Global leaders are about to meet for another UN climate summit – COP27 starting in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday – and the reality of climate change for many people can be overwhelming. Record-breaking heatwaves, devastating floods in Pakistan, and drought in East Africa – and that is just this year.Continue Reading
The world’s largest offshore wind farm is now fully operational, 55 miles off the coast of Yorkshire. The Hornsea 2 project can generate enough electricity to power about 1.3 million homes – that’s enough for a city the size of Manchester. A decade ago renewables made up just 11% ofContinue Reading
Campaigners have hailed a High Court ruling that the government’s ‘net zero’ strategy breaches its obligations under the Climate Change Act. The strategy commits the UK to slash emissions of the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050. The court ruled there wasContinue Reading
Singapore on Thursday recommended supermarkets start charging for disposable carrier bags, a move aimed at slashing carbon emissions in a tiny nation that produces enough annual waste to fill hundreds of Olympic-sized swimming pools. A 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council found shoppers take home 820 million disposable bagsContinue Reading
Climate change played a part in insured losses from natural catastrophes that totalled $130 billion globally in 2021, the fourth-highest on record, broker Aon said in a report on Tuesday. Economic losses – the combination of insured and uninsured losses – reached $343 billion, Aon said in the report whichContinue Reading
The fuel that powered the industrial revolution may be in decline at last. This year looks set to see the largest fall in electricity production from coal on record, according to a new report. The reduction is estimated to be more than the power generated from coal in Germany, SpainContinue Reading
Scientists have discovered a pristine, 3-km (1.8-mile) long reef of giant rose-shaped corals off the coast of Tahiti, in waters thought to be deep enough to protect it from the bleaching effects of the warming ocean. The reef, which lies at depths of more than 30 metres (100 feet), probablyContinue Reading
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency on Thursday as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country’s biggest refinery, after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there. The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away inContinue Reading
In late November 2021, Germany’s new coalition government announced its aim to phase out coal power across the country by 2030, eight years ahead of schedule. Earlier that month, the government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where activists have been protesting against coal mining, announced it would accelerate phasingContinue Reading
Two New Zealand navy vessels will arrive in Tonga on Friday carrying critical water supplies for the Pacific island nation reeling from a volcanic eruption and tsunami and largely cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of homes in Tonga’s smaller outer islands have been destroyed, and at least three people were killed after Saturday’s hugeContinue Reading