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Trade unionists and campaigners seeking a fair deal for workers whose jobs will be affected by the transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels are placing their hopes in next year’s UN climate summit in Brazil following a disappointing outcome at COP29 in Azerbaijan. From coal mines and oil refineries to car factories and construction, the global shift to cleaner sources of energy will alter the nature…

What growth opportunities do you predict for your industry in 2025? As industries evolve, there will be a growing demand for effective and highly customisable automation solutions. Manufacturers will seek solutions tailored to their unique operational needs, allowing them to quickly adapt to changing consumer demands. This trend will drive modular automation solutions, where systems can easily be reconfigured or expanded. We are also seeing the…

For academic researchers, the cell format for testing lithium-ion batteries is often overlooked. However, choices in cell format and their design can affect cell performance more than one may expect. Coin cells that utilize either a lithium metal or greatly oversized graphite negative electrode are common but can provide unrealistic testing results when compared to commercial pouch-type cells. Instead, single-layer pouch cells provide a more similar…

Applications are open for CSIRO’s latest ‘Innovate to Grow’ program, which helps Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to advance their research goals in the recycling and circular economy sector. The eight-week Innovate to Grow: Recycling and Circular Economy program is delivered in partnership with Deakin University’s Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH), which is supported by the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program. Led by…

A new report from the United Nations environment program (Unep) finds that on current pledges, the world is heading for a 3.2 degree rise. Although G20 nations collectively account for 78 percent of all emissions, only five members have committed to a long-term emissions target. Of these, the UK and France are the only two to have passed legislation confirming their commitments in law. Germany, Italy…

Congratulations humanity! For the first time in recorded history we have breached 2C above preindustrial levels!  (Glacecakes Tumblr) 

The news from California is clear, but we don’t want to see it. It’s too confounding, big, complex. But we can sense the dangerWhen I send anxious texts to friends in Los Angeles – friends who have been evacuated or who are waiting to leave , friends escaping a fire zone, wondering if their life’s work has been destroyed, worrying about the smoke’s effect on an…

Temperatures are forecast to reach 46.5°C or 115.8°F in Saudi Arabia (green circle left) and to reach 36.1°C or 96.9°F in China (green circle right) on August 4, 2024 06 UTC.As illustrated by the image below, ‘feels like’ temperatures are forecast to reach 42.1°C or 107.9°F in Saudi Arabia (green circle left) and 53.6°C or 128.4°F at that location in China (green circle right), i.e. at…

President Joe Biden has announced a US target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 61-66% below 2005 levels by 2035, with White House officials saying the new goal can be achieved even if climate-change sceptic Donald Trump tries to roll back the country’s climate-action agenda. With just a month to go until President-elect Trump takes office, the outgoing administration called its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)…

A double Blue Ocean Event could occur in 2025. Both Antarctic sea ice and Arctic sea ice could virtually disappear in 2025. A Blue Ocean Event (BOE) occurs when sea ice extent falls to 1 million km² or less, which could occur early 2025 for Antarctic sea ice and in Summer 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere for Arctic sea ice. Arctic sea ice volume In September…

Firefighters have been rescuing people stranded on their balconies and rooftops after Storm Boris triggered flooding and landslides in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Two people were reported missing in Traversara, a hamlet in Ravenna province, and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Storm Boris has battered parts of Italy after causing havoc in eastern and central EuropeTwo missing and 1,000 evacuated…

Sikeade Egbuwalo is the biodiversity lead at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment. Here in Nigeria, we are suffering badly from forest loss and degradation. We are losing our unique wild animals and plants and suffering from encroaching deserts, failing rainy seasons, declining wetlands and diminishing food supplies. Our Indigenous communities are struggling to survive on the land where they have sustainably lived for millennia. To tackle…

An interesting commentary addressing a rather odd prior commentary makes some very correct points. Back a few months there was a poorly argued and rather confusing commenary by Ulf Büntgen (Buntgen, 2024) that started: I am concerned by climate scientists becoming climate activists, because scholars should not have a priori interests in the outcome of their studies. Likewise, I am worried about activists who pretend to…

Oil spills can pollute large volumes of surrounding water – thousands of times greater than the spill itself – causing long-term economic, environmental, social and ecological damage. Effective methods for in situ capture of spilled oil are thus essential to minimize contamination from such disasters. Many oil spill cleanup technologies, however, exhibit poor hydrodynamic stability under complex flow conditions, which leads to poor oil-capture efficiency. To…

