Latest news with #climatecrisis


Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
The UN's highest court will decide Wednesday on the climate obligations of countries
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The UN's highest court is handing down a historic opinion on climate change Wednesday, a decision that could set a legal benchmark for action around the globe to the climate crisis . After years of lobbying by vulnerable island nations who fear they could disappear under rising sea waters , the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice in 2023 for an advisory opinion, a non-binding but important basis for international obligations.


Irish Times
21 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
National Development Plan to help Ireland meet climate goals, says Taoiseach
While many countries are pushing in the opposite direction, the State sees the climate crisis as a 'priority', said Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the launch of the revised National Development Plan (NDP) on Tuesday. The NDP is designed to safeguard the State's future and 'meet our climate goals', he said, as he defended spending on new roads. While much of the €275 billion in capital investment up to 2035 addresses infrastructure deficits and housing shortfalls, including capacity to deliver water and electricity connections, much spending is geared towards the scale-up of renewable energy, ensuring more robust grids and resilience from the effects of the climate crisis. The Government has identified the need to provide support for development of 'low-carbon transport projects', such as MetroLink , before 2030. READ MORE The NDP says the Government has decided, given its 'unique scale', to fund the Metrolink out of the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICNF), whose purpose is to finance investment associated with delivering on the Republic's climate and nature goals. This funding approach will 'allow the ambitious pipeline of other public transport projects', it adds. This will allow for scale-up of low-carbon transport, but also key road developments separately under the Department of Transport. The NDP, in effect, confirms the previous government's commitment to 2:1 funding in favour of public transport and active travel over roads no longer applies. The ICNF will allocate €2 billion to MetroLink. The fund is projected to grow to €14 billion overall up to 2030. Mr Martin defended spending on new roads and suggested they could be climate-friendly, as evidenced by improvements in air quality in Macroom, Co Cork, after the town was bypassed. A total of €3.5 billion is earmarked for spending by ESB Networks and EirGrid over the 2026-2030 period. 'This equity will enable both companies to increase capital investment to expand electricity transmission and distribution network infrastructure,' says the NDP. Minister for Energy Darragh O'Brien said this 'transformative investment will strengthen Ireland's energy security, support economic growth and accelerate our transition to renewable energy'. The Taoiseach said funding for MetroLink, the Greater Dublin Drainage Project (a new regional wastewater treatment facility at Clonshaugh), and a project supplying water to Dublin and parts of the east coast from the river Shannon are 'baked in', though not costed in the document. The Shannon project is to address shortages and supply vulnerabilities in the Greater Dublin Area, which are likely to become more acute with climate change and population growth. Separate to €2 billion for Uisce Éireann to provide water infrastructure for 300,000 new homes, €2.5 billion is allocated for 'key large-scale water infrastructure projects to build essential capacity for growth and increase the resilience and sustainability of water supply'. Coinciding with a new infrastructure division in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the NDP confirms projects proposed for funding, on top of economic appraisal, will have to assess impact on greenhouse gas emissions and evaluate likely 'climate-related outcomes'.


