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…

Many talented people are forced to leave their native countries in search of a better life. Of course, not all of them achieve outstanding results. However, when perseverance, luck, and hard work come together, they can realize their dreams and achieve their objectives. And this can all become true because their accomplishments push them towards their personal goals and facilitate society’s positive change. Serghei Busmachiu is…

A razor-thin vote in favour of the EU’s nature restoration law on Monday has salvaged the bloc’s ability to restore its carbon sinks and reach its net zero goal, top officials told Climate Home. The regulation, which tasks the EU’s 27 member states with reviving their land and water habitats and planting billions of trees, was narrowly passed by EU environment ministers. The controversial law only…

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…

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…

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…

 “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…

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 above image shows a trend (magenta), based on NOAA August 2008 through June 2024 data (black) and added on a canvas that is 31.42-year wide. If this trend continues, the clouds tipping point could get crossed in early 2036 due to the rise in carbon dioxide (CO₂) alone. [ from earlier post ] Rising CO₂ emissions could originate from many sources, the more so as more sinks…

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…

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…

Currently, the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere is higher than it was last year at this time of year, as illustrated by the image below, created with University of Maine content. The image shows that a temperature of 21.1°C was reached in the Northern Hemisphere on June 17, 2024. The question is: Will temperatures over the next few months exceed the high temperatures reached last year?  El Niño…

Widespread bleaching of reefs is devastating delicate ecosystemsIt is one of the least understood processes in nature. How do two very different species learn to live with each other and create a bond, known as symbiosis, which can give them a powerful evolutionary advantage?Coral reefs are the most spectacular manifestations of symbiosis – and understanding the mechanics of this mutual endeavour has become an urgent task…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

John Vaillant, the author of Fire Weather, explains why fires such as those in Los Angeles are different from those beforeWhen writing about the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and how they affect the behavior and imaginations of southern Californians, Joan Didion once said: “The winds show us how close to the edge we are.”I’ve lived here my entire life. I evacuated my family’s hillside home…

 “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…

Since last week, wildfires have been raging in central and northern Portugal. At least seven people have died and 50 have been injured. More than 5,000 firefighters have been mobilised to battle the blazes Continue reading…

Patches of forest thrive on a plateau that straddles the border between North Dakota and Manitoba.   Read More…

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

The Hollywood actor and activist backs Harris for president as she warns of climate emergency and talks Taylor SwiftYoung people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.“I understand why…

The number of governments backing a proposal for a global levy on maritime emissions has grown, according to the head of the United Nations shipping body, in a shift celebrated by Pacific island states which are particularly vulnerable to climate change. “You will see that an increased number of member states are now adding their support for the levy,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime…

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…

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…

Requiring key sectors to switch to clean energy by specific times could trigger benevolent cascades, report claimsIn the terminology of the climate and ecological crises the phrase “tipping point” is loaded with dreadful implications.It evokes a climate breakdown supercharged by the mass escape of methane locked in Siberian permafrost, or the great currents of the oceans smothered by freshwater melting from the Greenland ice sheet, or…

For about one year now, global temperature anomalies have been extremely high, as illustrated by the image below, created with a screenshot from Copernicus, showing an anomaly from 1991-2020 of 0.86°C on June 1, 2024. What could be behind these persistently high temperatures? Many causes such as El Niño and sunspots have been discussed in earlier posts. How much do emissions contribute to these high temperatures?Despite pledges…

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…

So-called “forever chemicals”, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are widely used in consumer, commercial and industrial products, and have subsequently made their way into humans, animals, water, air and soil. Despite this ubiquity, there are still many unknowns regarding the potential human health and environmental risks that PFAS pose. Join us for an in-depth exploration of PFAS with four leading experts who will shed light…

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…

The temperature in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) reached a new record high on April 24, 2024 of 27°C (or 80.6°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 the anomaly in the top image is calculated from 1979-2000 as a base, while anomalies in the above image…

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…

 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.  

