Articles by Laura Millan, Macarena Munoz and Thomas Gualtieri

Spain and Portugal Hit With Worst European Blackout in Years

Most of Spain and all of Portugal were hit by a major blackout that impacted public transport, airports and phone service, leaving authorities scrambling to find the causes for one of the worst outages in Europe in years. Data from …

Spain’s Storms Refill Reservoirs, Easing Nation’s Worst Drought

Jana, Konrad, Laurence and Martinho — the unprecedented string of four named storms that barreled through the Iberian peninsula in the past three weeks — came with a silver lining: the likely end of Spain’s worst drought in recorded history. …

Spain Braces for More Downpours After Floods Kill Three People

Spain is bracing for another round of torrential rains after flooding forced home evacuations, washed away cars and killed at least three people this week in the southern region of Andalusia. Authorities in Spain and Portugal issued amber alerts for …

Dubai Floods Expose Weaknesses to a Rapidly Changing Climate

The heavy rains that flooded Dubai last week halted air traffic, damaged buildings and streets — and left climate experts and common citizens asking whether one of the world’s hottest and driest cities should be better prepared for extreme storms. …

Climate Change to Cause $38 Trillion a Year in Damages by 2049

Climate change will inflict losses to the global economy worth an annual $38 trillion by 2049, as extreme weather ravages agricultural yields, harms labor productivity and destroys infrastructure, according to researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). …

Climate Change Speeds Up as Major Indicators Blow Off the Charts, WMO Warns

All the major indicators of climate change smashed historic records last year, with some rising so steeply that the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization warned they were “off the charts.” The lives of millions of people were upended by natural …

UK Is Far From Climate Proof Due to Poor Planning, Officials Say

The UK has failed to prioritize climate adaptation to risks such as floods and heat waves, putting British citizens and critical infrastructure in danger, an official assessment has found. A national adaptation plan, published last July, “falls far short of …

Top European Leaders Test Positive for Cancerous ‘Forever Chemicals’

Chemicals linked to severe health issues including cancer, infertility, birth defects and immune system disruptions are everywhere and no one is safe from them — not even top politicians, according to a campaign advocating for a European Union-wide ban. Former …

Plastic Pellet Spill Unleashes Cleanup Nightmare on Spain’s Coast

Tiny white plastic pellets are washing ashore in Spain’s northwestern coast by the millions, with hundreds of volunteers leading the clean up as authorities struggle to coordinate and companies decline any responsibility. A tanker ship lost six containers off the …

Climate Change Made Deadly Floods in Libya and Greece More Extreme

The low-pressure weather system that unleashed unprecedented amounts of rain across the eastern Mediterranean last week was made more likely and more intense by climate change. Global warming caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases made the heavy rainfall over …