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Clima, rapporto WGII IPCC

Gli effetti del riscaldamento globale probabilmente sono “gravi e irreversibili”. È impietoso il giudizio dell’Ipcc (Panel Intergovernativo sul Cambiamento Climatico delle Nazioni Unite) nel rapporto diffuso oggi a Yokohama, Giappone, sullo stato di salute mondiale dell’ambiente. I dati confermano che il cambiamento climatico “è una realtà, sta avvenendo ora e sta colpendo le vite e il benessere di intere popolazioni così come quello di ecosistemi delicati alla base di importanti cicli vitali”. Basti pensare alle ondate di calore che hanno colpito l’Europa nel 2003, alle devastazioni prodotte dagli uragani negli Stati Uniti e agli incendi in varie parti del pianeta.

IPCC report: climate change felt ‘on all continents and across the oceans’

has already left its mark “on all continents and across the oceans“, damaging food crops, spreading disease, and meltingglaciers, according to the leaked text of a blockbuster UN climate science report due out on Monday. Government officials and scientists are gathered in Yokohama this week to wrangle over every line of a summary of the report before the final wording is released on Monday – the first update in seven years. But governments have already signed off on the critical finding that climate change is already having an effect, and that even a small amount of warming in the future could lead to “abrupt and irreversible changes”, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

WHO: air pollution is single biggest environmental health risk

Air pollution has become the world’s single biggest environmental health risk, linked to around 7 million – or nearly one in eight deaths in 2012 –according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The new figures are more than double previous estimates and suggest that outdoor pollution from traffic fumes and coal-burning, and indoor pollution from wood and coal stoves, kills more people than smoking, road deaths and diabetes combined. Around 80% of the 3.7 million deaths from outdoor pollution came as a result of stroke and heart disease, 11% from lung diseases and 6% from cancers. The vast majority were in Asia, with 180,000 in the Americas and Europe combined, said the WHO.

Bullish Chevron to outspend Exxon

Chevron has long been overshadowed by its larger rival ExxonMobil. Next year, however, it will overtake Exxon on one important measure: capital and exploration spending. This is striking because Exxon is so much bigger: it produces 54 per cent more oil and gas than Chevron and its market capitalisation is 85 per cent bigger. The fact that Chevron is nevertheless planning to invest more than Exxon shows how sharply the companies’ strategies have diverged. Exxon is aiming for stability, while Chevron is going for growth.

Chevron is planning to invest about $40bn per year in 2014-16: slightly less than the $42bn it reported for 2013. Exxon is cutting its spending more sharply, from $42.5bn last year to about $40bn this year, and then an average of less than $37bn per year in 2015-17.

Next Climate Panel Report on Global Warming Impacts

Scientists and diplomats are meeting in Yokohama, Japan, this week to hash out any final tweaks to the summary of the forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on current and anticipated impacts of human-driven global warming on people and ecosystems. The final summary will be released on March 31. It’s worth waiting until then, given the tendency for advance leaks to be selectively torqued toward “it’s worse than we thought” or “no worries” themes. But there are interesting hints emerging amid the noise.

Obama Turns to Web to Illustrate the Effects of a Changing Climate

President Obama wants Americans to see how climate change could deluge or destroy their own backyards — and to make it as easy as opening a web-based app. As part of an effort to make the public see global warming as a tangible and immediate problem, the White House on Wednesday inaugurated a website, climate.data.gov, aimed at turning scientific data about projected droughts and wildfires and the rise in sea levels into eye-catching digital presentations that can be mapped using simple software apps. The project is the brainchild of Mr. Obama’s counselor, John D. Podesta, and the White House science adviser, John P. Holdren.