Page 13 - Climate Change

Experts warn of climate setback as Donald Trump pulls US out of Paris pact

The US decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement will weaken global efforts to mitigate climate change, and the worst consequences will be felt in developing countries that have contributed the least to global emissions, experts said on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump, on his first day in office of his second term, signed an executive order withdrawing the United States, the world's largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, from the Paris Agreement for the second time in a decade. This places the US alongside Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries not part of the 2015 global climate accord, which aims to limit global warming since the industrial revolution to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Harjeet Singh, climate activist and Founding Director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, described the move as a devastating blow to global climate efforts. The US is prioritising short-term economic gains for fossil fuel industries over the health and well-being of American communitie

UN's NZBA in trouble: Why big banks are pulling out of climate accords

After major US and Canadian banks, now European banks threaten to exit climate alliance amid concerns over net zero policies

Green transition: Expectations and recommendations for Budget 2025

It is important for India to establish a coherent and comprehensive tax framework which will incentivise green investment and support the renewable energy value chain among other measures

NZAM suspends activities after BlackRock exit amid US political pressure

BlackRock, which manages some $11.5 trillion in assets, left the Net-Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative on Jan. 9 citing confusion over its climate efforts

PM Modi to launch Mission Mausam on Jan 14 to make India more weather-ready

Climate-smart India: Mission Mausam has been designed to ensure better preparedness for future climatic challenges with a budget of Rs 2,000 crore over two years

Projected air travel growth runs counter to climate goals, says study

Steps to tame fast-growing air travel could include limiting airport infrastructure growth and corporate travel while increasing taxation on the sector

Climate change, extreme weather key challenges: DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra

Says 'weather management's technologies could evolve in next 50 years

How a week of weather extremes upended lives of millions of Americans

It was a week of fire and ice. It began with millions of people across the US shivering amid blizzard conditions and frigid air that lasted for days, thanks to a jet stream that slips out of its usual path more often these days. Then, catastrophe in California, with wind-whipped flames taking off in a landscape parched by months of drought to become Los Angeles' worst-ever wildfires. To cap it off, major weather monitoring agencies confirmed 2024 as the hottest year in global history. Even more dire, four of the six agencies said it was the first full year Earth went beyond a warming threshold seen as critical to limiting the worst effects of climate change. Welcome to one wild week of the climate crisis, scientists say. There will be more. For the average person, this means the changes you're experiencing more extreme weather, rising costs due to climate impacts, threats to food and water security aren't anomalies, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illino

Everyone should act in combating global warming: Union minister Shekhawat

Union Culture and Tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday said every human being should not act as the "owner" of this planet but act as its "custodian". After inaugurating a climate change gallery titled 'On the Edge' at Science City, Kolkata, Shekhawat said climate change has turned up to be a big issue for the entire world and every citizen as a stakeholder should play his role, not only whistleblower scientists. He said the time has come when one should stop presuming that issues like carbon emission, rise in sea level, extreme weather conditions will not affect him individually in his lifetime but are merely academic issues flagged by scientists and reports in media. "We have to behave with responsibility. Climate change is a big issue for the entire world, when discussion about the greenhouse effect and global warming began 25 years back, many might have thought its effect will be in specific areas. "That notion was belied. Those living in cold regions should no

2024 breaks records as hottest year ever, exceeding 1.5-degree C threshold

2024 recorded a global average temperature of 15.10 degrees Celsius, 1.60 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, driven by record-high greenhouse gas emissions

Earth records hottest year ever in 2024, big jump breached key threshold

Earth recorded its hottest year ever in 2024, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold, several weather monitoring agencies announced Friday. Last year's global average temperature easily passed 2023's record heat and kept pushing even higher. It surpassed the long-term warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) since the late 1800s that was called for by the 2015 Paris climate pact, according to the European Commission's Copernicus Climate Service, the United Kingdom's Meteorology Office and Japan's weather agency. The European team calculated 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.89 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. Japan found 1.57 degrees Celsius (2.83 degrees Fahrenheit) and the British 1.53 degrees Celsius (2.75 degrees Fahrenheit) in releases of data coordinated to early Friday morning European time. American monitoring teams NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the private Berkeley Earth were to release .

