Page 9 - Global Warming

Global marine life on the move due to rising sea temperatures: Study

Rising sea temperatures due to climate change are causing tropical marine species to move from the equator towards the poles, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, also shows that temperate species are receding as it gets too warm, they face increased competition for habitat, and new predators arrive on the scene. This mass movement of marine life, termed tropicalisation, is changing the ecological landscape of our oceans and leading to a cascade of consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, and potentially the global economy, the researchers said. The publication of the study coincides with the start of COP28 in Dubai, where global policymakers congregate and make pledges to tackle the impact of global warming. In recent years, climate change has altered the physical factors that affect species dispersal, such as ocean currents in areas that separate tropical/subtropical and temperate regions, the researchers said. These ...

Less future warming projected, yet there's more current pain, say experts

The world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago, but that good news is overwhelmed by much more pain from current climate change than scientists anticipated, experts said. That's just one of a set of seemingly contradictory conditions facing climate negotiators who this week gather in Dubai for marathon United Nations talks that include a first-ever assessment of how well the world is doing in its battle against global warming. It's also a conference where one of the central topics will be whether fossil fuels should be phased out, but it will be run by the CEO of an oil company. Key to the session is the first global stocktake on climate, when countries look at what's happened since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, how off-track it is and probably say what's needed to get back on track. Even though emissions of heat-trapping gases are still rising every year, they're rising more slowly than projected from 2000 to 2015. Before the Paris deal, scienti

Top 10% in developing nations emit less than rich nations' regular earners

In rich countries, even regular earners produce more carbon dioxide than the wealthiest 10 per cent of people in developing countries like India, Brazil, and others in Asia and South America, according to a new study. Released ahead of the UN climate talks in Dubai, the study by the New Delhi-based climate think tank Council for Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) shows that the richest 10 per cent in the developed countries and China produce 22 per cent more CO2 than all the developing countries studied combined. The study highlights that carbon emissions of an individual in the bottom 10 per cent income bracket of Saudi Arabia, the US, or Australia are 6 to 15 times more than an individual in the poorest decile of India, Brazil, or the ASEAN region. For this study, the researchers analysed per capita CO2 emissions for different income brackets across 14 countries, the EU, and the ASEAN region using data from the World Inequality Database and the World Bank. These countries, tak

$13.5 trn needed to fast-track decarbonisation of key sectors: WEF

Transitioning to a more sustainable and carbon-neutral future will require USD 13.5 trillion in investments by 2050, particularly in the production, energy and transport sectors, a new World Economic Forum report said on Tuesday. The report noted that major producing countries and regions such as India, China, the US, and EU have now committed to net-zero targets, making it imperative for businesses within their jurisdictions to align their operations and strategies with the evolving regulatory landscape. However, complex and ever-changing policy regimes result in businesses allocating substantial resources towards compliance, impeding progress, and therefore establishing more consistent and stable regulatory frameworks with well-defined timelines is imperative for mitigating these risks, it said. Taking stock of progress towards net-zero emissions for eight industries that emit 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas, the World Economic Forum Net-Zero Industry Tracker 2023 report said

COP28 to focus heavily on methane emissions, India likely to stand ground

The upcoming UN climate talks in the UAE are anticipated to focus heavily on methane emissions, especially in light of China's recent commitment to include this potent greenhouse gas in its 2035 climate plans. However, experts believe that this development may not significantly impact India, as the country is already implementing initiatives centered around agriculture that have climate co-benefits. The United States and the European Union have emphasised the urgency to take action on methane, accounting for about 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times (1850-1900). The UAE, hosting this year's climate talks (COP28), is also expected to announce a commitment from major oil and gas companies to reduce methane leakage. The EU and the US jointly launched the "Global Methane Pledge" in 2021 to reduce worldwide methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, compared to the 2020 levels. Around 150 countries have signed on, but China, India, and Russia are among the prominent

COP28 DG leads discussion on leveraging technology for climate action

The panel discussion explored the evolving landscape of climate technology, and the need for diverse stakeholders' contributions and partnerships to address the climate challenge

Explained: How dengue crisis in Northeast India is linked to climate change

The lights above washing the hospital corridor with a dim glow, a frantic Jenpu Rongmei rushed to see his 12-year-old nephew Nina who had been admitted the night before with fever and body ache. He was too late. The young boy had succumbed to dengue, a neglected tropical disease that was entirely alien to the people of Nagaland till very recently. A month later, Jenpu remembers every detail of that evening the dull light in the hospital, the faces around, the intense grief and the sheer disbelief that Nina could have gone so soon and so suddenly. "When I got the news that my nephew was admitted, I thought he would be fine. I didn't think dengue could be deadly," Jenpu, who runs the NGO CanYouth to help young people in their education, said. As the mosquito-borne disease increases its spread, Nina's untimely death is the latest in the devastating crisis sweeping across the Northeast and other states in India. The spread of the disease even in autumn has been attributed to a late ..

