Latest news with #CarbonBrief
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists make chilling discovery hidden deep within centuries-old ice cores: 'We need to raise the alarm'
A group of scientists is in a race against time in the Arctic. Valuable climate data is at risk of disappearing as our overheating planet melts glacier ice. Our warming world is melting glaciers and ice sheets, and crucial climate data is vanishing along with them, reported Carbon Brief. A team of scientists is studying the Blombstrandbreen glacier, located approximately halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, to determine the degree of damage caused by meltwater penetrating deep into the ice. "If you imagine an ice core like a book containing important information, what is happening is almost like someone has spilled a cup of tea all over the pages," Dorothea Moser, a British Antarctic Survey scientist, told Carbon Brief. "The melting of ice cores is a big issue and we need to raise the alarm — but we also can't give up on them completely yet." The ice cores that are extracted from glaciers such as Blombstrandbreen hold vital information that helps scientists reconstruct past climate conditions. Air bubbles trapped inside the ice can provide scientists with a glimpse into the past, as the gases present when the ice formed are stored within them. Scientists can glean valuable information from this type of "proxy data." "Paleoclimatologists gather proxy data from natural recorders of climate variability such as corals, pollen, ice cores, tree rings, caves, pack rat middens, ocean and lake sediments, and historical data," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "By analyzing records taken from these and other proxy sources, scientists can extend our understanding of climate far beyond the instrumental record." The Arctic is warming at a rate nearly four times faster than Earth's average. "Arctic amplification" means the region's ice is rapidly melting and putting crucial climate data at risk of being lost forever. On the opposite side of the Earth, scientists say some of Antarctica's glaciers may have entered a phase of irreversible melting. Arctic ice melt is a danger to our communities for a number of reasons. It can contribute to higher tides during extreme weather events, increase the spread of disease, and disrupt food chains and marine ecosystems. Moving away from dirty energy sources that release heat-trapping gases into our atmosphere is crucial to cooling our planet. There have been some promising breakthroughs in cleaner, renewable energy sources such as solar energy. Japanese researchers have developed the world's highest-efficiency solar cells, which offer the added benefit of being more eco-friendly. Going solar with a battery system not only strengthens your home's resilience to extreme weather and outages; it also drastically cuts your reliance on dirty energy and can bring your energy costs down to at or near $0. With EnergySage, you can easily compare quotes from vetted installers and save up to $10,000 in the process. Learning about critical climate issues and sharing that information with friends and family can help bring attention to things such as vanishing glaciers and ice sheets. It could inspire them to take action and fight for the future of our planet. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Bloomberg
29-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China Set to Reach Peak Emissions Before 2030, Ex-Official Says
China's emissions will likely peak a few years ahead of its self-set deadline of 2030, according to a former top economic official. China, which has led the world in clean energy investments for years, is showing sustained reductions in its carbon emissions, said Zhu Guangyao, who was the country's vice minister of finance from 2010 to 2018. He cited research published on CarbonBrief earlier this month that showed China had reduced emissions 1% over the past 12 months, and saw a 1.6% drop in just the first quarter this year.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
The rumours were true: China's greenhouse gas emissions are falling
It began last year with some optimistic projections. Climate scientists studying emissions data from China detected a positive signal. There were signs that the world's single largest climate polluter might have halted the growth of its greenhouse emissions. Perhaps it had even begun to drive them down. If this was true, it was a remarkable achievement. China had not been expected to meet this goal until 2030. This is a sign of hope, says Laurie Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute. Myllyvirta detected the trend in 2023 and reported it in an analysis for Carbon Brief, a British publication specialising in climate change science and policy. But the data back then was not yet clear. China's emissions may have peaked, or may have been about to. Now the evidence is in. China's emissions were down 1.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1 per cent in the latest 12 months, according to Myllyvirta's analysis of new economic and climate data. China's rapid deployment of electricity supply from new wind and solar infrastructure as well as hydro and nuclear, alongside its efforts to electrify its economy – particularly through the rapid roll-out of electric vehicles – has displaced coal and oil use and thereby cut emissions.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
The rumours were true: China's greenhouse gas emissions are falling
It began last year with some optimistic projections. Climate scientists studying emissions data from China detected a positive signal. There were signs that the world's single largest climate polluter might have halted the growth of its greenhouse emissions. Perhaps it had even begun to drive them down. If this was true, it was a remarkable achievement. China had not been expected to meet this goal until 2030. This is a sign of hope, says Laurie Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute. Myllyvirta detected the trend in 2023 and reported it in an analysis for Carbon Brief, a British publication specialising in climate change science and policy. But the data back then was not yet clear. China's emissions may have peaked, or may have been about to. Now the evidence is in. China's emissions were down 1.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1 per cent in the latest 12 months, according to Myllyvirta's analysis of new economic and climate data. China's rapid deployment of electricity supply from new wind and solar infrastructure as well as hydro and nuclear, alongside its efforts to electrify its economy – particularly through the rapid roll-out of electric vehicles – has displaced coal and oil use and thereby cut emissions.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Green Energy Surge Has Caused CO2 Emissions to Fall for the First Time
As countries like the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom appear to be backpedaling on climate pledges, China is showing some massive results on its quest to reverse carbon emissions. The latest analysis of China's annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions found that they slid by 1.6 percent nationwide compared to the same quarter last year. Year-to-date emissions were down one percent compared to the same date in 2024. Analysis by Carbon Brief, a UK-based climate publication, attributed the decline in CO2 output to green energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear infrastructure, cutting the need for coal-powered energy. It notes that the drop in CO2 output came despite a nationwide surge in energy demand. While previous drops in China's noxious exhaust coincided with lower energy use overall, this is the first time the country could directly credit its green energy strategy for a fall in CO2 output — a huge win. The report further found that China's clean power generation has grown faster than the current and long-term growth in electricity demand, as power-sector emissions — separate from the rest of the nation — fell two percent from March 2024 to 2025. While that's a positive sign in the short term, it could be the start of the massive structural change in China's emission trends that Carbon Brief predicted back in 2023. That said, the publication noted the current CO2 emissions were only one percent lower than China's latest peak, which may imply that a short-term increase in energy use could offset the decline. Even if that happens, it won't erase the fact that green energy is starting to have a noticeable impact on the fast-growing nation. China has invested gobs of cash into green energy in recent years, as part of its 14th five-year national plan, which kicked off in 2021. By 2024, green energy infrastructure made up over 10 percent of China's total GDP, surpassing even the country's real estate market. Now nearing the end of the five-year plan, sustainability forecasting indicates that China could command more than half of all renewable energy in the world by 2030. Though The People's Republic of China as we know it today still has a ways to go on breaking its massive dependence on coal, it's come remarkably far on energy since its inception in 1949 — growing from a semi-feudal collection of fiefdoms to a world-leader in a fraction of the time it's taken countries like the United States. China is already the global frontrunner in electric cars, solar infrastructure, and robotics production. They're working on a world-first Thorium-powered nuclear reactor, which, when up and running, would all but eliminate the threat of a nuclear meltdown. All this while Chinese citizens are set to become the largest consumer base on the planet — throwing a bit of a wrench into the Western stereotype of sweatshops and poverty. More on China: All AI-Generated Material Must Be Labeled Online, China Announces
