Go Carbon Neutral with the Climate Change Institute

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…

Climate economics researchers have often underestimated – sometimes badly underestimated – the costs of damages resulting from climate change.  Those underestimates occur particularly in scenarios where Earth’s temperature warms beyond the Paris climate target of 1.5 to 2 degrees C (2.7 to 3.6 degrees F). That’s the conclusion of a new report written by a team of climate and Earth scientists and economists from the Earth…

New research out of the University of California, Davis and Stanford University has found that storing carbon dioxide in building materials could hugely reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The study, conducted by civil engineers and earth systems scientists, has been published in the journal Science. “The potential is pretty large,” said Elisabeth Van Roijen, who led the study as a graduate student at UC Davis. Van…

High temperatures persist The image below, created with NASA data while using a 1903-1924 custom base, illustrates that the temperature anomaly through July 2024 has been more than 1.5°C above this base for each of the past consecutive 13 months, and even more when compared to a pre-industrial base. The red line shows the trend (one-year Lowess Smoothing) associated with the rapid recent rise. On August 19, 2024,…

[ high temperatures forecast over the North Pole, click on images to enlarge ] The above image shows a temperature forecast for February 2, 2025 18z, run January 30, 2025 12Z.  The green color indicates temperatures above freezing point. The image below shows the temperature anomaly compared to 1979-2000, with the light pink color over the Arctic indicating a 30°C anomaly. [ temperature anomaly vs 1979-2000,…

Europe’s climate service said on Friday that 2024 was the hottest calendar year on record and the first in which average temperatures exceeded the key limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial times, raising the importance of efforts to protect people from dangerous impacts. The confirmation – widely trailed before the announcement – came as wildfires made worse by drought conditions rampaged across Los Angeles, causing at least…

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…

Algae!!!…Green, gooey, slimy, messy, smelly, unpleasant…All these words come to mind when I hear the word “Algae”.  What if I told you algae has the power to revolutionize the world today. Oh yes! There is an “Algae Revolution” and it is quite fascinating.  Just imagine yourself, walking into a coffee shop with your own bag of kelp (an algae) and leaving with your hot coffee in…

Scientists use satellites in orbit and boots on the ice to monitor glacial changes on the flanks of Mount Baker and elsewhere in Washington state. Read More…

 by Andrew GliksonWhere “Two plus two equals five if the party says so” (George Orwell)and when drilling methane wells reduces global warming Having turned a blind eye to climate science, ignoring the evidence that extreme atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) rise and ocean acidification have led to mass extinctions of species through time, humanity allows an exponential growth of carbon emissions to track toward a global…

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…

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…

GS1 Australia has entered into a partnership with the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence (the Centre) with the intention of speeding a transition to a circular economy. The two not-for-profit organisations will pool their resources to foster innovation, enhance product stewardship and drive the development of sustainable practices across industries in Australia. Peter Carter, General Manager of Public Policy & Government Engagement at GS1 Australia, said…

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…

Update on August 23, 2024: This Landsat 8 image shows several golf courses north of Chicago. Congratulations to Jeff Pettett for being the first reader to identify the location and spot the golf courses. Read more about the area in “Golfing in Illinois.”  Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The August 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments…

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…

The astonishing recent rise in temperatures makes one wonder whether a Regime Change did take place in 2023. The February 2024 temperature was 1.76°C above 1885-1915, potentially 2.75°C above pre-industrial (bright yellow inset right). The image was created by Sam Carana for Arctic-news.blogspot.com with an April 2024 data.giss.nasa.gov screenshot. The red line (6 months Lowess smoothing) highlights the Regime Change that may have occurred in 2023.Meanwhile, NASA…

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…

An innovative tech collaboration is helping to finesse a low-cost rubbish recycling process that relies on the insatiable appetite of black soldier fly larvae. Biotech company ARC Ento Tech, based on the NSW Central Coast, is helping to process landfill in the state by using the larvae of this common fly to eat the organic waste that’s part of mixed solid waste. Once all the organic…

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…

Macquarie University researchers have investigated the level of sewage pollution in 18 global harbours, with concerning results. Their work was part of an international study using a special DNA technique that the researchers say is more targeted than traditional methods. The team’s findings have been published in Nature Water. In contrast to other approaches, which may use E. coli or enterococci to detect sewage pollution, the…

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…

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…

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…

To no-one’s surprise 2024 was the warmest year on record – and by quite a clear margin. Another year, another data point. Unlike the previous year, 2024 was anticipated to be a record breaker even before it began (I predicted a record – despite the huge anomaly in 2023 – with a 55% probability). It did fall at the higher end of the prediction, so maybe…

