ineffective bureaucratic systems and are particularly an issue in developing countries, which lack financial resources.

Read more here.

2. Heat-Related Mortality in Europe Could Triple by 2100 Under Current 3C Warming Scenario, New Study Suggests

Europe could see three times as many heat-related deaths by the end of the century unless ambitious adaptation measures are implemented continent-wide, according to a new study that looked at the risk patterns of climate change in some European regions.

Accounting for current climate policies in place, the world is on track to 3C of warming, the study said. Under this scenario, Europe could see an estimated 128,809 deaths by 2100 compared to about 44,000 in the period of 1991-2020. Under the Paris Agreement 1.5C and 2C warming targets, deaths from extreme heat would rise to approximately 58,000 and 76,000, respectively.

Among the 30 countries modelled, Italy is the country where most heat-related deaths occurred in the period of 1991-2020 – a staggering 10,433. Under a 3C scenario, the number will more than double to reach about 28,285 in 2100. Germany ranked second with 6,909 deaths between 1991-2020 and an estimated 16,913 by century’s end, closely followed by Spain with 4,414 and 20,194 fatalities, respectively.

Read more here.

3. Current Decade ‘Critical’ to Avoid Permanent Breach of Climate Tipping Points, Study Warns

In a study on climate tipping points published in August in Nature Communications, researchers said that every emissions reduction policy adopted this century will determine how climate patterns will change in the centuries to come.

Reaching and sustaining net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2100, researchers said, is “paramount” to minimize the risk of irreversibly affecting climate patterns.

Tipping points refer to multiple stable states of different planet’s life-support systems that all societies depend on and that, if pushed too far, could result in unstoppable, permanent, and irreversible changes in their state. For instance, continuous external pressure on a system like the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest and richest biological reservoir and one of the most important natural carbon storage systems, can turn the forest into a savannah and a source of carbon dioxide.

Read more here.

4. China Slashes Coal Permits Amid Renewables Boom But Environmentalists Warn ‘Only Time Can Tell’ if Fossil Fuel Era Is Over

The world’s largest coal producer, which last year generated a record output of coal, cut back on new coal power permits by 83% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period a year ago, permitting only 12 projects totalling 9 gigawatts. It comes after the country approved 106 gigawatt’s worth of coal-fired power capacity in 2022, the highest amount since 2015, and another 70.2 gigawatt’s worth in 2023 – 95% of the world’s new coal power construction activity that year.

The drop in new coal project permits coincides with an unprecedented deployment of renewable energy that remains largely unmatched anywhere in the world. Using figures released by the Chinese government last week, CREA reported that the country’s solar and wind power generation has increased by 171 terawatt so far this year. This matches the amount the UK produced from all energy sources in the same period in 2023.

Still, the new data, presented by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in a press release on Thursday, also indicates “robust” coal power construction activity so far this year.

Read more here.

5. Judge Orders Three-Month Suspension of Deforestation in Argentina’s Chaco Province

An Argentinian federal judge on Monday ordered the suspension of deforestation in the northern parts of the Chaco province amid a corruption investigation over illegal land clearance.

The suspension was requested by Patricio Sabadini, federal prosecutor of Resistencia, the capital of Argentina’s Chaco province. It will last for at least three months “or until the situation is re-evaluated” and affect both authorized clearings and the ones that have not yet been carried out, the public prosecutor announced in a statement published on its website on Monday. New clearing permits are also suspended.

The request came amid an investigation involving seven defendants, including business people and local officials and legislators. They stand accused of facilitating and profiting from the “indiscriminate felling of trees” in Chaco and provoking “irreversible damage to the environment and future generations.”

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for August 19-23, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including the devastating toll of wildfires in Greece and a Guardian investigation revealing that a non-profit linked to Shell donated to anti-climate groups linked to Project 2025.

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1. Thousands Flee as Wildfires Rage Across Athens Suburbs Amid Hottest Summer on Record

Greece’s worst wildfire so far this year began spreading into Athens suburbs on Monday after first igniting in the northern fringes of the capital on Sunday afternoon, forcing thousands of residents and tourists to flee.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said on Monday that “[t]he EU civil protection mechanism was activated upon request of the Greek authorities.” In a post on X, the EU civil protection unit said it had mobilized two firefighting planes from its fleet in Italy, one helicopter from France, and ground firefighting teams from Czechia and Romania. Meanwhile, local authorities deployed more than 700 local firefighters, 199 fire engines and 35 waterbombing aircrafts, according to the BBC.

