Climate

Climate Impacts

Despite La Niña, 2021 still ranks among the top 10 hottest years on record

There was 'no shortage of extremes' in the climate during 2021.

2021-Annual-Global-Warming-NASA-GISS

Climate Solutions

CBC News

Canada will need more electricity to hit net-zero: IEA report

Report says hydro, wind, solar and nuclear power should be maximized to achieve climate targets

wind turbines pic from CBC (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Seed-dropping drone company aims to plant 100 million trees by 2024

Drones equipped with seeds and artificial intelligence could change how we plant millions of trees in the future.

AirSeed drone (submitted to TWN by the company)

Climate Causes

Coal demand on track to reach record high in 2022 after rising in 2021

Nearly 80 per cent of coal emissions must be phased out by 2030 to reach Paris Agreement targets, the IPCC states.

coal mine (Monty Rakusen/ Image Source/ Getty Images)

Running cold and hot: Canada's top climate impacts of 2021

Canada suffered through some unprecedented climate extremes in 2021.

Record-Extremes-Canada-ClimateReanalyzer-NOAAClimate

The Conversation

Lakes are losing their ice cover faster than ever, here’s what that means for us

The increasingly unpredictable and unstable ice cover is a safety hazard and is contributing to increased fatal winter drownings through ice in northern countries, with northern Indigenous communities at most risk.

THE CONVERSATION - Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere are losing their ice cover faster than ever. (Midge Eliassen), Author provided

Nova Scotia aims to be powered by 80 per cent renewables in 8 years

The Nova Scotia Government is planning to phase out coal by the year 2030, but don’t expect a surge in oil and gas usage as a replacement. The plan is to use 80 per cent renewable energy.

wind turbine pexels

Controlled burns can help forests capture more carbon, here's how

Properly managed fires can improve an ecosystem’s biodiversity and ability to store carbon.

a prescribed or controlled burn. (© Santiago Urquijo/ Moment/ Getty Images)

Ozone layer hole that was once larger than Antarctica has finally closed

The 2021 Antarctic ozone hole was one of the largest and longest-living since 1979.

view of Earth from space (Adastra/ The Image Bank/ Getty Images)

Why Nova Scotia's fossil fuel energy megaprojects are going bust

Changing attitudes, financial hurdles posed challenges for troubled projects

The Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton closed permanently in 2020. (Radio-Canada)

Deadly floods left this German town in tatters. Now it's trying to climate-proof

In a matter of hours, 134 people were killed in Ahr Valley in July

germany flood (Natalie Carney/CBC)

Reuters

Brazil shuts illegal timber schemes, sheds light on Amazon logging

Under President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's Amazon deforestation in 2021 surged to the highest level in 15 years, according to official government statistics.

Piles of legal wood are seen in a wood company warehouse in the Amazon rainforest, inside Jamari National Forest Park in the County of Itapua do Oeste, Rondonia state, Brazil, September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

Piles of legal wood are seen in the Amazon rainforest (REUTERS/Adriano Machado)

Antarctic 'doomsday glacier' could collapse within five years, study says

A cascading reaction of collapsing ice in West Antarctica could occur if the Thwaites Glacier breaks free, scientists warn.

Thwaites Ice Shelf edge as seen from the IceBridge DC-8 on Oct. 16, 2012. The blue areas of ice are denser, compressed ice. Credit: NASA / James Yungel

Here are some of the ways climate change influenced global finance in 2021

The past year featured several promising developments on climate finance, from pension funds and international lending, to tackling cryptocurrency’s enormous carbon footprint.

Stocks finance unsplash Jeremy Bezanger

Ontario is running out of places to dump garbage, here's one company's solution

Repurposing waste is an example of how circular business models can be both financially lucrative while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. 

garbage at a landfill (ugurhan/ E+/ Getty Images)

Just how many EV chargers are there in Canada — and how many will we need?

The number of EV charging stations took another big jump in 2021, but not every province has been as serious about the transition as others.

EV charger Chuttersnap Unsplash

Melting glaciers could create massive salmon habitat near B.C., Alaska

Over 300 glaciers in the Pacific Northwest are forecast to create new streams that could be colonized by salmon.

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. (BriBar/ E+/ Getty Images)

Ottawa reveals its latest plan to plant 2 billion trees by 2030

Plan ramps up to 300 million trees in the ground annually by 2027, the government says

Trudeau tree planting (CBC/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)

Fossil fuel use in Canada will drop 62 per cent, modelling indicates

A forecast on the Canadian energy sector predicts a decline in fossil fuel use by 2050.

oil sands in Alberta (dan_prat/ E+/ Getty Images)

One of the strongest ocean currents is speeding up, concerning scientists

Although the Southern Ocean is a remote part of the planet, scientists say that the warming occurring in this region could have impacts on the global climate. 