By Oliver Milman , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The economic damage wrought by climate change is six times worse than previously thought, with global heating set to shrink wealth at a rate consistent with the level of financial losses of a continuing permanent war, research has found. A 1°C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world gross domestic product (GDP), the researchers found, a far higher estimate than that of previous analyses. The world has already warmed by more than 1°C (1.8°F) since pre-industrial times and many climate scientists predict a 3°C (5.4°F) rise will occur by the end of this century due to the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, a scenario that the  new working paper, yet to be peer-reviewed, states  will come with an enormous economic cost. A 3°C temperature increase will cause “precipitous declines in output, capital and consumption that exceed 50% by 2100” the paper states. This economic loss is so severe that it is “comparable to the economic d

By Chen Ly , NewScientist.  Excerpt: Engineers have developed a device that can generate temperatures of over 1000°C (1832°F) by efficiently capturing energy from  the sun . It could one day be used as a green alternative to burning  fossil fuels  in the production of materials such as  steel , glass and  cement. ...“About half of the energy we use is not actually turned into electricity,” says  Emiliano Casati  at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “It’s used to produce many of the materials that we need in our daily lives and our industries.”.... Full article at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2431224-sunlight-trapping-device-can-generate-temperatures-over-1000c/ . See also original article Solar thermal trapping at 1,000°C and above .

By Ella Nilsen , CNN.  Excerpt: As Florida copes with  rising seas  and  record temperatures , lawmakers are going to exceptional lengths to delete many mentions of climate change from state laws in a new bill that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Wednesday,  according to his official X account . The wide-ranging law makes several changes to the state’s energy policy – in some cases deleting entire sections of state law that talk about the importance of cutting planet-warming pollution. The bill would also give preferential treatment to natural gas and ban offshore wind energy.... The bill deletes the phrase ‘climate’ eight times – often in reference to reducing the impacts of global climate change ...or directing state agencies to buy ‘climate friendly’ products when they are cost-effective and available. The bill also gets rid of a requirement that state-purchased vehicles should be fuel efficient. ...DeSantis and state lawmakers have poured over $1.1 billion into incr

By Brad Plumer , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Federal regulators on Monday  approved sweeping changes  to how America’s electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy. The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ...which was two years in the making, requires grid operators around the country to identify needs 20 years into the future, taking into account factors like changes in the energy mix, the growing number of states that require wind and solar power and the risks of extreme weather. Grid planners would have to evaluate the benefits of new transmission lines, such as whether they would lower electricity costs or reduce the risk of blackouts, and develop methods for splitting the costs of those lines among customers and businesses....  Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/climate/electric-grid-overhaul-ferc.html . 

By Jan Esper ,  Max Torbenson  &  Ulf Büntgen , Nature.  Abstract: Including an exceptionally warm Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer, 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record. Contextualizing recent anthropogenic warming against past natural variability is nontrivial, however, because the sparse 19 th  century meteorological records tend to be too warm. Here, we combine observed and reconstructed June-August (JJA) surface air temperatures to show that 2023 was the warmest NH extra-tropical summer over the past 2000 years exceeding the 95% confidence range of natural climate variability by more than half a degree Celsius. ...Although 2023 is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend that is amplified by an unfolding El Niño event, this extreme emphasizes the urgency to implement international agreements for carbon emission reduction.  Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07512-y . 

By Euronews Green .  Excerpt: Portugal has made huge progress in renewable power, up from 27 per cent in 2005 and 54 per cent in 2017. Portugal generated an ‘historic’ 95 per cent of its electricity from renewables in April, according to the network operator REN. ... Solar  might not have been the star of the show in REN’s new stock take. A third of the way through the year, the renewable made up 7 per cent of Portugal’s electricity mix, behind wind at 30 per cent and hydroelectric plants at 48 per cent. However, “the solar component continues to grow substantially,” REN says. April saw the “highest monthly significance ever recorded” for solar - when it covered 10.5 per cent of the country’s electricity consumption. ...Portugal had the third highest share of  wind energy  in its electricity mix last year at 29 per cent, behind Ireland (36 per cent) and Denmark (58 per cent)....  Full article at https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/10/renewables-are-meeting-95-of-portugals-electricit

By Angela Symons , Euronews.green.  Excerpt: Venezuela has lost its last glacier, making it the first nation in modern history to hold this unenviable record. At least five other glaciers have disappeared in the South American country within the last century as climate change drives up temperatures in the Andes. The country lost 98 per cent of its glacial area between 1952 and 2019,  research  shows. ...Temperatures are warming faster at the Earth's  higher elevations  than in lowlands. This has caused Venezuela’s last glacier to decline more quickly than anticipated. Back in 2019, scientists predicted that the Humboldt could be gone within two decades, but it has already reportedly shrunk to less than two hectares....  Full article at https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/10/this-country-has-become-the-first-in-modern-history-to-lose-all-of-its-glaciers . 

