Environmental Policies News

June 15, 2024

Top Headlines

Public More Confident Connecting Increasing Heat, Wildfires With Climate Change Than Other Extreme Weather Events, Study Finds

June 13, 2024 — Researchers found that U.S. adults are fairly confident in linking wildfires and heat to climate change, but less confident when it comes to other extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding or ...

A Conservation Market Could Incentivize Global Ocean Protection

June 13, 2024 — Thirty-by-thirty: protect 30% of the planet by 2030. While conservation is popular in principle, the costs of actually enacting it often stall even the most earnest efforts. Researchers have now proposed a market-based approach to achieving the ...

Cocaine Trafficking Threatens Critical Bird Habitats

June 12, 2024 — In addition to its human consequences, cocaine trafficking harms the environment and threatens habitats important to dozens of species of migratory birds, according to a new ...

Humans Are the Elephant in the Room Where Conservation Is Debated

June 12, 2024 — Studies working to map conservation historically have left humans out of the equation. This study proposes ways to build in the outsized footprint created by people in wild ...

Latest Headlines

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Significant Increase in Nitrous-Oxide Emissions from Human Activities, Jeopardizing Climate Goals

June 11, 2024 — Emissions of nitrous-oxide (N2O) -- a potent greenhouse gas -- have continued to rise unabated over the past four decades, according to an ...

Major Milestone in Cutting Harmful Gases That Deplete Ozone Layer and Worsen Global Warming

June 11, 2024 — A new study has revealed significant progress in the drive to reduce levels in the atmosphere of chemicals that destroy Earth's ozone layer, ...

Case Studies Show How Quasi-Governmental Organizations Could Strengthen Climate Adaptation Governance

June 10, 2024 — The politicization of climate issues and the unsynchronized efforts of stakeholders are hindering the effectiveness of climate adaptation governance ...

Upstream and Downstream: River Study Highlights Cross-Country Inequities

June 10, 2024 — New research highlights inequities between downstream and upstream countries that share the same watershed. The study outlines how international agreements can better address shared resource problems ...

Climate Policy: Competing Crises

June 6, 2024 — Current crises are distracting from the climate crisis and weakening support for climate action, a Europe-wide survey ...

A Novel Approach to Tracking Conservation Reveals More Areas May Be Conserved Than Currently Accounted for

June 4, 2024 — An international team of conservation researchers and practitioners has developed an inclusive inventory approach for tracking global conservation ...

Climate Change Will Make Ozone Pollution Worse: Here's How

June 5, 2024 — A new study finds climate change is likely to make upward spikes of ozone at ground level worse by 2050, which could result in many parts of the United States falling out of compliance with air ...

Rate of Global Warming Caused by Humans at an All-Time High, Say Scientists

June 4, 2024 — Global warming caused by humans is advancing at 0.26 C per decade -- the highest rate since records began, according to new research by over 50 leading international ...

Innovative Demand Strategies for Clean Energy

June 4, 2024 — A perspective piece describes innovative strategies that significantly reduce both resource consumption and fossil fuel ...

Researchers Call for Strengthening Sustainability Regulations in Laws Governing Space Exploration

June 3, 2024 — Researchers call for strengthening existing planetary protection policies beyond the space surrounding Earth to include requirements for preserving ...

Basic Income Can Double Global GDP While Reducing Carbon Emissions

June 7, 2024 — Giving a regular cash payment to the entire world population has the potential to increase global gross domestic product (GDP) by 130%, according to a new analysis. Researchers suggest that charging ...

Urgent Need for Action Now for Increasing Threat from Invasive Alien Species

June 3, 2024 — Urgent action now is needed to tackle the major and growing global issue of invasive alien species, says a team of 88 experts from 47 countries. The paper follows the (IPBES) thematic assessment ...

Risky Path to Meeting Climate Targets for Stockholm

May 29, 2024 — The Swedish capital Stockholm aims to capture more carbon dioxide than is emitted by 2030. Therefore, the city is investing in new technology at a combined heat and power plant. But it is a strategy ...

