Carbon future in black and white
<p>Making sense of recent energy trends can seem like a high-stakes Rorschach test. Some experts see the boom in renewable energy and the shift away from coal in many countries as evidence that the world
Jeff Tollefson
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The global energy challenge: Awash with carbon
Even though countries are burning unprecedented amounts of oil and gas, the estimates of how much is left continue to grow, thanks to high prices and new technologies that have enabled companies to find
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What's at stake in Doha climate talks
Diplomats from around the world will gather for the United Nations (UN) climate talks in Doha, Qatar, where negotiators hope to agree a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol and lay the groundwork for a new
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Hurricane sweeps US into climate-adaptation debate
Manhattan flooding bolsters argument for a massive engineering project to protect New York.
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Ocean-fertilization project off Canada sparks furore
When a chartered fishing boat strewed 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the ocean off western Canada last July, the goal was to supercharge the marine ecosystem. The iron was meant to fertilize plankton,
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Brazil unveils tool to track emissions
The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has plummeted by 77% in the past seven years, but annual carbon emissions associated with deforestation have not fallen nearly as much, says a Brazilian
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Heatwaves blamed on global warming
NASA climatologist James Hansen made headlines during the US heatwave of 1988, declaring in testimony to Congress and during interviews on prime-time television that a build-up of greenhouse gases was
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Wealth gap curbs Rio goals
Brazil’s celebrated coastal metropolis is defined by stark contrasts, both geographic and economic. Extravagant wealth rings the city’s luxurious beaches, while poverty looks on from the haphazard developments
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President prunes forest reforms
Brazil’s vast forests lost some legal protections last week, but less than environmentalists had feared. On 28 May, President Dilma Rousseff vetoed a dozen sections of the revamped forest code passed a
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Rio report card
The world has failed to deliver on many of the promises it made 20 years ago at the Earth summit in Brazil.
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A break in the clouds
Clouds and aerosol particles have bedevilled climate modellers for decades. Now researchers are starting to gain the upper hand.