World could see 1.5 degrees of warming in next five years, WMO reports
London, UKReuters The world faces a 50 per cent chance of warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, if only briefly, by 2026, the World Meteorological Organization said on Monday. That does not mean the world would be crossing the long-term warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), which scientists have set […]
Essay: Mass starvation, extinctions, disasters: the new IPCC report’s grim predictions, and why adaptation efforts are falling behind
Three vice-chairs of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – MARK HOWDEN, JOY PEREIRA, and ROBERTO SÁNCHEZ – look – in an article published on The Conversation – at the findings of the latest IPCC report…
Explainer – As climate change wreaks havoc globally, IPCC report flags ways to adapt
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation From Madagascar, where hunger is surging after a recent storm destroyed drought-withered crops, to Brazil’s historic mountain town of Petropolis, hit by a deluge that has caused about 200 deaths, the impacts of wilder weather are being felt worldwide. Worse is to come, faster than expected, even if efforts to curb […]
Climate change extremes spur UN plan to fund weather forecasting
Glasgow, UKReuters As climate change triggers deadly heatwaves, droughts and floods, three UN agencies on Wednesday will roll out funding plans to improve weather forecasting in vulnerable countries. The initiative, announced at the UN climate summit in Glasgow, aims to plug gaps in weather monitoring and data collection so developing countries can better prepare for […]
World “way off track” in halting warming, UN warns ahead of COP26
Geneva, Switzerland/Glasgow, UKReuters Greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record last year and the world is “way off track” on climate goals, the UN weather agency said on Monday, showing the scale of the task facing governments scrambling to avert dangerous levels of warming. A report by the World Meteorological Organization showed that carbon dioxide levels […]
UN weather agency warns of water crisis without urgent reforms
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Global water resource management is “fragmented and inadequate” and countries should urgently adopt reforms to ramp up financing and boost cooperation on emergency warning systems ahead of a looming crisis, the UN weather agency said on Tuesday. Climate change is expected to increase water-related hazards such as droughts and floods while the number […]
UN says world likely to miss climate targets despite COVID pause in emissions
Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters The pace of climate change has not been slowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the world remains behind in its battle to cut carbon emissions, the United Nations said on Thursday. The virus-related economic downturn caused only a temporary downturn in CO2 emissions last year and it was not enough to reverse […]
Air quality improved slightly in 2020 during lockdowns, UN agency says
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Key air pollutants temporarily plunged by unprecedented levels during coronavirus lockdowns last year, with fine particle pollution falling by more than a third across parts of Asia, a UN agency said on Friday. Particulate matter (PM 2.5) fell by up to 40 per cent across Africa, South America and Southern Asia and by […]
Governments urged to use COVID-19 stimulus to adapt to climate threats
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation Spending to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic will determine whether countries are better able to adapt to more extreme weather and rising seas as the planet warms – a challenge they have failed to meet so far, top UN officials said this week. In the fifth edition of its Adaptation Gap Report, […]
2020 likely world’s second hottest year, UN says; New Zealand declares climate emergency
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters This year is on track to be the second hottest on record, behind 2016, the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. Five data sets currently place 2020, a year characterised by heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and raging hurricanes, as the second warmest since records began in 1850. Dried-up rivers and creeks can be seen […]