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…

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…

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…

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…

In Brief: Such high-tide flooding that inundates roads and buildings along the west coast of the Americas tends to be uncommon outside of El Niño years, but that could change by the 2030s. An analysis by NASA’s sea level change science team finds that if a strong El Niño develops this winter, cities along the western coasts of the Americas could see an increase in the…

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…

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…

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…

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…

 by Andrew Glikson Figure 1. 2023 was the Earth’s warmest year since modern record-keeping began in 1880. As temperatures in large parts of the Earth are soaring (cf. 52.3°C in Delhi, flames engulf large regions in California, tornadoes ravage the Gulf of Mexico states, severe drought starve populations in southern Africa and climate extremes continue to taking over large parts of the Earth. Much like oncologists…

Governments have failed to agree on a global mechanism for tackling drought at a United Nations conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, despite warnings from scientists of an environmental crisis unfolding beneath our feet. Talks at the COP16 conference of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place behind closed doors, but sources told Climate Home that, while Africa pushed hard for a legally…

Models that analyze what is driving up the temperature all too often omit specific sources, or when included, models all too often downplay their contribution. Accordingly, policies that are promoted based on such models are all too often ineffective or even counter-productive. Methane is all too often referred to as ‘natural gas’ originating from wetlands, swamps, cows and pigs, as if calling methane ‘natural’ implied that human…

Many talented people are forced to leave their native countries in search of a better life. Of course, not all of them achieve outstanding results. However, when perseverance, luck, and hard work come together, they can realize their dreams and achieve their objectives. And this can all become true because their accomplishments push them towards their personal goals and facilitate society’s positive change. Serghei Busmachiu is…

The perpetually restless and occasionally explosive volcano in New Zealand has been emitting steam, volcanic gases, and a bit of ash.   Read More…

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…

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Energy minister Chris Bowen says Peter Dutton must explain what happens to national grid over next decade if opposition stops building renewablesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Coalition’s proposal to cap large-scale renewable energy and eventually build nuclear power plants would lead to “massive” electricity supply shortages risking blackouts, according to analysis released…

Update on June 4, 2024: This image shows greenhouses in eastern China. Congratulations to James Varghese for being the first to correctly identify the feature and its location. Read more about the area in “A Greenhouse Boom in China.” 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 what satellite and…

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…

Update on March 11, 2024: This image shows Spirit Lake, located in south-central Washington, on April 26, 2023. Congratulations to Ivan Kordač for being the first to correctly identify the lake. Special mention goes to David Sherrod, who pointed out the lake’s floating log raft and mentioned a recent debris flow in the region (which occurred several weeks after this image was acquired). Read more about…

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

The above image shows a trend (magenta), based on NOAA August 2008 through June 2024 data (black) and added on a canvas that is 31.42-year wide. If this trend continues, the clouds tipping point could get crossed in early 2036 due to the rise in carbon dioxide (CO₂) alone. [ from earlier post ] Rising CO₂ emissions could originate from many sources, the more so as more sinks…

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…

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…

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…

Following its win in October at the Australian Water Association (AWA) Victorian Water Awards, Victorian utility South East Water has netted two more awards at this year’s Asian Water Awards, held in late 2024. The utility’s Hydrotrak Geofencing technology received the Water Technology Excellence (Research and Development) – Australia award, as well as the Water Technology Excellence (Water Resource Management) – Australia award, at the Asian Water Awards. Developed by…

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…

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…

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…

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…

There’s nothing quite like an Aussie-style Christmas lunch or dinner — fresh seafood, roast meats, vibrant salads and summertime desserts enjoyed with family and friends. For many, it’s a day to indulge and savour every delicious bite — but it can also provide us with an opportunity to reflect on how we can consume more sustainably. With the majority of food waste in Australia coming from our homes…

