Last year, 50 percent less area was deforested in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest compared to 2022, but deforestation in the Cerrado, a tropical wet savannah important for ecology and the climate, increased by 43 percent in the same period. This was reported by several media outlets citing the Brazilian space agency INPE. The Cerrado, which covers […]
Risk specialists consider extreme weather conditions and disinformation the most likely triggers of a global crisis in the coming years. This is according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report published Wednesday. It was compiled in the run-up to the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in cooperation with the Zurich Insurance Group and the risk […]
Mr. Bachmann, the flood levels in Germany are dropping again. Does this mean that the danger of an even greater disaster has been averted?The biggest danger is over for now. The weather looks good: No further precipitation is predicted for the coming days and the water levels will continue to fall. The frost is good […]
The unusual drought in the Amazon region continues, even though the rainy season should have started in December. This heightens concerns that the ecosystem could reach a tipping point as a result of heat, drought and deforestation, beyond which it would be irreversibly altered. The region’s rain cycle could collapse. The consequences would also affect […]
How clearly did COP28 herald the end of the fossil fuel age? COP resolutions are packed with semantic nuances. No wonder, as they are meant to advance international climate action while being accepted by all countries negotiating at the UN climate summits – including petrostates.The Global Stocktake, the core document of this year’s COP, is […]
Adaptation to climate change only received its due political attention in Dubai towards the end of COP28. After the long blockade of the negotiating track, partly by the Arab countries, parties had very little time to work on the content of the text.The summit’s final declaration on the framework for the Global Adaptation Goal (GGA) […]
Whales are not something you would expect to see in the Arabian desert – not even in a rich oil state whose fossil fuel resources make many absurdities possible. But in the middle of the COP grounds, sounds reminiscent of whale songs can actually be heard.You know the situation: Another stressful day at the office, […]
Climate summits always involve very, very long walks. Especially in Dubai, where more people have gathered than at any other UN climate conference before, and the summit grounds seem like a spacious small town.The distances are correspondingly long. 10,000 steps a day? Laughable. COP participants easily walk much longer distances. An unofficial survey among colleagues […]
Time is running out for the new Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), which is to be adopted in Dubai. The delegations only received a foundation on which to negotiate the content three days before the end of the climate summit. The draft was presented on Sunday at 8.30 a.m. local time. Previously, the presidency had […]
The exit from coal, oil and gas – not just from fossil emissions, as is currently also under discussion – is one of the core demands of NGOs at COP28. They quickly formulated a common position for negotiations at the summit. “Strategic cooperation for the exit from fossil fuels is working well,” says Christoph Bals, […]