The Marshall Project and the Prison Journalism Project asked incarcerated reporters to document the impact of extreme heat on their facilities. Their stories reveal the brutal realityAfter a summer of record-breaking temperatures, scientists predict that 2024 could end up being the hottest year on record. For people in US prisons and jails – who often lack access to even the most basic cooling measures – conditions…

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Temperatures are risingThe NASA temperature anomaly vs. 1904-1924 shows that the temperature has been above 1.5°C for the past twelve months, as illustrated by the image below. The red line shows the trend (one-year Lowess Smoothing) associated with the rapid recent rise. Note that the 1904-1924 base is not pre-industrial. When using a genuinely pre-industrial base, the temperature anomaly has over the past twelve months also…

Update on April 23, 2024: This image shows Sortebræ, a large surge-type glacier in eastern Greenland, on September 6, 1986. Congratulations to Steward Redwood for being the first to correctly identify the glacier. Read more about the glacier and see how it has retreated in recent decades in our Image of the Day story. Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The March 2024…

Weatherization programs can help. As the leaves turn and the temperature drops, many people worry about the cost of home heating. Ariel Drehobl of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy says that for low-income families, it can cause stress around figuring out how to pay your bills and a tradeoff between keeping your heat on and being able to afford other necessities like food,…

The above image, created with monthly mean global temperature anomalies by LOTI Land+Ocean NASA/GISS/GISTEMP v4 data while using a 1903-1924 base, has a trend added based on Jan 2016-Aug 2024 data. The image also shows that anomalies could be 0.99°C higher when using a more genuine pre-industrial base. The image below featured in an earlier post and was created with an image from the NASA website…

A truly impressive paper was published this week with a new reconstruction of global temperatures over the last ~500 million years. There is something tremendously satisfying about seeing a project start, and then many years later see the results actually emerge and done better than you could have imagined. Especially one as challenging as accurately tracking half a billion years of Earth’s climate. Think about what…

By Andrew Glikson “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to wake” (James Joyce) Figure 1. Extinctions CC from: The five mass extinctions in Earth History. The rate of the current rise of greenhouse gas levels and thereby temperatures is higher by more than an order of magnitude than that of previous mass extinctions. (Figures 11.2, 11.5). Glikson. A.Y., 2023 The Trials of Gaia.War ─…

Lush green hillsides turned brown after Cyclone Chido hit the islands in December 2024. Read More…

The 2024 global average surface temperature was 1.55°C above the 1850-1900 average, according to WMO’s consolidated analysis of six datasets.  [ click on images to enlarge ] Differences between datasets are mainly due to the ways temperatures are measured, e.g. ERA5 measures the temperature of the air above oceans, whereas NASA and NOAA measure the surface temperature of the water, which is lower. There can also be…

Sydney’s newest ferry has been named in honour of UNSW Sydney Scientia Professor Martin Green, a solar pioneer dubbed ‘the father of modern photovoltaics’. Green is renowned for leading the development of the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC), which has become the world’s most commercially viable and efficient silicon solar cell technology. Today, PERC technology is used in the production of more than 90% of…

Satellite imagery and local data helped researchers assess how landscape features, such as watering holes and vegetation, influence elephant movement. Read More…

The image below, adapted from Climate Reanalyzer, shows the temperature in the year 2100, in a CMIP6 SSP585 scenario. The image shows how much the temperature will have risen in 2100, at 2 meters above the surface and compared to the period 1979-2000.  The image below shows a progressive temperature rise reaching 4.589°C in 2100 compared to the same period, i.e. 1979-2000 and in a CMIP6…

[ click on images to enlarge ]Temperatures remain high, as illustrated by the above image, adapted from Copernicus. Meanwhile, El Niño is no longer prevalent. Instead, La Niña conditions are expected to be dominant soon, as illustrated by the NOAA ENSO update on the right. There are fears that self-amplifying feedbacks have taken over as the dominant drivers of the temperature rise, as discussed in earlier posts such…

 Climate Choir Melbourne supporting Extinction Rebellion protestors at their sit down on the busiest intersection in Melbourne City, Australia. The police were very restrained. Are they in agreement with the protestors? They do have family of their own.  

