Environmental Policies News

December 5, 2023

Top Headlines

Top 10 Climate Science Insights Unveiled

Dec. 5, 2023 — A new report equips policymakers with the latest and most pivotal climate science research from the previous 18 months, synthesized to help inform negotiations at COP28 and policy implementation through 2024 and ...

Fossil CO2 Emissions at Record High in 2023

Dec. 4, 2023 — Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have risen again in 2023 -- reaching record levels, according to new ...

1.5°C Pathways Can Still Be Achieved, Combining Fairness and Global Climate Protection

Dec. 4, 2023 — Global warming can still be limited to 1.5°C by 2100 while ensuring that the poor are not hit hardest by climate policies and climate impacts. This is achieved by immediately introducing broad ...

What Makes Sustainable Consumption So Difficult

Nov. 30, 2023 — When it comes to self-discipline, psychological research traditionally focuses on individual responsibility. Some researchers believe this is too short-sighted. Self-discipline doesn't work without effective ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:11pm EST

Climate: Why Disinformation Is So Persistent

Nov. 30, 2023 — Melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, extreme heat waves: the consequences of climate change are more visible than ever, and the scientific community has confirmed that humans are responsible. Yet ...

Scientists Create Framework to Guide Development and Assessment of Urban Climate Action Plans

Nov. 29, 2023 — With the world projected to be highly urbanized by 2050, cities are encouraged to take urgent climate actions to mitigate and adapt to the threats of ...

Commitments Needed to Solve Aviation's Impact on Our Climate

Nov. 28, 2023 — Researchers could find no simple solution to limiting non-CO2 emissions from ...

A Fifth Higher: Tropical Cyclones Substantially Raise the Social Cost of Carbon

Nov. 23, 2023 — Extreme events like tropical cyclones have immediate impacts, but also long-term implications for societies. A new study now finds: Accounting for ...

'Not Dead Yet': Experts Identify Interventions That Could Rescue 1.5°C

Nov. 22, 2023 — To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit global heating to 1.5°C, global annual emissions will need to drop radically over the coming decades. Climate economists say that this goal could ...

Mind the Gap: Caution Needed When Assessing Land Emissions in the COP28 Global Stocktake

Nov. 22, 2023 — The land use, land use change, and forestry sector plays a strong role in achieving global climate targets, but a gap exists between how scientists ...

Outlook on Scaling of Carbon Removal Technologies

Nov. 21, 2023 — The research makes it clear that ensuring the sustained well-being of our planet requires a more serious commitment toward new carbon dioxide removal technologies, and a faster scale-up of their ...

Reforms Needed to Expand Prescribed Burns

Nov. 16, 2023 — A new paper pinpoints obstacles and suggests strategies for getting more prescribed fire on the ground in the wildfire-prone U.S. ...

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution for the Net-Zero Grid

Nov. 16, 2023 — As power generation from sources like solar and wind increases, along with the introduction of devices such as heat pumps and batteries, a new optimization tool will help the UK plan for a greener ...

Nuclear Expansion Failure Shows Simulations Require Change

Nov. 16, 2023 — A team of researchers looked back at a model that predicted nuclear power would expand dramatically in order to assess the efficacy of energy policies implemented ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Powerful Financial Giants Could Play Vital Role in Preventing the Next Pandemic

Dec. 5, 2023 — For the first time, researchers have mapped the financial sector's influence on the emergence of infectious diseases. They find that a relatively small number of powerful financial institutions, ...

Botany Must Feature More Prominently on the School Curriculum to Promote Awareness of Climate Change, Study Warns

Dec. 4, 2023 — Children must be taught more about the importance of plants if education about climate change and sustainability is to be effective, experts have ...

A 'Fish Cartel' for Africa Could Benefit the Countries, and Their Seas

Nov. 13, 2023 — Banding together to sell fishing rights could generate economic benefits for African countries, which receive far less from access to their fisheries on the global market than other countries do from ...

