Latest news with #CO2
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Science
- Time of India
Ocean gas that might offset global warming may rise by 2100: IITM Study
Pune: A new Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) study has revealed that a natural gas produced by tiny ocean organisms could play a bigger role in cooling the planet as global warming continues. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a sulphur-containing gas released from the oceans, is the largest natural source of sulphur in the atmosphere. This gas helps form aerosols that reflect sunlight back into space, potentially reducing global temperatures. DMS is sometimes referred to as the "cool twin" of carbon dioxide (CO2) because it has a cooling effect on the planet, while CO2 is a well-known greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. "DMS is created by microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton. When released into the air, it turns into particles (aerosols) that help form clouds. These clouds can reflect sunlight, which cools the Earth by reducing the amount of heat absorbed. Scientists have long studied DMS because it could act as a natural brake on global warming," IITM scientist Anoop Mahajan told TOI. The study, published recently, used advanced machine-learning models to predict how DMS levels in seawater and its release into the atmosphere might change from 1850 to 2100. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 자신이 전략의 달인이라고 생각하시나요? 레이드 섀도우 레전드 Undo "Unlike earlier climate models that gave conflicting results, this research offered a clearer picture. It showed that while DMS concentrations in seawater are likely to decrease in the coming decades, the amount of DMS released into the air will actually increase. This is due to stronger winds and warmer sea surface temperatures, which help push more DMS from the ocean into the atmosphere. The increase in DMS emissions could have a cooling effect on the planet," Mahajan said. As human activities, like burning coal and oil, produce less sulphur dioxide (a pollutant that also forms aerosols) because of stricter air quality rules, natural DMS will become a more important source of these cooling particles, he added. The study predicted that DMS emissions could rise by 1.6% to 3.7% by 2100, depending on how much global warming occurs. "However, this does not mean DMS will fully offset global warming. The cooling effect from increased DMS emissions is expected to be modest compared to the warming caused by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. The rise in DMS emissions is a positive feedback from nature, but it's not a silver bullet. We still need strong action to cut greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change effectively," Mahajan added. The study found that DMS emissions are likely to increase most in regions like the Arctic and southern mid-latitudes, where there are fewer human-made aerosols. In these areas, DMS could have a stronger cooling effect. However, in key ocean regions like the Southern Ocean and parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, seawater DMS levels are expected to drop, which could limit the overall cooling potential. Other institutes involved in the study included Savitribai Phule Pune University, as well as institutes from Italy, Spain and Canada.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Global warming target unlikely to be reached, UN says
United Nations (AP) The chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 is to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) benchmark stands at 70%, the united nations (UN) said. As a result, the Earth is expected to remain at historic levels of warming. This comes after the planet experienced the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to a report published by the world meteorological organization (WMO), the un's climate agency WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett said the past ten years have been the "the warmest on record," adding a warning that no respite is expected. "This means that there will be a growing negative impact on our economies, our daily lives, our ecosystems and our planet," Barrett warned. What is the 1.5C target? The 1.5-degree target was set as part of the 2015 Paris climate accords, which aimed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels. It was calculated in relation to the 1850-1900 average, before humanity began industrially burning coal, oil and gas, all of which emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the greenhouse gas largely responsible for climate change. A growing number of climate scientists now hold the 1.5-degree target to be impossible to achieve due to the increasing levels of CO2 emissions. The WMO forecasts that the global mean near-surface temperature for each year between 2025 and 2029 will be between 1.2 and 1.9 degrees Celcius above the pre-industrial average. What else are climate researchers predicting? Peter Thorne, director of the Irish climate analysis and research units group at the University of Maynooth, was cited by the AFP news agency as saying he expects the probability of passing 1.5 degrees Celcius on a long-term basis in the late 2020 or early 2030s to reach 100% in the next two to three years. According to the WMO, the chance of at least one year between 2025 and 2020 being warmer than 2024, the warmest year on record, stands at 80%. There is also an above-zero chance of at least one year in the next five exceeding 2 degrees of warming, despite it being "exceptionally unlikely," the report said. Adam Scaife of the British met office, which compiled the report based on forecasts from multiple global centers said it is the first time such a possibility arises in the organization's computer predictions, which he calls "shocking." "That probability is going to rise," he added.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Climate
- NDTV
World Body Says 70% Chance That 2025-2029 Warming Will Top 1.5 Degrees
Switzerland: The United Nations warned Wednesday there is a 70 percent chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius international benchmark. The planet is therefore expected to remain at historic levels of warming after the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to an annual climate report published by the World Meteorological Organization, the UN's weather and climate agency. "We have just experienced the 10 warmest years on record," said the WMO's deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett. "Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means that there will be a growing negative impact on our economies, our daily lives, our ecosystems and our planet." The 2015 Paris climate accords aimed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels -- and to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible. The targets are calculated relative to the 1850-1900 average, before humanity began industrially burning coal, oil, and gas, which emits carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the greenhouse gas largely responsible for climate change. The more optimistic 1.5 degrees Celsius target is one that growing numbers of climate scientists now consider impossible to achieve, as CO2 emissions are still increasing. Five-Year Outlook The WMO's latest projections are compiled by Britain's Met Office national weather service, based on forecasts from multiple global centres. The agency forecasts that the global mean near-surface temperature for each year between 2025 and 2029 will be between 1.2 degrees Celsius and 1.9 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. It says there is a 70 percent chance