Damian Carrington

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Damian Carrington

New maps have revealed the best “win-win” opportunities across the world to regrow forests and tackle the climate crisis, without harming people or wildlife. The places range from the eastern US and western Canada, to Brazil and Columbia, and across Europe, adding up to 195 million hectares (482 million acres). If reforested, this would remove 2.2bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, about the same as all the nations in the European Union.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Damian Carrington

The bonnet height of new cars in the UK and Europe is rising relentlessly, a report has found, bringing a “clear and growing threat to public safety, especially for children”. Higher fronts on cars significantly increase the death rate when pedestrians are struck. The analysis also found that drivers in the tallest cars could not see children as old as nine at all when they were directly in front of the vehicle. The UK has an especially large number of the cars with the tallest bonnets.

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Damian Carrington

Almost 40% of glaciers in existence today are already doomed to melt due to climate-heating emissions from fossil fuels, a study has found. The loss will soar to 75% if global heating reaches the 2.7C rise for which the world is currently on track. The massive loss of glaciers would push up sea levels, endangering millions of people and driving mass migration, profoundly affecting the billions reliant on glaciers to regulate the water used to grow food, the researchers said.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Damian Carrington

The excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal has killed about 16,000 people in the UK and caused 30,000 cases of asthma in children, according to a new analysis. A further 6,000 premature deaths will occur in coming years without action, the researchers said. The Dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 when diesel cars were found to be emitting far more toxic air pollution on the roads than when they passed regulatory tests, due to the use of illegal “defeat devices”.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Damian Carrington

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Sea level rise will become unmanageable at just 1.5C of global heating and lead to “catastrophic inland migration”, the scientists behind a new study have warned. This scenario may unfold even if the average level of heating over the last decade of 1.2C continues into the future.