The Davos gathering, driving up private jet traffic in a climate crisis
The number of private jet flights serving Davos during the 2022 meeting caused CO2 emissions equivalent to about 350,000 average cars.
Climate & Health
Melting glaciers. Rising sea levels. Wildfires. Food shortages. Mass coral reef deaths and widespread species extinctions. Global pandemics. Every other issue is secondary. In a world of climate change, direct impacts on humanity are evident where we live and work and on the health and well-being of many populations. Climate change is a truly global issue; fighting it demands global cooperation and financing through summits, known as COPs, and landmark treaties like the Paris Agreement.
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Outrage over UAE appointing oil exec to lead next U.N. climate talks
Sultan Al Jaber also is UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and head of renewable energy company Masdar in Abu Dhabi.
World's aging dams lose storage capacity at alarming rate
Storage loss by 2050 will equal the combined yearly water use of Canada, China, France, a U.N. University report shows.
Study shows efforts to restore Earth's depleted ozone layer are 'on track'
The ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values by around 2066 over the Antarctic and by 2045 over the Arctic.
WHO presses Chinese health officials for data on COVID-19 spike
The U.N. health agency sought information from Beijing about the COVID-19 surge as nations impose travel restrictions.
U.N. summit clinches 196-nation deal to halt biodiversity loss
Negotiators reached a 30% by 2030 or '30 by 30' deal just as the almost two-week U.N. Biodiversity Conference was ending.
IEA forecasts global coal use will peak before solar, wind overtake it
Governments and businesses increasingly look to solar and wind as reliable energy sources that will one day replace coal.
Small island nations ask U.N. tribunal for climate opinion
The request is based on "the fundamental importance of the oceans as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and the direct relevance of the marine environment to the adverse effects of climate change on small island states."
Biodiversity summit poses call to act, decade of protections on line
UNEP's chief describes the summit as an opportunity to 'secure our life-support system, to make peace with nature.'
U.S. backs WTO deadline extension on patent waivers for COVID-19
WTO has long deadlocked over a proposed annual waiver of parts of a major intellectual property agreement.
WMO shows drier than normal conditions in large areas in 2021
Some 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least one month per year, and this is expected to increase.
CITES delegates move to protect more than 500 wildlife species
CITES sets the rules for international trade in wild fauna and flora and serves as a tool to ensure sustainability.
In COP27 overtime, leaders reach deal on climate disaster aid
World leaders reached a deal for wealthy nations to pay billions of dollars into a loss and damage fund to help developing countries.
Global Fund has $15.7 billion finish but misses its fundraising goal
The board approved spending $13.7 billion in more than 120 countries over the next three years to fight HIV, TB and malaria.
Sustainable food cold chain key to fighting waste and climate change
Millions of vaccine doses a year and nearly a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, according to new estimates.
World's two biggest carbon polluters, U.S. and China, agree to resume climate negotiations
Biden and Xi signaled a deal was struck after a three-hour meeting in Bali, Indonesia on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies summit. Beijing had suspended climate talks with Washington in August to protest a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California.