Climate change

The U.S. is nearing the end of one of its hottest summers on record. Across the nation, heat waves have driven peak electricity demand on some days to levels far exceeding seasonal averages. Grid operators rely on so-called “peaker” plants to ensure they will have enough supply to meet these demand surges. Peaker units can start up quickly and at relatively low cost, but they typically burn more fuel per unit of electricity produced than other types of fossil fuel units. Because they are less efficient than other plants, peakers typically run only during high-demand periods. Historically, peakers have run for less than 10% of the year, often for just a few hours at a stretch. Nonetheless, their higher emissions per unit of electricity produced raise environmental and health concerns. As of 2021, there were 999 peaker plants across the U.S., in all 50 states. About 70% of these plants burned natural gas, and the rest were powered by oil and coal. To reduce air p...

In order to drive the progress and development of innovative solutions that tackle climate change and help the environment, there needs to be regulatory frameworks in place that help companies make bolder steps forward, top industry CEOs told CNBC. Ester Baiget, the CEO of biosolutions firm Novozymes, said that “roadblocks” usually stand in the way of companies producing sustainable solutions which needed to be removed. “We need to work more with authorities to create the framework that we can move bolder … faster,” Baiget said on an “IOT: Powering the digital economy” panel moderated by CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We have a regulation which is based on the past,” she added, pointing out that in her own sector it can take six years to register a new microbe (or microorganism) to replace fertilizers, for example. Microbes have been put...

The record drought in the Brazilian Amazon in 2023 was caused by climate change, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets. This conclusion was reached by an international team of scientists from the Center for the Study of Weather Phenomena World Weather Attribution (WWA). “The main cause of the record drought in 2023 in the Amazonian region of Brazil was climate change caused by human activity,” says the report posted on the organization’s website. According to scientists, the influence of the El Nino phenomenon on the weather in the Amazon basin turned out to be much weaker than experts had expected. “Climate change leads to an increase in temperature and a decrease in precipitation. These factors increased the probability of an unprecedented drought in 2023 by 30 times compared to a situation in which the only factor influencing the weather would be El Nino,” the authors of the study note. Meteorologists f...

Three-quarters of the British public have a poor understanding of commonly-used climate terminology like ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘locally grown’. The majority of people in the UK struggle to understand key language to do with the climate crisis and environmental policy, a new study has found. Only a quarter of Brits responding to a poll said they understood clearly what was meant by ‘green’ and around the same number could not define the term ‘sustainable’. The survey, conducted by insights experts Trajectory and communication agency Fleet Street, shows key terminology for discussing climate change and climate protection is understood by a minority of people in the UK. So what do these words really mean and why are they so hard to comprehend? Three-quarters of Brits don’t understand key climate language The study, published on Wednesday, found that three-quarters of the British public have a...

The COP28 climate change conference called on all countries to move from fossil fuels in the global fight against climate change. The high-level climate summit was held amid extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis. The world witnessed the hottest summer on record, with the global average temperature reaching 16.77C (62.19F) from June to August. The hottest day in history was recorded on July 6, soaring to 17.23C. Rising temperatures linked to global warming spark deadly extreme weather events, with more than 11,000 lives lost in Libya’s recent flood disaster Israeli attacks on Gaza, causing civilian casualties, also unleashed an environmental and public health crisis with the use of banned munitions like white phosphorus. Anadolu covers key global environmental developments in 2023. El Nino adds to global warming effect The El Nino weather phenomenon took effect in May, leading to record temperatures worldwide. Between June and A...