CNN
a day ago
- Politics
- CNN
Fire tornado rips through Turkish forest
Fire tornado rips through Turkish forest Turkey's forestry ministry has released video of a fire tornado tearing through the country's woodland. Hundreds of wildfires have gripped Turkey this summer, as well as Greece and other Mediterranean countries. 00:33 - Source: CNN Vertical World News 16 videos Fire tornado rips through Turkish forest Turkey's forestry ministry has released video of a fire tornado tearing through the country's woodland. Hundreds of wildfires have gripped Turkey this summer, as well as Greece and other Mediterranean countries. 00:33 - Source: CNN Concerns grow over Australia's toxic algae bloom A harmful algae bloom off the coast of South Australia, caused by high sea temperatures and runoff from flooding, is poisoning marine life and depleting oxygen in the water. The Australian government has stated that there is little that can be done to reverse the rapid rate of the climate crisis. 01:10 - Source: CNN International visitors to US will pay new fee CNN's Richard Quest explains how the Trump administration enacted a bill that will require international visitors to pay a new 'visa integrity fee' of $250 dollars. The fee will apply to all visitors who are required to obtain nonimmigrant visas to enter the US. 01:36 - Source: CNN Mexico City residents furious over gentrification Mexico City saw its second anti-gentrification protest in less than a month on Sunday with demonstrators furious over rising prices in the city and the record number of foreigners applying for a resident visa. The main nationality of those foreigners seeking to move legally to the nation's capital? The United States of America. 01:11 - Source: CNN Child flees Israeli strike on Gaza refugee camp Video shows a child running away as Israeli munitions struck near a UNRWA school in Bureij Refugee Camp behind her. 00:36 - Source: CNN China cracks down on fake "Lafufu" Labubus Fake Labubu plush toys, dubbed "Lafufu," have gained popularity due to shortages of the original dolls made by China's Pop Mart. 02:05 - Source: CNN Jair Bolsonaro denies coup charges as police raid home Police in Brazil raided the home of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and enforced a ruling from the country's Supreme Court that Bolsonaro wear an electronic ankle tag. Bolsonaro is being accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election. 01:17 - Source: CNN Taiwan conducts 10-day military drill The Taiwanese government is preparing for a war they hope will never happen. For the first time this year, Taiwan combined two major civil defense exercises, with the drills lasting ten days. These drills have included urban combat, mass casualty simulations, emergency supply drops and cyber defense that could be enacted if an invasion was to occur. CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Will Ripley, reports. 01:44 - Source: CNN Deadly flooding grips South Korea for days South Korea has been ravaged for days by intense flooding that's left more than a dozen people dead. Reuters reported more than 16 inches of rain fell in one area in just 24 hours, citing the country's Interior and Safety Ministry. 00:48 - Source: CNN Brazil's Lula tells Christiane Amanpour: Trump 'Was not elected to be emperor of the world' Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview it was 'a surprise' to see President Donald Trump's letter posted to Truth Social, threatening Brazil with a crippling tariff of 50% starting August 1st. Lula says that he initially thought the letter was 'fake news.' Watch the full 'Amanpour' interview on CNN. 01:33 - Source: CNN Gaza's only Catholic church hit by Israeli strike Gaza's only Catholic church was struck by an Israeli tank, killing three and injuring many more, church officials said. It became internationally recognized after reports emerged that the late Pope Francis used to call the church daily. CNN's Nada Bashir reports 00:53 - Source: CNN Prince Harry recreates his mother's historic landmine walk Following in his mother's footsteps, Prince Harry visited Angola's minefields just as Princess Diana did 28 years ago. The Duke of Sussex was in Angola with The Halo Trust as part of the group's efforts to clear landmines. 00:39 - Source: CNN Massive fire destroys Tomorrowland's main stage Tomorrowland's main stage went up in flames just days ahead of the festival's opening in Boom, Belgium. 00:38 - Source: CNN How Trump's image is changing inside Russia Once hailed as a pro-Kremlin figure, President Donald Trump's image is changing inside Russia. It comes after Trump vowed further sanctions on the country if a peace agreement with Ukraine is not reached in 50 days. CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent is on the ground in Moscow with the analysis. 01:41 - Source: CNN Who are the armed groups clashing in Syria? Dozens were killed in Syria this week after clashes between government loyalists and Druze militias in the southern city of Suwayda, prompting Syrian forces to intervene. That, in turn, triggered renewed Israeli airstrikes. 01:57 - Source: CNN Syrian anchor takes cover from airstrike live on TV An airstrike on the Syrian Ministry of Defense was captured live on Syria TV, forcing the anchor to take cover. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes on Syria as part of its commitment to protect the Druze, an Arab minority at the center of clashes with government loyalists. 00:30 - Source: CNN


