The Guardian (April 6)
“An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem.” The record-setting leap at documented Concordia research station, along with other “events have raised fears that the Antarctic, once thought to be too cold to experience the early impacts of global warming, is now succumbing dramatically and rapidly to the swelling levels of greenhouse gases that humans continue to pump into the atmosphere.”
Tags: 38.5C, Antarctic, Atmosphere, Coldest, Concordia, Disaster, Earth, Ecosystem, GHG, Global warming, Harbinger, Humans, Impacts, Succumbing, Unprecedented
BBC (May 17)
“There’s now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. The chances are rising due to emissions from human activities and a likely El Niño weather pattern.” This would not necessarily mean that “the Paris limit had been broken,” especially if the temperature falls back under the threshold in subsequent years. “Scientists say there is still time to restrict global warming by cutting emissions sharply.”
Tags: 1.5C, 2027, Broken, El Niño, Emissions, Global warming, Human activities, Paris limit, Scientists, Temperature, Threshold, Weather pattern
Reuters (November 3)
A UNESCO report indicates that “some of the world’s most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are set to disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature rise scenario.”
Tags: 2050, Disappear, Dolomites, Famous, Glaciers, Global warming, Italy, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Temperature, U.S., Unesco, Yellowstone, Yosemite
USA Today (March 21)
“Groundbreaking federal regulation unveiled Monday could change how Americans – and American companies – think about climate change.” A proposed SEC rule would require listed “companies to disclose the risks they face from global warming. Much as homebuyers are protected by rules requiring a seller to disclose problems, the new SEC rule would allow investors to judge how well or poorly a company is prepared for the future costs of a warming planet.”
Tags: Climate change, Future costs, Global warming, Groundbreaking, Homebuyers, Investors, Judge, Protected, Regulation, Risks, Rule, rule Disclose, SEC, U.S.
USA Today (November 3)
“The coronavirus lockdowns had an ‘extreme’ effect on carbon emissions, causing a whopping 17% drop globally during peak confinement measures by early April 2020 – levels that hadn’t been seen since 2006.” We are now reverting to mean. “Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that’s most responsible for global warming, have returned to near pre-pandemic levels…. This year saw a 4.9 percent increase in emissions over 2020, similar to the rebound that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.”
Tags: CO2, Coronavirus, Emissions, GHG, Global warming, Lockdowns, Pre-pandemic levels, Rebound, Reverting
Claims Journal (October 26)
The “COP26 climate talks in Glasgow starting next Sunday may be the world’s best last chance to cap global warming at the 1.5-2 degrees Celsius upper limit set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The stakes for the planet are huge – among them the impact on economic livelihoods the world over and the future stability of the global financial system.”
Tags: 1.5-2 degrees, Cap, Climate, COP26, Economic livelihoods, Financial system, Glasgow, Global warming, Last chance, Paris Agreement, Planet, Stability, Stakes
Financial Times (July 18)
“With just over two months to go until polling day, the devastating floods that swept through western Germany this week have catapulted climate change to the heart of the German election campaign.” Most parties blame global warming “for a catastrophe that has left at least 140 people dead,” but the “dramatic scenes could prove of huge benefit to the Greens, who even before this week were set to make big gains in the September poll.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Devastating, Election, Floods, Germany, Global warming, Greens, Parties, Poll, Polling
Boston Globe (June 7)
“There are now twice as many nights when temperatures don’t drop below 70 degrees” in Boston and the heat will get worse “even under best-case scenarios for global warming.” At the end of the last century, “from 1971-2000, Massachusetts logged an average of four days above 90 degrees” per year. Looking ahead, annual 90-degree scorchers are projected to range from 10 to 28 days by mid-century, before reaching 13 to 56 days by 2099.
Tags: 70 degrees, Best case, Boston, Global warming, Massachusetts, Nights, Scenarios, Temperatures, Worse
Financial Times (June 1)
“Shareholders have ramped up pressure on companies to tackle global warming even as businesses grapple with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.” Their targets have included JPMorgan and Rio Tinto and through May 20, “climate change resolutions at annual meetings received average shareholder support of 23 per cent,” up from “16 per cent during all of 2019.”
Tags: Annual meetings, Climate change, Coronavirus, Global warming, JPMorgan, Pandemic, Pressure, Resolutions, Rio Tinto, Shareholders
LA Times (February 24)
“Baby steps by a handful of oil and gas companies aren’t going to do much to combat overall emissions. Similarly, the Trillion Trees Initiative…won’t do an awful lot, either. In fact, it’s one of those fig-leaf solutions that offers a pretense of significant action against global warming while ignoring the most pressing problem — the burning of fossil fuels in the first place.”
Tags: Baby steps, Emissions, Fig leaf, Gas, Global warming, Oil, Trillion Trees