Like many other parts of the world, Greece has seen a notable increase in temperatures in recent years. The country just had its hottest June and July on record. Historical data suggests that the average temperature for July has increased by 2.5C between 1960 and now, with three of the four warmest July months in at least the last 80 years occurring in the past four years.

Read more here.

2. Non-Profit Linked to Oil Giant Shell Donated to Anti-Climate Conservative Groups Behind Project 2025, Investigation Reveals

Tax records analyzed by the Guardian show that the Shell USA Company Foundation sent $544,010 between 2013 and 2022 to several conservative and religious organizations advocating against LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, and denying climate change.

Among the recipients are fourteen groups figuring on the board of Project 2025, a political initiative that promotes conservative and right-wing policies to reshape the US federal government and consolidate Donald Trump’s executive power if he wins the upcoming presidential election. While Trump has distanced himself from the conservative blueprint, it was revealed that more than 100 people who worked for his administration contributed to it.

According to the Guardian, the Shell USA Company Foundation, operated by Shell’s American subsidiary, “helps employees boost their charitable giving to non-profits,” matching them by up to $7,500. A spokesperson told the newspaper that the foundation “does not endorse any organization” and employees donations are “not directed by the company.”

Read more here.

3. Extreme Heat Killed Nearly 48,000 People in Europe Last Year: Study

Nearly 48,000 people died in Europe last year due to extreme heat, according to a new study that argues heat-related mortality would have been 80% higher had it not been for modern-day adaptation measures. In the study period 2014-2023, only 2022 surpassed last year in terms of heat-related deaths with over 60,000 casualties.

Of the 47,690 estimated deaths in 2023, 47,312 occurred between late May and early October, the hottest months of the year, and mostly in Southern European countries including Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Portugal. The study, published Monday in Nature Medicine, also found that women and the elderly were disproportionally affected.

Heat-related mortality in Europe has increased by around 30% in the past two decades, while heat-related deaths are estimated to have increased in 94% of the European regions monitored.

Read more here.

4. Destructive Wildfires At Least Three Times More Likely Due to Climate Change, Report Finds

Published Wednesday in the journal Earth System Science Data (ESSD), the inaugural State of Wildfires report looked at large-scale wildfire events during the 2023-24 season. Despite being “slightly below average” in terms of area burnt compared to previous seasons, the total amount of carbon emissions generated from all fire events combined last year was 16% above average, totalling 8.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the analysis revealed.

Almost a quarter of this increase can be attributed to Canada’s record-breaking fire season. Last year, nearly 6,600 blazes burnt across 45 million acres, 5% of the entire forest area of Canada and roughly seven times the annual average, affecting 230,000 people. According to the EU-funded Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), fire carbon emissions totalled 480 megatonnes, over nine times the historical average, with toxic smoke reaching as far as the US East Coast.

According to the report, which is set to be published every year, climate change increased the probability of high fire weather conditions, long-term average burned area, and extreme burned area during the 2023/24 season. The report found that anthropogenic influence on the climate system made the fires in Canada at least three times more likely as it increased the risk of high fire weather.

Read more here.

5. Australia’s Fossil Fuel Exports Ranked 2nd For Climate Footprint Globally, Report Finds

Australia’s fossil fuel exports contribute to global emissions more than any other country aside from Russia, owing particularly to the footprint of coal exports, according to a new report that suggests emissions will rise by 50% over the next decade.

The country’s climate footprint – roughly 4.5% of global fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with 80% coming from coal and gas exports – “far exceeds” its economic size and population, the report says. Without fossil fuel exports, the country’s contribution to global emissions would be around 1%. Australia also remains the country with one of the highest per-capita emissions for all greenhouse gases, double that of China and nine times larger than India, the world’s first and third largest emitters, respectively.

The country ranked third in the world for fossil exports in 2021, behind only Russia and the US. In 2022, it accounted for 52% of global metallurgical coal exports and 17% of global thermal coal exports.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for August 12-16, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including Kamala Harris’s VC pick and worrying new research suggesting Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef is deteriorating rapidly.

