Tag Archive for: united nations

UN Floats Plan to Boost Renewables as Climate Worries Mount

/in , /by /AP Newsby Jamey Keaten

The United Nations chief on Wednesday launched a five-point plan to jump-start broader use of renewable energies, hoping to revive world attention on climate change as the U.N.’s weather agency said greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification reached record highs last year.

“We must end fossil fuel pollution and accelerate the renewable energy transition before we incinerate our only home,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Time is running out.”

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Explainer: UN ‘House on Fire’ Climate Report Key to Action

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein and Frank Jordans

A new science report from the United Nations spells out in excruciating detail the pain of climate change to people and the planet with the idea — the hope really — that if leaders pay attention, some of the worst can be avoided or lessened.

One scientist calls it the “Your House is On Fire” report.

While these reports often can come across as depressing, to scientists and world leaders, the idea isn’t to lower people’s spirits.

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‘Code Red’: UN Scientists Warn of Worsening Global Warming

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein

Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.”

“It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

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Climate Scientists Meet As Floods, Fires, Droughts And Heat Waves Batter Countries

/in , /by /NPRby Rebecca Hersher

More than 200 of the world’s leading climate scientists will begin meeting today to finalize a landmark report summarizing how Earth’s climate has already changed, and what humans can expect for the rest of the century.

The report is the sixth edition of an assessment of the latest climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that coordinates research about global warming. The last edition of this report came out in 2013 — an eternity in the world of climate science, where the pace of both warming and research are steadily accelerating.

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World Water Day Highlights Value of Water

/in , /by /Weather.comby Jay Wesner Childs

Billions of people don’t have clean drinking water, or anywhere sanitary to wash their hands. Half of the world’s malnutrition cases are caused by a lack of water, sanitation and hygiene. Flooding caused nearly $77 billion in economic losses worldwide between 2009 and 2019.

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UN Warns New Water Futures May Spark Bubble for Vital Resource

/in , /by /Bloombergby Megan Durisin

The United Nations said Wall Street’s new water futures risk an essential public good being treated like gold and oil, leaving the market vulnerable to a speculative bubble. CME Group Inc.’s new contract — which debuted this week — could lure interest from hedge funds and banks alongside farmers, factories and utilities looking to lock in prices, said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

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UN: Climate Change Means More Weather Disasters Every Year

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Jamey Keaten

In the wake of heat waves, global warming, forest fires, storms, droughts and a rising number of hurricanes, the U.N. weather agency warned Tuesday that the number of people who need international humanitarian help could rise 50% by 2030 compared to the 108 million who needed it worldwide in 2018.

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UN Report: Increased Warming Closing in on Agreed Upon Limit

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein
The world is getting closer to passing a temperature limit set by global leaders five years ago and may exceed it in the next decade or so, according to a new United Nations report.

In the next five years, the world has nearly a 1-in-4 chance of experiencing a year that’s hot enough to put the global temperature at 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial times, according to a new science update released Wednesday by the U.N., World Meteorological Organization and other global science groups.

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Opinion: California Can Lead the World to a More Sustainable Agriculture Industry

/in , , /by /Cal Mattersby Steve Shimek

As a biologist and environmental advocate, even before the pandemic, I was scared by the headlines about our planet:  A 75% decline in insect biomass with a 40% loss of insect species predicted; a United Nations warning of the imminent extinction of 1 million species worldwide; a 3 billion loss of birds in United States and Canada over the past half-century; the growth of dead zones on our coasts and the decline in the oxygen held by the world’s oceans.  Climate change will only worsen these environmental problems.

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