COP28 holds key to global carbon market that could help improve offsets

UN-sponsored program aims to ensure high quality credits within internationally framework, offering investors greater certainty amid concerns that some existing voluntary projects do little

Ozone hole largest on record over past 3 years, new research finds

Contrary to public perception, the Antarctic ozone hole has been amongst the largest on record over the past three years, new research has found. The ozone hole above Antarctica has been remarkably massive and long-lived over the past four years and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are not the only things to blame, said researchers in their study published in the journal Nature Communications. CFCs are greenhouse gases containing carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine and have been studied to contribute to ozone depletion. The ozone layer in the Earth's atmosphere blocks the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun to protect people from skin diseases. According to the study's lead author Hannah Kessenich, PhD candidate at the University of Otago, New Zealand, the team found much less ozone in the centre of the hole compared to 19 years ago. "This means that the hole is not only larger in area, but also deeper throughout most of spring," said Kessenich. The team analysed the mon

World racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise: UN report

The globe is speeding to 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.5 to 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming since pre-industrial times, set to blow well past the agreed-upon international climate threshold, a United Nations report calculated. To have an even money shot at keeping warming to the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit adopted by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, countries have to slash their emissions by 42% by the end of the decade, said the UN Environment Programme's Emissions Gap report issued Monday. Carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas rose 1.2% last year, the report said. This year Earth got a taste of what's to come, said the report, which sets the table for international climate talks later this month. Through the end of September, the daily global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels on 86 days this year, the report said. But that increased to 127 days because nearly all of the first two weeks o

Asian economies must ramp up solar power to keep global warming under 1.5C

To meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), nine major Asian economies must increase the share of electricity they get from renewable energy from the current 6% to at least 50% by 2030, according to a report by a German thinktank released Wednesday. Nearly a third of that renewable energy should come from wind and solar power, said the report by researchers of Berlin-based Agora Energiewende. A fifth would be hydropower and other clean sources and the remainder, fossil fuels. The study analyzed energy plans of both developing nations like Indonesia and Vietnam where demand for energy is growing rapidly, and wealthier places like Japan and South Korea, which have among the highest burdens of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. It did not include China, the world's biggest emitter of carbon, or India, another major contributor. A global temperature increase of 1.5C (2.7F) since pre-industrial times is considered a critical climate ...

Heat-related deaths likely to increase fivefold by mid-century: Lancet

In 2022, individuals were, on average, exposed to 86 days of health-threatening high temperatures, of which 60 per cent were at least twice as likely to occur because of human-caused climate change.

Earth records its hottest 12-month stretch due to climate change: Research

As per a report from Climate Central, the planet ran nearly 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average from November 2022 through October 2023

EU's major plan aimed at fighting climate change to go to final votes

European Union institutions and conservationists on Friday gave a conditional and guarded welcome to a major plan to better protect nature and fight climate change in the 27-nation bloc. The plan is a key part of the EU's vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world's most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. Yet it has had an extremely rough ride through the EU's complicated approval process and only a watered down version will now proceed to final votes. Late Thursday's breakthrough agreement between parliament and EU member states should have normally been the end of the approval process. But given the controversy the plan had previously stirred, the final votes - normally a rubberstamp process - could still throw up some hurdles. The plan has lost some of its progressive edge during negotiations over the summer because of fierce opposition in the EU's legislature, particularly from the

Hot October makes 2023 'virtually certain' to be warmest year ever

Both November and December would need to be significantly colder than average in order for 2023 to avoid becoming the hottest year ever

West Asian countries to launch new climate initiatives at COP28 meeting

Although the contribution of Arab countries to carbon emissions is limited, the Arab region is one of the most affected by climate change, according to the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund

Low-income nations risk 30% seafood nutrient loss to climate change: Study

Low-income countries could lose up to 30 per cent of nutrients from seafood due to climate change, researchers say in a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. These findings about the loss of nutrients, including calcium, iron, protein and omega-3 fatty acids, were valid in a high emissions and low mitigation scenario, the researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, said. The nutrient loss may be restricted to 10 per cent, however, should the world meet the Paris Agreement targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, they said. "Low-income countries and the global south, where seafood is central to diets and has the potential to help address malnutrition, are the hardest hit by the effects of climate change," said first author William Cheung, professor and director of the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF). The researchers used predictive climate models on historical fisheries and seafood farming databases to ma

Earth will likely lock into breaching key warming threshold in 2029: Report

In a little more than five years sometime in early 2029 the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says. The study moves three years closer the date when the world will eventually hit a critical climate threshold, which is an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 1800s. Beyond that temperature increase, the risks of catastrophes increase, as the world will likely lose most of its coral reefs, a key ice sheet could kick into irreversible melt, and water shortages, heat waves and death from extreme weather dramatically increase, according to an earlier United Nations scientific report. Hitting that threshold will happen sooner than initially calculated because the world has made progress in cleaning up a different type of air pollution tiny smoky particles called aerosols. Aerosols slightly cool the planet and mask the

Nestle, Volvo among 130 firms urging COP28 agreement to ditch fossil fuels

"To decarbonise the global energy system, we need to ramp up clean energy as fast as we phase out the use and production of fossil fuels," they wrote

India sets up inter-ministerial group for climate negotiations strategy

India has set up an inter-ministerial group to develop a "well thought-out view" on important matters to be discussed during global climate negotiations, according to sources. Constituted in August, the inter-ministerial group on climate change comprises members from all the ministries and departments concerned, including the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and the Department of Economic Affairs, a source told PTI. The group will hold discussions mainly on five issues -- mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, climate finance and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Five sub-groups, one for each topic, have been formed to hold detailed discussions. Each sub-group has five to six officials at the joint secretary level, the sources said. Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adaptation refers to the process of adjusting to the effects of climate change. Loss and damage refer to the imp