The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Texas flood protest goes to Washington: ‘No more kids lost to climate disasters'
Twenty-seven blue, pink and purple trunks, adorned with yellow roses and other flowers, were placed within view of the White House on Monday – each representing a child who perished when Camp Mystic in Texas was overwhelmed by a devastating flood. 'We are gentle, angry people and we are singing for our lives,' sang a group of activists, including mothers from Texas, as they protested against the deadly consequences of government cuts and Donald Trump's inaction on the climate crisis. Flash floods killed at least 135 people over the Fourth of July weekend. Most of the deaths were along the Guadalupe River in Kerr county, north-west of San Antonio. State legislators were due to discuss authorities' initial response and possible improvements to warning systems in a special session on Monday. The 34 activists who gathered at the Ellipse, south of the White House, held signs that said, 'We need warnings, not cuts', 'Flood warnings came late, budget cuts came fir$t' and 'No more kids lost to climate disasters'. They attributed the fatalities in Texas not to a natural disaster but a 'preventable and politically charged crisis' stemming from government defunding of critical agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and National Weather Service. The protesters, many with direct or indirect connections to the flood's victims, also condemned a broader failure to address the climate crisis and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable. They demanded immediate policy changes, full funding for weather and disaster response agencies and a rapid transition away from coal and oil. Samantha Gore, who grew up attending a summer camp along the Guadalupe River, where fast-moving waters rose 26 feet and washed away homes and vehicles, said: 'Our hearts are broken to be here today commemorating the lives of 27 children who should be at home right now, recounting the adventures they had at summer camp. 'They did not die as a result of natural disaster. They died as a result of choices – terrible and deadly choices – made by Kerr county officials, made by the state of Texas and made by the Trump administration.' Accurate weather predictions and timely alerts could have saved lives but were hindered by systematic defunding, Gore added, noting that, since Trump took office, Noaa and the National Weather Service had lost more than 600 staff, while weather balloon launches, flood modelling tools and emergency communication systems have been suspended or scaled back in many regions. 'These cuts directly affected Texas. Key Texas weather offices are understaffed, including those responsible for issuing flood alerts. Emergency coordination at the local level has been weakened due to reduced federal support.' Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful bill', passed by Congress in time for 4 July, will make matters worse, the activists argued, with a $200m cut to Noaa's forecasting and public alert programme. The cuts were inserted late in the process by the Texas senator Ted Cruz. Gore, 43, a functional medicine nutritionist who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, said: 'As a mother in the richest country in the world, I should not have to worry every night that I won't get flood warnings in time to save my family because our government defunded our National Weather Service and Noaa. This is insanity. This is so dangerous. This is not leadership. It's a combination of cowardice and corruption.' Trump and Texas's governor, Greg Abbott, have pushed back aggressively against questions about how well local authorities responded to forecasts of heavy rain and the first reports of flash flooding. But activists called for Washington to restore all funding to Noaa, Fema and the National Weather Service, for Abbott to release funds for flood relief without partisan conditions, for polluters to be held accountable and for a rapid transition to clean energy. Nyeka Arnold, founder and executive director of the Healing Project, a grassroots non-profit in Austin, said: 'When humans don't prepare or respond to disasters, we make them worse. We need more than thoughts and prayers. We need accountability and that's why we're here.' Arnold called for investment in local communities rooted response systems as well as infrastructure funding for flood prevention and climate resilience in historically marginalised neighbourhoods. 'Emergency planning that centres equity and not just politics.' Eileen McGinnis, who launched the Parents' Climate Community in 2019, said: 'Our kids are at the frontline of the climate crisis and we see this playing out in so many ways, big and small. Summers no longer have the same sense of unbridled joy and possibility. 'Wildfire smoke, extreme heat make it dangerous for kids even to set foot out there. Young people who survived disasters like the recent floods can develop PTSD, which is compounded by poverty, repeat exposures to disasters or other sources of instability in their lives. The list goes on and on.' Monday's protest ended with a call-and-response chant: 'The people, we rise; the people, we rise; up from the wreckage, we rise; with tears and with courage, we rise; fighting for life, we rise.'


