Record temperatures and seasonal downpours raise fears of a repeat of the devastating flooding in 2022
Glaciers across northern Pakistan have been melting at an accelerated pace as a result of record-breaking summer temperatures, leading to deadly flash flooding and landslides.
The floods and heavy monsoon rains have caused devastation across the country this summer, killing at least 72 people and injuring more than 130 since the rains began in late June.
Continue reading...Mayor urges people to exercise utmost caution as weather service says situation around Mediterranean is critical
More than 15,000 residents of Marseille confined to their homes have been allowed out after a wildfire on the outskirts of France’s second city was brought under control, but officials have warned the country faces an exceptionally high-risk summer.
Fanned by gale-force winds and kindled by parched vegetation, several fires have burned swathes of southern France in recent days, including Tuesday’s just north of the port city. The weather service has said the weeks ahead could be critical.
Continue reading...Camp says the search continues for missing people while life-threatening flooding still remains a threat
Camp Mystic, the girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, has confirmed that 27 children and counsellors died in the flash floods that have wreaked devastation on the area since Friday.
“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,” a statement on the camp website read.
Continue reading...News comes as research finds record lows of Antarctic sea ice had seen more icebergs splintering off ice shelves
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Scientists analysing the cascading impacts of record low levels of Antarctic sea ice fear a loss of critical US government satellite data will make it harder to track the rapid changes taking place at both poles.
Researchers around the globe were told last week the US Department of Defence will stop processing and providing the data, used in studies on the state of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, at the end of this month.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Green groups furious at plans to let member states buy controversial carbon offsets from abroad
EU member states may be allowed to count controversial carbon credits from developing countries towards their climate targets, the European climate commissioner has said as states meet for a crucial decision on the issue.
The EU will discuss on Wednesday its target for slashing carbon dioxide by 2040, with an expected cut of 90% compared with 1990 levels, in line with the bloc’s overarching target of reaching net zero by mid-century.
Continue reading...Swarms in South Korean capital trigger heated debate over pest control as experts say rising temperatures partly to blame
Seoul residents are grappling with an invasion of so-called “lovebugs” that have swarmed hiking trails and urban areas across the South Korean capital, with experts debating how to handle the infestations that are surging as the climate crisis draws them further north.
Viral footage shared on social media shows Gyeyangsan mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul, with hiking trails and observation decks carpeted black with the insects.
Continue reading...Family dies in Swat River, with witnesses saying they waited to be rescued for more than an hour
At least 32 people have been killed in Pakistan in recent flash flooding caused by heavy rains, including a family of tourists who died after being swept away by flood waters while apparently awaiting rescue.
Videos of the family stranded on a small piece of land as the raging Swat River in northern Pakistan swept them away were shared widely on social media, prompting anger towards the provincial government as witnesses said the family waited helplessly for more than an hour.
Continue reading...Hosting the climate summit is a major political and logistical exercise. The prime minister is being urged to turbocharge the diplomatic effort
The Australian government’s bid to host a major global climate conference in Adelaide next year wasn’t supposed to go like this.
A two-week meeting of diplomats at the UN climate headquarters in Bonn, Germany, failed to resolve what has become a long-running issue: whether the summit known as Cop31 would be held in Australia or Turkey, the only other nation vying for the rights.
Continue reading...Key takeaways from two weeks of negotiations aimed at setting out stall for November’s Cop30 in Brazil
Two weeks of negotiations on the climate crisis have just concluded in Bonn in preparation for the Cop30 summit taking place in Brazil this November. What did we learn?
Continue reading...Thousands from Pacific island nation under threat from rising seas enter ballot that awards visas to 280 citizens a year world-first deal
Almost a third of citizens in the Pacific nation of Tuvalu are seeking a landmark visa in the context of climate change to live in Australia as rising seas threaten their palm-fringed shores, official figures show.
Australia is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as “the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world”.
Continue reading...Nato spending plan overlooks risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay, say economists
Europe risks choosing militarism over social and environmental security, economists have warned, as the head of Nato said all 32 members had agreed to increase weapons spending.
Analyses drafted in anticipation of a Nato summit beginning on Tuesday warned of the opportunity cost that higher military spending would pose to the continent’s climate mitigation and social programmes, which are consistently underfunded.
Continue reading...Australia’s most gas-reliant state takes a significant step to move households and businesses away from fossil fuels and cut energy bills
It didn’t go as far as previously flagged, but don’t believe the negative hype about Victoria’s plan to start weaning off gas: it is a significant step that will help drive households and businesses away from fossil fuels and cut energy bills.
