Tag - climate-change

 
 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Sheep on the eastern shores of Lake Hawea, near the town of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 28, 2025
New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'
New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100% of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry.
Climate action is uneven worldwide, with capacity gaps and rising challenges in climate-risk disclosure underscoring the need for inclusive minimum standards that all companies and countries — especially smaller firms and developing nations — can realistically meet to ensure an effective global response.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 27, 2025
Climate disclosure is advancing — but who’s being left behind?
Global momentum for standardized climate-related disclosure remains strong, reflecting a desire to balance regulatory ambition with economic competitiveness.
Women use parasols to shelter from the sun on a hot summer day in Berlin on July 2
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 27, 2025
Germans are finally embracing air conditioning, even renters
Most homes in Germany — and in northwest Europe — don’t have AC and haven’t really needed it until heat waves became more frequent in recent years.
Children play on the splash pad in Miami Beach, Florida, on Friday as the region came under an extreme heat warning.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS
Jul 26, 2025
World court climate ruling: nonbinding but game changing
By saying that all countries were firmly bound to a swathe of legal obligations, experts say the ruling will influence climate decisions globally.
Manhattan Beach on the California coast
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 25, 2025
‘Unprecedented’ ocean heat waves in 2023 suggest climate tipping point
The world’s oceans experienced a staggering amount of warming in 2023, as vast marine heat waves affected 96% of their surface.
The city of Obihiro in Hokkaido amid scorching heat on Thursday
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2025
Extreme heat grips Japan, including even Hokkaido
Several cities in Hokkaido experienced record-high temperatures on Thursday, and Hokkaido Railway has suspended portions of its rail lines as a safety precaution.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri (right) and Lando Norris drive during the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, on July 6.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 25, 2025
Formula 1's renewable energy shift drives 26% drop in carbon footprint
F1 said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s halfway toward achieving its minimum 50% reduction target, as set out in its "net zero by 2030” commitment. 
President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Yuji Iwasawa (center) and other members issue an advisory opinion on nations' legal obligations to address climate change, at The Hague on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 24, 2025
Top U.N. court says treaties compel wealthy nations to curb global warming
The International Court of Justice said countries must address the "urgent and existential threat" of climate change.
Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu (left) welcomes United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the tarmac of Port Vila's international airport, on May 18, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
Vanuatu calls upcoming ICJ ruling a 'game-changer' for climate justice
Vanuatu's climate change minister says he hopes the International Court of Justice will say it is the "legal obligation of states to address climate change."
A nurse takes a blood sample from a child for an HIV test at a clinic in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025
Tighter borders bar poor nations from summits — on poor nations
Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations climate conference in Germany in June.
A student leaves the secondary school building built by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kere, in Kere's home village of Gando, Burkina Faso, on June 3, 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 17, 2025
How schools are being built for extreme heat — without air conditioning
With techniques such as cross-ventilation and materials such as clay, architects around the world are adapting schools to climate change without the use of air conditioning.
A drone view shows turf from Derryrush bog left out to dry after being harvested from the blanket bog in Derryrush, Ireland, in April 2024. Ireland's bogs were formed over thousands of years as decaying plants formed a thick layer of peat in wetland areas.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 16, 2025
World risks up to $39 trillion in losses from vanishing wetlands: report
Some 22% of wetlands, both freshwater systems and coastal marine systems, have disappeared since 1970, the report says.
Shahbaz Ali, a ride-hailing motorcycle driver who earns $8 on a good day, transports a passenger through the busy streets of Karachi, Pakistan, on June 26.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 15, 2025
When it’s this hot, ‘We are enduring, not living’
In Karachi, 17 million residents endure overlapping crises of toxic air, flooding, poor waste disposal and climate change.
A public school teacher leads the class during the first day of in-person classes, at a school flooded due to high tide, in Macabebe, Pampanga province, Philippines, in August 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 10, 2025
Philippines struggling to ready underfunded schools for climate hazards
Teachers want the government to do more than tweak the school calendar, and also invest in infrastructure that will make schools resilient to heat and storms.
A member of the Nepalese army airlifts people stranded during the flood at Bhote Koshi River in Nepal on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 10, 2025
Tibetan glacial lake drainage triggered deadly flood in Nepal, climate body says
At least 19 people are still missing in Nepal following the flood.
A team of technicians from climate startup Recoolit work to capture emissions from a large air conditioning unit in the basement of a housing complex in Jakarta on June 10.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 10, 2025
In Indonesia, a startup captures coolants to stop global warming
With cooling demand increasing as the planet warms, concern is growing over highly polluting refrigerants. Enter the Recoolit startup.
In the European Parliament, the plan for urgent consideration of the greenhouse gas reduction law aimed at cutting emissions 90% by 2040 from 1990 levels was backed by the Socialists & Democrats, Renew and Greens.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 10, 2025
EU’s far right to help shape 2040 climate goals after vote fails
An initiative to fast-track legislation, which would have stripped power from the climate-skeptical Patriots of Europe group, on the European Union's 2040 climate goals failed.
Jung Yong-sun, a local official tasked with pest-control duties, poses while wearing a plastic netted onion bag for protection from "lovebugs" on the peak of Gyeyangsan Mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 9, 2025
South Korea battles 'lovebug' invasion amid climate change
Seoul is now annually hit by a weeks-long infestation of a type of March fly whose distinctive mating behavior earned it the nickname.
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2025
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Included among the alerts were the first of the year for central Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.
Private companies are rushing into risky, profit-driven geoengineering projects to fight climate change without clear regulations, raising fears of dangerous unintended consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2025
Geoengineering’s risks need to be studied more
With for-profit organizations already releasing chemicals into the oceans, it’s important for scientists with no financial stake in this industry to collect data.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past