Tag: climate

World Bank promises $200 bn in 2021-25 climate cash

by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France Presse KATOWICE, Poland (AFP) — The World Bank on Monday unveiled $200 billion in climate action investment for 2021-25, adding this amounts to a doubling of its current five-year funding. The World Bank said the move, coinciding with a UN climate summit meeting of some 200 nations in Poland, represented a “significantly ramped up ambition” to tackle climate change, “sending an important signal to the wider global community to do […]

Humanity faces simultaneous climate disasters: study

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — By century’s end, many parts of the world may have to cope with up to six climate catastrophes at once, ranging from heat waves and wildfires to diluvian rains and deadly storm surges, researchers warned Monday. “Human society will be faced with the devastating combined impacts of multiple interacting climate hazards,” said co-author Erik Franklin, a researcher at the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine […]

China, France launch satellite to study climate change

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The first Franco-Chinese satellite was launched into orbit on Monday to study ocean surface winds and waves around the clock, better predict cyclones and improve scientists’ understanding of climate change. A Long March 2C carrier rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China’s Gobi Desert at 0043 GMT to enter orbit 520 kilometers (323 miles) above the Earth, according to China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and […]

Use of raw materials to double by 2060: OECD

PARIS, France (AFP) — Global use of raw materials is expected to double by 2060, “placing twice the pressure on the environment” than at present, according to an OECD study released on Monday. The study “sees global materials use rising to 167 gigatonnes in 2060 from 90 gigatonnes today,” the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of advanced economies, said. It gave increases in population, economic activity and living standards around the world […]

‘Year of extremes’ for shrinking Swiss glaciers in 2018: study

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Despite an exceptionally snow-filled winter, Swiss glaciers have lost 2.5 percent of their volume this year, according to a report Tuesday which dubbed 2018 “a year of extremes”. This year’s record-breaking temperatures have greatly contributed to the loss of “a fifth of (the glaciers’) volume over the past decade”, according to the annual study on the state of the glaciers, published by the Swiss Academies of Science. And this despite the […]

Protecting nature the best way to keep planet cool: report

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The best — and fairest — way to cap global warming is to empower indigenous forest peoples, reduce food waste and slash meat consumption, an alliance of 38 NGOs said Monday. Restoring natural forest ecosystems, securing the land rights of local communities and revamping the global food system could cut greenhouse emissions 40 percent by mid-century and help humanity avoid climate catastrophe, they argued in […]

World must slash meat consumption to save climate: study

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The world must drastically reduce its meat consumption in order to avoid devastating climate change, scientists said Wednesday in the most thorough study so far on how what we eat affects the environment. As humanity grapples with tough choices to offset a rapidly heating planet, the research suggests that the Western world would need to slash its meat intake by 90 percent to avoid crippling […]

Bangladesh kids turn the tide on climate change aboard floating schools

by Sam Jahan Agence France Presse CHALAN BEEL, Bangladesh (AFP) — Mosammat Rekha’s older cousins grew up unable to read and write, their tiny village so frequently cut off from the nearest school by floods that would rise suddenly in their remote corner of disaster-prone Bangladesh. But seven-year-old Mosammat is learning her ABCs aboard a boat fitted with a classroom and play equipment that is helping children thrive even as climate change alters the world […]

Even moderate warming could melt Antarctic ice sheet: study

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Moderate global temperature rises of just two degrees Celsius could still be enough to melt parts of the largest ice sheet on Earth and raise sea levels by several metres, experts warned on Wednesday. As the pace of climate change rapidly outstrips mankind’s attempts to rein it in, scientists delved into the distant past of glaciers in eastern Antarctica to predict what lay in store […]

Ex-UN climate chief to face sexual assault trial

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Former UN climate panel chief Rajendra Pachauri will stand trial in a sexual assault and harassment case three years after an employee accused him of inappropriate conduct, a lawyer said Friday. Pachauri, 78, has been charged under various counts including sexual assault, harassment and criminal intimidation, according to the complainant’s lawyer. “After examining the charges and hearing arguments from the counsels, the court came to the conclusion that prima […]

Climate extremes ‘key driver’ behind rising global hunger: UN

  by Serene Assir / Isabel Malsang Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Extreme weather events were a leading cause of global hunger rising last year, with women, babies, and old people particularly vulnerable to the worsening trend, a UN report said Tuesday. Increasingly frequent shocks such as extreme rainfall or temperatures, as well as droughts, storms, and floods, helped push the number of undernourished people to 821 million in 2017, it said. That […]

California commits to 100% clean electricity by 2045

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California Governor Jerry Brown signed landmark legislation Monday committing his state to a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2045. At least 20 countries and twice as many large cities have made similar pledges, but California — the fifth largest economy in the world — is by far the biggest jurisdiction to do so to date. “This bill and the executive order put […]