Tag - climate-change

 
 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Women at a water well as a sand storm passes by in Ethiopia
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2024
Climate disasters in Africa push women to sell sex, risking HIV progress
Hunger is pushing women and girls into sexual exploitation and increasing the risk of HIV, health experts and aid workers have warned.
An earthquake-damaged area in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, in May 2023. The Noto Peninsula has been experiencing an ongoing “seismic swarm” since late 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Jun 3, 2024
How rain and snow play a role in Noto’s ‘seismic swarm’
The seismic activity in the region is synchronized with changes in underground pressure, which is influenced by seasonal patterns of precipitation.
The view from the top of one of the five 70-meter-deep shafts spread across the tunnel system of the ¥230 billion Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 3, 2024
Tokyo underground: Exploring what lies beneath the world’s largest city
Tokyo has developed a massive network of underground infrastructure to support its population, a system being put to the test by extreme weather.
Pedestrians holding umbrellas during a downpour in Tokyo in June 2023
JAPAN / Science & Health / OUR PLANET
Jun 2, 2024
The growing link between extreme rain and respiratory health in Japan
Researchers have found a strong association between respiratory mortality and severe downpours of the kind being made worse by climate change.
Local residents rush to get cold water at an ice factory in Jacobabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday. It is yet another brutal summer in the age of climate change, in a part of the world that is among the most vulnerable to its dire effects.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 1, 2024
A matter of survival as South Asia’s heat wave reaches 52 degrees
It is yet another brutal summer in the age of climate change, in a part of the world that is among the most vulnerable to its dire effects.
As mind-numbingly big as the clean-energy price tag may be, it’s actually a bargain compared with the potential economic destruction of unabated climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2024
$215 trillion to save the planet is a bargain
And as mind-numbingly big as $215 trillion may be, it’s actually a bargain compared with the potential economic destruction of unabated climate change.
Chinese electric vehicles bound for shipment at the Port of Taicang in China
BUSINESS / Tech
May 30, 2024
EU seeks roadblocks for Chinese EVs without sparking trade war
Crucially, the bloc must strike a balance with its aim for more Europeans to drive EVs as it prepares to outlaw the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars from 2035.
Nawaf Al-Osimy, chief technical officer of the Jazlah Water Desalination plant, which draws vast quantities of water from the Persian Gulf and makes it drinkable, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on March 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 30, 2024
Saudi Arabia eyes a future beyond oil
The kingdom is trying to juggle its still-vital petroleum industry with alternative energy sources like wind and solar as it faces pressure to lower carbon emissions.
Massive oil reserves mean the U.S. is less enthusiastic about energy transition than China, which is charging ahead with clean technology.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2024
America is joining its frenemies back in the fossil fuel club
For most nations, the energy transition isn’t just sought for climate reasons, it’s also a strategic and economic necessity.
Pine trees in a coniferous forest Canterbury, New Zealand
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 28, 2024
Millions more trees isn’t the climate fix New Zealand envisaged
The result of a project linking incentives for forestry development and emissions trading turned out to be less effective than hoped.
Jera’s Hekinan thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture
BUSINESS
May 24, 2024
Jera warns of switching investment from Australia over lack of support
The lack of financial support for production of hydrogen and ammonia took some of the shine off Australia as a destination for Japanese investment.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
PODCAST / deep dive
May 23, 2024
What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?
This week, Japan Times climate editor Chris Russell joins us to discuss what researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology are listening to.
A worker shovels soil next to irrigation channels and recently planted shoots of Xinjiang poplar at the Yangguan state-backed forest farm, on the edge of the Gobi desert on the outskirts of Dunhuang, China's Gansu province, in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 23, 2024
China's food security dream faces land, soil and water woes
With limited land and water, China will have to sharply increase farming productivity.
Ecuador has sought funding to fight the effects of climate change, including a June 2023 flood that followed heavy rains in Esmeraldas. So far, the developed world has offered the debt-strapped nation more loans than grants.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 23, 2024
Rich nations reap climate finance dividend, benefiting from rates and terms
Developed nations have pledged to send $100 billion a year to poorer countries to aid adaptation, but money from the deals is being funneled back into rich economies.
Lee Dong-hyun and her son, 19-month-old Choi Hee-woo, pose at a playground on May 17, ahead of the final public hearing at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday of a climate lawsuit against the South Korean government, for which Hee-woo is the youngest plaintiff.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024
Embryo activist: Baby's lawsuit takes on South Korea climate inaction
South Korea is the G20's second-highest carbon emitter per capita.
A drone view of fire and smoke from burning vegetation rising in a rainforest in Canta, state of Roraima, Brazil, on Feb. 29.
ENVIRONMENT
May 21, 2024
Brazil's Amazon fires off to record 2024 start as green union blames firefighting budget cut
A record drought, brought on by the El Nino climate phenomenon and global warming, is thought to be behind the fires.
While not the most outspoken politician on the issue, digital minister Taro Kono has a track record of being serious in his commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
May 19, 2024
The politicians moving Japan forward on climate
In the halls of power, climate-friendly voices may be few and far between, but some in politics are pushing for more aggressive action on decarbonization.
U.S. President Joe Biden signs orders that increase tariffs on China during an event at the White House on Tuesday. The escalating trade tensions risk slowing the transition to green technologies by boosting production costs.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2024
Looming U.S.-China 'trade war' bodes ill for green tech
China has denounced the new U.S. tariffs as bullying and warned of potential retaliation, arguing that they could harm global green economic transition efforts.
A slogan reads "Accelerate Industrial Transformation With AI" at the Microsoft booth at the Hannover Messe 2024 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on April 22.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2024
Microsoft’s AI push imperils climate goal as carbon emissions jump
The company’s total planet-warming impact is about 30% higher today than it was in 2020.
The year 2023 was the hottest in recorded history. The next warmest 25 have all occurred since 1996.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024
It’s officially hotter than anytime since the birth of Jesus
Tree rings hold records that can go back thousands of years, giving us the perspective we need to understand what’s happening today.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.