Health Risk from Global Warming Predictor of City Climate Action During COVID-19, Study Finds

May 29, 2024 — City officials were more likely to maintain climate action during the pandemic in places with more climate-related health issues affecting ...

Research to Uncover the Impact of Water Use in the Colorado River Basin

May 29, 2024 — Persistent overuse of water and long-term drought has depleted the Colorado River and highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of how waters are allocated and used to develop effective ...

Improved Refrigeration Could Save Nearly Half of the 1.3 Billion Tons of Food Wasted Each Year Globally

May 28, 2024 — A new study concludes that nearly half of the food waste, about 620 million metric tons, could be eliminated by fully refrigerated food supply chains worldwide. At the same time, fully refrigerated ...

Effectiveness of GBGI Infrastructure in Mitigating Urban Heat, Proposing Nine-Stage Framework for Development of a Sustainable City

May 23, 2024 — Primarily due to the impact of urbanisation and global warming, urban heatwaves have become a challenging issue worldwide, with Hong Kong persistently experiencing record-breaking high-temperature ...

New Study Highlights Significant Increases in Cannabis Use in United States

May 23, 2024 — A new study assessed cannabis use in the United States between 1979 and 2022, finding that a growing share of cannabis consumers report daily or near-daily use and that their numbers now exceed those ...

Social Networks Can Influence Perception of Climate-Change Risk

May 22, 2024 — Short but severe episodes of flooding from hurricanes in Texas and Florida triggered a nationwide increase in flood insurance sign-ups depending on how socially connected a county was to the flooded ...

Sewage Overflows Linked to Increase in Gastrointestinal Illnesses

May 22, 2024 — A new study has found that residents living in the downstream communities that border the Merrimack River are at a substantially increased risk of developing acute gastrointestinal illnesses (AGI) in ...

Electric School Buses May Yield Significant Health and Climate Benefits, Cost Savings

May 20, 2024 — Replacing diesel school buses with electric school buses may yield up to $247,600 in climate and health benefits per individual bus, according to a new study. The researchers found that these ...

World Leaders Still Need to Wake Up to AI Risks

May 20, 2024 — Leading AI scientists are calling for stronger action on AI risks from world leaders, warning that progress has been insufficient since the first AI Safety Summit six months ago. Then, the ...

Decarbonization Dynamics: New Analysis Unveils Shifting Trends in the Voluntary Carbon Offset Market

May 20, 2024 — Researchers have conducted a worldwide analysis of voluntary carbon offset programs and identified trends into which types of carbon reduction technologies are selected and prioritized. Their ...

U.S. Drought-Monitoring System Outpaced by Climate Changes

May 20, 2024 — A new study reports that the U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly maps of nationwide drought conditions -- which help direct emergency federal aid -- have captured the steady march of climate change, ...

Differing Values of Nature Can Still Lead to Joined Up Goals for Sustainability

May 17, 2024 — Recognizing and respecting the different ways nature is valued can enable better environmental decision-making, according to new ...

Can We Revolutionize the Chemical Industry and Create a Circular Economy? Yes, With the Help of Catalysts

May 17, 2024 — A new commentary paper puts forth a transformative solution to the unsustainable reliance on fossil resources by the chemical industry: catalysis to leverage sustainable waste resources, ushering the ...

Penalties for Dropping out of Ecosystem Services Incentive Programs Should Equal Lost Environmental Benefits

May 15, 2024 — PES programs are currently structured in ways that could limit their participation or create incentives to drop out before the full environmental benefits are ...

The Case for Sharing Carbon Storage Risk

May 14, 2024 — Even the most optimistic projections for the rapid build-out of solar, wind, and other low-carbon resources acknowledge that coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels will dominate the world's ...

Study Tallies Heatwave Deaths Over Recent Decades

May 14, 2024 — Between 1990 and 2019, more than 150,000 deaths around the globe were associated with heatwaves each year, according to a new ...

90% of Floridians Believe Climate Change Is Happening

May 14, 2024 — The latest 'Florida Climate Resilience Survey' found that 90% of Floridians believe that climate change is happening. Belief in human-caused climate change has surged among Florida ...