Fires that destroyed Indonesian rainforests pumped out more carbon dioxide than the blazes in the Amazon this year, according to the European Union's atmosphere observation program.
Brazil’s plans for environmental protection remain unchanged even as deforestation skyrockets, but Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said the country was looking for more money to implement those plans. Salles largely repeated previously announced plans to bring more development, economic zoning and improved enforcement of environmental laws to the Amazon rainforest region, where deforestation has surged to its highest point in 11 years.
The fire danger was elevated across wider swathes of southern Australia on Thursday, with residents warned to avoid at-risk areas as smoke from bushfires choked Sydney and other major cities. Devastating fires along the country's east coast have claimed six lives and destroyed more than 500 homes since mid-October, with climate change and unseasonably hot, dry conditions fuelling the unprecedented blazes.
Sydney was shrouded in dangerous haze on Tuesday as smoke from bushfire blazing along Australia's eastern board sent contamination levels soaring in the country's biggest city.
Spain will host the COP25 climate summit in December, the UN said on Friday, after Chile abandoned plans to hold it due to deadly anti-government protests. Some 25,000 delegates had been expected in Chile for COP25, including teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Chile's President Sebastian Piñera said on Thursday that Spain has offered to host the COP25 climate conference in December after he abandoned plans to hold it in Santiago following violent protests.
Chile has withdrawn as host of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit in November and the COP25 climate conference in December after several weeks of violent unrest, President Sebastian Piñera announced on Wednesday. He described the decision as “deeply painful” but “common sense” dictated the decision to withdraw from the two major international summits.
Thousands of farmers drove their tractors into German cities on Tuesday, in protest at the government's new agricultural policies which they say will hurt their livelihoods and make them scapegoats for climate change.
Russia's navy said on Tuesday it had discovered five new islands revealed by melting glaciers in the remote Arctic. An expedition in August and September charted the islands, which have yet to be named and were previously hidden under glaciers, said the head of the northern fleet, Vice Admiral Alexander Moiseyev.
The threat of climate change has overtaken the prospect of nuclear war as the most pressing concern facing humanity, a former Colombian president and Nobel peace laureate warned on Monday.