Death toll rises to at least 24 as first identifications emerge of Los Angeles residents killed in firesCalifornians: have you been affected by the wildfires?At least 24 people have died in the wildfires surging across the Los Angeles area, the largest of which are burning about 25 miles west and north of downtown, plunging the second-largest city in the US into shock and fear.On Friday, officials…

Since January 5, 2025, vehicles are being tolled to enter the Congestion Relief Zone in Manhattan South, New York, under the Congestion Pricing Program of the City of New York.On February 19, 2025, the federal government, through the Department of Transportation, stated its disapproval of the program. A WhiteHouse social media post shows a TIME magazine-style cover featuring Trump wearing a crown with the text ‘Congestion pricing is…

The image below shows that the monthly Atlantic surface temperature anomaly in February 2024 was 1.176°C when compared to a 1951-1980 base.[ click on images to enlarge ] The image below shows that the monthly Atlantic surface temperature anomaly in February 2024 was 1.435°C when compared to a 1901-2000 base.  The difference illustrates the importance of selecting a base to calculate anomalies from. The anomaly indicates how much…

Global heating means atmosphere can drive both extreme droughts and floods with rapid switchesClimate “whiplash” between extremely wet and dry conditions, which spurred catastrophic fires in Los Angeles, is increasing exponentially around the world because of global heating, analysis has found.Climate whiplash is a rapid swing between very wet or dry conditions and can cause far more harm to people than individual extreme events alone. In…

On January 10, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released their annual analysis finding that 2024 was the hottest year on record globally and that global average temperatures likely surpassed an increase of 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. On the same day, NOAA released its US Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters analysis for 2024 and found that last year an estimated 568 people…

Today, more than ever, enzymes and microorganisms are being used to increase sustainable production. This is particularly true in industries such as pharmaceuticals and (bio)chemicals. In these and other industries, researchers within universities, R&D organisations and other institutes, as well as within industry want to know under which conditions these biological cells grow. While it is essential and important to know how and under what conditions…

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) takes into account the effect of temperature, RH (relative humidity), wind speed, and solar radiation. WBGT is used by weather.gov to warn about extreme heat stress when in direct sunlight, as is forecast to occur in grey areas on July 26, 2024 at 21 UTC.  [ click on images to enlarge ] The inset shows that a temperature of 113°F or 45°C…

A temperature of -40°C (-39.9°F) was recorded at the circle on February 19, 2025 14:00 UTC, as illustrated by the above image.What made this possible? Temperature anomalies were very high in January 2025 in the Arctic, as illustrated by the image on the right. Arctic sea ice extent is currently at a record low for the time of year. Temperatures of the water in the Arctic Ocean…

Our mission is to: Provide Free Resources for Individuals and Organizations to Measure and Lower their Emissions Give Access to Most Cost-Effective Carbon Offset Projects to go Carbon Neutral Now Offset By Tonne Household Offsets Subscriptions Vehicle Offsets Home/Office Flight Offsets Measure your Carbon Footprint Measure your emissions with the Free Carbon Calculator and take the first step to becoming carbon neutral.Learn More You can also…

UN endorsed projects that slow down the rate of global warmingBuying time for the world to make the transition to low-emission economies. Projects have different standards, such as Verra and Gold Standard, and are subject to a rigorous certification and verification process, and must submit regular updates and reports. To be certified, projects must have verifiable attributes. AdditionalityThe project is justified and the the carbon emission…

Energy from the Sun warms our planet, and changes in sunlight can also cause changes in temperature, clouds, and wind. Clouds are ever changing and give you clues and information on what is happening in the atmosphere. Clouds can tell you if air is moving vertically (or upward) when you see cumulus type clouds growing in the distance. Clouds can also tell you which direction the…

The temperature in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) reached a new record high on April 20, 2024 of 26.913°C (or 80.44°F). The image below shows the monthly temperature anomaly over the past few years through March 2024, when the anomaly reached a record high of 1.448°C (or 2.606°F).  Note that anomalies in the above image are calculated from 1951-1980 as a base. When calculated from a pre-industrial base, anomalies will…