By Maddie Stone, Grist .  Excerpt: Aluminum is a crucial raw ingredient in the fight against climate change. But to ensure the transition off fossil fuels is a clean one, the  industry  needs a serious makeover. A new federally funded “green smelter” could help make that happen. ...aluminum manufacturers are responsible for about  1.1 billion tons  of carbon dioxide emissions a year. ...In March, the agency  announced  $6 billion in funding for “industrial demonstration” projects that showcase promising strategies for reducing the climate impact of heavy industry. ...The beneficiaries of the government’s cleanup effort include Century Aluminum Company, which could receive up to half a billion dollars to build the nation’s first new aluminum smelter in 45 years. The facility, dubbed the Green Aluminum Smelter, could double the amount of virgin, or primary, aluminum the country produces while emitting 75 percent less CO2 than older smelters, thanks to increased efficiency and the use of

By Amanda Schupak , The Guardian.  Excerpt: ...Here’s our (mostly) scientific ranking, from worst to best. 7. [worst] Compostable serveware. ...6. Some plastic and paperboard packaging ...Some plastics used in food service containers, such as number 6 (polystyrene), generally are not recyclable. Nor are   soft plastics, like film labels and straws.... 5. Clear, rigid plastic boxes, cups and clamshells The same goes for classic Chinese takeout boxes and similar containers, since they’re coated with plastic to prevent leaking. ...But among different types of plastics, those with a number 1 (PET or PETE) or 2 (HDPE) inside the chasing arrows ...are more valuable to recyclers than plastics with higher numbers. Widely used number 5 (polypropylene or PP) plastics are becoming more recyclable and valuable, too. ...4. Recycled containers ...Containers made from recycled materials are better than ones that aren’t. ...3. Aluminum boxes ...there’s a robust market for recycled aluminum ...The tops

By Damian Carrington , The Guardian.  Excerpt: ...the most effective action individuals can take ...Most experts (76%) backed voting for politicians who pledge strong climate measures, where fair elections take place . ...The second choice for most effective individual action, according to the experts, was reducing flying and fossil-fuel powered transport in favour of electric and public transport. ...Globally it is a small minority of people who drive aviation emissions, with only about  one in 10 flying at all . Frequent-flying “super emitters” who represent just 1% of the world’s population cause half of aviation’s carbon emissions, with US air passengers having by far the biggest carbon footprint among rich countries. ...Meat production has a  huge impact   on the environment . Most people in wealthy countries already eat more meat than is healthy for them and more than 60% of the scientists said they had cut their own meat consumption. Almost 30% of the experts said eating less m

By Michael B. Mahon et al, Nature.  Abstract: Anthropogenic change is contributing to the rise in emerging infectious diseases, which are significantly correlated with socioeconomic, environmental and ecological factors. Studies have shown that infectious disease risk is modified by changes to biodiversity, climate change, chemical pollution, landscape transformations and species introductions. However, it remains unclear which global change drivers most increase disease and under what contexts. Here we amassed a dataset from the literature that contains 2,938 observations of infectious disease responses to global change drivers across 1,497 host–parasite combinations, including plant, animal and human hosts. ...reducing greenhouse gas emissions, managing ecosystem health, and preventing biological invasions and biodiversity loss could help to reduce the burden of plant, animal and human diseases, especially when coupled with improvements to social and economic determinants of health.

By Elise Cutts , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: ...Researchers already knew separately that drought can enhance soil cracking, that soil cracks can enhance greenhouse gas emissions, and that climate change is predicted to make drought more intense and frequent in many arid parts of the world. “What this paper does is put all that together,” said soil scientist  Kelly Caylor  of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the new study. It shows how drought-driven changes to the physical structure of soils—in this case, cracking—could contribute to climate change, too, he added. ...Soils are the planet’s greatest stockpile of terrestrial carbon. ...Vahedifard and his colleagues published their study in  Environmental Research Letters . ...  Full article at https://eos.org/articles/cracking-soils-could-accelerate-climate-change . 

By Brad Plumer  and  Nadja Popovich , The New York Times.  Excerpt: They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly. ...Solar power is plentiful during the day but disappears by evening, just as people get home from work and electricity demand spikes. ...Since 2020, California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere in the world apart from China. They can soak up excess solar power during the day and store it for use when it gets dark ...Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on April 30, ... batteries supplied more than one-fifth of California’s electricity  and, for a few minutes, pumped out 7,046 megawatts of electricity, akin to the output from seven large nuclear reactors. ...Over the past three years,  battery storage capacity on the nation’s grids  has grown tenfold, to 16,000 megawatts. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Ar

By WARREN CORNWALL , Science.  Excerpt: Starting in late 2013, the first in a handful of  record-shattering heat waves  struck the north Pacific Ocean near Alaska. Temperatures in these warm “blobs,” which have occurred four times in the past decade, sometimes reach more than 2°C above normal. ...Research has implicated climate change, which can supercharge natural fluctuations in ocean heat. But now, scientists are pointing to another surprising contributor: China’s success in stemming air pollution. A steep decline in aerosols—tiny airborne particles such as sulfates—emitted by Chinese factories and power plants in the 2010s appears to have amplified a string of extreme heat waves on the other side of the Pacific,  driving up to 30% of the temperature increase during these heat waves , scientists report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...Aerosols can act like tiny mirrors, reflecting sunlight back into space and reducing the amount that reaches Earth’s s

