Holidays are making a comeback after several years of disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, but this resurgence in travel is concerning. The tourism sector alone is responsible for an estimated 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions – and conditions at traditional holiday destinations in high summer are becoming increasingly unpleasant if not downright hazardous. During the past year, numerous...
From November 30 to December 12, this year, delegates from nearly 200 countries across the globe, leaders of business and finance, and representatives of civil society gathered in Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, with the aim of fast-tracking the transition to a clean-energy future. The climate conference was expected to stress the importance of...
Another climate change COP has come and gone. As has become quite common by now, a complex set of intergovernmental negotiations are ultimately reduced to a fight over one particular issue. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, UAE (COP28), this issue was the phasing out of fossil fuels. The decision adopted in Dubai...
From his office perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Steven Paton looks over the entrance to the Panama Canal; the high rises of the country’s capital resting upon the horizon behind him, and an increasingly long queue of tankers lining up in the bay. For 33 years his job with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute monitoring the...
Small choices can make a big impact this holiday season, starting with your Christmas tree! As Douglas firs and white pines appeared in lots around Salt Lake City, Natalie Vickers, a junior pre-occupational therapy major and video intern at the School of Biological Sciences, got curious—how does the tree-trimming tradition fit into a changing climate?...
The World Trade Organisation launched its Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action during the COP28 conference. International economic law expert Olabisi D. Akinkugbe discusses whether the new Trade Policy Tools benefit Africa. What are the WTO’s new Trade Policy Tools? The new tools offer opportunities for countries to mitigate the climate change effect of their trade practices....
Certain conditions, such as pre-existing armed conflict, latent conflicts and conditions that predispose the population to armed conflict are necessary for climate change to increase the risk or probability of armed conflict. Climate change is the latest entrant to the long list of challenges that have strained Africa’s peace and security architecture (APSA). Other challenges...
We know that war is bad for the environment, with toxic chemicals left polluting the soil and water for decades after fighting ceases. Much less obvious are the carbon emissions from armed conflicts and their long-term impacts on the climate. Colleagues and I have estimated that the US military alone contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than over 150 countries,...
Future negotiations should focus more on reshaping incentives for oil and gas producing countries, and less on fulminating at their villainy. Daniel Litvin is the founder of Critical Resource and a visiting senior fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at LSE. He is the author of “Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility.” He...
While high in the public and political discourse, as well as in public health, other environmental stressors, such as noise pollution, are much less researched, talked about and visible. However, the impact of noise pollution on public health is significant, across Europe, and globally. The interplay between climate change mitigation and noise pollution reduction reveals...