Climate and Environment

A student passes in front of a 150-megawatt wind farm in the Philippines.
ADB/Al Benavente

LIVE: World leaders pledge to power humanity with clean energy

24 September 2021
Global

How can the world come together to radically change the way it produces and uses energy, as part of efforts to hold back climate change and to ultimately give humanity a more secure future on planet earth? That’s the question that over one hundred countries, organizations and businesses will be discussing at the United Nations on Friday at the High-level Dialogue on Energy, the first meeting of its kind in 40 years.

Progressively more acute droughts in Somalia have prompted people to move – undermining food security and leaving women vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
IOM/Celeste Hibbert

UN chief: Window to avert devasting climate impacts ‘rapidly closing’

23 September 2021
Global

No region is immune to climate disasters the UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday, warning that “our window of opportunity” to prevent the worst climate impacts is “rapidly closing”.

Schoolgirls in Côte d'Ivoire perform as part of activities to raise awareness about peace and human rights.
UN Photo/Hien Macline

Counting on youth, for an ‘equitable and sustainable world for all’

17 September 2021
Global

At a virtual event on Friday commemorating the International Day of Peace, the UN chief saluted the “voices, vision and commitment of young people in shaping a more peaceful world”.

No Denying It, The UN climate action podcast
UN News

Climate solutions, changemakers, and celebrities: major UN podcast series launched

25 August 2021
Global

The UN launches No Denying It, a new 10-part climate action podcast, on Thursday, featuring interviews with inspiring young activists, and the voices of internationally renowned celebrities, such as actors Ed Norton and Michelle Yeoh.

A firefighter battles a wildfire. (file)
Unsplash/Fabian Jones

UN weather agency seeks to confirm 48.8°C ‘record’ heat spike in Sicily

12 August 2021

UN weather experts said on Thursday that they’re “actively looking” into a possible record temperature for Continental Europe of 48.8 Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit) near the town of Syracuse in Sicily, amid devastating wildfires in Mediterranean countries and Russia.

A wildfire burns in a national park in Oregon, USA.
Unsplash/Marcus Kauffman

IPCC report: ‘Code red’ for human driven global heating, warns UN chief

9 August 2021
Global

Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released on Monday.

Two and a half million people in the Central African Republic (CAR) are facing hunger.
WFP/Bruno Djoye

Together, we must tackle growing hunger, urges Guterres  

26 July 2021
Global

Inefficient global food production is at the root of a huge rise in hunger as well as one-third of all emissions and 80 per cent of biodiversity loss, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned, in a call to all countries to transform food systems to speed up sustainable development. 

A farmer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has received agricultural training, tools, and seeds from FAO.
© WFP/Arete/Fredrik Lerneryd

FAO head urges G20 to invest in a healthy planet for healthy food

22 July 2021
Global

The head of the UN food relief agency called on the world’s richest nations on Thursday to invest more in sustainable living, to feed the world’s growing population.
 

Kamloops lake in British Columbia, Canada, is located on traditional lands of the Secwepemc Nation.
Unsplash/Louis Paulin

Still time to reverse damage to ‘ravaged’ ecosystems, declares UN chief, marking World Environment Day 

4 June 2021
Global

Amidst the triple environmental threat of biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, Secretary-General António Guterres launched “an unprecedented effort to heal the Earth”, on the eve of World Environment Day. 

The sun sets in Acadia National Park, Maine, United States.
UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi

Everyone will lose unless humanity makes ‘peace with the planet’, declares Guterres

21 May 2021
Global

Humanity is “waging a war on nature”, threatening biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, the UN chief said on Friday.