The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Legal ruling can't obscure the brutal reality of climate change for Torres Strait Islanders
As parliament returns for the first time since the May election, talk is focused on productivity, disastrous childcare failures and how Australia should position and prepare itself amid rising global turmoil. If our leaders are serious, they should also make time to look back on the events of a week ago, when federal court justice Michael Wigney handed down a judgment in Cairns that is likely to echo for years to come – and says just as much about what lies ahead as the latest rhetoric from Washington and Beijing. Much of the initial reaction to the judgment has understandably focused on the immediate bottom line. Wigney found the federal government did not have a legal responsibility to protect the Torres Strait Islands from a climate crisis that is already being experienced. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email It was a devastating result for Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai, the elders from Boigu and Saibai islands – who brought the case – their communities and the civil society representatives who supported them. But it is unlikely to be the end. And Wigney stressed that, on facts and moral weight, their case was strong. It is worth sitting with what he said in his summary. Every member of parliament should read it. Wigney found the evidence showed the Torres Strait Islands, the collection of low-lying coral cays and sand and mud islands between Cape York and Papua New Guinea, are already being ravaged – his word – by the effects of human-induced climate change. Rising sea levels, storm surges and other extreme events are causing flooding and sea-water inundation. Trees are dying and previously fertile areas affected by salination are no longer suitable for growing traditional crops. Beaches are being eroded and tidal wetlands damaged. The ocean is getting hotter and its chemistry is changing as it absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, causing coral bleaching and the loss of seagrass beds. Once abundant totemic sea creatures – dugongs and turtles – are becoming scarce. Seasonal patterns are changing and transforming migratory bird patterns. In Wigney's words, this has already had a 'profound impact' on the customary way of life in the Torres Strait. Inhabitants and traditional owners are finding it increasingly difficult to practice and observe customs, traditions and beliefs that have sustained them for generations. Sacred ancestral sites, including burial grounds and ceremonial sites, have been damaged and are constantly at risk. Increasingly, the people can not source traditional foods or engage in cultural practices. It is difficult for elders to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Consider for a moment how people would respond if these sorts of abrupt changes came to those who live in Australia's major cities – if, within a generation or two, they were losing their homes, their ability to feed their families and protect themselves from the elements It would at the very least be a constant focus in the national conversation. Our politicians would be asked about it – and motivated to respond to it – every day. Wigney's assessment of the evidence is that these changes are coming for all of us if swift action isn't taken. He found climate change 'poses an existential threat to the whole of humanity' and that many, if not most, communities in Australia are vulnerable. The people of Boigu and Sabai and neighbouring islands are at the pointy end. Given they are also more socially and economically disadvantaged than many Australians, they often lack access to the resources, infrastructure and services that would help them adapt or protect themselves. In Wigney's words: 'Unless something is done to arrest global warming and the resulting escalating impacts of climate change, there is a very real risk that the applicants' worst fears will be realised and they will lose their islands, their culture and their way of life and will become climate refugees.' The justice repeated Pabai's evidence that, if he had to leave Boigu due to it being under water, he would 'be nothing'. 'I will have nothing behind my back,' Pabai said. 'I will not be able to say I'm a Boigu man any more. How will I be able to say where I come from? I will become nobody. I will have no identity.' On one level, there is no new news here. The plight of residents on low-lying islands has been documented. But the federal court's black-and-white recognition of this evidence is noteworthy – and so is what came after it. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion Outside a legal context, it sounds pretty galling. Wigney found the case had largely succeeded in establishing the facts – particularly, that the former Liberal-National Coalition government failed to engage with, or genuinely consider, what the best available climate science said Australia should do to play its part in meeting the goals of the landmark Paris climate agreement, which it signed up to in 2015. The justice said the science 'was and is patently clear' and it was 'imperative for every country to take steps to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions'. The climate targets under the Coalition were nothing like up to that job. Wigney said the new 2030 target legislated under Labor after its election in 2022 – a 43% cut below 2005 levels – had 'some regard' to the best available science, but did not go as far as scientists say is necessary. Despite this, Wigney found the government did not owe Torres Strait Islanders a duty of care to protect them from the climate crisis, primarily because emissions reductions targets are a political decision and not subject to the common law of negligence. He said this meant there was 'no real or effective legal avenue' for people to claim damages for harm they suffer due to government decisions related to core policy – and, crucially, that this would remain the case unless the law was developed or expanded by an appeals court or new laws were introduced to parliament. There is an obvious risk of reading too much between the lines of a judgement. The Torres Strait case ultimately lost on multiple grounds. Some legal experts were not surprised. But Wigney's summary is also being read as offering encouragement and basis for a potential appeal, or an argument that can bolster future cases. Failing that, the justice said, the applicants' options were 'public advocacy and protest, and ultimately recourse via the ballot box'. Pabai, Kabai and their supporters are considering their legal options. Isabelle Reinecke, the chief executive of the Grata Fund, the charity that backed the case, says her organisation may support an appeal. She believes there could be echoes of the Gove land rights case that helped pave the way for the landmark Mabo native title high court judgment in 1992, if not Mabo itself. If nothing else, there is some distance still to run on this. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese and his cabinet are weighing decisions on a 2035 emissions reduction target, a first-time national climate risk assessment and an adaptation plan. Hopefully, beyond the technocratic detail and the calls from business groups to do next-to-nothing, they are also considering the sort of legacy they want to leave.