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Climate
EVs and datacentres driving new global ‘age of electricity’, says watchdog
Forecast for rising global electricity use likely to stoke fears of rising costs and stalled efforts to fight climate crisis
The world’s electricity use will grow every year by more than the amount consumed annually by Japan because of a surge in electric transport, air conditioning and datacentres, according to the world’s energy watchdog.
The International Energy Agency has raised its predictions for the world’s rising demand for electricity, pegging the growth at almost 4% a year until 2027, up from its previous forecast of 3.4% year.
Continue reading...Brake pad dust can be more toxic than exhaust emissions, study says
Research shows move to electric vehicles may not be enough to enable pollution from cars to be eradicated
Microscopic particles emitted from brake pads can be more toxic than those emitted in diesel vehicle exhaust, a study has found.
This research shows that even with a move to electric vehicles, pollution from cars may not be able to be eradicated.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: Hadley Centre shows Thatcher understood value of climate science
Thirty-five years after she opened it, climate change centre can claim that for every £1 invested, the UK economy benefits by £33
When Margaret Thatcher opened the Hadley Centre for Climate Change in 1990 journalists suggested she was attempting to appear to be doing something about global heating rather than implementing any policies.
Fast-forward 35 years and the Hadley Centre’s science is world-leading and makes the claim that for every £1 invested, the UK economy benefits by £33. This calculation is based on the predictions scientists are able to make, and advice they can then give about incoming weather and its impacts.
Continue reading...‘Researching climate change feels like standing in the path of an approaching train’
Advancing adoptability and sustainability of digital prediction tools for climate-sensitive infectious disease prevention and control
Mapping facade materials utilizing zero-shot segmentation for applications in urban microclimate research
Political enablers of ambitious climate policies: a framework and thematic review
Global Daily Column Average CO2 at 0.1° × 0.1° Spatial Resolution Integrating OCO-3, GOSAT, CAMS with EOF and Deep Learning
Tracking Trump’s Biggest Climate Moves
Climate crisis contributing to chocolate market meltdown, research finds
Scientists say more-frequent hotter temperatures in west African region are part of reason for reduced harvests and price rises
The climate crisis drove weeks of high temperatures in the west African region responsible for about 70% of global cacao production, hitting harvests and probably causing further record chocolate prices, researchers have said.
Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, disease and unusual rainfall in recent years, which have contributed to falling production.
Continue reading...World’s largely unprotected peatlands are ticking ‘carbon bomb’, warns study
Bogs and swamps are a colossal carbon store but their continued destruction would blow climate change targets
The world’s peatlands are “dangerously underprotected” despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned.
Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world’s forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.
Continue reading...‘Even the sound of the water has changed’: can Bogotá bring its wetlands back from the brink?
The marshes in Colombia’s capital are sacred to Indigenous peoples, provide vital wildlife habitats and could help the city adapt to climate change. But after centuries of development they are close to collapse
- Photographs by Antonio Cascio
Early last year, Bogotá faced a prolonged drought, leading to historically low water levels in reservoirs and forcing Colombia’s authorities to impose water rationing. Then, in November, heavy rains triggered widespread flooding, submerging streets, stranding vehicles and disrupting traffic.
People living in neighbourhoods built over wetlands, such as Suba Rincón, suffered a double impact from these extreme events, that served to underscore the city’s vulnerability to deforestation, El Niño and the climate crisis. In these districts people have been left counting the cost of repeated floods.
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