Since 2022, Shell has sold more than 20 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as “carbon neutral” under a new industry-led standard. Climate Home News and Dialogue Earth can now reveal that this scheme has relied in part on “phantom” carbon credits that failed to cut emissions as claimed. The energy giant shipped the fossil fuel to buyers in East Asia and beyond, some of whom…

The image below indicates that Arctic sea ice volume has meanwhile passed its annual maximum. Over the coming months, volume can be expected to decrease rapidly. The image also highlights that, over the past few months, Arctic sea ice volume has been the lowest on record for the time of year. The image below illustrates the decline of Arctic sea ice volume over the years. The…

This is a follow-on post to the previous summary of interesting work related to the temperatures in 2023/2024. I’ll have another post with a quick summary of the AGU session on the topic that we are running on Tuesday Dec 10th, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. 6 Dec 2024: Goessling et al (2024) This is perhaps the most interesting of the papers so far…

 “Plans for two industrial pellet plants would increase carbon emissions and hurt the health of rural communities, campaigners warn. By Phoebe CookeonMar 4, 2024 @ 10:56 PST Series: Drax: The UK’s ‘Carbon Neutral’ Biomass Power Plant The wood pellets Drax produces are treated as “carbon neutral” under international accounting rules, based on an assumption that new-growth trees will capture the carbon lost by wood burnt for…

The fifth round of negotiations for a new Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee or INC-5) finished in Busan, South Korea on December 1st, 2024. This was supposed to be the final round of negotiations, but in the end the talks were extended. We know that we urgently need an ambitious Plastics Treaty that protects our health, biodiversity and climate. Here is…

The Rev Sue Parfitt has lost right to conduct religious ceremonies after her arrest at a Just Stop Oil demonstrationAn 82-year-old retired priest has spoken of her pain at losing her right to conduct religious ceremonies because of her participation in Just Stop Oil protests.The Rev Sue Parfitt was arrested in May after allegedly causing damage to the glass around Magna Carta at the British Library…

As Australia ushers in a new era of climate-related financial disclosure, many organisations are gearing up for a significant shift in their reporting practices. Since 1 January 2025, the disclosure of Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions transitioned from voluntary to mandatory, marking a crucial step in the country’s commitment to addressing climate change. Scope 3 emissions, which encompass indirect GHG emissions occurring in an entity’s…

The world’s richest people are likely to have already used their fair share of the annual global carbon budget, according to research by international NGO Oxfam. Based on data from 2019, the anti-poverty charity has estimated that the 77 million “super-rich” people in the global top 1% of earners – whose average income is $310,000 per year – use 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide each in…

Just over a year ago, Shell sued Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace International and nine individuals for millions over a completely peaceful protest. We showed them their bully tactics won’t intimidate us – and now they’ve backed down and settled out of court.  And we’ve made sure not a penny of our supporters’ money will go to Shell. Here’s what you need to know. Why did Shell sue Greenpeace? Last…

The policy framework, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), was engineered and passed through Congress by the Biden Administration with cross-party support. It has been hailed as the biggest and most significant policy framework ever approved in the US political system. As a result, when looking at outgoing President Biden’s climate legacy, this policy alone means that the 46th president’s overall score is high. But the test…

Update on July 23, 2024: This false-color image shows a plume—likely an orographic cloud—streaming from near the summit of Antarctica’s Mount Siple. Colors in this image represent brightness temperature, which is useful for distinguishing the relative warmth (orange and pink) or coolness (purple and blue) of various features. Congratulations to Ivan Kordač for being the first to correctly identify the the image’s polar location. Read more about the…

Magnetic resonance methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), are non-invasive, atom-specific, quantitative, and capable of probing liquid and solid-state samples. These features make magnetic resonance ideal tools for operando measurement of an electrochemical device, and for establishing structure-function relationships under realistic condition. The first part of the talk presents how coupled inline NMR and EPR methods were developed and applied to…

Several plumes billowed from Los Angeles-area fires in the days after their ignition. Read More…

Unbearable heat and worsening storms prompt residents of states such as Florida to move elsewhereAs a Rust belt town of 65,000 people in eastern Indiana, Muncie may not be the most exciting place in the world. It doesn’t have beaches, year-round warm weather or much in the way of cosmopolitanism.But for Laura Rivas, a cybersecurity engineer formerly of North Miami Beach, Florida, Muncie is perfect. Continue…