Diverse Forests Hold Huge Carbon Potential, as Long as We Cut Emissions

Nov. 13, 2023 — New study estimates that natural forest recovery could capture approximately 226 Gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon, but only if we also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving these results requires ...

Wildfire, Drought Cause $11.2 Billion in Damage to Private Timberland in Three Pacific States, Study Finds

Nov. 13, 2023 — Wildfires and drought have led to $11.2 billion in damages to privately held timberland in California, Oregon and Washington over the past two decades, a new Oregon State University study ...

Low-Intensity Fires Reduce Wildfire Risk by 60%

Nov. 10, 2023 — High-intensity, often catastrophic, wildfires have become increasingly frequent across the Western U.S. Researchers quantified the value of managed low-intensity burning to dramatically reduce the ...

Scientists Caution Against a Reliance on Mechanical Devices to Clear Water Bodies of Plastic

Nov. 9, 2023 — An international group of scientists has called for the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution to focus more on measures to reduce the production and consumption of plastics and the prevention ...

Plastics Treaty Must Tackle Problem at Source

Nov. 9, 2023 — The new Global Plastics Treaty must tackle the problem at source, researchers say. They say the treaty must prioritize 'upstream' issues: cutting total production and consumption of ...

Southern Alaska's National Forests Key to Meeting Climate, Conservation Goals

Nov. 8, 2023 — Analyses of U.S. national forests shows that increased protections for two Alaskan forests is a key to meeting climate and biodiversity ...

Africa's Dangerous Air Pollution Levels Are a Global Problem, Says New Research

Nov. 7, 2023 — A new report has brought to light the challenge of air pollution levels in Africa and why international action is needed to combat ...

Energy Transition: A Super-Model to Guide Policy Makers

Nov. 6, 2023 — How can we ensure that an energy policy will achieve its objectives? To find out, scientists and public authorities can rely on computer models of varying degrees of accuracy. However, these models ...

Threatened Sharks and Rays Caught Off Cyprus

Nov. 6, 2023 — Sharks and rays from threatened species are being caught off northern Cyprus, according to a new study by scientists who are working with local authorities and fishers to protect the ...

Food Waste Prevention in Europe Can Generate Major Footprint Savings

Nov. 6, 2023 — New calculations show that the European countries have great potential for reducing the demand for global food resources and the associated GHG footprint. Researchers have estimated the climate ...

Decarbonizing Light-Duty Transportation in the United States: Study Reveals Strategies to Achieve Goal

Nov. 6, 2023 — Researchers found that meeting greenhouse gas emissions goals for light-duty vehicles, which are passenger vehicles such as cars and trucks, is possible, but not just by increasing electric vehicle ...

AI Trained to Identify Least Green Homes

Nov. 2, 2023 — First of its kind AI-model can help policy-makers efficiently identify and prioritize houses for retrofitting and other decarbonizing ...

Cultural Adaptation to Climate Change

Oct. 30, 2023 — Examining how human culture evolves in response to a changing environment may help with creating more effective climate change adaptation efforts. Using farming data from across the U.S., a team of ...

Window to Avoid 1.5°C of Warming Will Close Before 2030 If Emissions Are Not Reduced

Oct. 30, 2023 — Without rapid carbon dioxide emission reductions, the world has a 50% chance of locking in 1.5°C of warming before ...

Marine Protected Areas and Climate Change

Oct. 26, 2023 — New research offers a way to build climate resilience into the designs of ocean and coastal areas intended to protect marine species. The researchers recommend establishing numerous marine protected ...

New Method to Analyze Implications of Large-Scale Flood Adaptation

Oct. 25, 2023 — In a test of their new analysis tool, researchers show where 'moving up' or 'moving over' may make the most sense for those affected by the 2022 Pakistan flood, and what costs it ...

UK Air Pollution Regulations Will Reduce Deaths, but Do Little to Protect Ecosystems

Oct. 25, 2023 — Existing air pollution regulations will reduce thousands of premature adult deaths in the UK, but even the most effective technically feasible actions, which will save thousands more lives, will do ...

Tuesday, December 5, 2023