that average warming across the 2025-2029 period will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. "This is entirely consistent with our proximity to passing 1.5 degrees Celsius on a long-term basis in the late 2020s or early 2030s," said Peter Thorne, director of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units group at the University of Maynooth. "I would expect in two to three years this probability to be 100 percent" in the five-year outlook, he added. The WMO says there is an 80 percent chance that at least one year between 2025 and 2029 will be warmer than the warmest year on record (2024). Longer-Term Outlook To smooth out natural climate variations, several methods assess long-term warming, the WMO's climate services director Christopher Hewitt told a press conference. One approach combines observations from the past 10 years with projections for the next decade. This predicts that the 20-year average warming for 2015-2034 will be 1.44 degrees Celsius. There is no consensus yet on how best to assess long-term warming. The EU's climate monitor Copernicus reckons warming currently stands at 1.39 degrees Celsius, and projects 1.5 degrees Celsius could be reached in mid-2029 or sooner. 2Celsius warming now on the radar Although "exceptionally unlikely" at one percent, there is now an above-zero chance of at least one year in the next five exceeding 2 degrees Celsius of warming. "It's the first time we've ever seen such an event in our computer predictions," said the Met Office's Adam Scaife. "It is shocking," and "that probability is going to rise". He recalled that a decade ago, forecasts first showed the very low probability of a calendar year exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark. But that came to pass in 2024. Dangerous' level of warming Every fraction of a degree of additional warming can intensify heatwaves, extreme precipitation, droughts, and the melting of ice caps, sea ice, and glaciers. This year's climate is offering no respite. Last week, China recorded temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas, the United Arab Emirates nearly 52 degrees Celsius (126Fahrenheit), and Pakistan was hit by deadly winds following an intense heatwave. "We've already hit a dangerous level of warming," with recent "deadly floods in Australia, France, Algeria, India, China and Ghana, wildfires in Canada," said climatologist Friederike Otto of Imperial College London. "Relying on oil, gas and coal in 2025 is total lunacy." Other warnings Arctic warming is predicted to continue to outstrip the global average over the next five years, said the WMO. Sea ice predictions for March 2025-2029 suggest further reductions in the Barents Sea, the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. Forecasts suggest South Asia will be wetter than average across the next five years. And precipitation patterns suggest wetter than average conditions in the Sahel, northern Europe, Alaska and northern Siberia, and drier than average conditions over the Amazon.
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Carbon Removal Pioneer Climeworks Tackles Its First Major Layoff
By and Sommer Saadi Save Scientists are clear that meeting climate goals means ending carbon pollution and drawing down excess CO2 from the air. That's why carbon-removal technologies have proliferated over the past decade. But with the US government slashing climate incentives and programs, some companies are being forced to cut costs. This week Akshat Rathi speaks with Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder of Climeworks, a startup that pulls carbon dioxide from the air, about its first major layoff and what the future holds for the most expensive climate solution.
Japan Times
21-05-2025
- Science
- Japan Times
Fires drive tropical forest loss to 'red alert' record high
Eighteen football pitches every minute of every hour of every day: that is the record extent of tropical rainforest destroyed last year due in large measure to fires fueled by climate change, researchers reported Wednesday. Tally it all up and the world lost 67,000 square kilometers of precious primary tropical forest, an area double the size of Belgium or Taiwan. The loss was 80% higher than in 2023, according to the Global Forest Watch think tank. "This level of forest destruction is completely unprecedented in more than 20 years of data," its co-director Elizabeth Goldman said in a briefing. "This is a global red alert." Fires are responsible for nearly half of these losses, surpassing for the first time agriculture as the main driver of destruction. Loss of tree cover in 2024 — from deforestation and fires, deliberate or accidental — generated more than 3 billion tons of CO2 pollution, exceeding India's emissions from fossil fuel use over the same period. Tropical forests, which harbor the highest concentrations of biodiversity, are the most threatened of any forest biomes on the planet. They are also sponges for CO2, helping to prevent global temperatures from rising even faster than they have. Forest fires are both a cause and effect of climate change, injecting billions of tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere that in turn accelerate warming and the conditions leading to more destructive fires. Extreme conditions The exceptional fires last year were fuelled by "extreme conditions" that made them more intense and difficult to control, the authors said. Climate change driven by the massive burning of fossil fuels and boosted by natural El Nino weather phenomenon made 2024 the hottest year on record, with temperatures averaging more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Historically, most fires in tropical forests are set to clear land for agriculture and livestock, especially the so-called "big four" commodities: palm oil, soy, beef and timber. Brazil saw 2.8 million hectares of primary forest destroyed last year, two-thirds to fires typically started to make way for soybeans and cattle. In 2023, Brazil made measurable progress in reducing forest loss during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's first year after returning to office. "But this progress is threatened by the expansion of agriculture," said Sarah Carter, a researcher at the World Resources Institute in Washington. The Brazilian Amazon was most affected, with destruction at its highest level since 2016. Global Forest Watch reports on forest destruction from all causes, deliberate or accidental. This stands in contrast to the Brazilian government's monitoring network MapBiomas, which published figures last week showing a sharp decline in deforestation in 2024 — but based on narrower criteria and not including many areas ravaged by fire. New phenomenon Forest protection is high on the agenda of the COP30 U.N. climate conference that Brazil will host in November in the tropical city of Belem. Neighboring Bolivia's forest loss — 1.5 million hectares — skyrocketed by 200% last year, with a record 3.6% of primary forests destroyed in a single year, mostly due to fires set to clear land for industrial-scale farms, according to the report. The picture is mixed elsewhere, with improvements in Indonesia and Malaysia but a sharp deterioration in Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. While policies have resulted in a slowdown of the extent of forests lost to palm oil plantations, notably in Asia, the destructive footprint of other commodities has expanded, including avocados, coffee and cocoa. "We shouldn't assume that the drivers are always going to be the same," said Rod Taylor, director of the WRI's forest program. "One new driver we are seeing, for example, is linked to mining and critical minerals."