A project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cotton production systems has received $1,985,000 from the federal government’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Program Partnerships and Innovation Grants Round, and $800,000 from the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC). Called ‘Climate Smart Cotton — reducing nitrous oxide emissions with enhanced efficiency fertilisers’, the project hopes to help Australia to become the preferred international supplier of low-emissions fibre. The primary…

Temperatures in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) have been very high in 2024 (see black line, image below), much higher than they were at this time of year in 2023 (orange line). The above image shows that on May 24, 2024, the temperature was 26.7°C (or 80.06°F), an anomaly of 1°C (or 1.8°F) compared to 1979-2000. The image below shows the average monthly temperature anomaly over the past few years through…

A sensible crew cut, a chic bob, an outrageous mullet. You can infer a lot about a person by how they choose to style their hair. But it might surprise you to know that it is possible to learn more about some objects in the natural world from their “hair” – be it the “quantum hair” that can reveal the deepest darkest secrets of what happens…

B-cycle is drawing attention to a risk in Australian homes and waste collections that increases over the holiday season: the issue of improperly stored and disposed-of used batteries. With many gifts — including toys, gadgets and decorations — relying on loose or portable batteries, homes across the country are left with a large number of used batteries by January, creating a hidden potential hazard. “Improperly stored…

The market for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is expected to grow ~30x to almost 9 TWh produced annually in 2040 driven by demand from electric vehicles and grid scale storage. Production of these batteries requires high-yield coating processes using slurries of active material, conductive carbon, and polymer binder applied to metal foil current collectors. To better understand the connections between slurry formulation, coating conditions, and composite electrode…

You may have noticed that the weather where you live is getting warmer and wilder over time, and you may know this is a part of climate change. But after that, you’re a little unclear on the details. If you’re feeling guilty about not knowing everything there is to know, let’s get real. Sometimes the news about climate change seems overwhelming. Learning more about a problem…

Compensate for your carbon footprint with Carbon Offset Certificates Financing UN endorsed projects that eliminate carbon from the atmosphere Compensate for your carbon footprint with Carbon Offset Certificates Financing UN endorsed projects that eliminate carbon from the atmosphere Offset By Tonne Household Offsets Subscriptions Vehicle Offsets Home/Office Flight Offsets Each metric tonne of C02 that is removed from the atmosphere by an an offset certificate, is…

The Kumani Bank mud volcano in the Caspian Sea suddenly manifested an island in early 2023 that had nearly disappeared by the end of 2024. Read More…

The MADNESS of NUCLEAR and CLIMATE HORRORby Andrew GliksonThe 24-hour media news cycle clouds the minds of people, perpetrators and hapless victims alike, to the future dimension, whether that of future generations or of the natural world itself.During the 20-21ˢᵗ centuries, as mean global temperature keeps rising toward 4°C, a failed brain neuron or a damaged computer chip can trigger a nuclear catastrophe, while the 24-hour media…

Home to huge expanses of biodiverse forest and endemic species, Colombia’s battle against deforestation is crucial, and it is one of the top environmental concerns of the country. Recovering from political and economic instability, more people have been relocating into rural areas and clearing land for agriculture, mining, and more,  greatly increasing Colombia’s rates of deforestation. Studies have found that there was a “46 percent rise…

Accurately measure and record a company’s carbon footprint This will assist in measuring the emissions of an organisation using internationally recognised GHG Accounting Standards To see the full program: click here (password required) These tutorials and resources are provided to enable organisations to conduct a GHG emission survey and carbon footprint calculation. It can be done by the company’s own staff without the delay involved in engaging…

With storms becoming more frequent due to the climate crisis, insurers are forcing operators to respondOne of the least considered hazards of climate change is the increasing frequency of hailstorms and the size and the impact of the pieces of ice they produce. This, in turn, threatens one of the most promising solutions to the climate crisis: solar farms.In the last year, the number of hailstorms…

A NASA analysis shows that global temperatures in 2024 were 1.28 degrees Celsius (2.30 degrees Fahrenheit) above the agency’s 20th-century baseline. Read More…

Lights in Chile’s central city display an array of colors and densities, reflecting various land uses and differences between the region’s communes. Read More…

