Latest Climate Change Headlines
All the headlines from our Climate Change Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Report: Florida Will See Noticeable Climate Change Impacts in 20 Years
Feb 6 2020 // When scientists talk about climate change effects like sea level rise and extreme temperatures, they’re typically referring to things predicted to start noticeably occurring as soon as, say 2050, or into the next...
Most UK Insurers, Banks Unprepared for Risks of Climate Change
Jan 31 2020 // The Bank of England faces an uphill climb to get the finance industry ready for one of its biggest threats: the climate. About 80% of senior finance executives believe their firms “lack well-developed strategies to...
Oil Giant Total Sued by 14 French Cities, NGOs over Failure to Cut Carbon Emissions
Jan 28 2020 // Oil giant Total SA is being sued by 14 local governments and a handful of non-governmental organizations in France for not doing enough to reduce its carbon emissions and fight global warming. The legal challenge is the...
Miami Aims To Be Carbon Neutral by 2050 Under ‘Climate Ready’ Plan
Jan 28 2020 // With sea level rise already lapping at its door, the city of Miami made its first significant commitment to address the root cause of climate change, not just the symptoms. The city government plans to go carbon neutral by...
Making Big Oil Pay for Climate Change May Be Impossible
Jan 24 2020 // Exxon Mobil dodged a bullet last month when a judge rejected a novel climate-change lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general. The case began with a promise from state officials that there would be a historic...
Florida Lawmakers Propose Task Force to Protect State from Sea-Level Rise
Jan 24 2020 // After years of mostly ignoring climate change, Florida lawmakers waded deeper into the matter on Tuesday, advancing a proposal that would create a statewide Office of Resiliency and establish a task force to begin looking...
Nukes, Cyber, Climate Change: World Now at 100 Seconds to Midnight
Jan 23 2020 // It’s 100 seconds to midnight. Nuclear war, cyber threats and climate change are putting the world in more danger than it has been in over at least the last 70-plus years. The hands of the Doomsday Clock are now...
Bushfire-Ravaged Australians Face Choice in Era of Climate Change: Rebuild or Leave?
Jan 23 2020 // It took two years for Nigel Allison to build his mud-brick house on a sleepy southeastern tip of Australia, and just hours for it to be gutted by fire. The cherished three-bedroom home built in 1986 was one of several...
Court Dashes Teens’ Hopes, Says Suit Can’t Force Climate Action by Government
Jan 20 2020 // Climate change should be addressed by Congress and the electorate, not the courts, a federal appeals panel ruled in ending a lawsuit brought on behalf of young people who sought to force the government to draw up a plan to...
World Economic Forum Sounds Alarms About Climate Change Risks
Jan 15 2020 // The World Economic Forum is sounding alarm bells on climate change, with environmental risks occupying the group’s top five long-term concerns for the first time on record. Extreme weather events, the failure of...
Climate Scientists Warn that Australia’s Bushfires Could Become the New Normal
Jan 14 2020 // Bushfires ravaging Australia have provided a foretaste of the kinds of conditions that could become normal unless the world moves rapidly to curb emissions of the greenhouse gases driving global warming, scientists have...
New York Won’t Appeal Its Defeat in Exxon Climate Trial
Jan 13 2020 // New York won’t appeal a ruling by a judge who rejected the state’s claim that Exxon Mobil Corp. misled investors for years about the oil giant’s internal planning for risks associated with climate...
Australia’s Bushfires Could Surpass 2009’s Costly Season; Analysts, Insurers Comment
Jan 10 2020 // Australia’s bushfire season has months to run and could easily surpass the most costly fire season, 2009’s Black Saturday fires in Victoria, which had a price tag of an estimated A$4.4 billion (US$3 billion),...
South Florida Town Starts Resilience Fund to Adapt to Climate Change
Jan 10 2020 // A small ocean-side town in South Florida has created a “resilience fund” that will be used to help residents adapt to climate change in a first-of-its-kind effort. The town of Surfside’s fund will be used...
New York Governor Lays out Aggressive Climate Change Plan
Jan 9 2020 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing an aggressive climate change-fighting campaign for his state that includes a $3-billion bond act that would be put on the ballot this November. Cuomo, who says that money would go to...
Natural Catastrophes Cost $150B in 2019, with Insurers Paying $52B: Munich Re
Jan 8 2020 // Natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$150 billion during 2019, including insured losses of about US$52 billion, which matches the average of the past 30 years, according to Munich Re’s catastrophe...
Insurance Industry Calls for Action to Mitigate Climate Risk as Australia Bushfires Widen
Jan 8 2020 // As the devastation from Australia’s bushfires widens, the insurance industry is calling for concerted action to mitigate the impact of climate change. Months of out-of-control fires have burnt an area more than five...
Climate Change, Cyber Warfare Risks Are Key London Market Issues for 2020: IUA
Jan 3 2020 // Climate change and cyber warfare risks are two key London market issues highlighted by the International Underwriting Association (IUA) in its business plan for 2020. The association said it is establishing a new market...
Climate Forecast for 2020s Is Warmer, Stormier and More Extreme: Opinion
Dec 31 2019 // Over the last decade, scientists learned a great deal about the climate, much of it concerning the connection between global warming and extreme events — heat waves, hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires. There has...
Financial Services Industry Must Act Faster on Climate Change: Bank of England Chief
Dec 30 2019 // Financial services have been too slow to cut investment in fossil fuels, a delay that could lead to a sharp increase in global temperatures, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in an interview broadcast on...