Countries reach historic deal to cut shipping emissions

IMO A cargo-laden container ship approaches a port.

After years of intense negotiations, countries on Friday reached a landmark deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions from global shipping, setting mandatory fuel standards and introducing an industry-wide carbon pricing mechanism.


The framework – agreed during the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee – aims for net-zero emissions from the sector by 2050 and will be formally adopted in October before coming into force in 2027.… Read the rest

Storm-raising, witches and the new conspiracist threat to weather research

Downtown Orlando, Florida, after Hurricane Milton hit on 10 October 2024. Photograph: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty

Several US states want to criminalise atmospheric experiments, which could prevent meteorological studies

David Hambling

Conspiracy theories about weather manipulation go back centuries and are more dangerous than you might think.

In the ninth century, St Agobard of Lyon wrote a treatise called On Hail and Thunder attacking the popular superstition that storm-raisers could call up tempests at will.… Read the rest

Weather tracker: Cyclone Jude causes chaos in Mozambique

Fort San Sebastian on Mozambique Island. More than 200mm of rail fell there in 24 hours. Photograph: Dmitry Malov/Alamy

Faye Hulton (Metdesk)

More than 200mm of rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and leaving 40,000 people without power

Cyclone Jude was the third cyclone to hit Mozambique this season. First spotted as a depression last Friday to the south-west of the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, it intensified over the next few days to a moderate tropical storm, affecting northern Madagascar on Saturday and killing at least one person.… Read the rest

The heat is on: We must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures, urges UN chief

© ILO/Bobot Go Construction workers walk along a road in Daan Hari, Philippines.

The UN chief on Thursday issued an urgent call to action to better protect billions around the world exposed to crippling effects of extreme heat, as global temperature rise continues unabated.


The appeal comes against the backdrop of record temperatures and deadly heatwaves – from the United States to Africa’s Sahel and Europe to the Middle East – that have killed several hundred people this summer.… Read the rest

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