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Riverina Oils, a NSW canola oil producer, has partnered with Australian renewable energy retailer Flow Power to power its operations with solar energy. Flow Power described the new solar installation as its largest behind-the-meter project, adding that it set a new standard for renewable energy use in the manufacturing of Australian products. Located in the agricultural hub of the Riverina region in Bomen, NSW, the plant —…

The temperature in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) reached a new record high on March 13, 2024. The image below shows the situation over the years through March 13, 2024, when the average daily surface air temperature was 26.9°C and 1.4°C above 1979-2000 (black line is 2024).The previous record high temperature was reached on April 24, 2016, when it was 26.8°C, and 1°C above 1979-2000 (grey line…

Update on May 21, 2024: This image shows a phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Oman. It was acquired on March 17, 2024, less than two months after the launch of NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. Congratulations to Dan Taylor for being the first to correctly identify the bloom and its location. Special mention goes to Robert Taylor for providing a detailed answer, and to…

Congratulations humanity! For the first time in recorded history we have breached 2C above preindustrial levels!  (Glacecakes Tumblr) 

Logging, farming, and fires have contributed to the loss and degradation of forest reserves in the West African country. Read More…

Yet the young people that we work with @Solutions_for_the_planet in the landlocked cities of Bradford, Inner City London and Birmingham have a strong bond and passion towards the worlds oceans and how they can help to clean them of pollution. As Tom Franklyn a primary school teacher in Inner City said: “We’re never going run to out of inner-city children, but we are going to run out of…

Steve Edwards is head of biodiversity at South Pole.  The 16th United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Colombia late last year underscored an urgent truth: global efforts to halt biodiversity loss remain inadequate.   While many hoped the event would catalyse clear and enforceable pathways for nature protection, the outcomes fell short, marked by vague targets and limited accountability.  This presents a critical challenge…

What growth opportunities do you predict for your industry in 2025? As industries evolve, there will be a growing demand for effective and highly customisable automation solutions. Manufacturers will seek solutions tailored to their unique operational needs, allowing them to quickly adapt to changing consumer demands. This trend will drive modular automation solutions, where systems can easily be reconfigured or expanded. We are also seeing the…

There is a need to make climate science more agile and more responsive, and that means moving (some of it) from research to operations. Readers here will know that the climate science community has had a hard time giving quantitative explanations for what’s happened in climate over the last couple of decades. Similarly, we are still using scenarios that were designed more than a decade ago…

In a late night session in Rome, the COP16 biodiversity talks – which resumed this week after failing to reach consensus last year – adopted a finance roadmap that will work towards a 2030 deadline, pushing back a final decision on how to channel scarce funding to help countries protect nature. Under the roadmap, countries will assess whether to create a new, independent global biodiversity fund…

Weatherization programs can help. As the leaves turn and the temperature drops, many people worry about the cost of home heating. Ariel Drehobl of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy says that for low-income families, it can cause stress around figuring out how to pay your bills and a tradeoff between keeping your heat on and being able to afford other necessities like food,…

 “Michael Mann Wins $1 Million Verdict In Defamation Trial Victory over climate deniers sends a strong message in defense of climate science and scientists. By Diane Bernard and Adam M. LowensteinonFeb 8, 2024 @ 14:04 PST Professor Michael E. Mann’s lawyer called attacks on the scientist “vile.” Credit: Julian Meehan/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) “In a victory for climate scientists, jurors in Michael Mann’s defamation case against Rand Simberg…

Sydney’s newest ferry has been named in honour of UNSW Sydney Scientia Professor Martin Green, a solar pioneer dubbed ‘the father of modern photovoltaics’. Green is renowned for leading the development of the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC), which has become the world’s most commercially viable and efficient silicon solar cell technology. Today, PERC technology is used in the production of more than 90% of…

The Australian Government has commenced a review into how Australia’s largest electricity grid and market will operate in the coming decades, aiming to keep costs low for households and business while better managing the rapid increase and integration of rooftop solar and utility-scale reliable renewables. An independent panel, led by Associate Professor Tim Nelson with Paula Conboy, Ava Hancock and Philip Hirschhorn, will undertake widespread consultation…

Brice Böhmer is climate and environment lead at Transparency International. As the dust settles after COP29, a feeling of despondency and betrayal has set in. But amid the inevitable post-mortem, the international climate community must ask itself: are we really that surprised?  This is the third year running that a repressive petrostate has hosted COP, and the second where the summit – intended to help reduce…

