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    Earthshot Prize 2024: Prince William unveils plans for celebrations in Cape Town
    03 Nov 2024

    Prince William will travel to South Africa on Monday to begin the fourth annual award celebrating environmental innovation. The prize is awarded to ideas and initiatives that will help save the planet and will be held alongside a week of events. More than 400 nominations from across the African continent were made for the prize, which […]

    Three pathways to achieve global climate and sustainable development goals
    02 Nov 2024

    Sustainable lifestyles, green-tech innovation, and government-led transformation each offer promising routes to make significant progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The team of researchers examined how these strategies could transform consumption and production across different […]

    Climate change posing ‘record threat’ to human health with surge in dust storms and extreme rainfall
    01 Nov 2024

    Climate change is posing record threats to human health, including a rise in sand and dust storms and changing rain patterns that put more people at risk of deadly mosquito-borne diseases like dengue. Every country now faces threats to health and survival due to global warming, according to an annual stocktake study in The Lancet, which found 10 of 15 […]

    ‘No finance, no action’: UAE urges Cop29 decision-makers to up their climate ambitions
    31 Oct 2024

    The UAE wants to see no let-up in global climate ambitions at Cop29, a senior official has said, as leaders, government officials and environmental activists from around the world prepare to meet for the UN talks in Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22. Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, told The National in an exclusive interview that the world […]

    Half of European heat-related deaths in summer 2022 caused by human-induced global warming
    30 Oct 2024

    More than half of heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 were related to human-induced global warming, according to new research. Some 56 per cent, or 38,154, of the 68,593 heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 would not have occurred without human-related global warming. The findings of the study, by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health […]

    Mothers and babies at risk from climate change ‘blind spot’
    29 Oct 2024

    Global warming puts the health of mothers and babies at risk due to birth complications and food and water shortages linked to extreme heat, scientists warned on Monday. Progress made across decades in protecting the health of mothers and newborns “is now at risk due to our changing climate”, one expert said. Scientists called it a […]

    A simpler, more efficient device for harvesting water from the air

    A new type of prototype water harvester promises to be simpler and more efficient than traditional variations of the device at pulling drinking water from the air, a new study suggests. Built using temperature-sensitive materials, a nickel titanium-based dehumidifier could pull more water out of the atmosphere in 30 minutes on average than an alternative […]

    Weather-changing El Nino oscillation is at least 250 million years old
    27 Oct 2024

    The El Niño event, a huge blob of warm ocean water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that can change rainfall patterns around the globe, isn’t just a modern phenomenon. A new modeling study from a pair of Duke University researchers and their colleagues shows that the oscillation between El Niño and its cold counterpart, La […]

    Plant diversity enhances soil carbon retention

    A new study shows that increasing plant diversity in agriculture can be used to improve the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils. As the agricultural sector strives to reduce its carbon footprint, promoting biodiversity in agricultural practices could be the key to more sustainable and climate-friendly food production systems. As agricultural expansion and intensive farming […]

    World ‘teetering on planetary tightrope’ as global warming set to hit 3.1°C this century, UN warns
    25 Oct 2024

    The UN has called for massive efforts to cut the emissions that drive climate change after a warning that the world is on track for a “catastrophic” 3.1°C of global warming by the end of this century. Its annual report highlights the gap between cuts to emissions needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and what countries are doing and […]