Page 36 - Climate Change

Humanity on the verge of crossing 5 climate 'tipping points', warns report

An international team of more than 200 researchers identified 26 natural processes or features at risk of being suddenly and irreversibly disrupted by climate change, including ice sheets

COP28: UN says 63 countries have backed pledge to curb cooling emission

The Global Cooling Pledge marks the world's first collective focus on climate-warming emissions from cooling, which includes refrigeration for food and medicine and air conditioning

Carbon emissions in India to increase by 8.2%, 4% in China in 2023: Study

Carbon emissions in India are projected to increase in India by 8.2 per cent in 2023, and by 4 per cent in China, according to an international research. Global emissions from coal, oil and gas are all projected to increase by 1.1, 1.5 and 0.5 per cent, respectively, even as they are predicted to decline in the EU and the USA by 7.4 and 3 per cent, respectively, the research team that included the University of Exeter, UK, and 90 other institutions globally said in its report. The Global Carbon Budget report, produced by more than 120 scientists, provides an annual, peer-reviewed update, building on established methodologies, the researchers said. The report projects total global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, arising out of both fossil fuels and land-use change, to be 40.9 billion tonnes in 2023. Of these, 36.8 billion tonnes would be from fossil fuels, up 1.1 per cent from 2022. Atmospheric CO2 levels are projected to average 419.3 parts per million in 2023, more than 50 per cen

310 districts in 28 states, UTs highly vulnerable under NICRA: ICAR report

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of districts where agricultural land may be vulnerable to climate change

Whether to phase out or phase down fossil fuels is the question at COP28

After days of shaving off the edges of key warming issues, climate negotiators on Tuesday zeroed in on the tough job of dealing with the main cause of what's overheating the planet: fossil fuels. As scientists, activists and United Nations officials repeatedly detailed how the world needs to phase-out the use of coal, oil and natural gas, the United Arab Emirates-hosted conference opened energy transition day with a session headlined by top officials of two oil companies. Negotiators produced a new draft of what's expected to be the core document of the UN talks, something called the Global Stocktake, but it had so many possibilities in its 24-pages that it didn't give too much of a hint of what will be agreed upon when the session ends next week. Whatever is adopted has to be agreed on by consensus so it has to be near unanimous. The central issue of this COP, the global stocktake, is to reach a conclusion about the phasing out of fossil fuels, said climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO

India's per capita emissions less than half of global average: Report

India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions rose by around five per cent in 2022 to reach 2 tonnes but these were still less than half of the global average, according to a report released here on Tuesday. According to the Global Carbon Project, a group of international scientists, the United States topped the per capita emissions chart with every individual in the country emitting 14.9 tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide), followed by Russia (11.4), Japan (8.5), China (8), and the European Union (6.2). The global average stood at 4.7 tonnes. The US is also the biggest CO2 emitter since the Industrial Revolution. Over the entire period 18502022, the US' cumulative emissions amounted to 115 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (Gt C) (24 per cent of the world total), the EU's to 80 Gt C (17 per cent) and China's to 70 Gt C (15 per cent). India has emitted 15 Gt C since 1850 which is just 3 per cent of the world's total. The data provided by the Global Carbon Project shows India's per capita ...

Gore blasts COP28 climate chief and oil cos' emissions pledges at UN summit

Don't trust the oil and gas industry to report their actual carbon pollution, said former US Vice President Al Gore, who added that the man leading the United Nations climate talks runs one of the dirtiest oil companies out there. They're much better at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions, Gore told The Associated Press in a sit-down interview. The Nobel Prize-winning climate activist, author and filmmaker blasted Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the United Nations climate talks, who is also president of the national oil company of the host nation, United Arab Emirates. Gore said al-Jaber's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is one of the largest and one of the dirtiest, by many measures, oil companies in the world. Gore can make these claims because he just released a massive update of the Climate TRACE database of emissions that he helped create. It tracks carbon pollution from every nation and city across the globe with 352 million pieces of information. Looking

Draft text at COP28 shows negotiators considering fossil fuel 'phase out'

