Canada aims to add more satellites to its flagship Earth observation program “as soon as possible” thanks to a fresh funding infusion, a senior space official said in an exclusive interview. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will receive substantial new government funding to extend the long-standing Radarsat satellite series, a keystone of the country’s climate change strategy and international disaster response,...
Climate change is traditionally regarded as an environmental issue. But climate change also threatens human rights, with material implications for investors. Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, but it’s often seen as strictly an environmental cause. We believe that needs to change. That’s because climate change is also a...
Climate change is making it harder to grow enough nutritious food to adequately feed our planet’s population. Temperature increases, rainfall pattern shifts, reduced water availability and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are all impacting agricultural productivity. Across Africa, this challenge is particularly acute. Whilst the continent is responsible for less than 4 percent of...
More than 40 “flesh-eating” infections have been identified in Florida this year amid record-high water temperatures in the North Atlantic. The bacterium Vibrio vulnificus, which thrives in warm seawater, has killed ten people in the state this year out of 43 infections, giving an estimated case fatality of 23 per cent. Experts have noted a concerning rise...
EU environment ministers scrapped a commitment to lift its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target after several countries held back during many hours of negotiations over the proposals thebloc will present to the upcoming UN climate summit. Poland, Hungary and Italy objected to a pledge to increase the bloc’s emissions reduction target from 55 per cent...
The emptying of supermarket shelves during the COVID pandemic demonstrated the chaos that disruption to the UK’s food supply can provoke. Could this type of disruption have a different cause in the future? And what might the impact on society be? These are the questions we sought to answer in our new study, which involved surveying 58 leading...
Fossil fuel exploration should cease globally by 2030 and funding to rescue poor countries from the impacts of the climate crisis should reach $200bn (£165bn) to $400bn a year by the same date, according to proposals in a UN report before the next climate summit. Countries were still “way off track” to meet the goals...
The EU’s new climate commissioner has been criticised for backsliding on a commitment to push for a fossil fuel phase-out at the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai, ahead of talks on Monday (16 October) where EU countries are expected to agree their stance. Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra was officially nominated on Monday (9 October), on...
If global warming reaches 2°C, similar heatwaves are predicted to happen every five or six years, a new study warns. Human-induced climate change made the recent winter heatwave in South America 100 times more likely, according to a study published on Tuesday. Global warming was the main driver of the extreme weather that scorched much of...
A little more than a month remains before the start of the next United Nations Climate Summit, known as COP28, taking place in Dubai. But the already fraught talks are facing another potential obstacle: the threat of regional Mideast instability following Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel. Why it matters: At COP28, countries are tasked with weighing actions...