Tag - climate

 
 

CLIMATE

A farmer salvages some of the harvest from a flooded rice field near Hanoi on Sept. 24
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 16, 2024
AI enhances flood warnings but cannot fully erase risk of disaster
One issue is that the effectiveness of an artificial intelligence model is only as good as the information it is fed.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba chairs an Asia Zero Emission Community meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Oct 13, 2024
Where does Shigeru Ishiba stand on the climate issue?
Ishiba appears to be charting a new course on renewable energy, especially with a nascent effort to tap Japan's bountiful geothermal potential.
The Tomakomai carbon, capture and storage test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, in March 2018. The true benefits of carbon removal won’t be realized until we get close to net zero emissions.
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2024
Geoengineering can save the planet — if we demystify it
The percentage of Americans who say they trust scientists on the environment has declined to 67% this year from 75% in 2020.
A woman struggles as she heads toward a shelter in Lakeland, Florida, on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton approaches the region.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 10, 2024
How climate change is contributing to the intensity of hurricanes
Scientists have linked high ocean temperatures to the rapid intensification of hurricanes.
Coal-fired power plants in Bataan, the Philippines, in June 2023. A third of the 158 agreements signed under the Japan-led Asia Zero Emission Community are linked to fossil fuel technologies, a recent study by a climate research group has found.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 9, 2024
Japan pushes fossil fuel tech in Asia carbon neutrality initiative
A third of the 158 agreements signed under the Japan-led Asia Zero Emission Community are linked to fossil fuel technologies, according to a report.
"The Quad" security grouping is taking additional steps to address climate change as a security challenge, including supporting adaptation measures such as early warning systems in Pacific island countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 9, 2024
'The Quad’ shows concern over climate change as security threat
At the recent "Quad" summit, measures were taken to respond to the threat of climate change, increasingly viewed as a security concern for the Indo-Pacific region.
United Arab Emirates Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber speaks during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Nov. 30, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 8, 2024
Top of the COPs: The key U.N. climate summits
The United Nations has been holding global climate summits, or COPs (Conference of the Parties), since 1995.
A solar power plant operated by Chubu Electric Power in Aichi Prefecture. Japan's significant renewable energy potential is little understood, even by its political leaders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 7, 2024
To empower Japan, new PM has to get hot on renewables
LDP leadership candidates all toed the party line on energy policy. But now, as Ishiba deals with the reality of governing, renewable ambitions need to be stepped up.
A showroom in Budapest for electric vehicles made by BYD, a Chinese auto manufacturer, on Sept. 16
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Oct 7, 2024
Climate change and economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
EU states have voted to impose tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, but experts say this complicates the push to get cleaner cars on the road.
Construction at Michaelerplatz in Vienna, Austria, in July
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 7, 2024
Europe’s urban dilemma: Saving the past from a warming future
European cities face a tough choice: adapt to rising heat or preserve historical landmarks.
A girl charges her phone at the Delpan Evacuation Center after Typhoon Kammuri hit Manila in December 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 7, 2024
Crowd-sourcing data could help Philippines tackle deadly floods
The Philippines is hit by around 20 large storms every year and, due to climate change, that is expected to only get worse.
A man wades through water in an area affected by monsoon flooding in Roshi village in Nepal's Kavre district on Sept. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 7, 2024
Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated neighborhoods in Kathmandu.
A flag with the logo of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference in front of the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue of the summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sept. 19
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 7, 2024
Environment takes center stage as global summits loom
The upcoming session isn't expected to break new ground but will take stock of progress since the last summit secured historic assurances for biodiversity.
The units under construction at Jera's liquefied natural gas fired power plant inside the company's Anegasaki Thurmal Power Station in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, in June 2022
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2024
Japan and South Korea to expand initiative to cut methane emissions
Methane's greenhouse effect is believed to be more than 20 times that of carbon dioxide. Leaks of methane from gas fields are a major issue that need to be dealt with.
HIF Global's Haru Oni clean hydrogen plant in Punta Arenas, Chile, last month
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / FOCUS
Oct 5, 2024
Latin America gears up for clean hydrogen boom but the road is not smooth
Government leaders expect a major boom for the region from clean hydrogen, produced using electricity from renewable sources that do not emit carbon.
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 5, 2024
Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts 
The disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems and may lead to "secondary knock-on extinctions."
In recent months, some of the biggest would-be developers of green hydrogen have canceled projects, axed orders and scaled back investment plans.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 4, 2024
Green hydrogen hype fades as high costs force project retreat
Some of the biggest would-be developers of the fuel have canceled projects in recent months.
A section of forest in part of the Natura 2000 nature protection areas in Kirkkonummi, Finland, in July 2021.
WORLD
Oct 4, 2024
Europe’s global green ambitions push too hard once again
Europe forged an aggressive timetable three years ago to curb global deforestation, but it proved too much for some.
Starbucks has 10 support centers around the world where agronomists work with farmers on research and best practices.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024
Starbucks buys research farms as climate change threatens coffee supply
Bolstering the coffee industry’s climate resilience has taken on fresh urgency this year.
A gas station damaged by Hurricane Helene in Perry, Florida, on Sept. 27. Extreme weather and climate change are exposing the flaws in how we handle hazardous waste.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2024
Toxic waste is at the mercy of climate change
Among Hurricane Helene’s roster of disasters is a storm surge that deluged a retired nuclear power plant in Florida. While radioactive material there remains secure, according to operator Duke Energy, one of the plant’s industrial wastewater ponds overflowed amid the flood. With luck, any resulting...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb