by Kelly MACNAMARA / Marlowe HOOD / Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) – A flurry of emissions pledges around the COP26 climate summit will likely do little to slow global warming, the UN said Tuesday, calling on nations to sharply accelerate their greenhouse gas cuts this decade. Nations have presented a range of new and enhanced commitments — including a vow by India to be carbon neutral by 2070 — in recent […]
Tag: climate
‘Climate stripes’ showing 170 years of global warming
READING, United Kingdom (AFP) – A striped design showing the impact of global warming on 170 years of world temperatures at a glance has become a hit at the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. The lined red and blue image, which shows global average temperatures from 1850 to 2020, has been on display at the talks in exhibitions on sustainability, adorned face masks and clothes and even graced the wall of the summit’s cafeteria. […]
Australia vows to sell coal ‘for decades’
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia said Monday it will sell coal for “decades into the future” after spurning a pact to phase out the polluting fossil fuel to halt catastrophic climate change. More than 40 countries pledged to eliminate coal use within decades during the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, which aims to cap the warming of Earth since the Industrial Revolution to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius. Australia, along with some other […]
Climate on track to devastate world’s poorest economies: study
by Marlowe HOOD GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) — The 65 most vulnerable nations will see GDP drop 20 percent on average by 2050 and 64 percent by 2100 if the world heats up 2.9 degrees Celsius, according to a report released Monday at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. Even if global temperature rises are capped at 1.5C, in keeping with the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal, the same countries would take a GDP hit […]
Desperate US bid to engineer corals for climate change
by Chandan Khanna with Glenn Chapman in San Francisco Agence France-Presse MIAMI, Florida (AFP) – A bit of coral shimmers like gold in a US lab as part of urgent work to help the species protect itself from climate change, an effort even skeptical experts see as sadly justifiable. Researchers in Florida are aiming to determine whether coral can be saved from rising water temperatures and acidification by transplanting stem cells from resistant varieties to […]
Protesters demand climate action in global rally
by Kelly MACNAMARA and Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) – Tens of thousands of protesters braved rain and wind in Glasgow Saturday as part of worldwide demonstrations against what campaigners say is a failure of crunch UN climate talks to act fast enough to tame global warming. Dozens of events were planned worldwide to demand cuts in fossil fuel use and immediate help for communities already affected by climate change, particularly in […]
Chasm opens between COP26 words and climate action
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) – COP26’s first week saw keynote pledges to end deforestation, phase out coal, and mobilise trillions for green investment. But observers say there is a gulf between host Britain’s proclamations and the emissions cuts that must be achieved. Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based climate think tank Power Shift Africa, told AFP that there had been “two realities” at the global climate conference in Glasgow. “One […]
Organic farmers find fertile ground in Tunis
by Kaouther Larbi and Françoise Kadri with AFP bureaus in Rabat and Algeria Agence France-Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) – Proudly displaying her freshly picked pomegranates, Tunisian farmer Sarah Shili says going organic is “the future of farming” — and as demand surges in North Africa and beyond, the sector is blooming. Shili runs Domaine Elixir Bio, a 94-hectare (230-acre) farm near Tunis that produces organic-certified vegetable, fruit and cereal crops in a way she said […]
How climate change is muting America’s famous fall foliage
by Peter HUTCHISON Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – America’s northeast is famous for its red, orange and yellow fall foliage but experts say climate change is dulling the colors and delaying peak season, causing concern for the region’s multibillion-dollar “leaf-peeping” tourist industry. Warmer temperatures and heavier rainfall are keeping leaves greener for longer while extreme weather events like heatwaves and storms are stripping trees bare before getting to autumn, according to conservationists. […]
Mexican president slams COP26 ‘hypocrisy’
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Wednesday slammed participants in a major UN climate summit for their “hypocrisy,” accusing them of failing to address the root causes of the crisis and pointing to their use of private jets. The world’s top business and political figures are gathered in Glasgow this week for COP26, which is aimed at forging an ambitious new climate agreement. But Mexico’s leftist leader — also known […]
Bulgaria coal miners brace for ‘disaster’ as phaseout looms
by Rossen BOSSEV Agence France-Presse STARA ZAGORA, Bulgaria (AFP) – Nikolay Dinev, 34, has worked as a coal miner for 12 years but now faces an uncertain future as an EU-wide exit from coal is being discussed at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. “It will be a disaster… The closure is inevitable,” Dinev told AFP on the outskirts of the Maritsa East complex in central Bulgaria. Bulgaria — which joined the EU in […]
Coal workers feel pain of France’s climate goals
by Estelle EMONET Agence France-Presse GARDANNE, France (AFP) – The Gardanne smokestack is the highest in France at 295 metres (975 feet) but the mood at the power station beneath the once-proud chimney has reached an all-time low. Gardanne is one of the last remaining French coal-fired stations. Ever since the government announced the closure of its coal plants three years ago to help meet climate goals, anger and despair has spread across this community of […]