Following the US exit from the Paris climate agreement in January, Argentina’s government, under President Javier Milei, is evaluating whether to follow suit – but analysts say leaving the global accord would be legally tricky and could damage relations with some of the country’s key trading partners and donors. Earlier this month, right-wing populist leader Milei told French news magazine Le Point he was considering quitting…

Sunspots In a cataclysmic alignment, the next El Niño threatens to develop while sunspots are higher than expected. Sunspots are expected to reach a peak in the current cycle in July 2025.The image below (top part), adapted from NOAA, shows the observed values for the number of sunspots for cycle 25, through August 2024, as well as the values predicted by NOAA (red line). [ click…

Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The September 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or you can dig deeper and offer details about…

Large numbers of rectangular holding ponds lie amid mangrove forests in southern Ecuador. Read More…

Sea surface temperature at record high The image below, created with Climate Reanalyzer screenshots, shows that the sea surface temperature (SST 60°S – 60°N mean) was 21.2°C on April 24, 2024, reaching yet another record high. These record high sea surface temperatures are reached as long-term sea surface temperatures are falling and as El Niño is predicted to weaken, which is fueling fears that feedbacks are…

Trade unionists and campaigners seeking a fair deal for workers whose jobs will be affected by the transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels are placing their hopes in next year’s UN climate summit in Brazil following a disappointing outcome at COP29 in Azerbaijan. From coal mines and oil refineries to car factories and construction, the global shift to cleaner sources of energy will alter the nature…

Our mission is to: Provide Free Resources for Individuals and Organizations to Measure and Lower their Emissions Give Access to Most Cost-Effective Carbon Offset Projects to go Carbon Neutral Now Offset By Tonne Household Offsets Subscriptions Vehicle Offsets Home/Office Flight Offsets Measure your Carbon Footprint Measure your emissions with the Free Carbon Calculator and take the first step to becoming carbon neutral.Learn More You can also…

The image below shows that temperatures in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) were very high during the second half of April 2024, and these very high temperatures were sustained during the first part of May 2024. The temperature was 26.9°C (or 80.42°F) on May 11, 2024, an anomaly of 1.1°C (or 1.98°F) from 1979-2000. The image below shows the average monthly temperature anomaly over the past few years through April…

Since 2022, Shell has sold more than 20 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as “carbon neutral” under a new industry-led standard. Climate Home News and Dialogue Earth can now reveal that this scheme has relied in part on “phantom” carbon credits that failed to cut emissions as claimed. The energy giant shipped the fossil fuel to buyers in East Asia and beyond, some of whom…

Satellite imagery and local data helped researchers assess how landscape features, such as watering holes and vegetation, influence elephant movement. Read More…

A pioneer wind turbine tower design is set to be put on trial south of Adelaide in a novel research collaboration between Flinders University and startup company VAWT-X Energy. Supported by state and federal funding, the research team constructed and tested a 6 KW vertical wind turbine prototype to install at a field site on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The low-maintenance two-bladed helical vertical axis wind turbine design comprises a rotor with…

Plastic products have been marketed to us as innocuous items of convenience. Plastic bags, food containers, candy wrappers, packaging of all kinds, meant to make life easier on the go, or to protect our purchases from damage. A cheap and forgettable addition to our increasingly cluttered lives. But of course, these petrochemical by-products are far from harmless and they have now been produced in such abundance…

There are moments in history when we are called to pause, to reflect, and to ask ourselves: What does it mean to resist? What does it mean to rise? Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise has long been a source of inspiration for those of us who refuse to be broken by oppression. It is more than just a poem—it is a declaration, a shield, and…

Mark Maslin is professor of natural sciences at University College London (UCL) and Iain Hanson is honorary professor at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL. Many of us feel guilt when we fly because it is a very obvious source of carbon emissions. Aviation causes around 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But we do not perhaps feel the same guilt when we walk into…

UN endorsed projects that slow down the rate of global warmingBuying time for the world to make the transition to low-emission economies. Projects have different standards, such as Verra and Gold Standard, and are subject to a rigorous certification and verification process, and must submit regular updates and reports. To be certified, projects must have verifiable attributes. AdditionalityThe project is justified and the the carbon emission…