Climate Change & Environment
Latest stories
Japan's Lofty 'Hydrogen Society' Vision Hampered by Cost

Japan has lofty ambitions to become a "hydrogen society" where homes and fuel-cell cars are powered by the emissions-free energy source, but observers say price and convenience are keeping the plan from taking off.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dubbed hydrogen the "energy of the future", and hopes it will help Tokyo meet the modest emissions targets it has set ahead of a U.N. climate change conference this month.

W140 Full Story
Blowing in the Wind: How to Stop Cow Burps Warming Earth

At her farm nestled in the green hills of northwestern France, Marie-Francoise Brizard is helping to curb a planet-wide menace: farting and belching cows implicated in global warming.

So far this year, Brizard says she has cut methane emissions from her herd of 40 Normandy cows that are equivalent to 32 tonnes of climate-changing carbon dioxide.

W140 Full Story
Persian Gulf May be Too Hot for Human Survival by 2090. Here’s What this Means for Your City

A study predicting deadly heat waves in the Persian Gulf by the century’s end has underscored concerns about the effects of rising global temperatures on cities in other parts of the world, including the United States.

Monday’s report in the journal Nature Climate Change warned that Persian Gulf cities could experience extreme summer temperatures that are literally too hot for human survival. But scientists say climate change will inevitably lead to hotter, longer heat waves and higher rates of heat-related deaths across large swaths of the planet.

W140 Full Story
World Leaders to Attend Paris Climate Summit

At least 80 world leaders, including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, David Cameron and Narendra Modi, will attend a summit tasked with agreeing a global climate pact in Paris in December.

Diplomats endorsed the outlines of the proposed deal in Bonn on Friday after five days of fraught negotiation that highlighted just how much work remains to be done in Paris.

W140 Full Story
Seagrass Gardens are Needed to Cap the Carbon Bomb in the Oceans

Stopping the underwater carbon emissions time bomb could require widespread seagrass transplantation.

Seagrass is up to 35 times more efficient at sequestering carbon than rainforests, and stores it for millennia in the sediment below.

W140 Full Story
Hollande: Chinese Support on Climate Change 'Essential'

French President Francois Hollande said Monday that Chinese support was "essential" to reaching an effective deal at the forthcoming climate change conference in Paris, as he began a visit to the Asian giant.

In the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, Hollande said he was seeking "a global and ambitious agreement that will allow [global] warming to be limited to two degrees".

W140 Full Story
Sean Penn Says Paris Climate Talks 'Last Great Hope'

Hollywood star Sean Penn said Sunday the upcoming climate talks in Paris were the "last great chance" to stop the planet overheating.

Penn, one of Hollywood's most socially engaged actors and directors, was in the French capital to meet Environment Minister Segolene Royal with less than a month to go until the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference begins.

W140 Full Story
Brazil, Land of Water, Goes Thirsty

The sign -- "risk of drowning" -- outside one of Rio de Janeiro's freshwater reservoirs looks like a joke: there's no water here left to drown in.

Instead, the Saracuruna reservoir near Duque de Caxias, outside Rio, is an expanse of sand, mud and vegetation. Four stray dogs scamper and cattle come to drink from a stream still running through the middle.

W140 Full Story
Fishing Main Hurdle to Antarctic Marine Reserves, Says Australia

Access to fishing was the main stumbling block to agreement on two vast marine reserves in Antarctica, the head of the Australian delegation to international talks said Saturday.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) wrapped up talks Friday without securing the required consensus on the marine protected areas (MPAs) designed to conserve the pristine wilderness which is home to penguins, seals and whales.

W140 Full Story
Beverly Hills Nailed for Not Cutting back on Water Use

Four California cities, including upscale Beverly Hills, got slapped with fines on Friday for failing to cut back on water use as the west coast U.S. state struggles with a historic drought.

The wealthy district's water utility was fined $61,000 dollars along with the desert cities of Indio, Redlands and Coachella.

W140 Full Story