UN COP25 summit ends with anger with global warming's 'window of escape' getting harder

Major economies have resisted calls for bolder commitments as a UN summit in Madrid has limped towards a delayed conclusion, dimming hopes that nations would act in time to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

More than 100 activists lined up outside the venue to promote their message.

World leaders have been tasked with setting new emissions reduction benchmarks at COP25 in Madrid — the 25th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change — but many nations slammed Chile, presiding over the talks, for drafting a summit text that they said risked throwing the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle global warming into reverse.

The Paris Agreement came into force in November 2016 and calls on signatories to drastically reduce emissions to a limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius before 2100. 

Read the ABC News story -  “UN COP25 summit ends with anger with global warming's 'window of escape' getting harder.”

Global bank urges cities to invest in new infrastructure to adapt to climate change

The impacts of climate change on weather, sea levels, food and water supplies should be seen as an investment opportunity for our cities, says global investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.

Our cities need to adapt to cope with more extreme
 weather events and other impacts from climate change.

In a report out last month the bank says cities need to adapt to become more resilient to climate change and this could “drive one of the largest infrastructure build-outs in history”.

The bank says cities will be on the frontline of any need to adapt because they are home to more than half the world’s population and generate roughly 80% of global GDP.

Read the story from The Conversation by a Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Built Environment at the UNSW, Elisa Palazzo -  “Global bank urges cities to invest in new infrastructure to adapt to climate change.”

Venice is flooded, but other cities are in much greater danger

Venice has flooded. But while worry about the worst floods in a decade and warnings about the impacts of climate change and sea level rise dominate most of the media coverage, there’s a more complex story to be told.

Piazza San Marco during Venice’s acqua alta (flooding).

In Venice, floods are a feature, not a bug. The city was founded by people fleeing the Huns. They were safe in the lagoon (a word borrowed from Venetian), where horses and armoured men could not advance: the soggy ground would slow the enemy, the tide would wash them out.

Halfway between land and sea, trade is the only way to make a living. And so Venetians became successful merchants and built a magnificent city, with dazzling palaces and splendid churches filled with delightful works of art.

Read the report from The Conversation by the Professor of Economics from the  University of Sussex, Richard Tol - "Venice is flooded, but other cities are in much greater danger.”

‘Heat shock': Bad news for beer industry lurks.

The world's beer industry could be particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change as rising temperatures including "heat shocks" reduce barley yields worldwide, international researchers estimate.

It's not quite last drinks but a warmer world is
not likely to be good for the beer industry - among
many others.CREDIT:

A second Australian favourite may also be at risk, with a visiting US professor saying beef consumption will also have to drop if efforts to restrain global temperatures are to succeed.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “‘Heat shock': Bad news for beer industry lurks.”