The first option in the draft text was listed as "an orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels". The second called for "accelerating efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels

US joins several nations in backing COP28 pledge to slash cooling emissions

It's a tough task, given the cooling industry is only expected to grow as temperatures continue to climb

India needs to continue momentum at COP28, seek more commitments: UNDP

India needs to continue its momentum and advocacy efforts at the UN COP28 here towards global climate action and seek more commitments and finances from developed countries, UNDP India climate chief has said. The UN climate talks in Dubai opened with a bang with countries clinching an early deal on how to compensate developing and vulnerable countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis despite contributing very little to it. The agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund on the first day of COP28 set the stage for more ambitious decisions over the next 12 days. In an interview with PTI, Dr Ashish Chaturvedi, Head, Action for Climate and Environment at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India, lauded India's positive intent, highlighting the nation's commitment to continue contributing to global adaptation efforts. "The Loss and Damage fund stands as a victory for India to a certain extent as well. We've played an important role in pushing f

AC companies plan cool designs for warming world, but high costs a hurdle

While cooling technologies can save lives during deadly heat, they also threaten to worsen the climate crisis

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels to rise 1.1% to hit peak in 2023

The planet is on track to exceed its carbon budget for 1.5C of warming around 2030, and the budget for 1.7C in 15 years, according to the group's Global Carbon Budget annual report

Climate finance in the spotlight at COP28 climate talks to bridge gaps

The amount of cash needed for the energy transition, climate adaptation and disaster relief is overwhelming

What world's biggest banks really mean when they put trillions into ESG

By 2021, the role of finance in creating a greener, fairer planet was a growing part of the public debate, leading an ever greater number of lenders to produce such targets

40 CPCB teams inspected 16,000 units; issued closure notice to 899 in 2 yrs

In November, Delhi's pollution levels exhibited no signs of improvement compared to the same month in previous years

COP28: Adani Green Energy to invest $22 billion toward India's 2030 goal

Electricity demand is growing 7% annually, dwarfing expansion in other economies. This led the govt to mandate the addition of both renewable and thermal capacity to prevent blackouts, the CEO said

Plastic pollution from cigarettes likely costs $26 bn per year: Study

The costs of environmental pollution caused by plastics in cigarette butts and packaging amount to an estimated USD 26 billion every year, according to a study. The analysis, published in the journal Tobacco Control, found the costs to be USD 186 billion every 10 yearsadjusted for inflationin waste management and marine ecosystem damage worldwide. These costs may seem small compared with the overall economic and human toll of tobacco, but they are cumulative and preventable, the researchers said. Although great strides have been made in developing policies to curb or ban single use plastics around the globe, tobacco's plastic has been overlooked, they said. The team noted that this is despite the fact that cigarette filtersthe main component of cigarette buttsare the most common item of rubbish collected on the planet. And they are made of single use plastic. The researchers drew on currently available public data sources for cigarette sales, clean-up costs, and plastic waste on l

Ukrainian diplomats negotiate climate change at COP28 summit in Dubai

While Ukrainian diplomats take part in negotiations at the United Nations COP28 climate talks, Russia's war on the country lurks just in the background even as the United Arab Emirates has seen its business ties to Moscow surge despite Western sanctions. As Ukraine announced a 450 million euro ($489 million) expansion Monday of a wind farm in its Mykolaiv region, officials highlighted how its turbines would be spread far enough apart to survive any Russian missile attack. They decried continued attacks by Moscow on its energy infrastructure as snow storms grip the country. And an American diplomat forcefully denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin at an event that's seen demonstrators stopped from naming Israel in their protests over its pounding airstrikes and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas. The war in Ukraine Putin's invasion represents a fundamental challenge to the international system that the United States and our allies and partners are trying to build,

World Bank Chief Banga hails COP28 momentum as climate pledges mount

World leaders spent the first three days at the climate conference unveiling a string of announcements from cutting methane emissions to ramping up the flow of money to poorer countries

'Trade Day' at COP28: To deliberate on policy options for climate action

At COP26 held at Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, most developed countries committed to achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050