Los Angeles wildfires burn towns, Hollywood in flames: What's happening?

Unrelenting wildfires fueled by dry conditions and fierce winds devastate Los Angeles, highlighting the growing impact of climate change on once-seasonal disasters

Remote but resource-rich Greenland occupies key position in warming world

Greenland is where climate change, scarce resources, tense geopolitics and new trade patterns all intersect, said Ohio University security and environment professor Geoff Dabelko

EU warns of 'serious blow' to climate change policy from Donald Trump

US exit from the Paris Agreement would require other countries to double down on climate diplomacy in response

Remote but resource-rich Greenland occupies key position in warming world

Remote, icy and mostly pristine, Greenland plays an outsized role in the daily weather experienced by billions of people and in the climate changes taking shape all over the planet. Greenland is where climate change, scarce resources, tense geopolitics and new trade patterns all intersect, said Ohio University security and environment professor Geoff Dabelko. The world's largest island is now "central to the geopolitical, geoeconomic competition in many ways," partly because of climate change, Dabelko said. Since his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime US ally and a founding member of NATO. It is also home to a large US military base. Why is Greenland coveted? Think of Greenland as an open refrigerator door or thermostat for a warming world, and it's in a region that is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe, said New York University climate scient

Weather extremes of 2024 leading to intense floods, droughts: Report

Weather extremes of 2024 are wreaking havoc with how water moves around the planet, contributing to ferocious floods and crippling droughts, according to a new report. India saw record-high precipitation, along with countries in West Africa and Europe, it found. Global warming, caused by fossil fuel burning, is increasing the strength and rainfall intensity of monsoons, cyclones and other storm systems, an international ream of researchers, led by those at The Australian National University (ANU), said. "2024 was a year of extremes but was not an isolated occurrence. It is part of a worsening trend of more intense floods, prolonged droughts, and record-breaking extremes," lead author Albert van Dijk, a professor of water science and management, ANU, said. About four billion people, or half the world's population, from across 111 countries are estimated to have experienced their warmest year yet. "Rising sea surface temperatures intensified tropical cyclones and droughts in the Amaz

Consumer prices may rise in poor nations by 2050 despite climate policies

Even under ambitious climate policies, lower-income countries would see consumer food prices rise 2.45 times by 2050 while producer prices would rise 3.3 times, a study has found. While the rise in consumer prices is less pronounced for farmers in lower-income countries, it would still make it harder for people in these countries to afford sufficient and healthy food, said researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany. "In high-income countries like the US or Germany, farmers receive less than a quarter of food spending, compared to over 70 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, where farming costs make up a larger portion of food prices," said David Meng-Chuen Chen, a PIK scientist and lead author of the study published in Nature Food. "This gap underscores how differently food systems function across regions," he said. The researchers projected that as economies develop and food systems industrialise, farmers will increasingly receive a smaller share

Generation Beta: Born into climate change and shifting demographics

Unlike Gen Z, who witnessed the transition from analogue to digital technology, Gen Beta will grow up in a highly technologically integrated world

ICAI seeks tax benefits to promote climate change mitigation strategies

Chartered accountants' apex body ICAI has sought tax benefits for promoting climate change mitigation strategies and a separate section for income from shares and securities in the income tax returns form. Besides, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has sought a special tax regime for partnership firms and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) as well as simplification of income tax return forms. The institute on Friday said it has advocated for prudent tax reforms aimed at fostering economic growth and encouraging environmental sustainability in the pre-Budget Memorandum 2025. "Provision of tax benefits for promoting climate change mitigation strategies, which will not only contribute to India's climate change goals but also drive economic growth by promoting sustainable business practices is a suggestion in this direction," it said in a release. Among other suggestions, ICAI has proposed a new head to show income from shares and securities that will have ...

Hot button issue: How the scale of climate challenge is increasing

The World Meteorological Organization has said that 2024 was globally the warmest on record, exceeding the Paris Agreement threshold