Machines that suck CO2 directly from the air could cut the cost of meeting global climate goals, a new study finds, but they would need as much as a quarter of global energy supplies in 2100.
Houses damaged by a tornado in Dayton, Ohio on May 28. SETH HERALD / AFP / Getty Images
By Zeke Hausfather
The U.S. has recently experienced one of its worst tornado outbreaks of the past decade, with more than 500 reported over 30 days. The number so far this year is also more than 200 above average.
This has raised the question of what role, if any, climate change may have played in this unusually intensive period of tornadoes. While some have suggested that climate change is driving the above-average numbers, the scientific community has pushed back on these claims.
A coal-fired power plant in Jiangxi, China. chuyu / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Daisy Dunne
The IEA's Coal 2018 report finds that global coal demand grew by 1 percent in 2017 after two years of decline. The rise was chiefly driven by global economic growth, it says. Despite recent growth, demand is still below "peak" levels seen in 2014.
Demand is likely to "remain stable" until 2023, the report authors say. This is because falling demand in western Europe and North America is likely to be offset by increased demand in a host of Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Carbon Brief takes a look at the IEA's changing coal forecasts for key world regions.
A polar bear stands on an ice floe off the northern shores of the Svalbard Archipelago. Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images / Getty Images
By Robert McSweeney
Arctic sea ice has reached its summer minimum extent for the year, clocking in at 4.59m square kilometers (sq km) (approximately 1.77m square miles), which puts it joint sixth lowest in the 40-year satellite record alongside 2008 and 2010.
The twelve smallest summer lows in the satellite record have all occurred in the last twelve years.
A pedestrian uses an umbrella on a hot morning in Los Angeles, CA on Oct. 24, 2017. FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
By Daisy Dunne
Restricting global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels would prevent large increases in temperature-related deaths across much of the globe, a new study finds.
And keeping warming to 1.5°C—the aspirational target of the Paris agreement—would further limit the number of people dying from temperature extremes in some parts of the world, including in southeast Asia and southern Europe.
Erosion in a Derbyshire, UK valley by the northern escarpment of Kinder Scout. Stephen Thompson / Bend in the River Ashop / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Daisy Dunne
The UK could cut its emissions to "net-zero" within the next three decades by stepping up investment into technologies that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, a report finds.
However, such methods, which are known collectively as "negative emissions technologies" (NETs), would only be effective if paired with drastic efforts to cut the UK's current rate of emissions, the findings suggest.
Roots of mangrove trees, Para State, Brazil. Ricardo Lima / Getty Images
By Daisy Dunne
The vast mangroves of the Amazon store twice as much carbon per hectare as the region's tropical forests, new research shows.
The relatively understudied ecosystem also stores 10 times more carbon than Amazon savannahs—a type of grassy plain with sparsely populated trees, according to the study.
Global warming could increase both the number and appetite of insect pests, new research finds, which could pose a serious threat to global crop production.
Cars drive down a hill in a mandatory evacuation area as the Holy Fire burns in Cleveland National Forest on Aug. 8 in Lake Elsinore, California. The fire has burned at least 6,200 acres and destroyed twelve structures. Mario Tama / Getty Images
By Daisy Dunne
Sharp declines in summer rainfall could be a "primary driver" of the record-breaking wildfires ripping across the western U.S., research shows.
Using satellite data, the study finds that there have been "previously unnoted" declines in summer rainfall across close to a third of forests in the western U.S. over the past four decades. These declines are "strongly correlated" with wildfire increases, the study finds.
Scattered rainfall over dry season fields before harvest in the Sahel near Bahn Yatenga Burkina Faso Africa. The region is regularly affected by droughts. Getty Images
By Daisy Dunne
Releasing aerosols into the atmosphere in order to limit the rise in global temperature would not stave off damage to crop yields, a new study suggests.
Scientists have suggested that intentionally releasing aerosols into the atmosphere—a type of "solar geoengineering"—could help to limit global warming by reflecting away incoming sunlight in a similar way to a volcanic eruption.
