This digest provides a selection of recent news articles relating to climate change and other environmental issues. Click on the title to read the full article from its original source.
By Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong (New York Times)
A new United Nations report on climate change released on Monday warned that if countries do not move away much faster from fossil fuels, the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would likely be out of reach by the end of the decade. Nations need to move away much faster from fossil fuels to retain any hope of preventing a perilous future on an overheated planet, although they have made some progress because of the falling costs of clean energy.
By Justin Gerdes (Energy Monitor)
The November 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law gave President Joe Biden new authority and funding to expand the US power grid. Energy Monitor spoke with the Department of Energy’s Michelle Manary about turning plans into reality.
By Oliver Milman (The Guardian)
Climate scientists say plugging methane leaks is necessary to avert catastrophic global heating. Atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, increased by a record amount for the second year in a row in 2021. The concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere jumped by 17 parts per billion in 2021, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitoring found.
By Daniel Trotta (Reuters)
The world's cities are a big driver of planet-warming emissions, but can play a major role in addressing climate change in the near future. U.N. scientists on Monday laid out ways to rein in emissions and curb climate change, including a chapter on actions that city planners can follow.
By Amy Westervelt (The Guardian)
Experts say criticism of oil and gas’s ‘climate-blocking activities’ were cut from the final draft of the latest IPCC report, reflective of the industry’s power and influence. The report made clear that the obstacles to action over the climate crisis are politics and fossil fuel interests. The fossil fuel industry and its influence over policy was the major elephant in the room looming over the release of the report. The major source of contention: how do you talk about mitigating climate change without confronting the fossil fuel industry? “It’s like Star Wars without Darth Vader,” says environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, of Brown University.
About the Digest: Articles included here are selected from several organizations which consolidate climate change related news from many sources around the world. These organizations include Carbon Brief and Inside Climate News. Accessing the full articles from the links provided here may sometimes not be possible due to access restrictions of the originating publications.