Deforestation Surges
An area of tropical forest the size of Switzerland was lost last year as tree losses surged, according to new research. It means that a political pledge to end deforestation made at COP26 by world leaders is well off track. Some 11 football pitches of forest were lost every minute in 2022, with Brazil dominating the destruction.
But a sharp reduction in forest loss in Indonesia shows that reversing this trend is achievable.
Mountain Peak Collapses
Part of a Swiss mountain's summit has collapsed, sending more than 3.5 million cubic feet (100,000 cubic meters) of rock crashing into the valley below. The incident was likely a result of thawing permafrost — and scientists have warned similar events are to be expected as climate change causes ancient frozen ground to degrade.
The main peak of Fluchthorn lost approximately 330 feet (100 m). It fell in the western area of the peak, in the Futschöl Valley. The middle peak, which stands at 11,145 feet (3,397 m) is now the highest point of the Fluchthorn — meaning the mountain is now around 60 feet (19 m) shorter than it was before.
Shutting Down Fossil Fuels - Financial Impact
Shutting down fossil fuels will have negligible financial impact on ‘vast majority’, study finds. Scaling down fossil fuels would have hardly any financial impact on the vast majority of people, new research reveals. Oil and gas companies are the single biggest driver of global heating.
But opponents of the renewable transition often claim that cutting down fossil fuel production will be hugely expensive - and hit ordinary people in the pocket. New research sends this argument up in smoke. According to a study published in Joule journal this week, the clean transition will have a marginal financial impact on ordinary people while impacting only the super rich. The ‘losers’ of the clean energy transition are the super-wealthy - and what they stand to lose is still just a fraction of their overall wealth.
Antarctic Sea Ice
Antarctica may be in serious trouble. Satellite images show that the amount of sea ice floating around the pristine polar continent remains far below long-term averages despite the south polar region moving into its peak winter period.
Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) observed with trepidation in late 2022 and early 2023 as satellite images revealed that sea ice attached to the coast of Antarctica had been disappearing month after month at a pace never seen before. And they continued to observe as this sea ice failed to sufficiently replenish after the colder months arrived. As of mid-June 2023, sea ice extent in Antarctica was about 0.9 million square miles (2.28 million square kilometers) below the average from 1981 to 2010 for that part of the year, according to the U.K. weather authority Met Office, and about 0.4 million square miles (1.15 million square km) below the previous June record low from 2019.
Warming stripes: The international symbol of climate change
It’s a simple image, with a simple message. The Earth is warming — fast! Since the 1800s global surface temperature, which includes land and the ocean surface, has increased by an average of 2 degrees F. Land areas are warming at about double that rate.
When Professor Ed Hawkins of the University of Reading (UK) first created the warming stripes in 2018 the idea was to quickly communicate the speed and degree to which our planet was warming. The cool blue to warm red is an eye-catching and compelling visual.
Swiss Voters Back Green Energy
Voters in Switzerland have backed a new climate bill designed to cut fossil fuel use and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The government says the country needs to protect its energy security and the environment, as glaciers melt rapidly in the Swiss Alps. The law will require a move away from dependence on imported oil and gas towards the use of renewable sources.
In Sunday's referendum 59.1% of voters backed the green energy proposals. Opponents had argued the measures would push up energy prices.
Hot Seas Around UK
Some of the most intense marine heat increases on Earth have developed in seas around the UK and Ireland, the European Space Agency (Esa) says. Water temperatures are as much as 3 to 4C above the average for this time of year in some areas, according to analysis by Esa and the Met Office. The sea is particularly warm off the UK's east coast from Durham to Aberdeen, and off north-west Ireland.
Scientists warn that intense heat like this can kill fish and other sea life, sometimes on a huge scale. The warm sea around the UK comes as air and ocean surface temperatures worldwide have been spiking sharply in recent months. Global sea surface temperatures for both April and May were the highest ever recorded in Met Office data that goes all the way back to 1850.
Scientists are not sure why we are seeing this record heat in the waters around the UK and across the North Atlantic, but they say climate change is certainly playing a crucial role.
Cheap Fix to Global Warming Gains Support
Countries are starting to get more serious about slashing avoidable methane emissions from fossil fuel production.
For example, if all the gas that's leaked or vented by Turkmenistan's energy sector was salvaged and burned instead and the EU rules take effect, the combined measures would have roughly the same short-term climate effect as wiping out roughly 290 million tons of CO2 each year, equivalent to the annual emissions of Taiwan, the 21st worst polluter.
Halting methane that is intentionally released or accidentally leaked from coal mines or natural gas and oil production is some of the lowest hanging fruit in the fight against climate change because minimizing those emissions is often as simple as upgrading infrastructure and making it more efficient.
World Breaks Temperature Record
The EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service says that for the first time, global warming has breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. The start of June saw global surface air temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels for the first time. In the summer temperatures higher than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels have been observed before but only in the northern hemisphere winter and spring months until now.
“Global-mean surface air temperatures for the first days of June 2023 were the highest in the ERA5 data record for early June by a substantial margin,” the Copernicus unit said, noting that some of the data go back as far as 1950. Temperatures have since dipped, but experts say the short surge in early June marked a new global heat record for the month and indicates more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Niño phase that could last years.
