At the end of a year of fires, floods and other climate catastrophes, is the world coming to its senses? Or are we burning on regardless?
Tag: climate emergency
Glasgow outcome: a COP-out for the Arctic – and the rest of the planet
My expectations for COP26 were not high. What we needed to come out of it was huge. But at the latest when the G20 leaders meeting in Rome ahead of the Glasgow conference failed to agree on a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it was looking highly unlikely that we would …
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Walk the talk? Can COP26 drive global transformation in time to save the planet?
Will Glasgow’s COP26 be remembered like Copenhagen (disaster) or Paris (breakthrough)? Is the climate glass half empty or half full? With more than half the negotiating time over, you could be forgiven for wondering if there are two parallel events going on. Depending on who you listen to, you could expect either. The mass demonstrations …
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Greenland to Glasgow: Arctic SOS to Climate COP26 as scientists demand urgent action to slow ice loss and avert sea-level and weather catastrophe.
Top scientists working on the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic climate change issued an urgent message. The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than ever, with catastrophic implications for global sea level and the world's weather – and only rapid and substantial action can slow the pace.
When the rain falls on Greenland … only negative emissions can cool the Arctic – and the planet
Rain has fallen on the highest point of Greenland's ice sheet for the first time ever. The world's climate experts have given their starkest forecast for the future of the climate. Net zero by 2050 will not be enough to stabilize it. Without negative emissions, catastrophic impacts cannot be avoided.
1.5°C is way too high: thoughts from a flood-stricken German valley
We are fine and glad to live up a hill, but in shock, with the region around us devastated by the heaviest and longest lasting rain I have ever experienced and unprecedented floods. At least 160 people are dead here, more in neighbouring Belgium, and many more missing. This is in Germany, one of the …
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German High Court win for climate activists is good news for the Arctic
In Germany, where I live, the country's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, - unnoticed by much of the international media – recently issued a game-changing verdict in a case initiated by campaigners supported by groups including Fridays for Future and Greenpeace. The plaintiffs argued the government was failing to act on climate change. The …
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International Polar Bear Day: Only rapid emissions reductions can ensure the Arctic icons survive beyond 2100
February 27th is International Polar Bear Day. In the rapidly warming Arctic climate, sea ice is declining at record rates, destroying the habitat the bears need to survive. Rapid emissions cuts could still ensure their long-term survival. Otherwise, all but a few populations could collapse by 2100.
2020 – Crunch time – or squelch time – for the Arctic?
I would love to be looking forward to the 2020s as the decade when the Arctic as we have known it will be saved; climate change decisively halted; emissions will peak; fossil fuels become true fossils; sustainable living will be the 'in' -thing. The Arctic will not become ice-free in summer after all. And Fridays …
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COP25 and the Arctic: stakes high, expectations low as tipping points tumble
Another year, another COP... What's a year in the history of a planet? And as we head for 2020 – the start of a new decade - what's ten years in the evolution of the earth? The UNFCCC tells us COP25 serves to “build ambition ahead of 2020, the year in which countries have committed …
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The Ice Blog 