By Liu Lican China’s first Biennial Transparency Report on Climate Change was released last week, and the country confirmed it has yet to peak its carbon emissions. The report, submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), discloses China’s greenhouse gas inventory in 2020 and 2021. It showed that total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, including that from land use,…

Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The December 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 what satellite and…

Climate change is considered the greatest single threat to humankind, and while individuals are working to minimize their carbon footprints, the overwhelming majority of climate change is caused by businesses. Through emissions, resource consumption, and waste, companies are responsible for over 80% of climate change. As the threats of climate change rapidly increase, companies in every sector and industry must take responsibility for their sustainability efforts…

The number of governments backing a proposal for a global levy on maritime emissions has grown, according to the head of the United Nations shipping body, in a shift celebrated by Pacific island states which are particularly vulnerable to climate change. “You will see that an increased number of member states are now adding their support for the levy,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime…

The Hollywood actor and activist backs Harris for president as she warns of climate emergency and talks Taylor SwiftYoung people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.“I understand why…

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…

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

San Fernando, one of the affected areas pictured on the 7th of January 2025. Image credit: By P. Rivas – CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia. By Anders Lorenzen The Southern California wildfires, burning on their sixth day since emerging on the 7th of January and have devastated large parts of Greater Los Angeles (LA), are set to be the state’s largest and most extreme weather event…

Thirteen regional New South Wales councils have pooled their resources to make the shift to renewable energy via a power purchase agreement (PPA) coordinated by the Hunter Joint Organisation and Mid North Coast Joint Organisation. The Powering Tomorrow: Regional Councils NSW PPA will secure fixed pricing for the councils up until the end of 2030. Under the agreement, the councils will collectively receive over 390 gigawatt…

Once clean enough to drink, the Andean lake was poisoned by mining pollution and urban waste. But now Indigenous women are using giant reeds to revive the vital ecosystem • Photographs by Claudia Morales for the GuardianLooking out over Lake Uru Uru in the Bolivian highlands, it is hard to imagine that it once supported thousands of people, and was a sanctuary for wildlife, including 76…

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…

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…

Currently, the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere is higher than it was last year at this time of year, as illustrated by the image below, created with University of Maine content. The image shows that a temperature of 21.1°C was reached in the Northern Hemisphere on June 17, 2024. The question is: Will temperatures over the next few months exceed the high temperatures reached last year?  El Niño…

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…

[ 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,…

The April 2024 temperature was 1.32°C higher than 1951-1980, as illustrated by the above image, created with NASA content. Local anomalies are as high as 6.2°C. The April 2024 temperature was 1.62°C higher than 1900-1930, as illustrated by the above image, created with NASA content. The red line highlights acceleration of the temperature rise (Lowess Smoothing). The image below, created with NOAA content, uses a LOESS filter (green line) to…

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…

To protect the climate, most coal, oil, and natural gas must be left in the ground, a recent study reported. In the 2015 international Paris Climate Agreement, nearly every country agreed to try and limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and preferably closer to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures.  Achieving these goals will require dramatic…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

Models that analyze what is driving up the temperature all too often omit specific sources, or when included, models all too often downplay their contribution. Accordingly, policies that are promoted based on such models are all too often ineffective or even counter-productive. Methane is all too often referred to as ‘natural gas’ originating from wetlands, swamps, cows and pigs, as if calling methane ‘natural’ implied that human…

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…

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…

Update: This Landsat 8 image shows ship wakes and wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean near Block Island, which flanks southern New England. Congratulations to Rafael and Jim Steinert for being the first to identify these features and the image’s location. Read more about the area in “A Piece of Rhode Island in the Atlantic.” Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The July…

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has invested $100 million in a new affordable build-to-rent (BTR) strategy managed by AXA IM Alts, which aims to bring the benefits of clean energy technologies to sustainable, affordable homes across Australia’s largest cities. In its initial stages, the strategy is targeting as many as 3000 apartments in key worker employment hubs, with at least 50% offered at a discounted rate…

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

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…