A team of scientists at UNSW Chemistry has developed an organic material that is able to store protons, which is being used to create a rechargeable proton battery in the lab. By using hydrogen ions (protons) instead of traditional lithium, the batteries hold promise for addressing some of the critical challenges in modern energy storage, including resource scarcity, environmental impact, safety and cost. The team’s latest findings, published…

After a brutally hot summer in 2023 that caused widespread bleaching and coral death, summer 2024 was more favorable for the state’s vulnerable reefs.  Read More…

A network of public bodies are supposed to safeguard us from flooding. But, like old boys’ clubs, they are bastions of self-interestLabour’s first stage of government resembles a vast forensic excavation. As it works through the Conservatives’ midden of horrors, it discovers an ever greater legacy of underinvestment, neglect and corruption. However disappointing the new government’s compromises might be, we shouldn’t forget how overwhelming this task…

Under the cloak of darkness, Iceberg A-83 wiggled away from glue-like sea ice and drifted farther from the Brunt Ice Shelf—but not without sustaining some damage. Read More…

Reflections after reading Sarah Milburn’s article on ‘Young People and Hope’ and Russell Brown’s article on LinkedIn – ‘Trust – building (and rebuilding)’. Although many young people think climate change is an important societal issue, studies indicate that pessimism, anxiety and fear is common. How do we communicate with young people around these issues? How do we find ways to instil hope? Will doom-and-gloom messages scare…

Go Carbon Neutral without paying large fees and commissions Carbon Offset Sales a division of the Climate Change Institute Each Carbon Offset Certificate is for One Tonne of Carbon removed from the atmosphere. Enough to fill 500 fire extinguishers or 8 swimming pools, with the same weight as 400 bricks. Verra & Gold Standard Highest Certification Standards Carbon offset certificates finance projects that slow down the…

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…

How Climate Change Will Impact Global Supply Chains Global supply chain issues have hit the news recently as the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the true vulnerabilities of global supply chains dependencies and sourcing relationships. As a result, it has become abundantly clear that we cannot take global production for granted. COVID is not the only global event threatening supply chains. As climate change continues to…

Region faces ‘extreme fire risk’ warnings and ‘significant risk of rapid fire spread’ as official death toll expected to riseAs forecasters warn of another “particularly dangerous weather situation” across northern Los Angeles, residents braced for new wildfire evacuation orders, even as the official death toll from last week’s fires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades was expected to rise.Los Angeles, and parts of Ventura county to…

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  Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells are ubiquitous in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage because they are cheap and have a long lifetime. This webinar will show our studies comparing 240 mAh LFP/graphite pouch cells undergoing charge-discharge cycles over 5 state of charge (SOC) windows (0%–25%, 0%–60%, 0%–80%, 0%–100%, and 75%–100%). To accelerate the degradation, elevated temperatures of 40°C and 55°C were used. In…

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…

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…

We’ve all been there. You’re talking to someone who says that fossil fuels aren’t causing climate change. Or that climate change is happening naturally, and not because of anything that humans do. Maybe you know these things aren’t right, but you don’t speak up. You’re worried that you don’t know enough. If you’d like to have more confident conversations about how fossil fuels drive climate change,…

Images of nighttime lights reveal patterns in population and urban development. Read More…

As more and more consumers are pushing businesses to become environmentally sustainable, many are looking at packaging as a way to reduce waste and emissions. Plastic packaging has been the norm for many decades due to it being inexpensive, hygienic, and easily accessible. However, with 34.5 million tons of plastic generated each year, the adverse effects of plastic packaging far outweigh its uses, and it’s time…

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…

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…

Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce in daily life. This includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases and others. PersonalYou can measure your footprint using our free carbon calculator and get information and guidance on how to reduce it. BusinessCompanies can implement a through emissions survey and reduction program using recognised GHG accounting standards. Global AveragesYou can go carbon…

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…

Which battery technologies are you focusing on at Argonne? We work on everything. We work on lead-acid batteries, a technology that’s 100 years old, because the research community is saying, “If only we could solve this problem with cycle life in lead-acid batteries, we could use them for energy storage to add resilience to the electrical grid.” That’s an attractive prospect because lead-acid batteries are extremely…

Terminal Temperature Acceleration? On December 30, 2024, the temperature was at a record high for the time of year. Given that La Niña suppresses temperatures, the question is what is driving up the temperature. The red dots in the above image are Copernicus ERA5 global daily mean near-surface (2m) air temperature anomalies December 13, 2022 through December 30, 2024, compared to a 1991-2020 base (left vertical axis)…

[ click on images to enlarge ]Temperatures remain extremely high, even though La Niña conditions may already be present, as illustrated by the above image, showing sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) versus 1981-2011.  The image on the right shows the Northern Hemisphere (-90°,90°) with SSTA as high as 24.8°F (13.8°C) in Hudson Bay (green circle) on Sep. 22, 2024. There are only very few cold spots,…

