As ceremonies opened in Sharm El-Sheik’s grand plenary hall on Monday, only one word came to mind in trying to sum up the scene: surreal. World leaders paraded into the hall to music seemingly taken from a Star Wars film. The cast of speakers taking the stage consisted of a petro-state monarch, a friendly host […] Continue reading ->
Ahead of the global climate talks in Egypt, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments to expedite fossil fuel phase out and transition into clean energy.  “Climate change is already impacting health in many ways, through more frequent and extreme weather events, more disease outbreaks, and more mental health issues,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched the first global knowledge platform dedicated to climate and health on Monday called climahealth.info. The global open-access platform is envisaged as being the “go-to technical reference point for users of interdisciplinary health, environmental, and climate science”, according to the WHO in a media release.  […] Continue reading ->
Africa faces some of the world’s most severe health impacts from air pollution – with five countries on the continent ranking among the ten most polluted countries in the world, according to a new report by the US-based research organization Health Effects Institute.  Those countries include Niger, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritania and Cameroon, where the report, […] Continue reading ->
The existential project to save the planet set out by the 2016 Paris Agreement is in tatters. There is currently “no credible pathway” to limit increases in global temperatures to the 1.5°C degree target detailed in the accords, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said in its global emissions gap report released Thursday. The chance of […] Continue reading ->
Countries’ voluntary commitments to fight climate change will still mean an increase in global emissions by some 10.6% as of 2030, according to the latest report of UN Climate Change,  which tabulates the most recent ‘Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) of countries to the climate battle. This represents only a slight “improvement” over the commitments as […] Continue reading ->