Climate change can have severe knock-on effects for food security.The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.Agroecology, with its chemicals-free and traditionally-led principles, could make the world's food systems more resilient, according to a UN report.But critics say there are issues in food production that the agroecological approach may not be able to address. Conflict, the climate crisis and ...

Steve Holliday, President of the Energy Institute, highlights an under-discussed challenge of the transition to net-zero.A new survey of professionals across the UK energy sector highlights the need for skilled people to power new technology.These skills are needed now and into the future, meaning we need to inspire future generation. When we look out to 2050 and the transformation of the global energy system required to avert the climate crisis,...

Artificial intelligence could help in the fight against climate change.AI applications could help design more energy-efficient buildings, improve power storage and optimise renewable energy deployment by feeding solar and wind power into the electricity grid as needed.By 2030, the tech could help cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 4%, according to a recent study by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for Microsoft.But there are energy cons...

Today, an extremely important report on the physical science of climate change will be released to the world. Produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the report will give world leaders the most up-to-date information about climate change to inform their policies. It is an enormous undertaking, and has been a long time coming. This report is the culmination of a marathon five-year assessment, writing, review and approval ...

The demands detailed in the new "Five-Point Plan for Solidarity, Fairness, and Prosperity" paper include delivery of promised climate financing.Ahead of a key climate summit later this year, over 100 developing nations on Thursday released a set of demands calling on richer countries to "take responsibility" for their disproportionate role in the global crisis by, among other policies, swiftly and transparently delivering a promised $100 billion ...

Carbon dioxide, once emitted into the atmosphere, stays there for hundreds of years. When someone uses an offset to counteract emissions they need to make sure the offset they buy also lasts for centuries. For a company to claim that they are achieving net zero – balancing their emissions with an equivalent quantity of removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – it is essential that any offsets that they use are long-lasting, rather than temp...

From news reports, it might sound like the fossil fuel industry is on the defensive after a landmark court ruling and two shareholder votes challenging the industry's resistance to curbing its greenhouse gas emissions. But how much power do decisions like these really carry when it comes to pressuring the industry to change? As an academic who studies climate finance and is familiar with climate litigation, I think there's something else at work ...

Saturday was the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement – the commitment by almost every country to try to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. It's an ambitious goal, and the clock is ticking. The planet has already warmed by about 1 C since the start of the industrial era. That might not sound like much, but that first degree is changing the planet in profound ways, from more extreme heat waves that put human health ...

"Big polluters and rich governments should not only reduce emissions to Real Zero, they must pay reparations for the huge climate debt owed to the Global South." A new report published by a trio of progressive advocacy groups lifts the veil on so-called "net zero" climate pledges, which are often touted by corporations and governments as solutions to the climate emergency, but which the paper's authors argue are merely a dangerous form of greenwa...

A new public-private initiative will provide $1 billion in financing to countries that protect their tropical forests.The US, UK and Norwegian governments have teamed up with global businesses such as Amazon, GSK and Nestlé in an attempt to end deforestation.Destruction of primary rainforests increased by 12% from 2019 to 2020, with the world losing over 4.2 million hectares of forest cover last year.The LEAF Coalition will also benefit billions ...