Page 5 - Global Warming

US Senate ratifies international climate deal to limit use of refrigerants

In a major action to address climate change, the Senate has ratified an international agreement that compels the United States and other countries to limit use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are far more powerful than carbon dioxide. The so-called Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution requires participating nations to phase down production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs, by 85% over the next 14 years, as part of a global phaseout intended to slow climate change. The Senate approved the treaty, 69-27, above the two-thirds margin required for ratification. HFCs are considered a major driver of global warming and are being targeted worldwide. Nearly 200 nations reached a deal in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, to limit HFCs and find substitutes more friendly to the atmosphere. More than 130 nations, including China, India and Russia, have formally ratified the agreeme

Investors commit $7.1 trn of assets in pursuit of 1.5 deg C climate goal

A coalition of pension funds and insurance companies have committed to managing $7.1 trillion of assets in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius

Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard gives everything away to fight climate change

All the profits of the $3 billion company, Patagonia, will now go towards fighting climate change and protecting land across the world

Australian Senate passes law for 43% greenhouse gas reduction by 2030

Australia's Senate on Thursday voted to ensure the government's elevated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade is enshrined in law. The Senate passed legislation supporting the target in a vote of 37 to 30 even though several senators who supported it wanted a more ambitious 2030 target. The center-left Labor Party government officially committed Australia to the 43% target after it came to power for the first time in nine years at May elections. But entrenching it in law would make it more difficult for any future government to reduce the target. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Senate vote provided certainty to clean energy investors while strengthening transparency and accountability in Australia's carbon reduction processes. The message to investors is that Australia is open for business, Bowen told Parliament. The conservative opposition party voted against the bill. The opposition has advocated si

India showing intent to address climate issue: Environment Minister at G20

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday said India is showing intent as a problem solver despite not being a traditional contributor to global emissions. Addressing the opening ceremony of the G20 environmental and climate ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, he said the promise of climate finance from developed countries remains a mirage and its current pace and scale does not match the global aspiration to combat climate change. Yadav also said the primary responsibility for the transition towards net-zero emissions rests with those who have historically accounted for most of the accumulated greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Net zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out. "While India has not been a traditional contributor to global emissions, we are showing the intent in our actions to be a problem solver," he said. The minister said India is totally committed to driving its low-carbo

Pakistan's fatal flooding has hallmarks of global warming: An explainer

The familiar ingredients of a warming world were in place: searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers, people living in harm's way, and poverty. They combined in vulnerable Pakistan to create unrelenting rain and deadly flooding. The flooding has all the hallmarks of a catastrophe juiced by climate change, but it is too early to formally assign blame to global warming, several scientists tell The Associated Press. It occurred in a country that did little to cause the warming, but keeps getting hit, just like the relentless rain. This year Pakistan has received the highest rainfall in at least three decades. So far this year the rain is running at more than 780% above average levels, said Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a member of Pakistan's Climate Change Council. Extreme weather patterns are turning more frequent in the region and Pakistan is not an ...

Pakistan fatal flooding has hallmarks of warming induced by climate change

The familiar ingredients of a warming world were in place: searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers, people living in harm's way, and poverty. They combined in vulnerable Pakistan to create unrelenting rain and deadly flooding. The flooding has all the hallmarks of a catastrophe juiced by climate change, but it is too early to formally assign blame to global warming, several scientists tell The Associated Press. It occurred in a country that did little to cause the warming, but keeps getting hit, just like the relentless rain. This year Pakistan has received the highest rainfall in at least three decades. So far this year the rain is running at more than 780% above average levels, said Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a member of Pakistan's Climate Change Council. Extreme weather patterns are turning more frequent in the region and Pakistan is not an ...

Spain continues to fight severe forest fires; over 380 blazes on record

Since July 17, 31,500 hectares of forest and scrubland have been destroyed in the fire and two people have died

Over 200 major glaciers disappear in Italy due to climate change: Research

More than 200 major Alpine glaciers have disappeared in Italy since record-keeping began in 1895, the country's environmental lobby group Legambiente said in a report

India's annual green finance just one-fourth of its needs, finds study

An analysis and advisory organisation's update on India's "first-ever effort" to track green investment flows, which are far short of the country's current need for its ambitious climate targets

Senate Democrats approve big Biden deal worth $740 bn; House to vote next

Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than Biden's original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals

Climate change made deadly UK heatwave at least 10 times more likely

The UK's heat wave earlier this month fueled so many blazes in London that the city's fire service was busier than any day since Nazi attacks in World War II

Most major nations lag in acting on climate-fighting goals: Scientists

For most of the major carbon-polluting nations, promising to fight climate change is a lot easier than actually doing it. In the United States, President Joe Biden has learned that the hard way

Britain not built to withstand 40 deg C; infrastructure most likely to fail

Climate change is intensifying heatwaves in the UK, an affluent country with the capacity and resources to adapt to warmer temperatures

European Union countries approve climate measures after long talks

The 27 EU members found a common agreement on draft legislation aimed at slashing EU greenhouse gases by at least 55% in 2030 compared with 1990 rather than by a previously agreed 40%

Nepal mulls shifting Everest base camp due to risk of melting glacier

Several researches conducted from time to time have warned that the glaciers close to the Everest summit are thinning at an alarming rate

G-7 nations pledge to accelerate efforts to slow global warming

Environment ministers from seven leading industrialised nations agreed to accelerate efforts to slow global warming, including a commitment to end government support for new coal-fired power plants

This April, more places in India saw mercury over 45 degrees in a decade

Heatwaves in India: New study shows record-breaking heat to become more common. Exposure to extreme heat can cause heat exhaustion or heat stroke

Bonn climate change conference next week to set tone for COP27 in Egypt

At the June sessions, discussions will take place on a range of important topics including greenhouse gas emission reductions, adapting to climate impacts

With a chapati crisis brewing at home, can India afford to feed the world?

As global temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius or more above pre-industrial levels, the country's chapati challenge is only going to become more urgent