Page 3 - Global Warming

Riddled with holes, Switzerland's glaciers starting to resemble cheese

Climate change appears to be making some of Switzerland's vaunted glaciers look like Swiss cheese: Full of holes. Matthias Huss of the glacier monitoring group GLAMOS offered a glimpse of the Rhone Glacier which feeds the eponymous river that flows through Switzerland and France to the Mediterranean shared the observation with The Associated Press this month as he trekked up to the icy expanse for a first maintenance mission" of the summer to monitor its health. The state of Switzerland's glaciers came into stark and dramatic view of the international community last month when a mudslide from an Alpine mountain submerged the southwestern village of Blatten. The Birch Glacier on the mountain, which had been holding back a mass of rock near the peak, gave way sending an avalanche into the valley village below. Fortunately, the town had been evacuated beforehand. Experts say geological shifts and, to a lesser extent global warming, played a role. The Alps and Switzerland home to

Harsh climate claims over 2,000 lives in India in 2024: WMO climate report

Asia is heating nearly twice as fast as the global average, triggering severe heatwaves, rainfall anomalies and cyclonic activity across the region in 2024, WMO has said

Global warming may make sleep apnoea worse and widespread, warns study

From 788,000 lost healthy years to $98 billion in damages, climate-linked sleep apnoea surge could become a hidden global crisis, says a new study

May 2025 was world's second-hottest on record, says EU climate agency

Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels, C3S said

India plans to standardise air-conditioning temperature to save power

The move aims to cut peak power consumption, reduce emissions and electricity bills, and promote energy efficiency amid rising cooling demand in a warming climate

Rising temperatures may be driving cancer risk in women, warns study

Women living in hotter regions face higher rates of breast, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers, with heat-linked deaths also on the rise, study shows

Global temperature likely to breach 1.5°C in next five years: WMO

The WMO forecast says global temperatures could exceed the 1.5°C mark temporarily between 2025 and 2029, with urgent climate plans still pending from most nations

Climate change may fuel spread of fungi that could 'eat you from inside out'

Scientists from Manchester University have warned that rising temperatures could fuel the rapid global spread of Aspergillus, a deadly fungus already responsible for millions of deaths each year

India bought 14 mn ACs in 2024: Cooling boom adds to environmental burden

More air conditioners will also increase the demand for electricity, most of which comes from burning coal - a major source of climate pollution

World's biggest companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damage: Study

The world's biggest corporations have caused USD 28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates as part of an effort to make it easier for people and governments to hold companies financially accountable, like the tobacco giants have been. A Dartmouth College research team came up with the estimated pollution caused by 111 companies, with more than half of the total dollar figure coming from 10 fossil fuel providers: Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, National Iranian Oil Co., Pemex, Coal India and the British Coal Corporation. For comparison, USD 28 trillion is a shade less than the sum of all goods and services produced in the United States last year. At the top of the list, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom have each caused a bit more than USD 2 trillion in heat damage over the decades, the team calculated in a study published in Wednesday's journal Nature. The researchers figured that every 1 per cent of greenhouse gas put into the atmosphere since 1990 has cau

North India is on the verge of an extreme heatwave, IMD issues yellow alert

In the first major heatwave of the season, IMD predicts states like Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat are expected to see temperatures above 40 degree celsius

Glaciers losing record amounts of ice as global temperatures rise, warns UN

The report coincides with a UNESCO summit in Paris marking the first World Day for Glaciers, urging global action to protect glaciers around the world

Indian cities brace for heatwaves but lack long-term planning, study finds

The study examined how nine major Indian cities-Bengaluru, Delhi, Faridabad, Gwalior, Kota, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mumbai, and Surat-are preparing for increasing heatwaves

Even 'cool' years now exceed past heat records, climate report warns

An analysis done by Our World in Data finds recent La Niña years are hotter than past El Niño years as world faces global warming challenges

Trump hostility to US offshore wind reverberates through supply chain

Trump last month issued an order to pause new federal offshore wind leasing, calling wind turbines ugly, expensive and harmful to wildlife

Ice-sheets to fresh water: Greenland's icebergs can't quench Earth's thirst

Polar Research and Policy Initiative said that US might have a future as an exporter of fresh water, thanks to an ice sheet that contains about 8 per cent of the total global reserves

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

Climate change, extreme weather key challenges: DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra

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

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

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 .