Atmospheric CO2 Levels Rise Sharply Despite COVID-19 Lockdowns

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen strongly to a new peak this year, despite the impact of the global effects of the coronavirus crisis. The Guardian reports: The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 417.2 parts per million in May, 2.4ppm higher than the peak of 414.8ppm in 2019, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in…

EU’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Continue To Fall As Coal Ditched

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU continued their fall in 2018, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, according to a new report from Europe’s environment watchdog. Emissions fell by 2.1% compared with 2017, to a level 23% lower than in 1990, the baseline for the bloc’s emission cuts under…

Fossil-Fuel Production May Be Responsible For Much More Atmospheric Methane Than Scientists Thought

Fossil-fuel production may be responsible for much more atmospheric methane than scientists previously thought, according to new research published today in the journal Nature. The results, if they hold, suggest that methane needs to be managed even more tightly than was accounted for in multilateral initiatives such as the 2015 Paris Agreement — not to mention many policies on the national…

New biomass map takes stock of Earth’s carbon

ESA released the 1st of a series of global maps aimed at quantifying change in carbon stored as biomass across the world’s forests and shrublands. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/new-biomass-map-earths-carbon…

Prominent Tech Execs Sign Renewed Commitment To Paris Agreement

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. government may be in the process of formally withdrawing from the term of the Paris Agreement, an international accord on targets to fight climate change, but major U.S. employers say they’ll stay the course in a new statement jointly signed by a group of around 80 chief executives and U.S. labor…

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Still Rising, UN Report Says

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Greenhouse gas emissions have risen steadily for the past decade despite the current and future threat posed by climate change, according to a new United Nations report. The annual report compares how clean the world’s economies are to how clean they need to be to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change…

Sea Levels Will Rise For Centuries Even If Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals Are Me

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Weather Channel: Sea levels will continue to rise for the next three centuries even if governments meet carbon emissions pledges for 2030 set in the Paris climate agreement, a new study indicates. Greenhouse gas emissions from 2016 to 2030 alone would cause sea levels to increase nearly 8 inches (20 cm) by 2300,…

Sea Levels Will Rise For Centuries Even If Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals Are Met

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Weather Channel: Sea levels will continue to rise for the next three centuries even if governments meet carbon emissions pledges for 2030 set in the Paris climate agreement, a new study indicates. Greenhouse gas emissions from 2016 to 2030 alone would cause sea levels to increase nearly 8 inches (20 cm) by 2300,…

US Begins Formal Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord

The Trump administration is formally withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, “the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases,” reports CNN. President Trump first announced the intent to officially withdraw from the agreement in June 2017. From the report: “Today the United States began the process to withdraw from…

Google Made Large Contributions To Climate Change Deniers

The Guardian is reporting that Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis. McGruber writes: Among hundreds of groups the company has listed on its website as beneficiaries of its political giving are more than a dozen organisations that have campaigned against…