In Brief: Methane ‘hot spots’ in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are more likely to be found where recent wildfires burned into the tundra, altering carbon emissions from the land. In Alaska’s largest river delta, tundra that has been scorched by wildfire is emitting more methane than the rest of the landscape long after the flames died, scientists have found. The potent greenhouse gas can originate from decomposing…

The Middle East crisis, wildfires in Portugal, floods in Poland and London fashion week: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Continue reading…

The title of this post might seem like a truism, but for about a decade some people have claimed the opposite, and many people have spent much time and effort trying to understand why. Much of that effort was wasted. A decade ago, Nature Geoscience published Cohen et al (2014), a review paper on potential connections between the Arctic warming and extreme events (which has been…

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

Rapid progress in the use of machine learning for weather and climate models is evident almost everywhere, but can we distinguish between real advances and vaporware? First off, let’s define some terms to maximize clarity. Machine Learning (ML) is a broad term to distinguish any kind of statistical fitting of large data sets to complicated functions (various flavors of neural nets etc.), but it’s simpler to…

AGL has recently acquired Everty, an Australian-owned EV software platform that delivers comprehensive charging and energy management solutions for electric vehicles. The Everty platform connects to EV charging stations and will be available to commercial customers such as large property groups, fleet owners, public parking and landlords. It allows customers to monitor EV charging usage and maintenance, as well as to identify optimal load and lead…

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…

The UK said it will cut its overseas aid budget in a new blow to vulnerable nations. The move will make it more difficult for the government to deliver on a promise to increase climate finance to developing countries, analysts have warned. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to slash the UK aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of national income in order to…

The image below, made with a screenshot from Berkeley Earth, shows an annual average temperature rise of 3°C or more in 2050 in China for each of the three scenarios looked at. China is important, it has a large well-educated population and a large part of global emissions is released in China. Some countries face even more dire prospects. Have people been told how dire the…

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, reported a daily average carbon dioxide (CO₂) at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, of 428.63 parts per million (ppm) on April 26, 2024, as illustrated by the image below.  This is the highest daily average on record at Mauna Loa, which is the more remarkable since the annual CO₂ maximum is typically reached in May, so even higher values are…

Algae!!!…Green, gooey, slimy, messy, smelly, unpleasant…All these words come to mind when I hear the word “Algae”.  What if I told you algae has the power to revolutionize the world today. Oh yes! There is an “Algae Revolution” and it is quite fascinating.  Just imagine yourself, walking into a coffee shop with your own bag of kelp (an algae) and leaving with your hot coffee in…

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…

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…

Showing climate delivery can be done effectively and fairly would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Keir StarmerA well-intentioned but badly designed and poorly communicated energy policy from the German government, and more recent protests by farmers in France and the Netherlands, have knocked the confidence of European political leaders that environmental progress can be delivered in a way that works for people and enjoys democratic…

Around the world, sustainability has made its way to the forefront of everyone’s mind, including businesses. As governments and consumers push companies to improve their sustainability efforts, it can be challenging to keep up with the demand of the oftentimes expensive changes that sustainability requires. Luckily, advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, are helping businesses monitor and improve their facilities to not only improve environmental consciousness,…

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…

Region faces ‘extreme fire risk’ warnings and ‘significant risk of rapid fire spread’ as official death toll expected to riseAs forecasters warn of another “particularly dangerous weather situation” across northern Los Angeles, residents braced for new wildfire evacuation orders, even as the official death toll from last week’s fires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades was expected to rise.Los Angeles, and parts of Ventura county to…

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…

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…

Large pieces of sea ice are breaking away from the northern tip of Greenland, to be carried by ocean currents to the Fram Strait east of Greenland. On their way they will melt away, illustrating how ocean heat can make even the thickest parts of the sea ice disappear in a matter of days. The thick sea ice north of Greenland is breaking away due to…

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 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…

Terminal Temperature Acceleration? On December 30, 2024, the temperature was at a record high for the time of year. Given that La Niña suppresses temperatures, the question is what is driving up the temperature. The red dots in the above image are Copernicus ERA5 global daily mean near-surface (2m) air temperature anomalies December 13, 2022 through December 30, 2024, compared to a 1991-2020 base (left vertical axis)…

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…

After a brutally hot summer in 2023 that caused widespread bleaching and coral death, summer 2024 was more favorable for the state’s vulnerable reefs.  Read More…

Oscar Berglund is a senior lecturer in international public and social policy at the University of Bristol and Tie Franco Brotto is a PhD candidate at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies. Climate and environmental protest is being criminalised and repressed around the world. The criminalisation of such protest has received a lot of attention in certain countries, including the UK and Australia. But…