By Molly Burke , Times Union.  Excerpt: New York's four reactors generate 22 percent of the state's electricity, while fossil fuels continue to power nearly 50 percent. ...The energy the plant produces — which does not emit any greenhouse gasses — will not contribute toward New York’s fast-approaching goal to transition 70 percent of the electrical grid to renewable sources by 2030 under mandates by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Nuclear energy, while low-carbon, is produced from finite materials and is nonrenewable. ...While renewable energy projects have faltered,  including two offshore wind projects off the coast of Long Island being scrapped in mid-April , nuclear energy in New York has continued steadily for a number of years. The cancellations of the wind projects ...underscore the variables and cost challenges facing efforts in New York and the nation to develop coastal wind as a major energy source.  Full article at https://www.timesunion.com/stat

By Richard Luscombe , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Climate predictions in Florida, for the most part, make pretty grim reading. Rising oceans threaten to  submerge most of the state  by the end of the century, and  soaring temperatures  could make it too hot to live here anyway. But  new research  by a coalition of prominent universities paints a more upbeat picture of Florida’s future as a thriving state for humans and wildlife, with natural resources harnessed to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency generally, as well as extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods. Such a prosperous tomorrow, the authors say, can only follow essential preparatory work today. One key element, an 18m-acre swath of protected land called the  Florida wildlife corridor , is already mostly in place, and will spearhead Florida’s climate resilience if properly managed and allowed to evolve, the researchers believe....  Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03

By Dharna Noor , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The lawsuit, Juliana v United States, was filed by 21 young people from Oregon who alleged the federal government’s role in fueling the climate crisis violates their constitutional rights. The Wednesday order from a panel of three Trump-appointed judges on the ninth circuit court of appeals will require a US district court judge to dismiss the case for lack of standing, with no opening to amend the complaint. ...[said Julia Olson, attorney and founder of   Our Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm that brought the suit] “...the full ninth circuit can correct this mistake.”....  Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/02/youth-climate-lawsuit-juliana-appeals-court . 

By ROBERT F. SERVICE , Science.  Excerpt: Molybdenum compound offers an efficient way to make carbon monoxide—a building block of chemicals and fuels. Imagine if carbon dioxide (CO 2 )—the primary cause of global warming—could be collected from smokestacks and turned back into fuel. Now, chemists report the discovery of a potentially cheap and stable catalyst that can efficiently split CO 2  into carbon monoxide (CO), a molecular starting point for plastics, diesel, and jet fuels. Because renewable electricity can power these reactions, the catalyst could help make commodity chemicals without burning fossil fuels. It could also help create a market for the vast amounts of CO 2  that companies are planning on capturing not just from smokestacks, but from the  ocean and air ....  Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/cheap-catalyst-could-help-turn-carbon-dioxide-fuels . 

By Manuela Andreoni , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The residents of Maracaçumé, an impoverished town on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, are mystified by the company that recently bought the biggest ranch in the region. How can it possibly make money by planting trees, which executives say they’ll never cut down, on pastureland where cattle have been grazing for decades? ...The new company ...is a forest restoration business called Re.green. Its aim, along with a handful of other companies, is to create a whole new industry that can make standing trees, which store planet-warming carbon, more lucrative than the  world’s biggest driver  of deforestation: cattle ranching. ...About a fifth of the great rainforest is already gone. And scientist warn that rising global temperatures could push the entire ecosystem, a trove of biodiversity and a crucial regulator of the world’s climate, to collapse in the coming decades unless deforestation is halted and  an area the size of Germany is res

By Keith Bradsher , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Better batteries and falling costs underpin China’s push in electric cars. CATL, based in southeastern China and the  world’s largest manufacturer of electric car batteries , announced last week at the Beijing auto show that a 10-minute charge of its newest battery would give a range of 370 miles. A 30-minute full charge would give a range of 620 miles, the company said.... Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/business/china-electric-vehicles.html . 

By WARREN CORNWALL , Science.  Excerpt: Steelmaking, the fiery process that undergirds modern life, comes with a huge cost to the climate. Greenhouse gases gush from the burning fossil fuels that drive 1600°C blast furnaces and melt raw iron ore. Purifying the molten ore by mixing it with refined coal, or coke, releases a second, bigger surge of carbon dioxide. A third stream comes when the resulting pig iron is turned into steel by cooking it a bit further—baking off most of the remaining carbon—and alloying it with additives such as chromium or titanium. In the end, the emitted greenhouse gases weigh roughly twice as much as the steel itself. Nearly 2 billion tons of steel is produced worldwide each year, accounting for about 7% of human greenhouse gas emissions, more than Russia or the entire European Union. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is now hoping to change that. In March, DOE announced $1.5 billion in grants for low-carbon ironmaking, and last month, the agency’s Advanced