Wind and solar overtake fossil fuels in the EU
Wind and solar produced more energy in the EU during May than all fossil fuels combined, according to energy think tank Ember. This is the first full month on record where these renewables produced more power - with almost a third of the bloc’s electricity coming from wind and solar. Fossil fuels generated a record low of 27 per cent.
Solar alone generated 14 per cent of the EU’s electricity in May: an all-time high. Even without the summer sun, it overtook coal power for the first time which produced just a tenth of the total last month.
Largest Companies do Little to Limit Climate Change
The vast majority of the world’s biggest companies have done almost nothing in the past five years to cut their planet-heating pollution enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Large companies are either more likely to contribute to extreme levels of warming or are not disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions at all, according to a new report from ESG Book, seen by CNN.
The leading sustainability data provider found that the efforts of just 22% of the world’s 500 biggest public companies by market value are aligned with the Paris Agreement, aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That’s a measly gain from 18% of firms in 2018.
Major polluters such as Shell and BP (BP) are shifting their focus back to fossil fuel production following a year of bumper profits helped by soaring oil and gas prices.
Another Record CO2
Levels of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reached another record high last month, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography announced Monday.The carbon dioxide (CO2) level measured in May in Hawaii averaged 424 parts per million, NOAA said. That’s 3 parts per million more than last year’s May average and 51% higher than pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm. It also represents the fourth-largest annual increase on record.
European Cattle Herds under Threat
Climate activists are coming for livestock producers and farmers.
European governments have been targeting the agriculture industry for several years. Ireland’s government may need to reduce that country’s cattle herds by 200,000 cows over the next three years to meet climate targets.
In an effort to reduce nitrogen pollution, Reuters reported the European Union last month approved a $1.6 billion Dutch plan to buy out livestock farmers.
Our Ailing Earth
A new report says Earth has exceeded seven out of eight key ecological stability limits, pushing the planet into “the danger zone.” Writing in the journal Nature, the scientific group Earth Commission says it looked at climate, air pollution, groundwater, phosphorus and nitrogen contamination from fertilizer overuse, fresh surface water as well as the overall natural and human-built environments.
Comparing what it would be like if the planet had just gotten a medical exam, Earth Commission co-chair Joyeeta Gupta said, “our doctor would say that the Earth is really quite sick right now.”
But it could heal if carbon emissions are slashed and we are more careful with the world’s land and water.
Climate Change Funding Going to Strange Places
Wealthy countries have pledged $100 billion a year to help reduce the effects of global warming.
Italy helped a retailer open chocolate and gelato stores across Asia. The United States offered a loan for a coastal hotel expansion in Haiti. Belgium backed the film “La Tierra Roja,” a love story set in the Argentine rainforest. And Japan is financing a new coal plant in Bangladesh and an airport expansion in Egypt.
Funding for the five projects totaled $2.6 billion, and all four countries counted their backing as so-called “climate finance” – grants, loans, bonds, equity investments and other contributions meant to help developing nations reduce emissions and adapt to a warming world. Developed nations have pledged to funnel a combined total of $100 billion a year toward this goal, which they affirmed during climate talks in Paris in 2015. The funding helped crown Japan and the United States as two of the top five contributors.
In doing so, they broke no rules. That's because the $100 billion a year pledge came with no official guidelines for what activities count as climate finance!
Military Emissions
A new report finds that if all the world’s combined militaries were a country, they would have the fourth-highest carbon footprint, right behind China, the United States and India. The ongoing war on Ukraine by Russia, and the increasing number of military exercises being conducted around the world, are only adding to the war industry’s contribution to the mounting climate crisis.
Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Conflict and Environment Observatory say that while it is very difficult to precisely determine the total greenhouse gases being emitted by the military, their study finds that its total carbon footprint is approximately 5.5% of all global emissions.
Climate change is drying out lakes
Water loss in large lakes around the world was more widespread during the past three decades than previously thought, according to a study of nearly 2,000 such lakes published in the journal Science on Thursday. A warming climate and human water consumption drove at least half of the decline in natural lakes, the study found. Reservoirs, or artificial lakes, also showed substantial drops.
The drying of lakes and reservoirs around the world is increasingly stressing water supplies for drinking and agriculture, endangering habitats for plants and fish, reducing the capacity to generate hydropower, and threatening marine recreation and tourism.
The study found that 53 percent of the world’s largest lakes experienced significant declines from 1992 to 2020, with a global decline of 19 to 24 gigatons per year (a gigaton is a billion metric tons), equivalent to the total amount of water used in the United States in one year. The decline was found in both arid regions prone to drought and humid regions prone to heavy rainfall, both of which are expected to become more frequent and intense in a warming world.
Arctic - Frontline of Climate Change
The Arctic is warming nearly four times as fast as global averages, with some locations, such as Svalbard, warming up to seven times faster.