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1. July Was Second-Hottest Month in History As Experts Warn 2024 Will ‘Likely’ Be Warmest on Record

July 2024 saw a global average temperature of 16.91C. This was just 0.04C lower than the average temperature in July 2023, currently the hottest month on record. This makes last month both the second-warmest July and second-warmest month in recorded history.

Until June, monthly average temperatures had broken records every month since May 2023. Scientists blame the hot streak partly on the return of El Niño, which pushed temperatures off the charts worldwide. The weather event is associated with the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central-east equatorial Pacific. It typically occurs every few years, with the most recent one taking place in 2016.

Despite the trend coming to an end, experts warned that extreme heat will continue for as long as the world maintains its reliance on fossil fuels.

Seas also continued to warm last month. The average sea surface temperature reached 20.88C, the second-highest value on record and only 0.01C shy of the value recorded in July 2023. This put an end to a 15-month period of record-breaking sea surface temperatures.

Read more here.

2. Kamala Harris Chooses ‘Climate Champion’ Tim Walz As VP Pick in US Presidential Election

Tuesday’s announcement prompted reactions from climate advocates and groups, including political action organization the Sunrise Movement, which praised Walz’s robust environmental record and called the Governor a “climate champion” and a “fighter for working people and young people.”

Since his appointment as Governor, Walz, 60, has been focused on tackling the threats posed by the climate crisis in his state, enacting important legislation to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels and promote clean energy development. When signing a law that would lead Minnesota to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 in February of last year, Walz said: “We can’t move too fast when it comes to addressing climate change.” The legislation also requires utilities to create plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations.

If elected to the White House, Walz and Harris would bring a strong climate policy background to the national stage at a critical juncture in the US’s efforts to address the climate crisis, an increasingly urgent threat. 

Read more here.

3. Highest Ocean Warming in 400 Years Poses ‘Existential Threat’ to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Researchers Say

This generation will likely witness the demise of Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef unless rapid, coordinated, and ambitious action is taken globally to reverse climate change. Scientists came to this conclusion after looking at recent sea surface temperature trends. They found that the extreme ocean heat recorded between January and March in 2017, 2020, and 2024 was the highest in 400 years.

These extremes, which were caused by anthropogenic influence on the climate system, pose an “existential threat” to the reef’s ecosystem. Located off the coast of Queensland, the reef is the largest in the world. It covers an area of about 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 square miles), more than the UK and Ireland combined.

Coral bleaching occurs as a heat stress response from rising ocean temperatures, which drives algae away from coral reefs, causing reefs to lose their vibrant colours. While a bleaching event is not directly linked to corals’ death, more frequent and intense heat stresses make corals more vulnerable to diseases, slowing down their recovery and limiting their ability to spawn.

Read more here.

4. Wind and Solar Overtake Planet-Warming Fossil Fuels in EU Electricity Generation For First Time

According to energy think tank Ember data published last Tuesday, the two renewable energy sources accounted for 30% of the bloc’s electricity, while planet-warming fossil fuels accounted for 27%, a 17% decrease in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023. This is despite a 0.7% rebound in energy demand following two years of downward trends, which Ember said was “more than met” by wind and solar.

In total, wind and solar surpassed fossil fuel generation in 13 of the 27 EU Member States with Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and the Netherlands hitting the milestone for the first time. All low-carbon sources combined, including hydroelectric and nuclear power, surged this year and combined made up 73% of all electricity generation. Contrarily, all planet-warming sources dropped. Coal generation alone fell by 24% compared to the same period last year.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for August 5-9, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. It means that for the rest of the year, we are expanding our ecological deficit by using up local resources and pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls on 1 August.

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Today marks the day when humanity’s resource consumption exceeds the Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources for the year, a reminder of how unsustainable modern consumption patterns are and how these are adding immense pressure to our planet’s ecosystems.

This year, it falls on 1 August, one day earlier than last year. Overall, however, Earth Overshoot Day has been getting earlier since the 1970s. Experts estimate that at the current rate of consumption, it would take 1.7 Earths to produce and regenerate all the resources we use today.

Overshoot days are calculated for individual countries, too. If the whole planet consumed in the same way as the UK does, overshoot would occur on 3 June. Qatar has the earliest overshoot day (11 February), followed by Luxembourg (20 February), the United Arab Emirates (4 March) and Kuwait (5 March). In the United States, Earth Overshoot Day fell on March 14 this year. Kyrgyzstan has the latest one (30 December).

