Climate

The annual Global Energy Monitor (GEM) survey, Boom and Bust Coal, has found that coal-fired operating capacity worldwide rose by two percent last year — the highest annual increase since 2016. China was responsible for two-thirds of the expansion, with a small amount of growth in other parts of the globe, a press release from […]

We are running out of time to take action on climate change, says Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In a speech titled “Two Years to Save the World,” Stiell emphasized that governments, development banks and business leaders must take steps to avert much more serious impacts of […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized clean air standards that will limit the toxic pollutants released by chemical plants. According to the agency, the new standards will reduce the number of people with increased cancer risks in vulnerable communities near these chemical plants by 96%. The rule sets out to limit toxic air […]

Humans have an enormous impact on planet Earth, but from both an animal welfare and an environmental perspective, perhaps nothing is more important than our diets. In 2022, more than 82 billion livestock animals were slaughtered for meat, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, with the majority of those animals […]

In another landmark climate decision, the Supreme Court of India has ruled that an individual’s “right to life” includes protection against the impacts of climate change. The verdict reflects fundamental rights stated in Article 21 of the country’s constitution, reported The Independent. “Without a clean environment which is stable and unimpacted by the vagaries of […]

In a historic ruling, the European Court of Human Rights has found that Switzerland’s inadequate efforts to tackle climate change violated the human rights of its country’s citizens, represented by more than 2,000 older Swiss women. The landmark decision sets a powerful precedent for future climate-related lawsuits in Europe and around the world. “It is […]

Levels of the three “most important” greenhouse gases — methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — in the atmosphere reached record highs again in 2023, according to research conducted by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML). Air samples taken by GML indicated that levels of the heat-trapping gases […]

This week, the European Court of Human Rights could make a landmark ruling that governments have an obligation to protect people from the adverse impacts of climate change. Judges will rule on three distinct cases concerning whether people’s human rights were breached when governments failed to protect them from the ravages of a warming planet. […]