pollution – Page 9 – Desdemona Despair

Components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties, 1960-2021 and projected to 2022. Components are presented individually for (a) fossil CO2 and cement carbonation emissions (EFOS), (b) growth rate in atmospheric CO2 concentration (GATM), (c) emissions from land-use change (ELUC), (d) the land CO2 sink (SLAND), (e) the ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN), and (f) the budget imbalance that is not accounted for by the other terms. Positive values of SLAND and SOCEAN represent a flux from the atmosphere to land or the ocean. All data are in GtC yr−1 with the uncertainty bounds representing ±1 standard deviation in shaded colour. Data sources are as in Fig. 3. The red dots indicate our projections for the year 2022, and the red error bars the uncertainty in the projections. Graphic: Friedlingstein, et al., 2022 / Earth System Science Data

November 19, 2022

Global Carbon Budget 2022: Global carbon emissions in 2022 remain at record levels – No sign of decrease in global CO2 emissions – “This year we see yet another rise in global fossil CO2 emissions, when we need a rapid decline”

11 November 2022 (Global Carbon Project) – Global carbon emissions in 2022 remain at record levels – with no sign of the decrease that is urgently needed to limit warming to 1.5°C, according to the Global Carbon Project science team (Global Carbon Budget 2022). If current emissions levels persist, there is now a 50% chance […]

Smoke rises form chimneys of a steel plant in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Friday, 11 November 2022. High energy prices linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine have paved the way for coal’s comeback, endangering climate goals and threatening health from increased pollution. Photo: AP Photo / Petr David Josek

November 19, 2022

High energy prices lead to coal revival in Czech Republic – “The short-term effect is quite obvious: the air pollution will be worse because of the higher coal consumption”

By Karel Janicek 18 November 2022 OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) – In this part of northeastern Czech Republic, huge piles of coal are stacked up ready to sell to eager buyers and smoke belches from coal-fired plants that are ramping up instead of winding down. Ostrava has been working for decades to end its legacy […]

Satellite view of the turf farm site in the Qatar desert, August 2021. World Cup organisers have created a large-scale tree and turf nursery, the largest turf farm in the world, according to the organisers, in the middle of the desert. It covers an area of 425,000 m2. While irrigation uses treated sewage water, the claim that this will absorb CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and contribute to reducing the impact of the event is not credible as this carbon storage is unlikely to be permanent in these artificial and vulnerable green spaces, while carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries to millenia. Lusail stadium is the largest of the FWC stadiums, with a capacity of 80,000 seats. It is represented here to show the scale of the turf farm. Lusail stadium is not located next to the turf farm. Photo: Google Earth

November 19, 2022

World Cup 2022: The “mirage” of carbon offsetting

By Stéphane Mandard 19 November 2022 (Le Monde) – Organizers will have to buy 3.6 million carbon credits to compensate for emissions, according to FIFA. Carbon Market Watch says this estimate is too low – and a long way off. FIFA claims that the World Cup in Qatar will be the first to be “carbon […]

Absolute change in days of crop growth duration, 1981-2021, compared to a 1981-2010 baseline, globally and by WHO region. Maize, rice, soybean, spring wheat, and winter wheat are shown. Relative to 1981-2010, higher temperatures in 2021 shortened crop growth seasons globally by 9.3 days for maize, 1.7 days for rice and 6 days for winter and spring wheat, and heatwave days in 2020 were associated with 98 million more people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity. Graphic: The Lancet

November 13, 2022

8 billion people: Four ways climate change and population growth combine to threaten public health, with global consequences

By Maureen Lichtveld 10 November 2022 (The Conversation) – Will we have enough food for a growing global population? How will we take care of more people in the next pandemic? What will heat do to millions with hypertension? Will countries wage water wars because of increasing droughts? These risks all have three things in […]

Near-surface temperature differences relative to the 1981–2010 average for 2022 to September. The map shows the median anomaly calculated from six data sets: HadCRUT5, ERA5, JRA-55, GISTEMP, NOAAGlobalTemp, and Berkeley Earth. Graphic: WMO

November 7, 2022

State of the Global Climate 2022: Sea level rise accelerates, European glacier melt shatters records, extreme weather causes devastation – “What climate scientists have warned about for decades is upon us”

