Three years left on the planet’s carbon budget, and other nature and climate news

There are just three years left of the planet’s remaining carbon budget, at the current rate of emissions, to meet the international target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, new research says.

The 1.5°C target was agreed by almost 200 countries in 2015, with the aim of avoiding some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

But the Indicators of Global Climate Change study, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, shows unprecedented levels and rates of warming, the researchers say.

At the start of 2020, scientists estimated that humanity could only emit 500 billion more tonnes of CO2 for a 50% chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C. But the study says by this year this carbon budget had reduced to 130 billion tonnes – and if emissions stay at current highs of about 40 billion tonnes a year, it would be exhausted in three years.

Extreme weather events including floods and droughts are becoming more frequent, lasting longer and are more severe, according to data from Nasa.

The figures from the space agency’s satellite tracking environmental changes have reached twice that of the 2003-2020 average, the Guardian reports.

While the data is not peer-reviewed and the researchers say they would need another 10 years to confirm a trend, they pointed to the climate crisis as the most likely cause.

Many more experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, predict that adverse impacts of the climate crisis will continue to intensify.

Offsetting global fossil fuel stores by planting trees alone would require an area greater than 24.75 million square kilometres – equivalent to the entire landmass of North America, Central America and parts of South America combined, according to a recent report.

As sea ice decreases, ships are entering previously inaccessible regions and damaging seafloor marine life when they drop anchors, a new report says. Anchoring impacts are understudied, the researchers say, making it important to recognize and mitigate its effects.

The US government says it will breed millions of flies in Texas as part of an effort to protect cattle from a flesh-eating parasite.

Increasing rates of textile-to-textile recycling – in which discarded textiles are turned into new fibres to be used as the basis for new fabrics – in the European Union to 10% could make 440,000 tonnes of carbon savings a year and conserve 8.8 billion cubic metres of water, the bloc says.

Changes in the climate could affect the taste of gin, according to researchers looking at how weather patterns might be altering the flavour compounds in juniper berries. Juniper is an essential ingredient in the alcoholic spirit.

Climate finance often focuses more on mitigation than adaptation – in 2022, finance for mitigation reached $1.2 trillion globally, while only $68 billion went to adaptation. But in climate-vulnerable developing nations adaptation finance can prove vital, particularly when high capital costs delay mitigation efforts. Diverse strategies have successfully reduced the risks associated with adaptation finance; by replicating these, adaptation finance can be scaled up.

Climate change, land degradation, deforestation and unsustainable land use cause some forests to emit more carbon than they absorb. Increasing nature restoration and conservation efforts can reverse this global trend and lead to a “positive tipping point” for ecosystem restoration and biodiversity.

Asia is both deeply affected by plastic pollution and at the forefront of innovative solutions. Read more about the valuable lessons the region can teach the world on this issue.