Doug Specht is a reader in cultural geography and communication at the University of Westminster. October to April is normally considered to be the wet season in California, yet this January, the region is experiencing some of the most devastating fires it’s ever seen. As of January 14, five major fires in and around Los Angeles have burned over 40,000 acres, leading to the evacuation of…

UN climate talks in Bonn ended in finger-pointing over their failure to move forward on a key programme to reduce planet-heating emissions, with the UN climate chief warning of “a very steep mountain to climb to achieve ambitious outcomes” at COP29 in Baku. In the closing session of the two-week talks on Thursday evening, many countries expressed their disappointment and frustration at the lack of any…

An ethical oil startup has taken out KPMG’s $100,000 Nature Positive Prize — part of an annual Challenge run by KPMG to boost inventive environmental problem-solving. The successful startup, NSW-based Levur, is dedicated to finding innovative ways to replace unsustainable animal and plant oils for a variety of consumer products. The company was formed in reaction to the devastation wrought by the palm oil industry on…

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…

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…

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…

To no-one’s surprise 2024 was the warmest year on record – and by quite a clear margin. Another year, another data point. Unlike the previous year, 2024 was anticipated to be a record breaker even before it began (I predicted a record – despite the huge anomaly in 2023 – with a 55% probability). It did fall at the higher end of the prediction, so maybe…

Governments should promise in their next round of climate plans, due by early next year, not to build any new coal-fired power stations and to shut down existing ones early, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said. Speaking on Monday at an old London coal power plant-turned-shopping centre, IEA head Fatih Birol said he would be “very happy” to see new NDCs (Nationally…

Water inundates the marshes along Delaware Bay, which provide protection against flooding and erosion, as well as habitat for migrating birds. Read More…

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…

At the first board meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) since President Donald Trump cancelled $4 billion in US pledges to it, countries sparred this week over who should plug the gap. Board members representing Germany and Sweden encouraged governments outside the GCF’s existing contributor base – such as high-income developing nations – to open their wallets. But oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which would be included…

On Christmas Day in 1741, when Swedish scientist Anders Celsius first noted down the temperature in his Uppsala observatory using his own 100-point – or “Centi-grade” – scale, he would have had no idea that this was to be his greatest legacy. A newly published, engrossing biography – Celsius: a Life and Death by Degrees  – by Ian Hembrow, tells the life story of the man…

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…

This webinar will detail recent efforts in proton exchange membrane-based low temperature electrolysis degradation, focused on losses due to simulated start-stop operation and anode catalyst layer redox transitions. Ex situ testing indicated that repeated redox cycling accelerates catalyst dissolution, due to near-surface reduction and the higher dissolution kinetics of metals when cycling to high potentials. Similar results occurred in situ, where a large decrease in cell…

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…

The older and newer cities of the Greater Cairo region look very different at night when viewed from above. Read More…

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…

  Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells are ubiquitous in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage because they are cheap and have a long lifetime. This webinar will show our studies comparing 240 mAh LFP/graphite pouch cells undergoing charge-discharge cycles over 5 state of charge (SOC) windows (0%–25%, 0%–60%, 0%–80%, 0%–100%, and 75%–100%). To accelerate the degradation, elevated temperatures of 40°C and 55°C were used. In…

Reflections after reading Sarah Milburn’s article on ‘Young People and Hope’ and Russell Brown’s article on LinkedIn – ‘Trust – building (and rebuilding)’. Although many young people think climate change is an important societal issue, studies indicate that pessimism, anxiety and fear is common. How do we communicate with young people around these issues? How do we find ways to instil hope? Will doom-and-gloom messages scare…

This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360. After a decade of declining to finance large hydroelectric dams, the World Bank is getting back into the business in a big way. Throughout the last half of the 20th century, the bank was the world’s leading supporter of big hydro. But over the last two decades, it followed a zigzag pattern as dam supporters and critics inside the institution took turns determining…

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…

Follow the particulates: Snapshot of airborne pollution produced when a car brakes. (Courtesy: Adapted from Si, Run and Stafford, Jason 2024 R. Soc. Open Sci. 11 241111)http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241111) Scientists at the University of Birmingham, UK, have used physics-based modelling to develop a tool that lets cyclists and pedestrians visualize certain types of pollution in real time – and take steps to avoid it. The scientists say the…

by Andrew Glikson What further evidence do the inhabitants of planet Earth need to have to convince them the liveable climate, the lungs of the Earth, is sharply deteriorating, species are dying, the mere failure of a computer chip or of a human neuron are capable of terminating civilization, that the powers that be are leading to one of the greatest mass extinction in the history…

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

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…

In Brief: Scientists using space-based radar found that land in New York City is sinking at varying rates from human and natural factors. A few spots are rising. Parts of the New York City metropolitan area are sinking and rising at different rates due to factors ranging from land-use practices to long-lost glaciers, scientists have found. While the elevation changes seem small – fractions of inches…