climate change

Targeted marine cloud bleaching is a proposed geoengineering method to increase the amount of light reflected by clouds and reduce the heat reaching Earth. A US team has taken advantage of a natural experiment that generated this effect—through aerosols produced by the massive Australian bushfires of 2019 and 2020—to study the possibilities and risks of using it to modify an extreme weather event like El Niño. According to the models used in the study, its early application could weaken El Niño, but it could also have unintended consequences, such as altering the timing and increasing the magnitude of the subsequent La Niña event. The work is published in Science Advances.

Two Copernicus services have independently confirmed that global sea surface temperatures have broken records for this time of year. Daily data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service exceeded the 2024 levels on 21 June, reaching 20.86 °C, higher than the 20.83 °C recorded in 2023 and 2024. Data from the Copernicus Marine Watch Service show temperatures of 21.0 °C on 21 June, beating the 2023 and 2024 records by 0.1 °C. This unprecedented warming is linked to the onset of El Niño (announced by the WMO and declared by NOAA on 11 June) and to record-breaking sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific; consequences are anticipated for weather patterns, the global climate and marine ecosystems.

A team from the UK and the Netherlands has estimated the environmental cost attributed to the actions of the top 10% of spenders—generally the wealthiest—both globally and in the richest country on each continent. Globally, they are responsible for damages worth between US$1.7 trillion and US$5.7 trillion. These figures exceed the funding needed to meet the 2035 climate finance target agreed upon at COP30—US$993 billion—and to cover the funding needed to halt biodiversity loss by 2030—US$657 billion. The study is published in Communications Sustainability, a journal of the Nature group. 

Air conditioning in buildings is necessary to combat the high temperatures of summers, which are becoming increasingly long and hot; however, it is not without controversy due to its energy consumption and environmental impact. Today, the WHO is presenting its new guidance on health and heat action plans, in which it acknowledges that air conditioning is problematic, while also emphasizing the need for vulnerable populations to have access to these systems. In a recent briefing organized by SMC Spain, we analyzed its role in the fight against global warming.

Rising sea levels have quadrupled the frequency of extreme events related to this phenomenon along coastlines since 1900. This is one of the conclusions of a study, which included Spanish participation, suggesting that climate change has already altered the risk of coastal flooding and highlighting the need to integrate these changes into adaptation and risk management strategies. More than 680 million people worldwide live in low-lying coastal regions, where small changes in sea level can significantly affect flood risk. The study is published in Nature Climate Change and aligns with another paper, published the same day in Science Advances, which states that since the 1970s, the number of days on which sea levels have exceeded annual averages has tripled.

As discussions around a possible “Blue COP31” gain momentum, a recent analysis published in Nature Portfolio warns that record ocean heat, intensifying marine heatwaves and accelerating sea-level rise are beginning to challenge international systems designed for a far more stable climate reality. The analysis proposes several priority actions to integrate the ocean more directly into international climate governance.

A new United Nations (UN) report assesses the annual environmental costs of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the report, by 2030, if data centers were a country, their electricity consumption would be on par with that of France. As for carbon dioxide emissions, these could reach 400 million tons of CO₂ equivalent, comparable to the total emissions of the United Kingdom. The 9.3 trillion liters of water they use would cover the drinking water needs of the planet’s 8.1 billion people for 1.6 years. The report notes that the generation of high-resolution videos is at the top of AI’s energy consumption. Furthermore, it highlights the growing digital divide and environmental injustice between the nations that control AI systems and those that bear their environmental costs, particularly in the Global South.

Countries’ current climate commitments fall short of the targets needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C this century, with a shortfall of more than 5 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2050. This is one of the conclusions of the third edition of the report The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal. To offset this shortfall, the report estimates that carbon dioxide removal would need to grow at a rate comparable to that of the fastest clean energy transitions, such as solar power or electric vehicles. The report highlights that the world removes around 2.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere each year, almost entirely through land-based actions such as forest restoration. New technologies that use machinery or minerals to store carbon account for just 0.1% of total removal.

Decades ago, concerns began to be raised about the decline in honeybee populations. Although their situation has improved, the same cannot be said for other pollinating insects. Together, they enable the reproduction of nearly 90% of flowering plants and directly contribute to three out of every four crops that feed the world. We examine the causes of this decline, their current situation, and the measures being taken to protect them.