The Allan Labor government announced that gas heating and hot water systems will be banned in all new homes and nearly all new commercial buildings, including schools and hospitals, from 1 January 2027. They will not be connected to the state’s gas network and will run on electric systems. New agricultural and manufacturing buildings, some of which use gas for high-temperature industrial processes, are excluded.
Though still marketed as “natural”, and sometimes even as “clean”, gas is actually methane – a highly potent fossil fuel. It releases plenty of greenhouse gas when burned. The electricity grid is moving from being dominated by coal-fired power to renewable energy. Electric appliances are better for the planet and the people who live on it. It is a necessary part of getting to net zero emissions.
Gas is expensive. Analysis has found electrification of appliances should save households nearly $1,000 a year on their energy bills. There are upfront costs in getting new systems, but the Victorian policy is not forcing people to change over until their existing system is dead, and offers rebates to help with the change.
Victoria is running out of gas. For decades, it has relied on reservoirs in Bass Strait, but they are running low, and all potential new sources are expensive. The state government wants to install a 20-year floating liquified natural gas (LNG) import terminal near Geelong to make sure demand is met. It sounds ridiculous, but may be the least bad option available – after the most obvious one: reducing gas use as much as possible so that it is available for the few industrial processes that do not yet have viable alternatives.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Agriculture minister Julie Collins and Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy expressed concern over Sturt Plateau pipeline’s construction
Senior Albanese government ministers disagreed over whether a controversial Northern Territory gas pipeline should be allowed to go ahead without being fully assessed under national environment laws, an internal document shows.
An environment department brief from February shows representatives for the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, and the Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, were concerned about the impact of the Sturt Plateau pipeline’s construction on threatened species and First Nations communities.
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Continue reading...Other countries have approved a wider range of UV-filtering ingredients, which allow for more advanced sunscreens
Many dermatologists and experts say US sunscreens are still not as effective as many available overseas when it comes to protecting against ultraviolet radiation linked to skin cancer and premature ageing – despite years of research.
The concern comes as a brutal heatwave, with a suffocating “heat dome”, is arriving for more than 200 million people across vast swaths of the US this weekend, bringing extreme heat and humidity . Studies have shown that the global climate crisis is making heatwaves more severe, frequent and long lasting.
Continue reading...Temperatures at or above 100F expected as extreme hot air and humidity are trapped in atmosphere
Scores of millions of people across the central and eastern US will swelter under the summer’s first “heat dome” beginning this weekend and extending through the end of next week as extreme hot air and humidity get trapped in the atmosphere.
The arrival of the heatwave coincides with Friday’s first day of summer and will bring temperatures at or above 100F (37.7C) to numerous cities as it moves to the east of the US in the coming days, forecasters say.
Continue reading...UKHSA warns of risk to people aged 65 and over as temperatures of up to 33C expected until Monday
Amber heat alerts have been issued in England as the UK experiences its hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 30.8C recorded at Wisley in Surrey.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the warningd on Thursday, and stated there could be “a rise in deaths” across all nine English regions, with “those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions” particularly at risk as the temperature is expected to rise sharply.
Continue reading...Volatile weather patterns may be altering taste of juniper berries – a key botanical in the spirit – scientists say
The flavour of a gin and tonic may be impacted by climate change, scientists have found.
Volatile weather patterns, made more likely by climate breakdown, could change the taste of juniper berries, which are the key botanical that give gin its distinctive taste.
Continue reading...Among the dead in the internationally significant wetland are estuarine snails, shore crabs, baby flounder and ‘a thick stew of polychaete worms’
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When South Australia’s algal bloom arrived in the Coorong, it stained the water like strong tea before turning it into a slurry of dead worms.
Many had hoped the storm in late May would break up the bloom of Karenia mikimotoi algae, which has killed more than 200 different marine species. Instead, high tides swept the algae into the Coorong, an internationally significant Ramsar wetland at the mouth of the Murray River.
Continue reading...Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups
The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.
Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.
Continue reading...Order aims to centralize efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments
Donald Trump has ordered the US government to consolidate its wildland firefighting force into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes in the middle of peak wildfire season.
The order aims to centralize firefighting efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments. Trump’s proposed budget for next year calls for the creation of a new Federal Wildland Fire Service under the US interior department.
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