You might also like: World Is Running Out of Carbon Budget to Limit Global Warming to 1.5C, Scientists Warn

The post Earth Overshoot Day 2024: What Is It and Why Is It Important? appeared first on Earth.Org.

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including the devastating trail of destruction left by Hurricane Beryl and a new report highlighting Google’s exponential growth in emissions in recent years owing to artificial intelligence expansion.

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1. Google Emissions Grow 48% in Five Years Owing to Large-Scale AI Deployment, Jeopardizing Company’s Net Zero Plans

Google generated an estimated 14.3 million tCO2e in 2023, a 13% increase from 2022, as revealed in its annual environmental report released Tuesday, saying the primary cause was AI’s growing energy demand. The tech giant, which is valued at approximately US$754 billion, aims to achieve net-zero emissions across all operations and value chain by 2030.

According to the report, Google’s data centers account for around 7-10% of global data center electricity consumption, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) says represents 1-1.3% of global electricity demand. Owing to the expansion of AI services, Google’s data center electricity consumption last year grew 17% compared to 2022, a trend the company says is expected to continue in the future.

Owing to datasets and models becoming more complex, the energy needed to train and run AI models has skyrocketed in recent years, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions. 

Read more here.

2. Deadly Hurricane Beryl Marks Exceptionally Early Start to Atlantic Hurricane Season As Experts Blame Ocean Warming

Hurricane Beryl roared across the Windward Islands in the Caribbean on Monday as an “extremely dangeous” Category 4 hurricane, leaving one dead, downing power lines, and flooding streets.

It made landfall on Grenada’s Carriacou Island in the Caribbean Sea, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. In a briefing broadcast on social media, Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said the island had been “flattened” in just half an hour, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving “widespread … destruction and devastation.” A person was reportedly killed in the capital St. George as a tree fell on a house.

Hurricanes – also known as typhoons in the northwestern Pacific and cyclones in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific – are a rather common weather phenomenon, though there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades, which scientific observations link to anthropogenic climate change. These abnormal trends are attributed largely to the increased ocean temperatures.  In May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will likely be “above-normal,” owing to near-record ocean heat and La Niña condition. If true, the predictions would make this year the ninth consecutive to see an above-normal hurricane season, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Read more here.

More on the topic: Opinion: Hurricane Beryl – Another Harbinger That We Are Not Doing Enough 

3. Biden Unveils New Extreme Heat Rules for Workers As EPA Report Warns Heatwaves, No 1 Killer in the US, on the Rise

The new rules, proposed by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), include “requirements for identifying heat hazards, developing heat illness and emergency response plans, providing training to employees and supervisors, and implementing work practice standards” such as “rest breaks, access to shade and water, and heat acclimatization for new employees.” Approximately 36 million workers across the country would be affected by the new rules, which mark the US’s first-ever federal safety standard addressing excessive heat in the workplace, according to a White House statement.

The increase in extreme heat is a direct result of human-made climate change. As greenhouse gas emissions trap more heat in the atmosphere, heatwaves – the deadliest type of extreme weather event – get longer and hotter. In the US, extreme heat kills more people than any other weather hazard. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report published Tuesday said unusually hot summer days and nights have become more common in the US over the last few decades, while heatwaves went from an average of two per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s and 2020s. 

Read more here.

4. US Supreme Court Overturns Critically Important Ruling for Environmental Protection Enforcement

For 40 years, the chevron deference doctrine has granted federal agencies the power to provide expert opinion on how bills in the US should be interpreted. The Supreme Court decision on Friday to overturn this ruling could have disastrous consequences for federal ability to provide expert perspective on and enforce environmental protections.

The Court’s decision means that federal court judges are able to provide their own interpretation of laws, that will then become the enforced definitions and decisions of federal acts. Environmental NGOs fear that this will allow for biased, non-expert rulings to weaken and prevent critical application of public policy, especially related to environmental protection. This could mean that foundational legislation like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act could all be at risk of significant weakening under court systems and legislative sessions that favor industrial activity, leaving no room or ability for experts within federal agencies like the EPA to create and enforce rules they deem necessary to protect public health and natural resources.

Read more here.

The post Week in Review: Top Climate News for July 1-5, 2024 appeared first on Earth.Org.