The Arctic Ocean is mostly covered with a layer of sea ice. But as the planet warms, this is declining with about half of the sea-ice area lost since 1981 and predictions of a mostly ice-free Arctic summer by 2050. With less sea ice in summer, more of the ocean’s surface is exposed, turning a reflective, white surface dark and trapping the sun’s heat.
The Arctic is covered with snow for much of the year, but each summer the snowy landscapes turn green for a few short weeks. This is when plants and animals kick into gear to carry out their life cycles. As temperatures increase, tundra ecosystems are in sharp transition. Plants are ‘greening up’ earlier and there has been a marked increase in certain species such as shrubs, the trees of the tundra.
With accelerating warming, the permafrost is starting to thaw and carbon is being released as CO2 or methane, a more potent greenhouse gas. If all of it were released, it would more than double the carbon in the atmosphere.
Heat Record - South-East Asia
Vietnam has recorded its highest ever temperature, just over 44C (111F) - with experts predicting it would soon be surpassed because of climate change. The record was set in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, where officials warned people to stay indoors during the hottest times of the day.
Other countries in the region have also been experiencing extremely hot weather. Thailand reported a record-equalling 44.6C in its western Mak province. Meanwhile Myanmar's media reported that a town in the east had recorded 43.8C, the highest temperature for a decade. Both countries experience a hot period before the monsoon season but the intensity of the heat has broken previous records.
Heat Equivalent
Global warming has added the energy equivalent to 25 billion nuclear bombs to the Earth system in 50 years, scientists have found. Almost all of this heat – 89% – is stored in the ocean, compared to around 6% on land and 1% in the atmosphere, their research shows.
Much of the 'excess heat' stored in the North Atlantic is in the deep ocean, at depths of below 2,300 feet, research showed last year. The study found that in the sub-tropical North Atlantic, 62% of the warming from 1850 to 2018 is held in the deep ocean.
But reversing ocean warming may be difficult and time-consuming, the study warns. Reversing global warming entirely may not be feasible. Just to stop temperatures going any higher means correcting the imbalance and bringing CO2 levels down towards the pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million.
The energy dense fuels which made industrial civilisation possible come with an enormous sting in the tail. Burn now, pay later. Now the bill has become apparent.
Glaciers Shrink
A decade of observations from Europe’s Cryosat satellite finds that of the 200,000 or so glaciers on the planet, about 2% of their mass was lost between 2010 and 2020 due to a hotter climate. That amounts to 3 trillion tons of ice melting during the period. Alaska’s glaciers were among the worst affected, with about 5% of the total ice volume in the region melting in 10 years.
In many regions, glaciers are important sources of water for drinking, agriculture and hydropower.
More than 20% of the world’s population relies on the water that flows from the summer melting of glaciers.
European Heat
Forecasters are warning that years of drought across Europe are causing “feedback loops” for the continent’s climate, foreshadowing another dangerously hot and dry summer ahead. Hot, arid conditions in the next few months would mean crop losses and waterways so low that river transport would be snarled and hydroelectric plants would be forced to shut down.
In Spain’s autonomous community of Catalonia, a plague of rabbits starved of fresh grass is also ravaging crops. Officials estimate 250,000 rabbits need to be culled this summer to contain the population. Barcelona faces a water emergency by September if ample rainfall fails to occur from now until the end of summer.
Trump Climate Denial Era Loses Ground to New Normal
A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans say they have recently experienced at least one extreme weather event, with many blaming climate change. The poll conducted in mid-April also finds that about half of the country’s adults became more concerned about the changing climate during the past year even though many remain unsure of their individual role in causing it. Types of severe weather that hit the nation once every 82 days in the 1980s are now occurring slightly more than once every two weeks.
Sudden Spike in Ocean Temperatures
The world's oceans have suddenly spiked much hotter and well above record levels in the last few weeks, with scientists trying to figure out what it means and whether it forecasts a surge in atmospheric warming.
Some researchers think the jump in sea surface temperatures stems from a brewing and possibly strong natural El Nino warming weather condition plus a rebound from three years of a cooling La Nina, all on top of steady global warming that is heating deeper water below. If that's the case, they said, record-breaking ocean temperatures this month could be the first in many heat records to shatter.
From early March to this week, the global average ocean sea surface temperature jumped nearly two-tenths of a degree Celsius (0.36 degree Fahrenheit), according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, which climate scientists use and trust. That may sound small, but for the average of the world's oceans — which is 71% of Earth's area —to rise so much in that short a time, “that's huge,” said University of Colorado climate scientist Kris Karnauskas. “That's an incredible departure from what was already a warm state to begin with.”
US Supreme Court won't rule on local climate cases - Victory for Activists
Cities and states in the US will be able to sue massive fossil fuel polluters thanks to a Supreme Court decision. As the climate crisis worsens, local governments are taking energy giants to court. Big Oil appealed five of these local cases to America’s Supreme Court. But the court declined to hear them- setting an important precedent for future lawsuits.
"Big Oil companies have been desperate to avoid trials in state courts, where they will be forced to defend their climate lies in front of juries, and today the Supreme Court declined to bail them out," said Richard Wiles, the president of the Center for Climate Integrity.