By Seth Borenstein 6 November 2022 SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) – Earth’s warming weather and rising seas are getting worse and doing so faster than before, the World Meteorological Organization warned Sunday in a somber note as world leaders started gathering for international climate negotiations. [Eight warmest years on record witness upsurge in climate change impacts –Des] […]

Projections of GHG emissions under different scenarios to 2050 and indications of emissions gap and global warming implications over this century (medians only). Looking beyond 2030, this figure projects global GHG emissions out to 2050 under different scenarios and indicates the associated global warming implications over this century. The figure illustrates the substantial increase in the emissions gap for 2050 if climate efforts implied by current policies and NDC scenarios are continued without further strengthening. Implementation of net-zero targets by around mid-century would significantly reduce these gaps, but even then, gaps with the 1.5°C scenarios would remain. Graphic: UNEP

November 1, 2022

UN: Inadequate progress on climate action makes rapid transformation of societies only option – “It is a tall, and some would say impossible, order to reform the global economy and almost halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but we must try”

NAIROBI, 27 October 2022 – As intensifying climate impacts across the globe hammer home the message that greenhouse gas emissions must fall rapidly, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report finds that the international community is still falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place. However, the Emissions Gap Report […]

Map showing population-weighted mean changes in extremely-high and very-high fire danger days in 2018-2021 compared with 2001-2004. Human exposure to days of very-high or extremely-high fire danger increased in 61% of countries from 2001-2004 to 2018-2021. Globally, people experienced an average of nine more days of very-high or extremely-high meteorological wildfire danger in 2018-2021 compared with 2001-2004, with 110 (61%) of 181 countries having an increase—a pattern caused by climate variation rather than demographic shifts. The yearly average wildfire exposure increased by 9.17 million person-days between 2003-2006 and 2018-2021. Increases were observed in 21 (64%) of 33 low HDI countries compared with 27 (42%) of 65 very high HDI countries, which could reflect differences in wildfire prevention and management. Graphic: Romanello, et al., 2022 / The Lancet

October 29, 2022

Over-dependence on fossil fuels risks the health of current and future generations – “Climate change is driving severe health impacts all around the world, while the persistent global fossil fuel dependence compounds these health harms amidst multiple global crises”

26 October 2022 (UCL) – The 2022 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, published today, has found that ongoing crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, conflict in Ukraine, and a global energy and cost of living crisis, have caused countries to become over reliant on fossil fuels – compounding climate change and its […]

Map showing Biodiversity Intactness Index for the year 2020 at 0.25° resolution. The global average is 77 percent. Data: Natural History Museum, 2022. Graphic: WWF / ZSL

October 27, 2022

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 reveals devastating 69 percent average drop in wildlife populations since 1970 – “We have cut away the very foundation of life and the situation continues to worsen”

TORONTO, 12 October 2022 (WWF-Canada) – Monitored wildlife populations — mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish — have seen a devastating 69 per cent drop on average since 1970 according to WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022. The report highlights the stark outlook of the state of nature and urgently warns governments, businesses and the public to take […]

Plastic Waste in Canggu Beach, Bali. A tourist walks along a beach covered in piles of debris and plastic waste in Canggu, Bali, Indonesia, 12 December 2021. Photo: Made Nagi / Greenpeace

October 26, 2022

Plastic recycling is a dead-end street: year after year, plastic recycling declines even as plastic waste increases

WASHINGTON, D.C., 24 October 2022 (Greenpeace USA) – Most plastic simply cannot be recycled, a new Greenpeace USA report concludes. Circular Claims Fall Flat Again, released today, finds that U.S. households generated an estimated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, only 2.4 million tons of which was recycled. The report also finds that no […]

A satellite image shows gas from the Nord Stream pipeline bubbling up in the water following incidents in the Baltic Sea, in this handout picture released 29 September 2022. Roscosmos / REUTERS

October 24, 2022

Nord Stream rupture may mark biggest single methane release ever recorded, U.N. says – “This is the most wasteful way to generate emissions”

By Richard Valdmanis; editing by Frances Kerry and Howard Goller 30 September 2022 (Reuters) – The ruptures on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline system under the Baltic Sea have led to what is likely the biggest single release of climate-damaging methane ever recorded, the United Nations Environment Programme said on Friday. A huge plume […]