The Independent - Climate Change RSS Feed

UN chief: G8 must go further on emissions

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Developing countries agreed last night to limit the rise in global temperatures due to climate change but rejected pleas by rich nations to sign up to a specific target to cut their carbon emissions.

The Big Question: Will it really be possible to meet the G8's climate change targets?

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Grace Boyle: The Riverkeeper, the factories, and the daily battle to quell 170m litres of toxic effluent

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:59:44 GMT

Jose is the Riverkeeper, the first in Asia. His guard is the Periyar River.

US agrees landmark pledge to slash emissions

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The world's richest nations agreed last night to cut their carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 in a dramatic attempt to secure a new global deal to combat climate change.

Major nations drop goal of halving C02

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:03:39 GMT

Major nations have failed to agree to set a goal halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a draft document ahead of talks tomorrow - a setback to efforts to secure a new UN climate pact.

U2's 'massive carbon footprint' called into question

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:15:07 GMT

U2 and Bono’s long-held commitment to “save the planet” has come into question after it emerged they have a carbon footprint big enough to fly the band to Mars and back.

Heatwave continues

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:13:24 GMT

With two disappointing summers behind us, members of the public are making the most of the sunshine as they take time out to enjoy the hot weather.

Grace Boyle: Pollution is choking the beating heart of Bangalore

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:52:22 GMT

"I am not against development", said the filmmaker I met with today. "Of course not. "But the question we must ask ourselves is, development for whom, and at whose cost?"

Democrats in final push on landmark energy bill

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The United States was preparing to step out of the foot-dragging column in the global climate change debate as members of Congress appeared poised late last night to push through a landmark energy bill to impose strict limits for the first time on greenhouse emissions from all polluting industries.

Grace Boyle: 'Water is too basic a need and therefore, becomes too powerful an emotional issue'

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:39:17 GMT

My desk in the Greenpeace office is on the veranda, tucked under the last lip of roof cover. This means that when it's raining, like it's doing now, the water falls only a foot away, so I can reach out with my fingers and touch it.

Miliband: 2020 is year of no return for emissions

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The world's emissions of the greenhouse gases causing global warming should peak in 2020 and then start to decline, the British Government is proposing in the run-up to the global climate conference taking place at Copenhagen in December.

She's 101 – meet Britain's oldest green campaigner

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

At the age of 101, Kathy Dimock has lived through two world wars and too many prime ministers to remember. For most of her lifetime the phrases "global warming" and "climate change" had not been coined. But now she is Britain's oldest eco-warrior.

The outlook for the rest of the century: 40C summer days

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Frightening temperature increases which would make life difficult if not intolerable are forecast for Britain during the course of the coming century, according to the latest detailed Government predictions of how climate change may affect the United Kingdom.

Tougher action needed to cut greenhouse gases

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:32:32 GMT

Environmentalists called today for tougher action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of the publication of new predictions of how climate change will affect the UK in coming decades.

Climate change divides the Alps down the middle

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The dramatic effect of climate change on the Alps comes into focus as never before this week with the publication of a major report which reveals that the mountain range is rapidly dividing into two contrasting climatic zones, each posing new problems.

Leaders called to special climate talks

Sat, 30 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

World leaders are to meet for an unprecedented second summit on climate change this year to try to get agreement on a tough new treaty by December, and may even get together for a third time before the end of the year.

Climate crisis equal to nuclear arms threat

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Climate change poses as great a threat to the world as the nuclear arms race, scientists warned yesterday as they called on leaders to take urgent action to tackle the problem.

Obama's climate guru: Paint your roof white!

Tue, 26 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Some people believe that nuclear power is the answer to climate change, others have proposed green technologies such as wind or solar power, but Barack Obama's top man on global warming has suggested something far simpler – painting your roof white.

The Big Question: Is America finally getting real about climate change?

Mon, 25 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Eco-vandals take on the gas-guzzlers

Fri, 22 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Police are searching for a gang of radical environmental activists after a series of attacks on 4x4 vehicles.

Obama opens new front in climate change battle

Tue, 19 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The United States served notice yesterday that it finally intends to take firm action to combat the planet's climate crisis, announcing unprecedented plans to regulate vehicle emissions from 2012 with exhaust standards that match those sought for years by California and a handful of other states.

Explorer Hadow returns after months on thin ice

Sat, 16 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Pen Hadow is used, figuratively, to living on thin ice. The explorer – the first person ever to trek alone and unaided to the North Pole – habitually pushes himself far beyond the limits of normal human endurance. But for the past two and a half months he has been on it literally as well.

The Catlin Arctic Survey Team are on their way home

Fri, 15 May 2009 14:31:02 GMT

After 73 days, 17 hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds on the ice, the team were successfully picked up from the ice at 1800 BST yesterday.

Google Ocean shows effects of climate change

Fri, 15 May 2009 07:24:57 GMT

The same satellite technology that allows more than 500 million users to view everything from the Grand Canyon to a neighbour's backyard is now helping them glide through the depths of the ocean, track a whale or compare reviews of their favourite dive locations.

Melting ice could cause gravity shift

Thu, 14 May 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The melting of one of the world's largest ice sheets would alter the Earth's field of gravity and even its rotation in space so much that it would cause sea levels along some coasts to rise faster than the global average, scientists said yesterday.